Think about the introduction of managed care a few years ago. Yet the shift from a final average pay plan to a cash balance plan can engender the same anxious reaction in employees, the same concern about what might be taken away from them, and the same suspicion of their employer. Explaining the rationale for change, along with plan features, will allay anxiety and suspicion. Not all clients believe in the importance of research, and not all projects have the time in their schedules for extensive planning. But both research and planning are critical to a successful implementation.
Research can focus on benefit plan design as well as communications.
In an optimum situation, communicators will partner with a company to assess its current retirement plan and test alternative designs. Once plan design has been decided, the next step is to research the communication environment and employees' perceptions of their benefits. Whether through management interviews, survey instruments or employee focus groups, research provides invaluable information. It will not only surface the issues that need to be addressed in communication materials and activities, it will also reveal the non-issues. For example, a company may assume that employees are most concerned about how competitive their pension benefits are, when, in fact, employees may be indifferent to this benchmark.