Engaging employees with their benefits can be a thankless task. You spend months designing a benefits package, negotiating rates, and making sure every detail is right for peak employee benefits engagement. Then open enrollment comes and goes — and a surprising number of employees ignore it all. Sound familiar?

The truth is, employee benefits don’t deliver value on design alone. They only create value when employees understand what’s available, feel confident making choices, and actually use the programs throughout the year. That’s the real — and constant — work of benefits engagement.

When employees see their benefits as more than a once-a-year checkbox, everything changes: satisfaction rises, health outcomes improve, and HR can point to real ROI on one of the company’s largest investments. The good news is, getting doesn’t mean breaking your back doing more — it just means doing a few things differently. With a smarter approach to communication, personalization, and technology, you can build an employee benefits experience that actually sticks. 

Why Employee Benefits Engagement Matters

Benefits are personal. For your workforce, they shape how they manage their health, their finances, even their families’ well-being. Most employees only sit up and pay attention during open enrollment, or worse, in a moment of crisis when they need help the most.

That gap has real consequences, because employees who don’t understand their benefits can miss out on valuable programs, make poor choices, or feel unsupported. For employers, it means underused resources and wasted dollars. And a lot of frustration and blame — which ultimately impacts trust.

Flip the script, and the payoff is huge. Research shows employees who feel supported through their benefits are significantly more loyal, productive, and engaged in their work. A great benefits experience builds trust, strengthens culture, and keeps talent rooted in your organization.

Recent findings from our 2025 Selerix Employee Benefits Survey reinforce just how critical benefits engagement really is. In that data, only  27% of employees say they fully understand their benefits, and more than one in three admit they’ve regretted a choice they made during enrollment.  

That’s why engaging your workforce in benefits is one of the most direct ways HR teams can boost employee satisfaction and make every benefits dollar work harder. When communication and personalization fall short, benefits fail to deliver. But when employees feel confident and supported, the return on investment is enormous.

 What Makes a Great Employee Benefits Experience?

Think about the last time you signed up for a new app or service. If the experience was confusing or the instructions unclear, chances are you didn’t stick with it. Benefits aren’t all that different. If the process feels complicated, impersonal, or buried in jargon, employees tune out.

Unfortunately, when they do, it usually means they’re less than impressed with those benefits you’ve worked so hard to provide, and the benefits aren’t having the impact you’ve been paying for.

A great employee benefits experience, on the other hand, does three things really well:

1. Makes the complex feel simple.

Healthcare and retirement plans are complicated by nature. But employees don’t need every regulation spelled out — they just need clear, plain-language guidance on what matters to them. And advice that helps them make confident choices.

2. Meets employees where they are.

Not everyone works 9 to 5 behind a desk. Some employees are on the road, on the shop floor, or managing shifts. A modern benefits experience is flexible enough to reach everyone, whether that’s through mobile access, self-service tools, or targeted reminders. (Check out our take on benefits for a mobile workforce).

3. Feels personal.

Employees want to know their benefits fit their life stage and priorities — whether that’s family planning, financial wellness, or managing chronic health needs. Personalization turns a generic benefits program into one that feels relevant and valuable.

When HR leaders focus on these three pillars — simplicity, accessibility, and personalization — benefits stop being just another HR process. They become a real part of the employee experience, shaping how people feel about their employer and their future.

7 Strategies to Improve Employee Engagement in Health and Benefits

If you want employees to engage with their benefits, the message has to cut through the noise of busy workdays, endless emails, and competing priorities. Here are seven proven strategies HR teams can use to boost awareness, understanding, and utilization:

1. Simplify the story.
Employees don’t need a benefits encyclopedia. They need the “why” and the “what’s in it for me” in plain language. Use clear comparisons, simple visuals, and decision support tools that guide them step by step.

2. Personalize the message.
The benefits that matter to a 25-year-old just starting out aren’t the same as those that matter to a 45-year-old managing a family. Segment communications by age, role, or life stage so employees hear what’s most relevant to them. (We explored this more in our post on flexible solutions for an evolving workforce).

3. Communicate year-round.
Open enrollment shouldn’t be the only time employees think about benefits. Regular touchpoints — from reminders about preventive care to updates on wellness perks — keep benefits top of mind and make them feel like part of everyday life.

4. Go where employees already are.
Deskless employees, field teams, and shift workers won’t see a desktop email campaign. Use mobile apps, text reminders, and even on-site posters to reach your workforce wherever they are.

5. Use technology to extend your reach.
Automated communication tools make it possible to send timely nudges, deliver personalized content, and track what’s resonating. This takes pressure off HR while giving employees the access they want. (See why automation in employee benefits is becoming a necessity.)

6. Create space for feedback.
Benefits engagement is a two-way conversation. Pulse surveys, quick polls, and open Q&A sessions help employees share what’s working and where they’re confused. That feedback loop helps HR fine-tune the program for maximum impact.

7. Celebrate and reinforce use.
When employees take advantage of wellness programs, financial planning tools, or preventive care, recognize it. Share success stories and highlight the real-world value of benefits in action. It builds momentum and normalizes participation.

Common Pitfalls That Undermine Benefits Engagement

For every great strategy that boosts employee benefits engagement, there are also common missteps that hold programs back. Avoiding these pitfalls can make the difference between a program employees embrace and one they ignore.

1. Overloading employees with information.
Handbooks, long emails, and endless plan documents can overwhelm even the most motivated employee. When everything feels important, nothing gets through. Instead, prioritize clarity and break information into digestible pieces.

2. Treating open enrollment as a one-time event.
If the only time employees hear about benefits is during enrollment, engagement will stay low. Without year-round reminders, employees forget what’s available and miss opportunities to use valuable programs.

3. Taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
Employees at different life stages, from new graduates to parents to those nearing retirement, have very different needs. Sending everyone the same generic communication makes benefits feel impersonal and irrelevant.

4. Ignoring the feedback loop.
Too often, HR teams work hard to roll out programs but don’t collect employee input on how those programs land. Without feedback, it’s impossible to know where gaps exist or how to improve the experience.

5. Underestimating the role of technology.
Manual processes can’t keep pace with today’s workforce. Without automation, mobile access, and personalization tools, engagement efforts quickly stall and HR teams stay stuck in administrative mode.

The takeaway: even small shifts away from these pitfalls — simplifying content, segmenting communication, and building feedback channels — can transform the employee benefits experience.

Before You Launch Another Open Enrollment, Ask These Questions

Even the best-designed benefits program can miss the mark if engagement isn’t part of the plan. As you prepare for your next open enrollment, pause and run through this quick checklist:

• Have we simplified the message?
  Is our communication clear enough that employees can make confident decisions without wading through jargon?
  
• Are we segmenting our outreach?
  Do different groups — new hires, parents, deskless employees — receive the details most relevant to them?
  
• Do we have year-round touchpoints?
  Are we keeping benefits visible outside of open enrollment, with timely reminders and nudges all year long?
  
• Are we leveraging technology?
  Are we meeting employees where they are, in SMS text, email and other touchpoints? Can automation and mobile access help us reach employees better and also free HR from manual tasks?
  
• Are we listening to employees?
  Do we have a system in place for feedback so we know what’s working and where employees need more support?

Answering “yes” to these questions means you’re on the right track toward stronger employee benefits engagement. If not, these are the gaps to close before enrollment season begins.

Power Benefits Engagement with Selerix

Engaging your workforce in benefits means delivering the right information, in the right way, at the right time. When employees feel supported in navigating their options, they’re more likely to participate, stay loyal, and get real value from the programs you’ve worked so hard to put in place.

That’s where Selerix comes in. Our platform makes it simple to both automate and personalize the benefits experience, communicate year-round, and give employees easy access to the resources they need. For HR, it means less manual work and more confidence that every benefits dollar is driving measurable impact.

Ready to see how better engagement can transform your benefits program? Let’s talk about what’s possible. Talk to a Selerix Benefits Engagement Expert.