For example, the company may be offering a particular benefit that they were confident employees would gravitate to in great numbers. But the results of the survey may indicate that only a minuscule number of them are actually using it.

Here are a few tips for developing a successful survey:

Get going early. The ideal time to distribute a survey is months before the renewal date at the same time the employer kicks off renewal strategy conversations with their broker. Doing so will provide employees adequate time to fill them out and give the broker and employer plenty of runway to analyze the results.

Ask questions to learn if employees understand their benefits, are using them, and find value with them: Do employees know how to access and use all of their benefits? To gauge the "benefits literacy" of employees, you might ask them to "Please rank from 1-5 your level of understanding of the benefits available to you." To understand to what extent employees are using specific benefits, you could ask "Do you and your family participate in X service?" And to learn if your employees are satisfied with their benefits, you could ask, "Does your plan adequately cover the needs of your family?"

Encourage employees to suggest more benefits. A survey is a great opportunity to identify gaps in coverage and learn what employees value. Knowing this, you might want to ask a question at the end of the survey such as, "If your employer offered one additional benefit, what would you want it to be?"

Provide incentives for filling out the survey. To encourage people to fill out the survey, you may want to offer a small gift or perk to those who do, such as a $5 gift card redeemable at a nearby coffee shop or a raffle ticket.

Once you've gathered all of this data, here are three steps you can take to put it to use:

Go through the data to identify trends. Are you seeing any trends within the data? For instance, did a significant number of respondents not understand their benefits or rate a particular benefit poorly? Did a meaningful number of people request a benefit that is not currently being offered?

Instant Insights /

How employee data can shape enrollment

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