Authors: Mary Budgell Jarom Moriyama-Bondar Pat Leo

null

You've built a comprehensive and competitive benefits package. Healthcare coverage, retirement savings support, financial protection, mental health resources and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) are all in place.

Yet employees aren't engaging, retention remains a concern and utilization rates fail to meet expectations. Indeed, are employees aware of what's available to them, and crucially, confident in how to access those resources when they need them the most?

Often, the missing piece is the right communication. Gallagher's 2026 Canadian Benefits Strategy & Benchmarking Survey highlights the extent of the challenge, with only 14% of businesses reporting that they have a "comprehensive" strategy in place for communicating all benefits.

As benefits costs rise and workforce needs continue to evolve, clear and timely communication can help employees better understand and access the resources available to them — supporting a stronger overall employee experience

Three reasons why benefits programs go unnoticed

The same survey found that four in ten (40%) employers believe they are effectively creating awareness and understanding of their total rewards offering. "This underlines a disconnect between the benefits organizations provide and the value employees actually derive from their use," says Mary Budgell, Communication Consulting practice lead, Gallagher.

So, why do critical benefits often get missed? While it does depend on the organization, its workforce and overall benefits strategy, the three primary reasons include:

1. When programs become too complex to understand

Today's total reward programs can be highly sophisticated, covering everything from healthcare and mental wellbeing to retirement planning. Employees may struggle to understand their options, determine which benefits are relevant to them, or figure out the next steps.

The challenge becomes even greater when organizations rely on one-size-fits-all communications. Benefits guides, retirement forms and policy documents may contain all the necessary details, but deciphering technical language and complex plan features could be off-putting.

2. When messages get lost in the noise

The shift to remote and hybrid work has created more communication channels and a greater volume of messages than ever before. Emails, meeting reminders, project updates and organizational announcements all compete for attention.

But the challenge extends well beyond the workplace. As Mary Budgell notes, employees are navigating a broader problem of information overload in their day-to-day lives. No matter how well-crafted a message is, it can still be overlooked if it arrives alongside too many competing priorities, reaches employees at the wrong moment or lacks immediate relevance.

In this environment, increasing the volume of benefits and retirement communication is unlikely to improve engagement.

3. When benefits are hard to find at critical moments

Benefits become most relevant during key life events, such as becoming a parent, facing a health challenge or preparing for retirement. In those moments, employees need immediate access to clear guidance on channels that are easy to navigate.

The challenge is not always awareness but accessibility. Even when employees know a benefit exists, they may find it difficult to find the information they need or access available support when a real-life crisis arises.

“
Communicating information consistently throughout the year instead of only during enrollment will help boost benefits awareness and utilization rates.
Mary Budgell, Communication Consulting practice lead, Gallagher

Moving from awareness to action: 5 key benefits communication strategies

Under half (48%) of Canadian businesses have a strategy to improve employee engagement. This presents an opportunity to take a more proactive and innovative approach to benefits communication.

Here are some areas to consider:

1. Keep employees at the center of your communication strategy

Today's workforce is more diverse than ever, spanning multiple generations, work environments and communication preferences. An office-based employee may be comfortable receiving information on a digital platform, while a frontline, non-wired worker may be more responsive to text messages or in-person sessions.

According to Jarom Moriyama-Bondar, area vice president, Group Benefits and Retirement, Gallagher, improving benefits engagement starts with challenging long-held communication habits. "Rather than asking, 'How do we usually communicate?', employers should ask, 'How do our employees prefer to receive information?'"

Focus groups, surveys and employee feedback can also help employers understand what prevents people from engaging with benefits information. Yet Gallagher's report shows that more than 35% of Canadian organizations have not yet conducted a workforce engagement survey.

In an ever-more crowded communications environment, simply sharing information is no longer enough. Messages need to be relevant, targeted and timely enough to motivate employees. Pat Leo, vice president, Toronto Retirement, Gallagher Canada, points to retirement savings programs as a common example of inertia. "Even when employees are aware of the benefit, they may still delay enrolment and overlook available resources," he adds.

2. Deliver the right information at the right time

Organizations may invest significantly in benefits and retirement programs, but those investments only pay off when employees can access the right support. Addressing the challenge, Mary Budgell says, "No matter how well-written the message is, benefits messages can still be missed if competing with too many other priorities or if they arrive at the wrong moment."

To keep programs accessible, internal communication teams need to:

Break communication into smaller themes

Employees are more likely to engage with one relevant topic at a time. For example, use Mental Health Month to highlight relevant resources and support services.

Connect benefits information to key life events

This is more likely to capture attention, build relevance and drive engagement.

“
Digital tools can play a powerful role. When employees can quickly find the information they need and activate resources with minimal effort, engagement naturally increases.
Jarom Moriyama-Bondar, area vice president, Group Benefits and Retirement, Gallagher

3. Build an omnichannel communication strategy

Workforce demographics, roles, locations and work environments shape how employees engage with information. This makes it increasingly difficult for a single communication approach to resonate across the workforce.

Gallagher's 2026 Canadian Benefits Strategy & Benchmarking Survey reinforces the point, showing that employers rely on more than 15 different channels, both online and offline, to communicate benefits and retirement information.

Among these channels, Canadian employers mostly rely on:

47% annual performance discussions
42% leadership or town hall meetings
39% online portal or enrolment site
31% people manager or team leader meetings
30% virtual group meetings
29% one-to-one enrolment meeting

Importantly, if engagement remains low, it may be time to vary your approach. "Too often, organizations keep refining the same channel when the real issue is that employees simply aren't responding to it," Jarom Moriyama-Bondar adds.

4. Personalize your total rewards messages

Gallagher's Global Employee Communications Report found that personalization is one of the biggest untapped opportunities in benefit and retirement communications. Fewer than one in five organizations (19%) are satisfied with their ability to personalize content, while more than three-quarters (76%) do not regularly use audience segmentation techniques such as personas or employee archetypes.

Every employee has different priorities. Communications tailored to different life stages and personal circumstances are more likely to cut through the noise.

Drawing inspiration from a music streaming software
Gallagher helped an organization reimagine benefits communication through a more personalized experience.
Reflecting on the approach, Mary Budgell explains, "We explored the concept used by many music streaming platforms which tells users what they've listened to, what they enjoyed most and how their habits compare with others."
Applied to benefits communication, the same style of presenting data helped employees better understand the support they're using and uncover benefits they may be missing. The concept transformed benefits data into a personalized "year in review," highlighting:
  • Employees' compensation
  • Benefits utilization
  • Participation in wellbeing programs
  • Overlooked or underused resources
The objective wasn't simply to share data, but to make benefits more individual and engaging. "Every effort to make communication more relevant helps employees feel that their employer has invested real thought, energy and care into the experience," Budgell adds.

5. Adapt communication to a changing workforce

Recent years have seen some rapid changes to many organizations' working practices, such as hybrid working. Employers' communication strategies are having to adapt quickly.

This is why tailored communication has become essential. By aligning messages with employees' unique needs, employers can make benefits and retirement programs easier to understand and more likely to be used. This can help employers better align their programs being offered to those that employees actually value and need.

To deliver that consistently, organizations also need to identify obstacles that may prevent employees from accessing or understanding information. For example, are there language or cultural barriers that need to be addressed? And is the information relayed to employees in line with their communication preferences?

Measuring success: Which metrics to prioritize?

A communication campaign may generate strong engagement metrics but can fail to improve employee engagement. Mary Budgell urges businesses to focus on outcomes rather than outputs to assess the effectiveness of their campaigns. "In communications, we can sometimes get caught up in open rates, click-throughs and views. Those are useful metrics, but they don't mean much on their own," she explains.

Pat Leo believes employers should avoid judging success by a single metric. "Employees may engage with campaigns in many ways, even if they ultimately do not enroll. Effective measurement requires organizations to look at the broader engagement journey and recognize the many ways employees interact with program information."

A more meaningful and employee-centric approach is to assess whether communication efforts are improving employee awareness, confidence and behaviour by asking:

  • Do employees understand the benefits available to them?
  • Are they enrolling in programs and using available resources?
  • Has the employee experience improved?

Future trends to watch

Audience burnout and information overload were among the biggest communication challenges identified in our global report. As organizations grow and become more diverse, the pressure to support engagement, alignment and wellbeing only intensifies.

In this environment, the key to staying ahead of the curve is to cut through the noise and build genuine connections. Employers cannot afford to overlook the following:

Up close and personal

With more customized communication, employees can make better use of the resources at their disposal. This leads to increased engagement while reducing absenteeism — reinforcing your organization's commitment to employee wellbeing, inclusion, belonging and family support.

The organizations that see the greatest return from their benefit and retirement programs are not always those offering the most perks. Rather, in an increasingly diverse and evolving workforce, it's the ability to connect employees with the support they need, when they need it most.

That can become a competitive advantage when it comes to talent attraction and retention.

If you'd like to review your benefits and retirement communication programs or explore innovative strategies to increase engagement, contact a Gallagher consultant today.

Author Information

Mary Budgell

Mary Budgell

Communication Consulting Practice Leader