Reward and Benefits | Project
HF Sinclair
15 Nov, 2020 ยท 3 -minute read

HollyFrontier (now HF Sinclair), is a petroleum refiner headquartered in Dallas, Texas and employing more than 3,500 people.

The company operates five complex refineries across the United States and produces base oils and other specialized lubricants in the U.S, Canada and the Netherlands.

 

HollyFrontier offers a great package of benefits to support its employees both in and outside of work. The company has a strong, paternalistic culture, with a genuine desire to make a difference in employees’ lives. Unfortunately, the internal communications experience didn’t align to these values and ambitions, and when it came to talking about benefits little took place outside of the Annual Enrollment window.

We were appointed to help HollyFrontier move away from one-way, transactional communications, to a more educational approach which would equip employees with the knowledge they needed to take ownership of their benefits and make smart, well-informed decisions.
1 Challenge
HollyFrontier Project

We started by developing a set of communication principles linked to HollyFrontier’s culture and objectives. The principles; clarity, empowerment, relevance and authenticity, acted as a checklist for each piece of communication we produced and helped to ensure consistency of message and style. We also developed an internal benefits brand – ensuring that all benefits communication would be instantly recognizable as such.

A major development was the launch of a new website to serve as the central resource for benefits information. The site provided employees with the tools and information required to make informed decisions and enabled us to provide consistent information across HollyFrontier’s multiple locations. Of particular note, we developed a support tool to help employees compare their likely healthcare needs in the year ahead against the medical plans available so they could make choices relevant to their personal circumstances.

Having established a strong basis through the branding and website, we went on to develop a multi-channel (combination of digital and print) Annual Enrollment campaign, which focused on increasing employees’ awareness and appreciation of the HollyFrontier benefits package. The campaign included mailers, promotional posters, a presentation and a series of emails, all directing employees back to the website for further education and to make use of the decision making tools it held.
2 Solution
HollyFrontier Project
We engaged HollyFrontier’s HR teams throughout the process by producing a HR specific email and guide to ensure they understood the changes, the new communication approach and the role they needed to play to provide employees with the end-to-end support required.
HollyFrontier Project
Website usage was tracked throughout enrollment to measure how different types of communication (campaign emails, face-to-face sessions and mailers) influenced web traffic and employee actions. The resulting report allowed HollyFrontier to demonstrate tangible results and a clear return on investment internally, but more importantly provides them with valuable data to evolve their communication strategy for the long term.

The strategy was spot on, the story and creative brought life and clarity to the changes, and the website was the perfect platform to enable employees to access the benefits information they required.

Reward Director

HollyFrontier

The Reward Director at HollyFrontier commented that “the strategy was spot on, the story and creative brought life and clarity to the changes, and the website was the perfect platform to enable employees to access the benefits information they required.”

So far, more than 70% of employees have visited the site, with many visiting more than once and an average of more than 8 minutes spent on the site during each visit.
3 Outcome