Workplace Intranets Must be User-Friendly
Apr 10, 2007
New standard-bearers like Google, MySpace and YouTube have made going online more appealing and fun by providing easily accessible content and allowing users to provide and control information. Now some benefits experts contend employers need to embrace similar Web-based tools, if they intend to change their workers’ behavior toward health care and retirement savings.
Michael Rudnick, national e-communications and portal leader at Watson Wyatt, says, "There is a Google effect. Employees have come to expect the same level of personalization, flexibility, intuitiveness and ease of use that Google and other advanced consumer Web sites provide. This is upping the ante for HR departments. Content, data and applications from a plethora of internal and vendor sources are far more useful when integrated in a way that makes sense to employees and is easy to navigate."
In a recent study by Watson Wyatt, 62% of workers favored receiving benefits materials via the Internet. The online appeal reached across generations. About 63% of employees aged 18 to 49 singled out the Web as their preferred way to review benefits documents, while 60% of those aged 50 to 59 and 53% of those age 60 and older said the same.
Employers should streamline their benefits Web sites by integrating systems, using multimedia and simplifying navigation tools, Watson Wyatt recommends. Such efforts will allow employees to fully understand their benefit offerings and make better decisions
Benergy Portal Creates Total Access
Attention HR Directors! Offer your employees access to information about their account such as benefits enrollment, total compensation statements and FSA administration on one, easy to use web-based product, Benergy. The new PBG website offers a quick link to the Benergy portal right on the front page. Potential or first-time users can review demo's and learn more about the product by clicking on our main navigation link, "Products" and then "Benergy."
For quick introduction, Benergy is an online employee communication platform offering employees information about their employer's sponsored group benefits. The Benergy site, customized with your company's logo, is presented as...