Leverage the Power of Print to Communicate Total Rewards

What’s the best format for a total rewards statement – print or digital?

There’s not necessarily one answer that applies to every organization. After all, a fully remote team of people who spend their days glued to their laptops has different needs than a company where the majority of employees are on a factory floor. But for many organizations, the default toward digital deserves a second look. If the goal of a total rewards statement is for employees to actually understand and remember the full value of their total compensation, print is often the optimal format.

There are several reasons why print statements can be more effective than statements delivered online:

Print Stands Out – We live in a world of digital overload. Important messages can easily get lost in a sea of incoming emails and posts. A printed total rewards statement makes an impression not only because it’s different but is also a welcome break from a screen.

Print Encourages Understanding and Retention – A great deal of research points to the idea that the content found in printed communications is often more effectively processed and retained than the same content read on a screen. There’s a higher likelihood that a printed total rewards statement will be read and absorbed as opposed to glanced at and forgotten.

Print Escapes the Inbox – While email and other digital delivery methods are fantastic at distributing short messages very quickly, they can be less effective when used to send something that you want an employee to actually read. A total rewards statement sent digitally can easily get buried under many days’ worth of messages demanding attention. A physical document – particularly one mailed to an employee’s home – can stand out more effectively.

Print Signals that the Message Matters – Putting something in print implies that the content is important.  A total rewards statement mailed in an envelope reads as a deliberate, formal communication in a similar way to how a signed letter feels very different from a text message. Employees are more likely to treat a printed statement as worth their attention precisely because the company treated it as worth the effort to print.

Print is Shareable – One of the main goals of sending total rewards statements is to help employees understand the full breadth of benefits they receive from their employer. But in many cases, the employee is not the primary decision-maker when it comes to household financial matters. When a total rewards statement arrives in the mail at home, it can be read not only by the employee but by a spouse/partner who may be the one who is more engaged in decisions regarding retirement contributions, insurance coverages and voluntary benefits.

Of course, there are advantages to digital communications, and there’s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution for every organization. At RewardsFocus, we not only provide both print and digital communications, we work with you to determine which format will work best for your organization. To learn more about our offerings (both print and digital), reach out to us today.