Most employers that responded to an International Foundation survey provide newsletters to employees and plan participants, and in those newsletters, more space is devoted to benefits information than any other topic.
According to the 353 survey respondents and demonstrated in 132 samples, the typical newsletter is mailed quarterly to recipients’ homes, covers five to seven topics and is prepared by in-house staff.
Administered in January, the survey compiled statistics on
The 353 respondents included U.S. and Canadian corporate benefit managers, public employers and multiemployer plan administrators.
Seventy-one percent of respondents provide some form of newsletter. Of those that provide newsletters, 36% provide them to employees only. A nearly equal number of employers (35%) provide newsletters to both employees and retirees.
While employee benefit issues ranked foremost on the list of topics covered, many respondents include organization news (72%), health/wellness information (62%), messages from specific executives (52%) and retirement planning information (50%) in their newsletters. Other typical topics include events/training, organization policies, staff news, department profiles, safety, financial planning, legal/legislative matters and payroll.
Newsletters are most often prepared by in-house staff, typically the public relations/communications, administration/executive or human resources/benefits departments. Of those that are outsourced (28%), only 3% are completely outsourced. It is more common for an organization to outsource a single aspect of newsletter production, such as printing, design or distribution, than to outsource production of an entire newsletter.
Most newsletters are mailed to recipients’ homes. Distribution via e-mail and workplace intranet are the next most popular methods. Most newsletters are distributed on a quarterly or monthly basis. order full report