Only include information employees can’t get anywhere else.
Benefit statements should deliver one clear message and reiterate it.
Benefit statements should be concise.
Less is more.
Leave lots of white space.
Use color for emphasis.

Only include information employees can’t get anywhere else.
Don’t load up employee benefit statements with information employees can easily find elsewhere. That only increases the cost of the benefit statements and distracts employees from the statements’ key message: Employees are paid a lot more than their salary. If employees have a question about their benefits, they can readily obtain that information from their summary plan descriptions, human resources department and retirement plan account statements. Use an employee benefit statement to tell employees what their total compensation is and how much you spend on their benefits (their “hidden paycheck”).

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Benefit statements should deliver one clear message and reiterate it.
If your statement’s key message is how much your organization pays for benefits, show your employees the cost of their benefits and their total compensation in dollars. Reinforce that message visually by including a chart to illustrate the large portion of their compensation that is derived from their benefits.

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Benefit statements should be concise.
Employees are more likely to digest a short statement than a long, multi-page document. A one-page benefit statement may well be all that’s necessary. Ideally, a benefit statement should be so clear and straightforward that employees can read and understand its message in less than a minute.

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Less is more.
Displaying the costs for all of your 10 to 15 or more benefits will make your benefit statements more complex and distract employees from the most important numbers—the total cost of their benefits and their total compensation. Include each of your benefit plans on the statements, but combine them for the purpose of displaying their costs. Using only five numbers, you can show the costs for your health benefits, retirement benefits, government-required benefits, time-off benefits and other benefits.

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Leave lots of white space.
The goal isn’t to cram as much information as possible onto a page. White space makes the benefit statements more inviting and easier to read.

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Use color for emphasis.
Color grabs your employees’ attention. Use it to draw their eyes to the most important numbers on the benefit statement—the total cost of their benefits and their total compensation.

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