Bright ideas--improve communications.

Typically, most organizations focus on their employee benefit programs once a year when they review costs, alternatives and make decisions for the following plan year. Over the last few years, open enrollment has been a difficult process as many companies have been forced to reduce benefit levels and/or increase employee contributions as a defense against rising costs.

Survey data indicates most organizations still pay a large percent of the cost of benefits. Employees do not always keep in mind the significant cost organizations incur to provide benefits. Reminding them the benefits you provide and the costs you absorb is a great idea. Here are a few ideas you can use to communicate value all year long:

* If you publish an employee newsletter, add a "Did You Know?" section. In this section, you can highlight your organization's benefit expenses. For example: Did you know, ABC Co. pays 75 percent of the cost for your health-care benefits, or: Did you know ABC Co. matches 25 percent of your contributions to the 401(k) plan?

* If you do not publish a newsletter, create a payroll stuffer to distribute to employees quarterly. The focus of the stuffer can be on cost and benefits. This strategy educates your employees in a headline fashion that will help them retain the message that your organization provides outstanding benefits at a reasonable cost.