Here's a talk I gave at Jellyvision's ALEX Con, 2015, on why employees fail to make the most of their benefits.

1. ALEX Con
18 June 2015
Stephen Wendel
Head of Behavioral Science
@sawendel
Behavioral Science
and Better Benefits

2. Aren’t we shouting loud enough?
Why don’t employees read
benefits communications?
Why don’t they use & value
the benefits themselves?

3. Employees
are
constrained.

4. Everything important

5. Employee inaction
doesn’t mean disinterest

6. Our communications
drive (or hinder) action

7. There’s still a lot to learn

8. Today’s Journey
1 Introductions
2 Employees struggle to take action
3 Communications can help (a lot)
4 We should learn iteratively
5 Summary

9. Hi! I’m Steve.
Head of Behavioral Science
Morningstar

10. Until a few weeks ago, I worked here
Personalized financial guidance that transforms
financial lives through behavioral economics

11. Now, I’m at
Leading provider of independent investment advice,
serving millions of people everyday, around the world

12. Steve’s Job

13. Today’s Journey
1 Introductions
2 Employees struggle to take action
3 Communications can help (a lot)
4 We should learn iteratively
5 Summary

14. An explosion of new research

15. The
power
of defaults

16. Justice is Blind?
See Danziger (2011)

17. No, Justice is Hungry
See Danziger (2011)

18. No, no really

19. Employees often want to save, but struggle.
From Wright (2014), based on Choi et al. (2001)

20. 6 Potential Obstacles to Employee Action

21. How many will use the program?

22. Today’s Journey
1 Introductions
2 Employees struggle to take action
3 Communications can help (a lot)
4 We should learn iteratively
5 Summary

23. Here Are the Rules:
Answer within 5 seconds
5 for shouting it out correctly
0 for being silently right

24. Cue
Did they really see it?

25. When should you tell employees about a new
benefit offering?
10:30am Saturday 5:00pm Saturday 10:30am Sunday 5:00pm Sunday
11:00am Thursday 10:30am Thursday 10:30am Friday 8:00am Friday

26. Lesson: Align with times when your
employees are paying attention
10:30am Saturday 5:00pm Saturday 10:30am Sunday 5:00pm Sunday
11:00am Thursday 10:30am Thursday 10:30am Friday 8:00am Friday
6.4% clicked 7.2% clicked4.7% clicked 5.7% clicked
4.1% clicked 5% clicked4.5% clicked 5.9% clicked

27. Two powerful cue words: You and Free
See Ariely 2008

28. Reaction
Do your employees immediately shut down?

29. Reaction
vs.

30. Lesson: Make it beautiful and easy to scan
27% boost in account creation
vs.

31. Use humor

32. Evaluation
Is it actually right for them?

33. Evaluation
What are employees really looking for?

34. Lesson: What you care about may not be
what they care about.
52% increase in clicks

35. Ability
Can they actually take action (and do they know it?)

36. Ability
Which process do you want to undertake?

37. Lesson: Make sure they know they will succeed
Which process do you want to undertake?
5.5% clicked
8.5% clicked 6.9% clicked

38. Don’t overwhelm with lots of choices at once
(Simplify or use a hierarchy)

39. Timing
Why should they take action now?

40. Timing
“...If you sign up by 7PM today,
you are eligible to win a free
iPad mini!”
“...If you are one of the first 100
people to sign up, you are
eligible to win a free iPad mini!”

41. Lesson: Incentives can work
(for one-time actions)
“...If you sign up by 7PM today,
you are eligible to win a free
iPad mini!”
“...If you are one of the first 100
people to sign up, you are
eligible to win a free iPad mini!”
7.5% clicked
9.6% clicked 13.1% clicked

42. Obstacle: Try This:
Cue Move in front of the employee’s eye (Hijack habits)
Highlight the single next step that’s needed (Encapsulate CTAs)
Try again (Reminders)
Reaction Show that it’s normal (Social proof)
Make it personal
Invest in beautiful design
Evaluation Highlight the most relevant benefits
If it’s free for the employee, say that loud and clear
Make it a competition
Show them what they’ll lose (Loss aversion)
Ability Make it easier (Power of Small Frictions)
Decrease the number of options (Choice Overload)
Elicit Clear Actionable Plans (Implementation Intentions)
Timing Focus on the Present, Not the Future (Temporal Myopia)
Use Incentives & Scarcity
Use Focal Dates and Deadlines
Experience Break with the Past
Move On
Avoid the problem
Techniques:

43. Today’s Journey
1 Introductions
2 Employees struggle to take action
3 Communications can help (a lot)
4 We should learn iteratively
5 Summary

44. Err… sorry, not quite so simple.
10:30am Monday 10:30am Tuesday 8pm Tuesday
3.7% clicked 7.1% clicked 1.6% clicked

45. There are
no magic
wands.

46. Hundreds of RCTs – Big and Small –
On Usage and Impact
“...If you sign up by
7PM today,
you are eligible to
win a free iPad mini!”
“...If you are one of
the first 100 people
to sign up, you are
eligible to win a free
iPad mini!”

47. Most of our efforts
just don’t do much.

48. How To Do It
Gold Standard:
controlled experiments
Harder work for a
silver medal:
statistical models with
controls

49. Experiments in 2 Minutes
1 Everyone gets the benefit program or communication
2 Some get it sooner than others
3 “Roll a die” for each employee – ½ get it now, ½ get it
later
4 Compare how the groups do

50. Today’s Journey
1 Introductions
2 Employees struggle to take action
3 Communications can help (a lot)
4 We should learn iteratively
5 Summary

51. Employee inaction
doesn’t mean disinterest

52. Our communications
drive (or hinder) action

53. There’s still a lot to learn

54. Questions? Comments?
steve.wendel@morningstar.com
@sawendel