Offering great benefits is one thing. Getting employees to meaningfully use them, especially when it comes to benefit reserves and health-focused programs, is another. This post outlines how organizations can build a culture of participation with a program like the Paradigm Integrated Healthcare Plan. By encouraging employees to engage, organizations can improve health outcomes and maximize their investment in benefits.
Why Participation Matters (Beyond “Nice to Have”)
Before diving into tactics, it’s worth reminding ourselves of why engagement is critical:
- Low utilization of benefits, even excellent ones, is common. Some benefits, like EAPs, show utilization under 10 %.
- Section 125 Cafeteria Plans, like the Paradigm Integrated Healthcare Plan, require a minimum level of engagement in order to be compliant.
- Underuse means employees aren’t getting the intended support, and employers don’t receive ROI on benefits spending.
- Active engagement helps embed a culture of wellness, preventive care, and proactive health behaviors.
- Effective participation in programs can shift health risks earlier, reducing downstream costs and improving morale.
- Engaged employees feel the employer cares, which helps retention, satisfaction, and trust.
Encouraging participation is not just a “benefits admin job,” it’s a cultural effort that intersects communications, leadership, incentives, and behavioral design.
Key Strategies to Foster Engagement with Paradigm
Below are actionable strategies that Prodigy recommends to drive participation, especially around benefit reserves and health-focused offerings.
Communicate Year-Round (Not Just at Open Enrollment)
- Send periodic reminders and refreshers about available benefits, deadlines, and how to use reserved balances.
- Tie communications to relevant “moments” such as flu season, back-to-school, new-year health resolutions, and other timely events.
- Use a multi-channel approach to reach employees. Email, intranet, posters, team meetings, digital signage and more can help encourage engagement.
- Provide quick “how-to” content showing how employees can log in, check reserves, submit claims, or schedule preventive care.
Train & Empower Managers as Benefit Champions
- Equip managers with conversation guides, talking points, and quick “benefit highlights” to mention during one-on-ones or team meetings.
- Encourage managers to model participation, share how they use benefits, or schedule preventative health actions. That normalization helps reduce stigma around using benefits.
- Hold brief manager training sessions to help them understand how the Paradigm Integrated Healthcare Plan (or your benefits plan) works, how to present data, and how to encourage usage.
Integrate into Onboarding & Culture Building
- Introduce Paradigm and benefits reserves early in new-hire orientation, not just as a perfunctory benefits overview, but as an ongoing “tool for wellness.”
- Incorporate health and benefit planning into annual “culture sessions” or town halls.
- Celebrate “benefit success stories” with employees’ consent, highlighting those who saved via preventive care or used reserves for meaningful health interventions.
Nudge & Remind via Behavioral Design
- Use “nudges” such as default reminders like “You have benefits reserve available, would you like to schedule an appointment?”)
- Send periodic “use-it reminders” especially as plan-year deadlines approach.
Highlight the Health & Financial ROI with Real Value Stories
- Publish anonymized case studies or summaries demonstrating how employees used reserves to cover preventive or unexpected health costs, reducing out-of-pocket expenses.
- Use infographics or dashboards showing collective savings, health metrics, or utilization trends.
- Frame benefit usage as not just “cost use” but as protective measures for long-term health and financial security.
Measure, Monitor & Iterate
- Regularly track utilization metrics, such as the percentage of employees using reserves, average balances left unused, and health program participation.
- Solicit feedback via pulse surveys: What barriers do employees face in using their reserves?
- Adjust timing, communication frequency, or platform design based on data and feedback.
How Prodigy Helps You Build Engagement Around Paradigm
At Prodigy Benefit Management, we don’t just implement the Paradigm Integrated Healthcare Plan. We help you build the behavioral infrastructure for high adoption and engagement.
With our support, your benefits investment becomes a living, breathing part of your culture, not a passive perk.
