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Intranet evolution, best practices, and case studies by Toby Ward.

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Thursday, June 1

Intranet case study: Baxter International benefits portal

by Toby Ward on Thu 01 Jun 2006 06:54 PM PDT

(Employee Benefits Conference, Conference Board – New York City, NY) Baxter is a very big health sciences company with 50,000 employees in 120 locations in 110 countries. Known for medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology, Baxter has 67 manufacturing facilities.

Baxter does not have staff consultants for employee benefits. Benefits have been outsourced since the 1990s. At the heart of their benefits strategy is MyBenefitsAtBaxter.com – the employee benefits portal. This is available on the public Internet for anyone to see (though the key areas are of course password protected).

MyBenefitsAtBaxter.com features:

Personalized health and welfare personalization tools
Online health and welfare enrollment (U.S.)
New hires
Current employees with life changes
Annual enrollment
Online access and search of benefits information including summary plan descriptions
Online access to pension estimates and commencements

MyBenefits replaced the former voice recognition system (VRU) which accrued savings of between US$300,000–$350,000. The online system has replaced any print materials that existed formerly. Now employees have the option of printing from the benefits portal.

The portal itself was rolled-out over a four-phase period spanning seven months and is outsourced to EDS using their Authoria product.

Challenges to implementing the benefits portal:

Resistance from HR and employees to move from high touch, hand holding
Employees speak many languages (many do not speak or read English)
Many employees have limited computer skills
Some employees have limited access to computers

To overcome thee challenges the portal team developed and implemented a comprehensive communications strategy. Communications was tailored by audience: HR, new hires, existing employees, and senior leadership. A Field Change Team (HR professionals working at locations who helped design the site and the communications) measured the pulse of the audiences and collected input and feedback for making changes and tailoring the benefits portal.

Some print marketing is done to promote the annual enrollment including:

Special preview
Q&A and supporting documents
Reminder e-mails and v-mails
Enrollment packet and wallet card mailed to home
Payroll inserts (no longer done)
Local communications toolkits
Talking points for local HR leaders
Articles in local newsletters
Posters and computer screensavers

Baxter’s Pamela Friedman, senior manager, global HR services, says that one of the key lessons is that you can’t communicate enough! Particularly the ‘why’ and ‘what’s in it for me’ (employee). However, she adds, “The first time is always the hardest (moving online); each year gets more routine.”

Other key lessons offered by Friedman and her colleague Dawn Weber, corporate counsel and director, global HR services:

Don’t underestimate the impact of local HR reps
Be vigilant about shadow organizations

The key benefits to self-service benefits for Baxter have been:

Supporting growth
Employees better understand their compensation
Information is managed more effectively

Source: Intranet Communication Planning: Improving Understanding, Awareness, and Results, Pamela Firedman & Dawn Weber, Baster International, June 01, 2006