Help plan participants understand and make the most of their benefits and give them the information they need to take care of their family’s health and save for a comfortable retirement.
We provide full-service employee benefits communications consulting designed to engage and educate participants and customized to meet the unique needs of plans of all sizes. We help support and extend the capabilities of internal staff, providing a wide range of communications services including:
We work on an ongoing basis with multiemployer trusts and other health & welfare and retirement plans to provide communications strategy and counsel. Our approach is first to develop an overall communications strategy and plan that meets the plan’s unique objectives and is designed to most effectively reach participants. This process provides a strategic view of all communications needs and provides a roadmap for communications going forward. We then help implement the plan with regular participant communications throughout the year that educate participants about their benefits and encourage them to take advantage of cost-savings, wellness or other programs. This is an overview of a typical communications strategy and planning process for a Taft-Hartley Trust client:
We assist clients on an ongoing or project basis, developing and helping manage participant outreach and education efforts. We work closely with the administrator, as well as vendors, service providers, and other plan professionals as needed, to ensure consistent and regular communications to participants – and to make any needed modifications to the plan to accommodate new developments. We develop a range of communications, including:
We help clients create clear and attractive plan documents and compliance communications for plan participants including Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs), letters, FAQs, forms, and notices. With experience writing and editing both long-form and short-form documents, and a focus on making complex, technical information understandable to a lay audience, we draft and edit plan documents, organizing all information into an accurate, comprehensive, up-to-date and easy to understand document. We then manage the review and approval process with administrators, legal counsel, and others to produce professionally designed documents that are easy to scan and understand.
A distinct brand can help build greater brand awareness and trust among participants. We have helped multiemployer trusts develop a visual identity that helps create consistency and allows participants to understand the nature of communications at a glance. Our services include professional logo design, development of brand guidelines to ensure all communications materials are immediately identifiable, and naming.
Using the latest UX/UI practices, we create mobile-friendly and fully responsive WordPress sites developed for maximum performance, positive user experience across all browsing devices, easy management, search engine readability and longevity. We also provide a fully managed, dedicated WordPress hosting solution that includes a dedicated WordPress server, daily backups with immediate restore facility, a permanent staging site for development and testing, security and performance features, and ongoing maintenance including monthly software and plugin updates.
Surveys and focus groups can be excellent tools for multiemployer plans of all types to better understand and serve their changing workforce and diverse participant population. Whether contemplating benefit design changes, implementing new wellness or cost-savings programs, or fine-tuning communications, market research can help. Online surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews can help Trusts better understand their participants’ satisfaction with their plan, their awareness of benefits and how to use them, their level of retirement readiness and financial literacy, how they like to be communicated with, and more.
We work on an ongoing basis with multiemployer trusts and other health & welfare and retirement plans to provide communications strategy and counsel. Our approach is first to develop an overall communications strategy and plan that meets the plan’s unique objectives and is designed to most effectively reach participants. This process provides a strategic view of all communications needs and provides a roadmap for communications going forward. We then help implement the plan with regular participant communications throughout the year that educate participants about their benefits and encourage them to take advantage of cost-savings, wellness or other programs. This is an overview of a typical communications strategy and planning process for a Taft-Hartley Trust client:
We assist clients on an ongoing or project basis, developing and helping manage participant outreach and education efforts. We work closely with the administrator, as well as vendors, service providers, and other plan professionals as needed, to ensure consistent and regular communications to participants – and to make any needed modifications to the plan to accommodate new developments. We develop a range of communications, including:
We help clients create clear and attractive plan documents and compliance communications for plan participants including Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs), letters, FAQs, forms, and notices. With experience writing and editing both long-form and short-form documents, and a focus on making complex, technical information understandable to a lay audience, we draft and edit plan documents, organizing all information into an accurate, comprehensive, up-to-date and easy to understand document. We then manage the review and approval process with administrators, legal counsel, and others to produce professionally designed documents that are easy to scan and understand.
A distinct brand can help build greater brand awareness and trust among participants. We have helped multiemployer trusts develop a visual identity that helps create consistency and allows participants to understand the nature of communications at a glance. Our services include professional logo design, development of brand guidelines to ensure all communications materials are immediately identifiable, and naming.
Using the latest UX/UI practices, we create mobile-friendly and fully responsive WordPress sites developed for maximum performance, positive user experience across all browsing devices, easy management, search engine readability and longevity. We also provide a fully managed, dedicated WordPress hosting solution that includes a dedicated WordPress server, daily backups with immediate restore facility, a permanent staging site for development and testing, security and performance features, and ongoing maintenance including monthly software and plugin updates.
Surveys and focus groups can be excellent tools for multiemployer plans of all types to better understand and serve their changing workforce and diverse participant population. Whether contemplating benefit design changes, implementing new wellness or cost-savings programs, or fine-tuning communications, market research can help. Online surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews can help Trusts better understand their participants’ satisfaction with their plan, their awareness of benefits and how to use them, their level of retirement readiness and financial literacy, how they like to be communicated with, and more.
Acquired in 2023, Aukema & Associates is the communications division of Rael & Letson. In addition to full-service employee benefits communications consulting, Aukema provides marketing and strategic communications consulting to a wide range of health, telecom, transportation, professional services and other organizations.
Aukema Website
We work closely with plan administrators, Trustees, plan service providers, and other plan professionals to inform and educate participants. Communications are customized based on the demographics of your plan participants and aligned with your plan or fund goals.
We have nearly 20 years’ experience providing strategic communications for multiemployer health & welfare and retirement plans.
We offer every level of communications support for plans of all sizes, working with you in the way that best meets your needs.
We are dedicated to delivering timely, dependable client service and clear, transparent client communications.
Our commitment stems from understanding everything we do affects real people and their health and financial well-being.
We are here to help as your goals shift, new communications challenges arise, or new plans are implemented. We care about our clients on a personal level and go the extra mile to build strong, long-lasting client relationships.
Jeff Frizzell & Charity Gourley spoke at the NWAA conference on the application process & communication for Special Financial Assistance.
Read moreRael & Letson acquires full-service communications agency, Aukema & Associates! Now operating as the Communications Consulting Division.
Read moreClear, consistent and regularly scheduled communications can help plan participants understand and make the most of their benefits.
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