Employee satisfaction and the bottom lines for businesses improve with a strong benefits communication plan, a new white paper from Colonial Life suggests.

“Strong communication may be the single most important investment an employer can make in a benefits program,” says Tom Gilligan, Colonial Life’s senior vice president of marketing and branding, in a statement. “Communication outweighs even the richness of the benefits package when it comes to how much employees value their benefits program.”

The paper, which compiles recent information from national human resources and business research organizations, as well as its own proprietary research, examines the role of benefits communication in employee satisfaction and productivity, and the return on investment for employers who implement effective communication strategies.

About 90% of employers surveyed agree on the importance to their business that employees understand and appreciate their benefits, but only 21% said they think their employees actually have a good understanding of them.

Almost all of those surveyed (94%) are interested in gaining access to resources to help educate employees about benefits, and 90% of participants said having one-to-one meetings significantly improves employees’ understanding of their benefits.

About 85% of employees say they feel happy about their benefits enrollment when their employer gives them all the resources needed to make informed decisions, the white paper said.

The authors suggest employers can expect to realize key business and competitive advantages when they implement a strong benefits communication and education program, including decreased turnover, enhanced recruiting, increased enrollments, reduced benefits administration, more engaged and loyal employees, and improved productivity.