Key Takeaways
- Most benefits FAQs fail because they are organized by policy structure rather than employee intent.
- By writing questions in natural language ("Can I add my girlfriend?"), leading with the direct answer ("Yes, if you meet domestic partner criteria"), and organizing by life events (marriage, birth) rather than plan type, HR can create a resource that employees actually use and trust.
You have a benefits FAQ. Somewhere. It probably lives in a shared drive, or the intranet, or tucked inside a 47-page employee handbook. It technically answers the questions employees ask most often.
And yet employees keep asking you the same benefits questions.
The document exists. Nobody reads it. Or they open it, scroll for 20 seconds, give up, and walk over to Sarah in HR instead.
This isn't an awareness problem. It's a design problem. Most benefits FAQs are written for compliance, not for comprehension. They answer the questions HR thinks employees should ask, in the language HR uses internally, organized by the structure of the benefit plans themselves.
None of that matches how employees actually think about their benefits.
Here's how to fix it.
Start with the Questions People Actually Ask
If you want to build a benefits FAQ that works, start by collecting the real questions employees ask—not the ones you think they should ask.
Go through your HR inbox. Check your help desk tickets. Ask the people who field benefits questions what they hear most often. You'll find patterns fast.
The questions won't sound like your current FAQ. They'll sound like this:
- "Can I add my girlfriend to my insurance?"
- "What happens to my PTO if I quit?"
- "Do I have to use my FSA money by December?"
- "Is therapy covered?"
- "My kid just turned 26—now what?"
Notice how none of those start with "Per the terms of the PPO plan..." That's the gap. Your FAQ speaks policy. Your employees speak life.
Write in Employee Language
This is the single biggest shift most benefits FAQs need. The language has to match how people actually think and search.
Mirroring User Intent
Instead of: "What is the eligibility criteria for dependent coverage under the group health plan?"
Write: "Can I add my spouse or partner to my health insurance?"
Instead of: "What are the provisions for continuation of coverage under COBRA?"
Write: "What happens to my insurance if I leave the company?"
The question should sound like something a real person would type into a search bar or ask a coworker. If it sounds like it was written by a lawyer, rewrite it.
Quick test: Read each FAQ question out loud. If it doesn't sound like something you'd hear in a hallway conversation, it needs a rewrite.
Answer the Actual Question First
Most FAQ answers bury the lead. They start with context, caveats, and policy references before getting to what the employee actually wants to know.
The BLUF Method
BLUF stands for Bottom Line Up Front. It's a military communication technique, and it works perfectly for benefits FAQs.
Instead of: "Dependent eligibility is determined by the plan document and is subject to qualifying life event provisions. Under the current plan, domestic partners may be eligible if the employee completes the Affidavit of Domestic Partnership and provides supporting documentation within 31 days of the qualifying event..."
Write: "Yes, you can add a domestic partner to your insurance. You'll need to fill out a Domestic Partnership Affidavit and submit it within 31 days of moving in together or another qualifying event. Here's the form [link]."
Lead with the answer. Add the details after. Most employees will stop reading once they have what they need, and that's fine. The ones who need more detail will keep going.
Keep Answers Short
If your FAQ answer is longer than a paragraph, most employees won't read it. That's not a character flaw. It's how people consume information when they're looking for a specific answer.
The Scan-ability Test
For each answer, ask yourself: can someone get the gist by scanning for five seconds? If not, restructure it.
- Use bullet points for steps or lists.
- Bold the key information.
- Put the most important detail in the first sentence.
- Link to longer documents for people who need the full policy.
The goal is to answer the question, not to reproduce the plan document. If someone needs the full plan language, link to it. Don't paste it into the FAQ.
Organize Around Situations, Not Structures
Most benefits FAQs are organized by plan type: Medical, Dental, Vision, FSA, 401(k), Life Insurance.
That makes sense to HR. It doesn't make sense to an employee who just had a baby and needs to know what to do.
Life-Event Taxonomy
Try organizing your FAQ by the situations that trigger benefits questions:
- I'm getting married — what changes, what forms, what deadlines
- I'm having a baby — leave, insurance, FSA, beneficiary updates
- I'm leaving the company — COBRA, 401(k), PTO payout
- Someone in my family is sick — coverage, FMLA, EAP
- I'm retiring — pension, retiree benefits, Medicare coordination
Employees don't think in plan categories. They think in life events. Meet them where they are.
Think of it this way: Nobody wakes up wondering about their PPO. They wake up wondering what to do because their kid needs braces, or their spouse lost a job, or they just got engaged. Your FAQ should start from those moments.
Make It Findable
Even the best FAQ is useless if nobody can find it. This is part of building a good internal knowledge base. A few practical steps:
- Put it where people already are. If everyone lives in Slack or Teams, pin it there. If your intranet has good search, make sure the FAQ is indexed.
- Use real language in titles and headings. If someone searches "therapy covered," will your FAQ show up? It won't if the heading says "Mental Health Benefits Under the EAP."
- Send it proactively. When open enrollment starts, don't just send the enrollment link. Send the FAQ. When someone has a baby, send them the "I'm having a baby" section.
- Keep it updated. If your FAQ still references last year's plan, employees will stop trusting it. Date it. Review it quarterly.
Consider Going Beyond the Document
A static FAQ, no matter how well-written, still requires the employee to find it, open it, and search through it. That's friction.
The next evolution is making benefits answers available on demand—a true employee self-service knowledge base where employees can ask a question in plain language and get an answer pulled directly from your policies, with a citation so they know it's accurate.
That turns your carefully written FAQ from a document people might read into a knowledge base that actively answers questions. The work you put into clear language and good structure becomes the foundation for something that actually reaches employees at the moment they need it, like a digital job aid that's always available.
A Few More Quick Tips
- Include examples. "You can use your FSA for prescription sunglasses" is more helpful than "eligible vision expenses as defined by IRS Publication 502."
- Acknowledge the confusing parts. If something is genuinely complicated (like HSA contribution limits when you switch plans mid-year), say so. "This one's confusing—here's the simple version" builds trust.
- Test it with real employees. Before publishing, give the FAQ to five non-HR employees and ask them to find specific answers. Watch where they struggle. Fix those parts.
- Add a "still confused?" escape hatch. Every section should have a clear path to a human if the FAQ doesn't answer their question. That's not failure—it's good design.
JoySuite turns your benefits documentation into instant answers. Employees ask questions, Joy answers from your policies—with citations. No searching, no scanning, no hoping the FAQ has their question. Just answers.
