Heidi tenBroek
Principal, Employee Communication Consultant
Seattle, WA, US
Heidi tenBroek focuses on conveying today's complex benefit issues to her clients to meet specific employer and employee needs. Clients rely on her ability to clarify, interpret, and apply details using sound communication principles.
Experience
Heidi has more than 17 years of experience in employee communication. Her specific areas of expertise include healthcare communication, retirement communication, and employee research.
Clients look to Heidi for strategic advice; project management; drafting; focus group facilitation, interviews, or surveys; technical and compliance expertise; and partnership.
Heidi's recent work has included:
- Creating communications to educate employees about healthcare reform
- Managing a communication campaign to introduce a high-deductible health plan and health savings account, including announcements and open enrollment materials
- Designing strategies to increase employees' awareness of an employer-funded defined contribution plan and increase employees' active direction of the investment of their accounts
- Designing and developing personalized total reward statements for employees and executives
- Developing a strategy and implementing a retirement plan choice communication campaign
- Maintaining ongoing support in a merger and acquisition, including strategic guidance, message platform development, ad hoc drafting, vendor coordination and reviews, and coordination with legal counsel
- Setting strategies to engage employees around healthcare issues and introduce tools and resources so employees can make active, informed decisions
- Creating communications around fund line-up changes to supplement record-keeper provided materials and prospectuses
- Developing non-qualified defined benefit and defined contribution plan materials, including summaries and enrollment materials
- Creating personalized total retirement statements to demonstrate the impact of plan changes on each individual employee
- Developing communication strategies and materials to announce defined benefit freezes combined with defined contribution enhancements
- Drafting reader-friendly materials to explain required notices, such as the Annual Funding Notice and the Health Insurance Marketplace notice
- Conducting focus groups with insurance brokers regarding healthcare exchanges
- Creating open enrollment and new hire materials
- Updating and rewriting retirement plan and health and welfare plan summary plan descriptions
Education
- Bachelor of Arts, Economics, Mills College
Publications
Read their latest work
Article
Inclusivity in employee benefits: DE&I concerns in plan design and communication
16 June 2023 - by Heidi tenBroek, Christal Morris, Stephanie Peterson
In time for Pride month, Milliman DE&I and benefits experts discuss how plan design and communication can help foster diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Article
Three ways to contribute to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion through employee communications
23 June 2021 - by Heidi tenBroek, Rebecca Schiffer
Using inclusive language consistently and pervasively sends a strong message that inclusivity is a value of your organization. Your employees will notice.
Article
Case study: Communicating a voluntary early retirement program
18 June 2021 - by Heidi tenBroek, Sharon Stocker
Milliman case study: How we helped a company needing to cut its workforce convince 35% of participants to voluntarily accept early retirement.
Article
The "1-2-3s" of pension derisking: Three tactics for financial stability
04 June 2021 - by Zorast Wadia, Heidi tenBroek
Once-in-a-lifetime financial crises push Fortune 100 companies to financial stability.
Article
Critical Point Episode 13: HR communication for Millennials, Gen-Xers and more
31 May 2019 - by Jill Godschall, Heidi tenBroek
What makes HR communication effective for Millennials, Gen-Xers, and Boomers today?
Article
Making frequent acquisitions more manageable for HR
24 July 2018 - by Heidi tenBroek
A chemical distribution company, which was facing disruption and a strain on resources due to lots of merger activity, turns to Milliman for help with compensation, benefits, and human resources.
Article
Bringing two organizations together as (almost) equal partners
24 July 2018 - by Heidi tenBroek
Milliman assisted two health systems that came together to form a new affiliation and blend shared service capabilities.
Article
Health and Group Benefits News and Developments, March 2018
03 April 2018 - by Marcella Giorgou, Heidi tenBroek, Stephanie Peterson
Health and group benefits news and developments in the United States.
Article
Effective employee communication: The benefits of best practices
17 April 2017 - by Sharon Stocker, Heidi tenBroek
Communications is vital to inform and influence how employees think about their benefits, workplace, and employer.
Article
Central States ruling highlights the importance of communication
10 May 2016 - by Heidi tenBroek