Prince William County Public Schools and the Stress-Relieving, Orientation-Improving, Millennial-Friendly Communication Fix

The Problem

Every summer, PWCS hires close to 1,000 employees. For the benefits team, this meant running numerous 90-minute benefits orientation meetings and answering many basic benefits questions in a small window of time. It was important to the team that these new hires fully understood the differences between plans and got answers to their situation-specific questions. But they didn’t have the bandwidth to successfully do that. In their own words, they were “drowning.

The Plan

The team began sending the ALEX link to job recruits along with their offer letters to help them understand the value of the PWCS benefits package. They also sent their ALEX link to all new hires in advance of their orientation meeting, so they’d be able to educate themselves before the meeting, and be ready to ask better, more productive questions.

The Outcome

With ALEX, the team was able to spend significantly less time answering basic questions from employees who’d call or drop by their office. The team felt “less panicked” during their very busy hiring season; made their orientation meetings shorter and more efficient; and were thrilled that they could now provide convenient, personalized benefits guidance to all their employees.

In addition, with ALEX as their sidekick, the team had more time to focus on high-level strategic projects that usually stayed on the backburner. They also felt they had a leg up in recruiting. Said one team member: “I’ve heard my peers say, ‘I wish I had ALEX.’”