What to Know When Partnering with a Benefits Administration Expert

There are several valuable benefits of contracting out some of your business’ human resources functions such as benefits administration. First, there are cost-savings for a relatively time-consuming responsibility in your business, and you could improve upon the quality of service that you provide in your business. A partnership with a benefits administration expert can benefit the business overall and individual employees. Here are some of the most important things to understand about the logistics of working with a benefits administration expert.

One-of-a-Kind

Your plan when contracting a benefits administration expert is customized to fit the unique needs and goals of your business. You can choose to either outsource your entire benefits activities or just some individual duties. Whenever you are looking to outsource, you should look for a company that can work with you to formulate a plan that meets your objectives in a way that will be manageable and affordable.

Compliance and Consistency

Using a benefits administration partner, you can find providers who have years of experience in the field. A third-party benefits provider will have expertise and knowledge about important compliance issues. This will reduce costly consequences related to errors or omissions in your benefits administration program. These partners will set standards and protocols for accomplishing tasks and responding to questions. If your employees can work with your benefits administration partner directly, it can be helpful for maintaining continuity in service provision. Employees are less likely to feel mistreated when working with a benefits administrator who is external to the company.

Save Time

An obvious advantage of outsourcing benefits administration is that it saves your human resources team members time to focus on other important tasks. Also, your employees won’t have to wait to get help because your in-house staff is too busy with other responsibilities to field their requests for help. However, you should remember that the initial period of transitioning to outsourced benefits administration may require a little more time commitment than the remainder of your working relationship will require. Be prepared to allocate some more time upfront to ensure a smooth transition.

Getting Through Virtual Open Enrollment Without Confusion

The benefits your company provides to employees are an important piece of their company commitment. It is benefits that allow them to take time off when they or a loved one is sick, and it's benefits that get them through some of life's most challenging times. Now, benefits are more important than ever. Perhaps because of COVID-19, this year your company will be offering virtual open enrollment

For now, gone are the days of tacking up important information in break rooms, and placing fliers on desks. If everyone is working virtually, you can’t execute your strategy by printing out bundles of fliers. If nobody is in the office to see these things, then the information will be lost and employees will be confused about how their benefits are changing and how they can opt into those changes.

Preparing to deliver the messaging about how benefits are changing and how open enrollment will be different will require working out strategy months in advance. Benefits enrollment is challenging already, so prepare for the challenge to be even greater. This is why how you advertise the benefits and enrollment must be effective.

Create content that delivers a clear message regarding any new benefits available to employees, and have a plan for how you're going to distribute that content. Posting messages on the company intranet, through email, during video conferences, webinars, and social media are just a few channels where you can reach your employees by virtual means. Another key area to reach out to employees is through text messaging.

No matter how many of these channels you utilize, it's important that you track the effectiveness of how they work. Get feedback from employees and see what knowledge they are gaining regarding virtual open enrollment, and which avenue they were more likely to gather this information. Knowing this information will help to improve your information distribution strategy.

You can even use software to help you gauge engagement. If you post videos, track the viewing stats, click-throughs, and how long employees spend watching the content. What devices are they most likely to view content on? You can gather this information through your web site's stats. Are they more likely to view it on their phones, or through their computers? Knowing this can help in how you design your messages.

Virtual open enrollment will be new to many of your employees who are more accustomed to in-person meetings Planning can help ease them through this transition.

Overcoming Open Enrollment Challenges Throughout a Rough Time

Even in the best of times, open enrollment can be challenging. Between educating staff about benefit options for the new plan year and tracking down paperwork from employees who travel and aren’t in the office much, it’s usually a high-stress time for the HR department. This year has an additional layer of complexity because many of the open enrollment activities will likely have to be virtual. At the same time, many people are more interested than ever in the details about their healthcare coverage with the threat of COVID-19 looming.

Make a Detailed Plan

Companies will face significantly more logistical problems this year since so many people are working remotely. It won’t be as simple as asking people to take one handout from each stack as they enter the meeting room. Make sure that all documentation is available in digital format and ready to email. However, be open to mailing hard copies to people who prefer to look at them in print.

Reduce Employee Fears

Companies often offset the rising cost of health coverage by increasing deductibles as a way to keep premiums affordable. One of this year’s enrollment challenges, with everyone’s concern about the pandemic, is that most people will be paying very close attention to any changes from the previous year’s plan. With this in mind, it may be beneficial to consider a more interactive method of enrollment. Rather than allowing employees to elect simply the same benefits as they had the prior year, have them go through the process of making their elections again, even if nothing has changed. It’s an excellent way for them to review what they currently have in place.

You Must Communicate

In open enrollment meetings, questions from the audience are a terrific learning opportunity for everyone. Presenters will find out which areas they need to explain in more detail next time, and the chances are good that several other people in the room or on the conference call have the same questions. Another one of the enrollment challenges each year is communicating the correct information to spouses and domestic partners who often get the information second hand. The good news is that since many of these meetings will be virtual this year, and so many people are working from home, more spouses and partners may have the opportunity to attend and have their questions answered by the experts.

Open enrollment can be challenging, especially in this challenging time. However, with careful planning and preparation, these challenges can be turned into opportunities for process improvements and employee engagement.

Tips for HR Departments to Reduce Open Enrollment Challenges

Companies that offer benefits to their full and part-time employees show their staff just how much they value them. During the open enrollment period at the end of the year, your team can renew for their benefits package and make sure they’re getting the best choices for their budget. Though beneficial for team members, the period presents new challenges to HR professionals. Here are a few tips to help reduce stress and confusion during the enrollment period each year.

Start Planning Early

You know that the annual enrollment period starts in November. Use this to your advantage. Start planning for those deadlines as early as you can. Put together new benefits packets that explain any updates or changes in coverage as soon as they’re finalized and pass them out to your employees several weeks before the enrollment period starts. The sooner they can review those changes, the less confused they’ll be when the time comes to enroll.

Focus on Being Helpful

Yes, the enrollment period is stressful and the changes to benefits packages may not be met with the enthusiasm that you hope, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stay positive and help your team understand those changes. Encourage employees to come to you with any questions they might have and take the time to answer them in detail.

Work to Find the Right Benefits Provider

Your benefits provider can make or break the open enrollment period. Do your due diligence before the period begins and make sure you’re working with the best provider for your business. If at any point you think that switching to a new provider would be beneficial for your company, consider making the switch. The more reputable the provider is and the more comprehensive the benefits they offer are, the more satisfied your team will be.

Get Your Team Excited

Enrolling in benefits plans can be stressful and time-consuming for employees and HR representatives alike. Getting your team excited about their health and encouraging them to be proactive in improving their physical wellness can go a long way toward getting them motivated to enroll in your benefits plans. Host regular exercise challenges, look for ways to encourage active movement throughout the day and build a sense of community around wellness and health. When you do, they’ll feel more involved, and enrolling in health insurance plans will just be another step in their wellness journey.

Keep these tips in mind as open enrollment gets closer and you’ll be able to handle the task easily. Contact us today for more information about open enrollment.