Now that we’ve had some time to reflect on this past enrollment season, we developed a few tips for more engaging enrollments. Employers are typically responsible for providing adequate healthcare coverage for their full-time employees. We get it — open enrollment can be a very stressful and confusing time for both employees and employers! Here are a few recommendations for smoothing out the open enrollment season next time around.
Grab Everyone’s Attention
With COVID-19 entering the chat in 2020, posters, desk drops and tabletop cards reminding employees of open enrollment quickly became outdated and unusable. Due to a vast majority of employees and companies operating virtually, open enrollment reminders and processes did the same. The use of email, text messages, custom websites, videos, and other digital content was critical to this year’s enrollment success. Remember — not every one of your employees communicates the same, so be sure to use all the means of communication to match your companies work environment.
Communicate Essential Data
With communications transitioning to an entirely digital platform, it is important to emphasize the most critical information. Briefly outline all available enrollment options when communicating with your employees and stress key changes, additions, and deletions. Nobody likes extra stress! Leaving out key information will result in stress for both you and your employees. Ensure you provide your employees with all the details they need and offer access to a benefit professional to answer any further questions they may have during the enrollment process.
Partner with a Benefits Professional
By partnering with an experienced enrollment firm, you will get the expertise needed to capture your employee’s attention, communicate effectively, and provide the helpful resources needed for employees to make the best decision for them. Partnering with a benefits professional will lead to stress-free enrollment process.
Keep the Convo Coming
Every year, open enrollment expires, but the topic of benefits persists. You truly never know what comes up in your employees’ lives, so be sure to send a brief word of advice regarding how everyone’s health-related assets can best be utilized. In addition to keeping the benefits conversation open, ensure you solicit feedback concerning the quality of everyone’s experience and what features they would like to see implemented in the future. As always, take all matters seriously and discuss openly if switching plans at the next enrollment session would be welcome.
In the current day and age, the benefits your office provides are as important as the salaries you pay. Benefits are a vital incentive for your staff to remain healthy, focused, and ready to work every single day! Interested in learning more about hiring a benefits professional for your business’ next open enrollment? Contact PWS today to get started!