Providing employees with most suitable benefits plans is always an uphill battle for most of the employers. And when the season of open enrollment comes nearer, the challenges and chaos get bigger and more difficult.
As a careful employer, your prime objective is always offering your workforce not only the best but also the right plans that meet their current as well as upcoming healthcare needs. Plan selection if followed by making your employees understand the different benefit options such as how the plan works, how much it will cost them and what are the payment rules, etc. Even the recent studies have shown that 80% of small and mid-sized companies agree that it is very important for employees to understand benefit plans and offerings properly, while around 86% employees believe that their decision to stay with any employer very much depends on the benefits offerings made by the employer.
But, to make employees more informed and well prepared while making benefit selections, having efficient communication channels is a must. This will make your open enrollment procedure a winning process helping employees make well-informed benefit decisions.
Thus, to achieve it, you must start early in order to prepare yourself and your employees to have a smoother and seamless open enrollment period. Let’s discuss how to do it:
Revamp Your Outreach Approach!
In today’s busy work environment, you can’t expect a huge response from a single notification or an email. Now, it’s time to leverage more than one platform. For that, you can prepare a small marketing plan as a part of your open enrollment strategy to create a buzz among your employees before the season starts. Circulating reminders over different platforms across the organization will keep your employees in regular contact with the enrollment event and details related to upcoming changes in benefit offerings.
Moreover, evaluate your last enrollment season to identify any changes that need to be done or if there’s a need to bring in new technology solutions to make your enrollment procedure successful?
Try, Test And Implement!
HR pros can arrange one-on-one, face-to-face regular meeting with employees to clear their doubts and help them make decisions that are more informed and planned. As the season approaches, you can help your employees by giving proper training on using the automated systems as well as explaining them the complete background information of the offers. Moreover, to better prepare for the enrollment process, take guidance from an industry expert who can help your employees in reinforcing the options they have researched. This will help them contemplate better on their locked choices and preferences.
Keep The Benefits Buzz Alive All Year Round!
Don’t just talk about benefits during the open enrollment season, make it a round the year practice. Keeping employees in a loop about benefits and insurance coverage all year round will not only help them revise or re-shape their decision better, but also make them aware of any changes you plan to include in the offerings. Communicate the criticality of open enrollment, and how it is the only time they can change their plans as per their requirements. This will upsurge the relevancy of the enrollment procedure among them, and thus make them think about the options more precisely and well in time.
To Conclude:
Having proper and effective benefit communications will help your employees make better and well-informed benefits decisions. The regular reminders and buzz about the open enrollment will make them realize the importance of the event. As a result, more planned and appropriate decisions will be made during the enrollment season. Also, with the help of proper tech tools and industry experts, you can further make the process smoother and error-free.
As a careful employer, your prime objective is always offering your workforce not only the best but also the right plans that meet their current as well as upcoming healthcare needs. Plan selection if followed by making your employees understand the different benefit options such as how the plan works, how much it will cost them and what are the payment rules, etc. Even the recent studies have shown that 80% of small and mid-sized companies agree that it is very important for employees to understand benefit plans and offerings properly, while around 86% employees believe that their decision to stay with any employer very much depends on the benefits offerings made by the employer.
But, to make employees more informed and well prepared while making benefit selections, having efficient communication channels is a must. This will make your open enrollment procedure a winning process helping employees make well-informed benefit decisions.
Thus, to achieve it, you must start early in order to prepare yourself and your employees to have a smoother and seamless open enrollment period. Let’s discuss how to do it:
Revamp Your Outreach Approach!
In today’s busy work environment, you can’t expect a huge response from a single notification or an email. Now, it’s time to leverage more than one platform. For that, you can prepare a small marketing plan as a part of your open enrollment strategy to create a buzz among your employees before the season starts. Circulating reminders over different platforms across the organization will keep your employees in regular contact with the enrollment event and details related to upcoming changes in benefit offerings.
Moreover, evaluate your last enrollment season to identify any changes that need to be done or if there’s a need to bring in new technology solutions to make your enrollment procedure successful?
Try, Test And Implement!
HR pros can arrange one-on-one, face-to-face regular meeting with employees to clear their doubts and help them make decisions that are more informed and planned. As the season approaches, you can help your employees by giving proper training on using the automated systems as well as explaining them the complete background information of the offers. Moreover, to better prepare for the enrollment process, take guidance from an industry expert who can help your employees in reinforcing the options they have researched. This will help them contemplate better on their locked choices and preferences.
Keep The Benefits Buzz Alive All Year Round!
Don’t just talk about benefits during the open enrollment season, make it a round the year practice. Keeping employees in a loop about benefits and insurance coverage all year round will not only help them revise or re-shape their decision better, but also make them aware of any changes you plan to include in the offerings. Communicate the criticality of open enrollment, and how it is the only time they can change their plans as per their requirements. This will upsurge the relevancy of the enrollment procedure among them, and thus make them think about the options more precisely and well in time.
To Conclude:
Having proper and effective benefit communications will help your employees make better and well-informed benefits decisions. The regular reminders and buzz about the open enrollment will make them realize the importance of the event. As a result, more planned and appropriate decisions will be made during the enrollment season. Also, with the help of proper tech tools and industry experts, you can further make the process smoother and error-free.