What’s the worst time of year for HR professionals? According to GuideSpark, 82% say it’s open enrollment. HR teams are challenged to coordinate with upper management and benefits providers, then plan and implement employee engagement strategies to communicate complex topics. And of course, they must answer lots of questions, often with insufficient resources to do so.
It's not a great time for employees, either. According to MetLife, nearly one-third of employees procrastinated when selecting their benefits, and 37% wish they’d had more time to make the right choices.
And yet a benefits plan is second only to pay when it comes to employee satisfaction, according to the Society of Human Resource Management. That means a low-stress and successful open enrollment process benefits everyone. Here are five steps that can help.
- Recognize the need for ongoing education. According to Aflac, 76% of companies think their employees understand their health care costs well, but only 52% of employees said they do. Look for ways to communicate benefits year-round to increase understanding and help employees make informed choices, all while reducing the need for HR staff to explain benefits and answer questions during the open enrollment crunch. And here’s a bonus: MetLife’s Employee Benefit Trends Study found that workers who understand their benefits tend to be happier.
- Keep it simple. The days of thick, printed benefits guides are over. Consider using a centralized, on-demand library of multimedia and web-based communications, including intranet, infographics, video library and decision-support tools like a flexible spending account calculator and plan comparisons. This approach helped one company reduce their HR support calls by 38% and overall open enrollment costs by 77%. ADP found that 86% of organizations believe that 24/7 web portal access to benefits information can be cheaper than traditional town hall meeting-style education tactics.
- Use employee texting for important information. While emails typically have a 20% open rate, the rate for the average text message is 98%. Workforce texting is a proven solution to drive engagement, compliance and urgency.
- Empower managers. MetLife found that nearly half of employees didn’t consult others before enrolling in benefits and were less likely to fully understand their benefits. Providing managers with the information and training they need allows them to be trusted advisors to their direct reports during the benefits election process and can help increase employee satisfaction.
- Partner with experts. Some employers require a more robust service relationship with a group like the Vanderbilt Health Employer Success Team. The team develops communication plans and materials that are clear, concise and engaging for our employer partners. These partners also have access to an Employer Hub, which provides on-demand digital, print and video resources, plus curated health and wellness content that can be used for internal publications or health navigation apps.
The bottom line: Through timely and effective communications, your team can take full advantage of the investment you have made in their health.
