Newton's laws ofmotion may have been the bane of your high school existence, but inreality, they affect every part of our lives, including annualenrollment! (Photo: Shutterstock)

This is the time of year when most benefits professionals aretaking a slight breather after completing the fall annual enrollment season. In reality, most ofyou are already actively reviewing the results before you start to plan for this year's enrollment.

As you prepare for the year ahead, think back many moons ago tosome of the first lessons you had in physics. Newton's laws ofmotion may have been the bane of your high school existence, but inreality, they affect every part of our lives, including annualenrollment!

According to research conducted by Alight Solutions after thefall 2018 enrollment season, only 54 percent of employeesactively enrolled in their benefits, meaning almost half ofemployees chose to do nothing, which could mean keeping last year'scoverage at current rates, missing an opportunity to contribute toa health savings account (HSA) or flexiblespending account (FSA), or enroll in new benefits offerings. Infact, only 16% of employees changed their medical plan from theprior year. These enrollment rates have remained fairly consistentacross the last several years.

One thing is clear from these results: workers' behavior duringthe enrollment period mirrors that of Newton's first law ofmotion.

To give a quick refresher, the first law of motion states thatan object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by aforce.

Let's see it in practice:

Employees that did enroll or make changes to their benefitsduring annual enrollment likely had an external force acting uponthem such as changes to the benefits they were enrolled in, annualcost increases, or changes in their family situation. Mostemployees (i.e., the objects) began annual enrollment at rest andthey stayed there throughout the process.

Newton's other two laws of motion explain how to change themotion of an object:

• An object's rate of change is proportional to the force appliedagainst it.
• For every force, there is an equal and opposite force.

These laws can also be applied to annual enrollment and helpgive benefits professionals some guidance if they want to increaseemployees' active participation this year.

First, define specific, measurable goals andobjectives for the upcoming enrollment season. Most employers havegeneral goals such as increase HDHP enrollment or “no noise” fromemployees. The problem is that it is difficult to measure successagainst those goals. By taking the step to clearly define andmeasure goals, organizations will be able to determine how muchforce to exert on their employees. For example, increasing HSAcontributions and number of HSA participants by 10% may requireless force than a 50% increase in high deductible health plan(HDHP) enrollment.

Second, exert force. Remember, force needs tobe applied to move an object at rest or change the direction of theobject. Employees will keep doing what they've always done unlessforce is exerted, or a specific action is required of them. Themore aggressive the organization's goals, the more force may beneeded. Consider plan design, administrative practices, andcommunication levers to exert the force needed. Here are a fewideas for effectively applying force:

• Differentiation: Is there enoughdifference between features and costs of medical plans? Achieving a20 percent increase in HDHP enrollments is unlikely tohappen if the premium for the HDHP is the same as medical planswith lower deductible and/or co-pays.
• Change defaults: Consider changingyour HSA default strategy during open enrollment. According toresearch from Alight, employers that default the HSA to theemployee's current contribution see significantly higher employeeparticipation rates in the HSA compared to employers that defaultthe employee's contribution to zero each year.
• Give suggestions: Alight researchshows that when employees receive personalized benefit suggestions,employers are more likely to achieve their enrollment goals: 35percent of customers change their medical option – double the rateof employees that do not receive a benefits suggestion; and 77percent of employees contribute to an HSA compared to 61 percentfor employees that do not receive a benefits suggestion.Suggestions provide employees with a cognitive “anchor” from whichto adjust enrollment decisions. In absence of a suggestion, theanchor is often the employee's current plan.
• Consider activeenrollment: Generally, most employees keep thesame benefits they currently have unless they want or need to makea change. Understanding this to be the case, companies shouldconsider conducting an active enrollment that requires allemployees to make new benefit choices and default them to nocoverage if they don't enroll. According to research from Alight,organizations using an active enrollment strategy often seeenrollment rates of 85 percent or higher. But to keepemployees from simply re-enrolling in the same plans they're intoday, you'll also need to shake up the benefit offerings orpremiums more than normal. Requiring people to mechanicallyre-enroll without benefit changes creates more noise than the valuethe organization may achieve.
• Decision support: Annual enrollmentcan be overwhelming, and people need and want more help to make themost appropriate decision for their coverage. According to Alight'sdata, people believe decision support tools are valuable—especiallythose that provide more personal and relevant content and services.Decision support tools like health care cost modelers, providersearch tools, plan comparisons and guided enrollment experienceshelp make the enrollment process easier.

Next, plan for the equal and oppositereaction: When organizations exert force,employees will react. Remove barriers and reduce friction whereverpossible. Help employees understand what's happening and why, andbe ready for their reaction.

• Segment benefits communications to better educate and promoteyour organization's benefits strategy.
• Communicate with employees and their family members through thechannels they prefer including digital (email, text, online),webinars and even employee meetings. Personalize the messages tomake the most impact.
• Make sure operations are ready. Is the organization prepared tohandle any increase in calls from employees? Can the website handleany additional traffic? Will employees have the tools they need tomake complex decisions?

Finally, continually validate that plan design,administrative and communication decisions are aligned with theoverall goals and adjust as necessary. Without alignment, any forceapplied might not move the object in the desired direction. It canbe quite easy to get off track or lose sight of the biggerpicture.

As you enjoy the slight breather before the heavy lifting ofplanning begins for the 2019 enrollment season, keep these laws ofmotion in mind. While it's commonplace to reflect on enrollmentdata annually and make key decisions in next year's enrollmentprocess based on that information, too often, we leave out thehuman aspect of the process and forget to take a step back and lookat the motivations behind the decisions our employees make. Thanksto Newton and his three laws of motion, we can confidently approachthe upcoming enrollment period with the understanding that workersneed a nudge from their employers in order to maximize the value ofthe benefits they receive.

Read more:

• Seeing the whole person: Make open enrollment workfor everyone
• 5 communication insights (and actions) for openenrollment
• 5 strategies to improve CDH adoption this openenrollment season

Karen Frost is seniorvice president of health strategy and solutions at Alight Solutions. She hasmore than 25 years of experience in health solutions and isresponsible for growing and innovating Alight's healthsolutions.

Sara Taylor isa product development leader within Alight's health solutionsbusiness. She is responsible for innovating and developing Alight'shealth solutions.