There's nothing quite like open enrollment season, is there?
It's almost like a wedding. You spend all year getting ready for it, everyone shows up and its over before you know what happened. (And hopefully no one passed out.)
At the risk of mixing my metaphors like some bad rap lyric boast, it's our Black Friday. It's our own make-or-break day(s) of the year.
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So imagine my own surprise when I stumbled onto some OSHA numbers earlier this week. (And don't ask. Let's just say that, for a bunch of young-ish media people, we have a lot of injuries around here.)
At any rate, OSHA reports on a CareerBuilder.com study that revealed a whopping 23 percent of employees simply don't pay attention when the company tells them about new, potentially cost-saving benefits.
And it goes without saying that those "missed-out-on" benefits carry a hefty price, which should be enough to draw more attention this lean holiday season. The study adds that more than half of employers — 52 percent — found that "missing open enrollment costs workers $250 or more in out-of-pocket expenses and 20 percent of employers said it costs workers $1,000 or more."
Sounds like a little extra effort on your part — a more interactive presentation, user-friendly handouts, maybe even an extra (laymen's) explanation could go a long way this year. Here's a thought: Kick your next enrollment meeting off with a dollar figure — as in how much you can save them next year. I bet that'll wake them up faster than a better batch of coffee.
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