Thinking of ways to make the open enrollment process easier and more effective may keep HR managers awake at night.
At ING Employee Benefits, we've found working closely with an enrollment firm can help create a unified, more effective benefits enrollment campaign. Here are a few keys to success to share with your clients:
1. Avoid pre-packaged solutions. Work with carriers and enrollment firms that are willing to get to know you and your workforce, and your unique needs. In order to maximize efficiency and uptake, target your education and communication efforts to specific pockets of your population.
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2. Avoid information overload. You want your employees to understand the benefits you offer, but many employees are overwhelmed with information at enrollment time. This can have a negative impact on participation. A multi-phased communication approach will help raise awareness of the benefits in your plan and make the enrollment process easier. Use a variety of communication tools in order to reach your entire employee population, and you'll end up with employees who are more educated and more satisfied with their benefits.
3. Highlight benefits through effective communication. Use communication media relevant to your employee audience. Instead of just e-mail or flyers, consider podcasts, Web-based seminars, intranet articles, employee blog posts, or system-wide voicemail messages. For employees without computers or regular office workspaces, consider staff meetings or paycheck stuffers as opportunities to deliver benefits messages.
4. Consider your timing. Sending information too far in advance of an enrollment may cause employees to desensitize or forget. Sending information too close to an enrollment may not allow people to work the enrollment into their schedules — or determine their true benefits needs with their family members.
5. Use a benefit counselor. Enrollment firms can provide a benefit counselor, who will sit down one-on-one with your employees and help them make more informed benefit selections. This can be especially helpful in years when you have significant plan changes.
6. Write for the layperson. Having a clear communication campaign — written in a manner that employees understand, without a lot of legal and technical jargon — facilitates their understanding of your benefits. Also consider the multicultural nature of your employees when developing your campaign, in order to ensure that language and cultural issues are considered.
7. Measure results. You won't know if your open enrollment is working well unless you examine how your employees are participating. Use this data to make just-in-time changes to your enrollment strategy, if necessary.
Using these tips can also help decrease the number of support calls made to benefits staff, increase employee engagement metrics, meet benefits cost targets, and may even help HR managers get a little more sleep.
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