Voluntary benefits: 5 ways companies can educate employees

While there are many benefits to moving to a self-enrollment platform, voluntary benefits enrollment has suffered. Photo: Getty Images

Over the past several years, employers and insurance providers have transitioned from paper-based enrollment processes to digital platforms. The benefits are abundant: higher level of personalization; easier and more timely access to benefits; and a more streamlined, efficient and controllable process. You get it. Yet along the way, we started missing a level of engagement seen during the “old days” of face-to-face meetings and paper-based enrollment. While voluntary benefits aren’t as well-known as core insurance benefits like medical and dental, we see a clear need for better communications, education and overall engagement. Before we delve into the five ways in which employers can better educate employees on voluntary benefits, let’s spend a little time exploring this evolution.