Voluntary Groundhog Day
Like Bill Murray in the film, we need to think through how we can improve each aspect of enrollment planning to build greater success.
The most memorable image from the movie ”Groundhog Day” is Bill Murray waking up to his alarm every morning at 6:00, realizing that he is to spend another day doing the same thing.
In the voluntary benefits world, we have our own Groundhog Day: fall enrollment. We repeat the past as we plan enrollments, and it is easy to fall into a rut. If that happens, we’re unlikely to make the most of our opportunities.
Like Bill Murray in the film, we need to think through how we can improve each aspect of our planning to build greater success.
Related: Applying Newton’s laws of motion to annual enrollment
Let’s walk through the steps it takes to plan appropriately for the upcoming season. This will help you manage your resources in all areas: marketing communications, case management, system support, training and enrollment.
1. Review your employer customers. For each employer, review whether locations have changed, any significant changes in workplace demographics, and the number of employees by location. Make sure you allow for changes as you plan.
2. Review your experience from the prior year. Were there any problems during the enrollment that need to be addressed? Make sure you review any post-enrollment surveys. Were the results consistent with your expectations? If not, analyze the reasons for the shortfall.
3. Study the products to be enrolled. Are there new products this year? Have the insurance companies’ products changed? Any changes in this area will require new enrollment processes and additional pre-enrollment training.
4. Review the enrollment system. Has the system changed during the past year? Will your enrollment team need hardware?
5. Review the enrollment meetings your team will conduct. Make sure to conduct a dialogue with the employer if new products or systems are being introduced. An employer may wish to have only call center support from your team, while the best enrollment scenario would be on-location meetings. Make recommendations and don’t settle. For example, in-person one-on-one meetings may be appropriate for complicated products or new systems, whereas simple products and minor changes may be best handled through group meetings.
6. Plan your communication strategy. In a perfect world, you could create a communication strategy that would be effective for all of your customers. Unfortunately, customers will offer widely varying product mixes and will be using multiple systems. During the summer, your marketing team will need to create campaign material that is flexible enough to tailor the communication plan to the employer. You need to know how the employer prefers to communicate with employees about benefits, using their systems and processes as much as possible.
Even though many employees prefer digital communications, it’s always a good idea to supplement with traditional paper. Employee demographics also play a significant role. In many cases, multiple languages need to be supported.
The final item to consider is allocation of resources to maximize results. Evaluate each opportunity for its probable profitability, its future growth opportunity, and its complexity.
Unlike Bill Murray, we do not get to perfect our process through unlimited chances. We need to use our time wisely this summer while planning for the fall enrollment season.