3 ways to present open enrollment as a financial check-up

Open enrollment has a bad reputation. For many employees, it’s that special time each year when they have just a few short weeks to make crucial choices about subjects that confuse and overwhelm them. It’s a magical dance of stress, procrastination, and last-minute scrambling, and when it’s all over, they take a collective sigh of relief and stop thinking about their benefits for another year.

Financial wellness programs, on the other hand, are more relaxed—a little too relaxed. They usually consist of well-intentioned lectures about how employees should budget their paycheck once it’s cashed. And since there’s no hard deadline, most employees just hit the snooze button on your advice again and again, as they struggle daily with the stress caused by unexpected bills and an uncertain future.

Related: Employee financial stress: How to recognize and address this growing workplace problem

But if you provide pre-tax benefits to your employees—like an HSA, FSA, or a 401(k)—you are uniquely positioned to help them improve their financial health in a way that is meaningful and measurable. If you present Open Enrollment to your employees as an annual financial check-up, you can help them make decisions that will protect them from sudden expenses, put them on the path to a comfortable retirement, and make them see just how valuable their benefits are.

You just need a good hook. Here are three ways to present your open enrollment as an annual financial check-up:

1. Open enrollment is the perfect time to look at what you spent last year, and set aside what you’ll need next year.

Plans can change from year to year. An employee might be expecting a surgery, or starting a family, or taking an online knife-juggling course. The point is, when plans change, medical needs—and costs—can change, too. A medical plan that worked fine last year might not be the best financial option next year.

Open enrollment is the perfect time for your employees to assess their needs, and then choose a medical plan that fits them best—both in care and cost. Ideally, they have access to a decision support tool that can walk them through their options and estimate how much they’d spend on each plan, based on the care they might need. If that’s not available, then some helpful messaging could remind them to consider any big life changes when they’re choosing a plan, and offer some guidance about what kind of questions they should be asking if they want to make the smartest financial decision.

2. Open enrollment is the perfect time to revisit your pre-paycheck choices to save as much as possible on taxes.

Your employees probably know exactly how much they pay per month for rent, mortgage, internet or their mobile phone plan. But they may not know how much they pay each month in insurance premiums or taxes—or how much they save with pre-tax accounts. That’s because all of those things happen before they cash their check. For good or bad, those costs and savings are invisible.

That’s why open enrollment is such an essential moment in your employees’ financial health. Once per year, they have deadline-driven opportunity to reconsider what they spend their paycheck on—before they get their paycheck. If their employer can clearly show the benefit of contributing to a pre-tax account like a 401(k) or an HSA—the choices they make during open enrollment will help them save money all year long. (And it doesn’t hurt that the company pays less in payroll taxes, too.)

3. Open enrollment is the perfect time to take a holistic view of your finances and determine your priorities.

Your employees have more than medical plans and pre-tax accounts on their minds. They might be dealing with any number of other financial challenges—like student loans, credit card debt, or saving up for a house. If you want this financial check-up to feel meaningful, it has to be personal and relevant to their whole situation.

One of the most helpful things you can do is give your employees guidance on which challenge to tackle first. At Jellyvision, we usually suggest the following priorities:

1. Create an emergency fund of at least $400 (to prevent surprise bills from becoming ongoing debt)
2. Take advantage of any company 401(k) match (for an immediate 100 percent return)
3. Pay down any high-interest credit card debt

You could also consider providing other helpful resources, like personal finance podcasts or budgeting apps. Open Enrollment can become a time when they can map out their financial goals for the year, instead of operating on a month-to-month basis.

It won’t be easy. It will be worth it.

Rebranding open enrollment as a financial check-up will take a lot of work, and a little faith. But if you do it, you’ll be able to leverage this once-a-year window into a perfect opportunity for your employees to make smarter financial choices, build better futures, and save a lot of money—both for them, and for your company.

Bob Armour is CMO of Jellyvision.

Read more: 

• HSAs: Moving from spending to saving to strategizing
• Employers still struggle to educate employees about 401(k)s
• 5 myths about employers’ role in financial wellness