3 steps to ensuring a successful open enrollment during a pandemic
The pandemic has no doubt thrown us all many curveballs, but it’s also providing some unique opportunities.
Every year, despite our best efforts, open enrollment seems to sneak up on us. And this year, on top of all the usual open enrollment challenges, HR teams have already been busy managing the extraordinary circumstances brought on by the continued COVID-19 pandemic. It’s undoubtedly a lot to handle. But with a proactive approach and a solid strategy, you can make your open enrollment a success, even during a pandemic.
COVID-19’s impact on open enrollment and employee benefits
Health care benefits make up a significant portion of the overall benefits cost to both employers and employees. In the wake of the continued pandemic, additional factors need to be taken into consideration when preparing for this year’s open enrollment:
- Prepare for possible price increases. The global pandemic has put a strain on the health care system, which could be reflected in higher premiums.
- Be open to health care benefit plan design changes and different plan options than you’ve offered in the past. Higher deductibles and increased out-of-pocket maximums can help reduce premiums and overall benefit costs to both employers and employees. And to offset financial changes for employees, you can pair a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) with an employer-sponsored health savings account (HSA) to provide valuable tax advantages, bridge the gap between the higher deductible and coverage and help them better manage costs while taking a more active role in their own health care
- Revisit your overall benefits portfolio, evaluating utilization and cost. Pay special attention to benefits that may no longer be relevant, as well as benefits that can help with overall financial wellness, such as HSAs and student debt assistance, as financial focuses will continue to be top of mind for many over the next 18 months. And remember—working remotely is no longer a standout benefit in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic—it’s an expectation.
- Move quickly. Don’t wait until the last minute to review your current offerings and explore new options. Any changes or updates you need to make will require some time to evaluate, approve and implement before open enrollment hits.
A renewed focus on affordable health care
Employee benefits play a critical role in both your overall compensation package, as well as your organization’s culture. What you offer can be a valuable tool in attracting and retaining top talent. Unfortunately, it can also be a deterrent if what you offer doesn’t add up for employees.
With the pandemic continuing to put a strain on many employees’ finances comes a renewed focus on what’s included in their benefits packages and how that directly impacts them financially.
Affordable health care options—specifically HDHPs with HSAs—are top of mind for many employees and can serve as a true point of differentiation for recruitment and retention.
At the same time, on the employer side, the cost of doing business has changed as well. With the cost of health care benefits expected to rise in 2021, more and more employers are looking to recoup some of their losses over the past year while managing their benefits costs.
Again, this is where HDHPs and HSAs shine. Employers needing to adjust their offerings to reflect these realities can lean on HSA-eligible HDHP offerings. The transition to this HDHP/HSA model is a savvy move that contains costs while still providing a differentiated value to employees.
3 steps for open enrollment success
The pandemic has no doubt thrown us all many curveballs, but it’s also providing some unique opportunities. Follow these three simple steps to ensure you take full advantage of your captive audience and maximize your open enrollment opportunity:
1. Be prepared
If we’ve learned one thing from the past six months, it’s that anything can change in an instant. The best plans are those built with flexibility to be quickly adjusted and adapted. It’s better to begin planning and evaluating your benefits offerings early to ensure time for any necessary changes or updates well before open enrollment season officially hits.
This year, your benefits plans should also be specifically evaluated to make sure they both match with your company’s HR strategy and meet the new needs of your employees, especially for those working remotely. Be open to new benefits and approaches to benefits delivery that might be more beneficial and user-friendly to a remote workforce, as well as to you as an employer.
If you do end up moving forward with a new set of benefits, anticipate an influx in questions from employees and be prepared with answers and easy-to-understand resources. Consider leveraging virtual assistants or FAQ intranet pages to help remote employees find the answers they’re looking for without taking up more HR resources. And be sure to provide plenty of real-world cost comparisons and visually appealing graphics and videos to explain their new options clearly and simply.
2. Communicate early and often
The importance of clear, concise communication can’t be over-emphasized—you need to make sure your internal team is well-informed well ahead of time, especially about any changes or updates from the prior benefit year.
However, between the pandemic, national social unrest and the upcoming Presidential election, employees’ attention is already stretched thin, making it more important than ever to communicate and update them on any changes early and often with a laser-sharp focus.
Once your team is ready, begin engaging your employees in the open enrollment process as soon as possible. Determine the best way to deliver information, especially if you have employees working remotely. Focus on a well-rounded approach that uses a variety of communication channels to distribute your messages—leverage emails, online tools, videos, virtual meetings, printed information packets and more.
Remember—there’s no “one size fits all” approach to communicating to your employees. Different channels work for different employees, so tailor your approach accordingly. Be sure to take advantage of any materials that your broker or benefits provider has available for you to use to highlight products or offerings so your employees can make the most informed decisions without you having to recreate the wheel. Also consider offering a decision tool that can help your employees evaluate health care plans in real time, especially if you’re adding in new benefits options into this year’s mix.
One final—and extremely important—note regarding communication. Don’t confuse a well-rounded communication plan with an overwhelming one. Employees are receiving more emails and other communications than ever, so focus on quality and clarity over sheer quantity. Make sure your approach is proactive, measured and actually helpful to employees needing information to make the most informed decisions with the least amount of stress and effort.
3. Monitor progress
Once you’ve reached the point where you’re ready to kick off open enrollment, be sure to vigilantly check your enrollment numbers, send follow-up communications and do whatever it takes to remind employees to consider all their options and actually enroll. Provide a long enough enrollment window so your employees have adequate time to evaluate their options, make informed decisions and complete the enrollment process itself.
And going back to the first tip on being prepared—also remember that the open enrollment process itself evolves in real time, and you may need to identify gaps and address them with additional communications midstream or at any point.
Then, once your open enrollment period is over, it’ll be critical to continue to monitor usage and feedback on benefits implementation, as well as overall feedback on open enrollment itself from employees. This feedback loop is a valuable exercise that will show you where and how you can improve in years ahead, pandemic or not.
With a proactive and properly timed approach to your open enrollment for 2021, you’ll be able to help your employees avoid the confusion and dread that typically comes with open enrollment season, while also providing them better options to help make their money work smarter for them.
Make this year’s open enrollment a win-win, even during a pandemic.
Tom Torre is CEO and founder of Bend. For nearly 20 years, Tom has led organizations in the consumer-directed health care space. With Bend, he leads a dedicated team helping individuals, employers, financial institutions and other partners leverage a next-generation HSA platform that improves financial wellness and simplifies health care saving.
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