What organizations can do now for a smooth open enrollment
Here are several ways your organization can embrace enrollment and make the experience frictionless for all parties involved.
Summer is over and it’s time for open enrollment. A challenging and busy time for executives, HR managers and employees as navigating through employee benefit options, operational costs, high deductibles and other nuances proves to be laborious and often confusing. What if there is a better way to offer and manage medical, dental, as well as other voluntary perquisites ranging from health savings accounts (HSAs) to telemedicine?
Related: Employers re-examining benefits when planning for post-pandemic realities
Choices for plan designs and employee engagement has changed dynamically over the recent years. Also, new tools and resources are available to streamline open enrollment and deliver the best benefits to employees.
Let’s discuss how your organization can embrace enrollment and make the experience frictionless for all parties involved.
Data examination
One of the best ways to review annual benefits cost is to compare how the health insurance plan cost is trending is to track the annual benefit cost per eligible employee. If employees are taking coverage elsewhere because the health insurance is subpar in its design, or cost competitiveness, a more thorough review of the overall program may be required.
Benchmarking
Benefits benchmarking is a method to measure current employee offerings against competitors within the same industry and geographical location to adjust accordingly. This data empowers employers with information to determine what an employee desires in a medical plan to assist with building a competitive group health package offering. Once a detailed comparison is established, an employer can have peace of mind putting together a package that not only addresses cost but is a retention tool.
Creating an ideal health care plan
There are exciting new programs to examine for 2021. Self-funded options, cost-containment strategies, as well as traditional plans with telemedicine and HSA options are just a few to explore. When designing and maintaining a health care plan, it’s important that the coverage level adequately represents the employees’ needs and the company’s ability to fund the coverage. A broker can help analyze all options and build a customized plan. Long gone are the days when brokers only executed spreadsheeting of traditional plans.
Open enrollment
A key component to rolling out your benefits options lies in the ability to understand the details and communicate them successfully to your employees. This year is proven to be particularly challenging due to a high percentage of the workforce being virtual or not being able to gather in groups. Establishing “virtual chats” between departments and your broker will be a key component this year.
Also, have your broker work with you to design a communication program and roll it out to your employees. The broker can effectively relay the details and the company’s position on their health care design and answer any pressing questions.
HSAs provide flexibility
A worthy program specifically being highlighted due to its long-term benefits to the workforce is to offer a health savings account (HSA). They are interest-bearing savings accounts, with tax advantages that give employees the ability to fund their own health care and offer the flexibility to set aside money for an unexpected crisis. As the importance of health care is abundantly discussed in media, this program makes sense for all employees across the nation no matter the income level.
Employees are eligible to enroll in an HSA at any point throughout the year as long as they’re enrolled in an HSA-eligible plan and can make updates to their contribution throughout the year.
Most organizations provide employees with a benefits program that offers health, dental, life, disability, and other types of coverage that allows employees to select the coverage that is important to them. It’s important for organizations to understand their census data, employee spend for the year, along with benchmark data. By embracing this total data package, an organization will have the ability to build a solid foundation for 2021 and with the help of their broker, roll out the program with a strong communication plan to ensure engagement. Steve Rosenthal is chief executive officer and president of Triton Benefits and HR Solutions.
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