How to customize annual enrollment for the hybrid workforce

Here are four empathy-driven improvements that organizations should consider to help build a happier, healthier hybrid workforce.

As employees continuously switch between in-person and remote work, an omnichannel self-service approach will be crucial to employers’ benefits enrollment strategies. (Photo: Shutterstock)

As the annual enrollment period approaches, organizations are reckoning with two big, interconnected challenges: the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and the mounting threat of the Great Resignation: Surveys have shown that around 40% of employees are considering leaving their jobs in the coming year.

Given this context, annual enrollment presents a crucial opportunity for organizations to implement policies and processes that show they care deeply about employees, are listening to them, and are addressing their needs. Employee perceptions of workplace empathy, which had tumbled in the two years prior to the pandemic, have rebounded strongly. In short, empathy is now more important than ever.

Related: How to keep empathy from waning in the workplace

Here are four empathy-driven improvements on the annual enrollment process that organizations should consider implementing to help build a happier, healthier hybrid workforce.

1. Communicate more creatively.

Annual enrollment season isn’t just a time to tell employees to pick a health care plan—it’s also an opportunity to amplify programs, policies, and benefits that may have changed over the past year because of the pandemic. This won’t be easy: 92% of employees choose the same benefits every year because they don’t understand their options. COVID-19 has only further complicated that communication challenge by undermining many traditional touchpoints with employees.

In this emerging era of hybrid and remote work, one way to communicate the full scope of your benefits offering is through virtual benefit fairs. These events, which can be combined with traditional pop-up events for employees still working at in-person facilities, might include webinars featuring carriers and vendors, one-on-one virtual meetings, Q&A sessions, and videos detailing key benefit updates. You might also incorporate gamification to spur participation with fun prizes or points.

These events spanning the digital and physical realms will be an essential component of benefit communications plans in the coming years.

2. Make benefits enrollment omnichannel.

As employees continuously switch between in-person and remote work, an omnichannel self-service approach will be crucial to employers’ benefits enrollment strategies.

Exact approaches here will vary, but the core focus remains the same: Organizations must offer a range of ways for employees to learn about benefits options, enroll, and seek help when they need it. For many teams, these options already include mobile apps, websites, and call-in services, but it’s also worth exploring some of the new solutions that have emerged in recent years. For example, we are seeing more companies begin to offer AI-powered virtual assistants that can answer employee questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The bottom line: If your employees only have one way to enroll in their benefits, you aren’t doing enough and you will likely end up frustrating your employees and stressing out your HR team. Every employer today must ensure that their tools and processes are responsive to the ever-evolving needs and expectations of their employees.

3. Embrace and spotlight voluntary benefits.

We’re in a moment of tremendous uncertainty. Your employees, as human beings with lives and families and a wide variety of financial and health needs, are rightfully concerned about the pandemic and many ways it can affect their lives.

In this climate of unpredictability, voluntary benefits have never been more critical. Options such as disability insurance and life insurance have always been important, but they’re now joined with newly essential benefits such as mental health services, telemedicine, and employee assistance programs.

While more organizations have begun offering these benefits, many still fail to properly promote them and explain their value to employees. As a result, few employees know these benefits exist and even fewer opt to take advantage of them. As noted above, taking a creative approach to communicating about these benefits before, during, and AFTER enrollment is essential.

4. Commit to empathy.

For organizations, it’s important to keep in mind that employees don’t make benefits decisions in a vacuum. The state of their lives, their families, their finances, and developments in the broader world significantly influence the choices they make.

This is why empathy is so vital. We know from our research that when organizations are empathetic, employees tend to not just notice, but pay their employers back in kind. We found that over 70% of employees say that working in an empathetic workplace increases employee productivity and drives employee motivation.

Unfortunately, seven out of 10 CEOs say it is hard to show empathy, and many are reluctant to do so out of fear they’ll be less respected. Faced with unprecedented challenges, leaders need to listen to their employees and respond to the fast-changing needs and expectations. Employees who feel their organizations aren’t responsive will seek out ones who are.

The upcoming annual enrollment period is more than just about dusting off the tried-and-true email templates and hoping people will read them. This year more than ever, it should be a powerful moment for employers to demonstrate empathy at time when employees need it most.

Jon Shanahan is CEO of Businessolver.


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