Open enrollment season: Support employees in selecting the right coverage

Open enrollment is just around the corner, and HR benefits teams have put in months of work coordinating providers, ensuring compliance with rules and regulations and preparing strategies to present often complex plan information. Yet, research shows that employees typically wait till the last minute to make their selections and spend far less time choosing their benefits than they would deciding which new mobile device to buy.

People tend to stick with the same plan they had the year before. They often think it served them well over the past 12 months, so why change? Change is uncomfortable and trying to find the right plan can be a confusing expedition through an alphabet soup of options. One survey reported that on average, companies offer 17 different benefits.

Employers can ease the way and make their benefits teams’ hard work pay off by altering the conversation to make it more about long-term financial planning and less about picking a health insurance plan. From an employee perspective, reorientating open enrollment toward financial planning can lead to better decisions and a greater sense of wellbeing and job satisfaction. Current and prospective employees value financial wellness benefits, and employers can take the lead in helping them achieve their financial goals and get more value from the benefits offered.

The 2022 HSA Bank Health & Wealth Index shows that only 12% of respondents were optimally engaged with their health benefits, while a report from the TIAA Institute found that employees are overpaying for health insurance compared to what plans they actually need – costing nearly $1,700 than necessary.

Combatting that trend and more thoroughly engaging employees in benefits selection requires longer-term thinking to make open enrollment about more than just benefits. It needs to be about helping workers plot a course to a secure financial future while also taking care of short-term needs. Removing the impediments to long-term saving means striking a balance between the financial planning aspects of open enrollment and what employees need to address their and their families’ physical and mental wellbeing for the next year.

This can be achieved by developing comprehensive educational programs that explain the financial advantages of their benefits that build wealth while also helping them assess whether the benefits plan they chose 12 months ago still meets their needs.

Financial planning also means encouraging employees to take full advantage of employer contributions to maximize their savings strategies beyond 401(k) plans to save for long-term health expenses into retirement. We have seen a gap in education around health benefit options, especially when it comes to health savings accounts (HSAs) and how they can be used to save for health care costs in retirement.

Here are five steps to creating an open enrollment period that engages employees and helps them make the right decisions for their short- and long-term physical and financial wellbeing.

1. Set goals: Determine what success means to you and your company. Is it about how many employees enroll by the end of the period or how much you want plan participation to increase?
2. Develop a communication strategy: Plan a kickoff event 4 to 10 weeks before open enrollment. Send letters or emails about the period. Organize resources on a digital platform or company intranet for employees to download. And prepare benefits fairs or interactive virtual sessions to answer questions. Keep language simple so employees understand the message.
3. Tailor your campaign: Share content that lets employees engage in the way that works best for them. Attach flyers. Share videos, webinars and decision-making tools. Connect employees with resources from benefit providers.
4. Launching open enrollment: Determine how employees get information – emails, postcards, newsletters, breakroom bulletin board posting – and start communicating 1 to 2 weeks before benefits enrollment opens. Set up interactive virtual sessions to answer questions, and consider work schedules so that meeting times are convenient and highly attended.
5. Keep up engagement: Open enrollment should not end when the period closes. Keep employees engaged year-round. Share timely details like tax preparation or contribution increases and send communications when life events change and may affect benefits.

Related: How to increase benefits ROI during open enrollment

One of the biggest challenges employers face is how to bridge the information gap. Selecting a health plan is one of an employee’s most challenging experiences. Make sure all the hard work of creating benefits packages pays off by making decision support a centerpiece of your open enrollment strategy and offering the tools that can help employees make more informed decisions and take the confusion out of choosing the right plan.