First the good news: Employees are happier than ever with their voluntary benefits enrollment experience. Eastbridge's 2023 "MarketVision™—The Employee Viewpoint©" report shows that a strong majority — 80% — of employees surveyed are either satisfied or very satisfied with their benefits enrollment process overall. That's up from 77% in 2021 and 71% in 2019. And that steady improvement is possibly even more impressive considering the workplace disruptions the pandemic caused over the past few years, and the changes you, your clients, carriers and enrollment firms had to make to continue reaching employees effectively. We can all pat ourselves on the back a bit here. But dig a little deeper into the data and some cracks begin to appear in the happy veneer. Our study indicates there may be a disconnect between what's "working" for some employees, what they'd really prefer, and what their employers are offering, especially those on the smaller end of the market. You can help your clients create more effective benefits communication and enrollment plans by understanding some of these differences.

Talk to me

Employers use a variety of methods to communicate or introduce employees to the voluntary benefits that are available to them. The most common are email or newsletters provided by the employer (57%), information available on the employer's website or mobile app (44%) and printed material provided at work or home (40%). These are also the top three communication methods employees say are most helpful. Virtual meetings, one-on-one meetings with a benefits counselor, and benefit fairs are farther down the list of employers' methods at 17% to 18%. Yet speaking with someone in person is the second-most popular employee preference for learning about voluntary benefits. This is especially true for those in smaller firms with fewer than 100 employees, who are significantly more likely than employees at larger companies to express a strong preference for a personal approach.

Size matters

That good vs. great question mentioned above? Employees in the smallest businesses (fewer than 50 employees) are a bit more likely than other size groups to say they're satisfied with their enrollment overall, but they're much less likely to be very satisfied with the enrollment process overall. By the way, they're also much more likely to say they're not satisfied or not at all satisfied. Very few employees in larger size firms gave these responses. Employees overall give the highest combined satisfied and completely satisfied ratings to the simplicity of the application process (79%), feeling their needs were identified (78%), the technology used in the buying process is easy to use (77%), the technology is helpful (77%), and they receive adequate information, support and advice (77%). But again, employees in the smallest firms rate all these aspects of their enrollment lower than average.

Help me out

Employees in companies with at least 100 employees are more likely to enroll on the internet or intranet using a computer, tablet or smartphone than any other method. And the larger the business, the more likely this is the case. In fact, more than two-thirds of employees in companies with 2,500 or more workers enroll online. Interestingly, employees in the under-100 categories are more likely to enroll on paper than other methods.