How brokers can support year-round benefit educational efforts
Encouraging participation in benefits today can help to lay the groundwork for an easier re-enrollment tomorrow. With that in mind, here's how brokers can get started.
Whether scheduling their kids’ annual well-visits with the pediatrician or stopping by the neighborhood pharmacy to get a flu shot, major medical-related benefits are fairly straightforward for employees to start using. However, with most employees spending just 20 minutes making decisions about non-medical benefits during open enrollment, many aren’t aware of the associated services and financial savings available to them via voluntary benefits.
As a result, employees are leaving money on the table, which is especially concerning given that a recent Guardian study found that financial wellbeing among working Americans is at an all-time low, in turn driving down overall wellbeing. Yet, within this challenge lies an opportunity for brokers: encouraging clients to kickstart ongoing, year-round benefits education for employees.
Why does this matter to brokers? To start, employees are craving this information—just 4 out of 10 employees told Guardian that their employer does a good job educating them on their benefits—so any direction brokers can provide may position them as a trusted business partner to clients. But, there’s also a broker business benefit: Encouraging participation in benefits today can help to lay the groundwork for an easier re-enrollment tomorrow. With that in mind, here’s how brokers can get started.
Begin with existing insights
During the plan design phase leading up to open enrollment, most brokers worked hand-in-hand with their clients to gain an in-depth understanding of their employee population, including gathering information about ages, life stages, number of dependents, and geographies. Just as this information served as the foundation for plan building, it can also serve as the basis for an ongoing benefits education program.
Looking at various demographic cuts, brokers can ask their client’s carrier to share information about submitted claims, which can help to provide a window into benefits usage. Ironically, what is not in the claims report may be just as important as what is. In other words, by reviewing which benefits are the most utilized by employees, brokers and employers can begin to understand which benefits aren’t being used.
From there, brokers and their clients may begin to diagnose the reason behind low benefits utilization. Imagine a scenario where mental health services offered via employees’ disability policies aren’t being leveraged. Could it be that tenured employees don’t know that the add-on service exists because traditionally their disability policy did not include any leave prevention support and only provided income protection during a covered claim? For younger employees with less disposable income, is it that they assumed there was a cost associated with using the service?
These aren’t easy questions to ask, and there can often be multiple reasons for low utilization. But taking the time to sort through why well-intentioned benefits aren’t resonating with employees may be the first step towards better benefits education.
Build a plan that resonates
Once brokers and employer clients understand why benefits are and are not being utilized, they can begin to build a corresponding plan. Making sure that plan resonates, however, is critical.
Make it manageable
The most effective engagement plans are the ones that feel authentic and don’t overwhelm employees with information. To avoid this, consider advising clients to pick a few days on the calendar and use those as opportunities to discuss benefits.
For example, April is tax season. If, for instance, claims data shows that employee assistance program (EAP) usage is low, this could be a great time to talk about how such programs may be able to provide employees with tax preparation information and resources. Especially in light of the fact that a Guardian study found that many employees are looking to their employer for greater financial planning support, it’s the perfect time to highlight how this benefit can help.
Alternatively, consider disease-specific awareness months, like Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. While many employees understand the importance of annual screenings, they might not know that if they elected to purchase a critical illness policy, they could be paid a wellness benefit for completing certain types of preventive measures, including getting a mammogram. Ultimately, what matters less is how many awareness months an employer chooses, but that the ones they do choose matter to their employee population.
Finally, brokers should remind clients not to overlook opportunities associated with pre-planned business meetings or regular employee touchpoints. Whether a quarterly town hall, monthly company meeting, or weekly team check-in, adding even a 2-to-3-minute benefits update can be beneficial. To make the most of this time, leverage peer-to-peer sharing—asking if a colleague would be willing to share their positive experiences of benefits utilization can be an extremely powerful tool.
Customize the tactics
Once employers know what benefit information they want to highlight and when to share it, brokers can start to help clients figure out how to communicate that information.
Ultimately, not everyone receives and digests information in the same way, and failing to account for this can make or break a communications campaign. To build a communication strategy that resonates, brokers should encourage clients to once again revisit their original benefit plan design employee audit to inform the supporting content they build.
For example, an employer with a large population of Millennial or Gen Z employees might be best served by creating short-form video content. On the other hand, employers with a high percentage of covered dependents might need to offer in-person or live benefit consultations to address employees’ complex benefit needs. Employers with high-turnover or a large portion of first-time enrollees should consider creating content that amplifies the voice of their colleagues, as hearing from peers can be a powerful endorsement.
Regardless of the approach chosen, insurance carriers can be a great resource to brokers and employers—as many offer employee-ready resources and complementary support services.
The benefit to brokers
On the heels of intense plan design discussions and a hectic open enrollment season, working with clients to help build an ongoing benefits education plan can seem like a lot of extra work.
But, benefits are designed to be used—and a supporting education program may provide employers with the confidence that they are doing the important work to meet employees’ benefits needs and support well-being. The upside, however, also extends to brokers themselves through increased participation rates and streamlined re-enrollment efforts.
It’s a win-win situation, and the time to start benefits education is now.
Melissa Rothchild is Head of Marketing, Group Employee Benefits, and Rachel Chamberlin is Head of Group Benefits Enrollment at Guardian.