Open enrollment season can be a tricky time of year for employers. Of course employers want their employees to understand their benefit options, but are they doing a good job communicating those options?

Emily Bailey, Regional Managing Principal at OneDigital Northeast discusses the challenges of and tools to use during open enrollment.

As a benefits expert, what are some of the biggest challenges the industry is currently facing? How are employers and employees being affected?

First, rising costs and decreasing access to healthcare providers are some of the biggest challenges facing the benefits industry today. It is becoming increasingly difficult for employers to provide cost-effective health benefits that meet the needs of their employees. Employers are being forced to get creative and think outside the box in order to design programs that both meet the needs and fit the budget. Things like self-insurance, captives, value-based benefits designs, and even ICHRA's are becoming increasingly popular. While some of these changes don't have a major impact on the employee- many of these changes can be extremely complicated and require a high dose of participant education.

Second, employers are always striving to provide their employees with an exceptional benefits experience, but oftentimes, they are not always sure the investments they are making are the ones that actually matter to their workforce. This gap in value perception is causing organizations to spend their budget in places that may not be driving value to their people. A recent study (Employee Values Perception Study) highlights these challenges; in fact, employees are left feeling like there's room for improvement on the benefit offerings, and the employer is left feeling frustrated because they think they are doing the right thing with their programs. We are seeing employers who have started to successfully close this perception gap do so by leveraging comprehensive surveys and research to access data that's specific to their workforce. This allows them to better understand the unique challenges and pain points their employees feel; rather than relying on benchmarks, and implement programs based on direct employee feedback.

With open enrollment quickly approaching, how should employers communicate benefits information with employees?

Communication of benefits should not be a one-size-fits-all approach. The most successful communication strategies employ a multi-touch and multi-medium approach to ensure that all segments of the population are reached, and there are a variety of different ways to consume the information. It is becoming increasingly clear that employees want access to information electronically, mobile-enabled, and at their convenience.