It’s that time of year again… HR professionals everywhere are battening down the hatches, gearing up, and bracing themselves for another open enrollment season (shudder). But have no fear, your trusty friends and HR professionals at Cooper People Group are here! And we have just the tips and tricks (and treats!) you need to conquer this year’s open enrollment.
- Have a Strategy and a Plan
- Understand what is important to your people by, well, asking them. Offer up a focus group or a brief benefit survey. Would they prefer a lower deductible or lower payroll premium? Pet insurance? Now, we won’t make everyone happy all the time, but learning about what kinds of benefits are perceived as most valuable will help you to inform your benefit strategy
- Start planning for open enrollment well in advance to ensure a seamless process. We recommend building a robust timeline with clear deadlines as early as a year in advance.
- Create a Clear Communication Strategy
- Different people like receiving information in different ways. Some prefer email, some prefer webinars, and some prefer good ol’ fashion paper. Develop a comprehensive communication plan that includes several different channels of communication to cast a large net.
- For seasoned HR professionals, open enrollment may seem like a no brainer; but, to employees, it can feel like a complicated, confusing process. It’s best to present benefit options and information in a clear and easy-to-understand format. Avoid jargon and complex language and instead, consider using visual aids, infographics, and videos to make information more digestible.
- Say it with us: “User. Friendly.” Utilize online and mobile-friendly enrollment tools to give employees easy access to make selections and changes.
- As another type of communication channel, consider offering educational sessions or webinars to help employees understand their benefit choices and the process for electing.
- Make sure employees have easy access to benefit summaries, provider lists, claim forms, FAQs, apps, and other resources.
- The amount of emails HR receives during open enrollment is enough to make anyone quiver. To cut down on the influx, consider providing opportunities for employees to speak with your HR team or benefits experts individually to address their specific questions or concerns. To streamline this process even more, consider using an online appointment scheduling app (like Calendly!) so employees can schedule their own time slots with a professional. (Pro tip: Most employee benefit agents will offer this service at no charge!).
- Emphasize the Value of Benefits
- Here’s a secret employees might not know… companies LIKE it when employees use the offered benefits! It means the business has invested well in what is important to their people and that is a win-win. When presenting the benefit options, highlight this! Illustrate the value of the benefits and how it can support their health, financial well-being, work-life balance, and more!
- Consider drafting total rewards statements to illustrate the value of benefits provided by the company.
- Real-time feedback is valuable. To capitalize on this, establish feedback channels for employees to share their open enrollment experiences and suggestions for improvement. Then, adjust next year’s process based on that feedback (if possible).
Successful open enrollment requires careful planning, effective communication, and a commitment to supporting employees through the process (and maybe a few extra cups of coffee for your HR folks). If you find yourself needing an extra set of hands to juggle this season, give us a call at CPG – we have the experts you need on your side!