MetLife shares 4 key strategies for a successful 2025 open enrollment

• Key Insight: Discover how personalization and year‑round guidance can redefine open enrollment outcomes.
• What's at Stake: Rising healthcare inflation may force strategic plan redesign or damaging cost‑shifts.
• Supporting Data: 52% of employees don't fully understand benefits; 56% want better information.
• Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review

As open enrollment season approaches, benefit managers are balancing familiar challenges with new pressures. Rising healthcare costs, gaps in employee understanding and the demand for more personalized experiences all require a fresh, strategic approach. 

MetLife's research finds more than half of all employees (52%) don't fully understand their benefits and wish they were better informed about their benefits to get more value out of them (56%). The upcoming open enrollment season offers benefit managers a critical opportunity to address these employee needs and shift their approach to benefit experiences.

"Our most recent study showed that almost 60% of employees indicate that they don't really understand their benefits well enough," says Todd Katz, executive vice president of group benefits at MetLife. "So employers from a benefits perspective are very focused on how you deal with that during open enrollment." 

Katz shared his insights on other employee priorities, the challenges facing benefit managers today, and what he expects to see in the benefits space for 2026. Check out the full conversations on EBN Leaders right here. 

Addressing healthcare cost pressures strategically

Healthcare inflation is one of the biggest concerns on employers' minds, Katz acknowledges. 

"There is no doubt that healthcare inflation has absolutely pressured employers' budgets and for that matter, employees' budgets, too," he says. "Every employer is thinking about, what can we do with our health plan to optimize benefits in the most cost-efficient way?" 

Instead of defaulting to cost-shifting, benefit leaders should explore smarter plan design, narrower networks, and voluntary benefits that help employees manage out-of-pocket expenses without losing support.

Read more: Employers face 6.5% benefit cost surge in 2026 — how benefit leaders can prepare

Prioritizing benefits education and engagement

Employees are making long-term financial decisions in a shockingly short amount of time, according to Katz. "If they spent 30 minutes, that wouldn't be bad. I've seen some studies that say they spend less than 10 minutes." 

To bridge this gap, managers should provide decision-support tools, simplify communication, and extend benefits education year-round so employees can make more informed choices.

Leveraging personalization and technology

Today's workforce wants benefits that meet their unique needs. 

"What employees want is to select the benefits that work for them," Katz says. "When employees see real value in the tools, they'll use them. And all of our data tells us that personalization is really core to employee engagement in their benefit program." 

Read more: How AI is helping employees understand their HSAs

Personalized platforms that integrate employee data and provide tailored recommendations not only improve satisfaction but also lead to more appropriate benefit selections. Managers should review whether their current systems deliver this level of personalization — or if upgrades are needed to meet modern expectations.

Thinking beyond open enrollment: Continuous communication

Open enrollment should not be a once-a-year push. 

"[Benefit leaders] need to think about benefits communication as an always-on, all-year journey for their employees," Katz advises. This means using nudges and reminders throughout the year, ensuring employees understand how to use their benefits, and regularly reviewing offerings to keep pace with evolving workforce needs.