My husband and I recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in Mexico. It was perfect - ice cold Coronas and warm sun. The only drawback (other than the beer-bellied men in Speedos) were the constant solicitations to purchase a time-share.
We were engaged multiple times a day using a variety of communication techniques - phone, email, personal invitations, special offers of trips, free golf, free excursions and even cash. Every opportunity included free food, drinks and often entertainment. It got to be a little overwhelming until it hit me: What if employers approached open enrollment like a time-share salesperson?
I realized that the time-share salespeople were using the P.R.I.C.E. process (Persistent, overcoming Resistance, Insistent, Consistent and Enroll) to engage their prospects.
While you probably can't offer free golf or cash incentives to employees, you can effectively use the same P.R.I.C.E. tactics as a time-share salesman to generate a high level of involvement in the annual benefits open enrollment. Here are useful strategies for the 2011/2012 open enrollment season (see chart, right).
Many benefits professionals dread open enrollment season for the additional workload and employee distraction. Using the P.R.I.C.E. method will result in more employee engagement and satisfaction. And wouldn't the world be a better place if upper management said to you, "Wow, this year's open enrollment was amazing! We'll reward your extra efforts with a week at a time-share." Just watch out for Speedos. -L.S.M.
Contributing Editor Laurie S. Miller is president of Miller, Buettner & Parrot, Inc., an employee benefits consulting firm in Rockford, Ill. The firm consults with over 50 public entities and also has a large corporate practice. She holds an MBA from Northern Illinois University and a BA from Eastern Illinois University. She can be reached at
Open enrollment strategies
Activity - Persistent communications
Description
- Get the employee's attention
- Use a theme for open enrollment
- Repeat communication
- Repeat again
- Repeat again
- Use: flyers, posters, postcards/mailers, payroll stuffers, benefit newsletters, email blasts , company Intranet/employee portal, social media (Facebook, Twitter)
Activity - Resistance (Overcoming)
Description
- Have mandatory open enrollment meetings
- Use upper management to provide companywide information about upcoming opportunities and challenges, and to encourage participation at the meetings
- Offer giveaways (check with your vendors if your budget doesn't allow)
- Combine with a health fair or other employee engagement tool
- Combine with biometric screenings
Activity - InsistentDescription
- Insist that spouses are educated too - especially if they are the ones handling the family medical care
- Insist that all shifts are offered the same opportunity for education
- Insist that vendors offer one-on-one employee counseling - especially when rolling out a new benefit offering such as a health savings account
- Insist that employees are educated on the company's or carrier's wellness programs for long-term cost-containment
- Insist that employees are educated on the carrier websites to check claims status, etc., use embedded programs such as a health coach
Activity - ConsistentDescription
- Make sure that all employees get the same message
- Periodically offer benefit statements to consistently show employees the value of their benefits programs
- Issue annual state and federal notices (check with your broker/consultant, third-party administrator or insurance carrier for the list in your state)
- Use online videos or narrate a PowerPoint presentation for a consistent message
Activity - EnrollmentDescription
>> Select the enrollment method that works for your company:
- Online (offer training especially for noncomputer-literate employees)
Offer kiosks for employees with no access to computers
Phone-in enrollment opportunities
Paper enrollment
>> After enrollment, survey employees on improvements for next year; have the vendors follow-up with ongoing service opportunities such as table sits, email and phone calls
