After months of crunching numbers, your company concludes the only way to control its rising health care costs is to replace its current plan with a high-deductible, consumer-driven health plan. You assume employees are going to hate it, and you’re already envisioning the nasty calls you’re going to get from irate workers who see an increase in their out-of-pocket expenses. So should you even bother asking employees what they think, since the plan design’s already a done deal?
Yes, says Denise Donnelly, a partner with Mercer. She conducts employee focus groups on behalf of her employer-clients and believes focus groups always reveal helpful information. “It’s not that you’re going to employees and asking them to design the plan for you,” she says. “You’re soliciting feedback in order to better answer questions, address roadblocks to change and make sure you’re minimizing anxiety as much as possible.”
