Ease open enrollment stress with advance planning

Commentary: Do a quick search on Twitter for “open enrollment” and you will easily see the way employees really feel about this annual task:

“Open enrollment to me is like what back to school is for kids. A massive sense of dread!”

“I'm trying to decide if I want to switch plans and today is the last day.”

“I finally made a decision that is probably the wrong one completely. I give up.”

The rapidly evolving regulatory environment has increased benefit and tax complexities for most employees, making the open enrollment decisions more confusing and stressful than ever. Open enrollment is perceived as an inevitable and unpleasant task.

Also see: “New technology ‘isn’t necessarily better.’”

So how do you remove “dread” from the open enrollment equation? It’s a lot easier than you might think. It means planning in advance, knowing your workforce, simplifying enrollment and injecting a little fun into the process.

Here are a few ideas:

First, get to know your workforce. Every age category views and uses benefits differently. For example, baby boomers – most likely your oldest demographic – are now working past retirement age and need help understanding how to balance the benefits you offer with Medicare. Younger millennials may be dealing with a huge student loan while planning for their future. Of course, benefits preferences are not just a matter of age. Gender, ethnicity, location and salary ranges all play roles in decision-making. Understanding the composition of your workforce will equip you with the information you need to make sound decisions on what benefits to offer and how to communicate with your people.

Also see: “MassMutual platform offers one-stop shopping for health, retirement benefits.”

Second, learn from past experience – take an inventory. Why was last year so difficult? What were the questions you heard over and over again? Prioritize getting ahead of your challenges before open enrollment starts and using trends from the previous year to put together a plan for success next year. Consider taking inventory with your insurance carriers, technology partners and broker as well, so they can alleviate these challenges together. Challenge your partners to make open enrollment a seamless process.

Next, tailor the shopping process to “eliminate the pain” and match employee expectations. Most employees find shopping for benefits painful because they are overwhelmed and unsure of which plan is really best for them so they pick what looks most familiar to last year and don’t spend time comparing. This results in higher costs for both the employee and your company. According to a 2014 Aflac Survey, 41 percent of employees spend 15 minutes or less researching benefits options and 42 percent estimate they wasted up to $750 a year because they didn’t pick the best plan fit for their needs.

Let’s fix this and make it easier. Provide your employees with the appropriate decision support tools, and combine those tools with the best data. Individualized claim utilization data from last year helps employees establish a baseline to estimate their costs going forward. Putting better data at their fingertips makes open enrollment less of a guessing game and provides employees with the facts they need to feel confident in their decision.

Also see: “Paychex enhances private benefit marketplace.”

Finally, make the process interactive, fun and rewarding for your employees and for you!Always know how close you are to achieving your goal. How many people have started but didn’t complete enrollment? Who has completed their benefit elections and who hasn’t even logged in? Having this type of visibility during open enrollment can help you evaluate the progress you’re making and celebrate your successes along the way.

Keep open enrollment engaging. Introduce a sense of playfulness by entering employees into a drawing for prizes when they complete their enrollment within a certain timeframe. Be strategic about the timeframe you select so you keep the momentum going over the entire enrollment period and not just a few days at the beginning or end. For example, hold a daily drawing for a ‘free lunch’ from a pool of associates that complete their open enrollment that day. Then, enter those winners into a drawing for the ‘grand prize’ to be presented after open enrollment ends.

Remember, ease of benefit enrollment is perhaps most important to new employees. They have a lot more to learn about you and your company. Make the employee’s first major interaction with HR a good one. Keep your most talented employees feeling special too. You want all employees to feel like you are paying attention, answering questions and understanding their needs on a personal level. Transforming open enrollment from dreadful to delightful will make employees feel special and appreciated. And that goes a long way toward building a loyal, engaged workforce.

Cindi Van Meir is a product manager with Benefitfocus, an online benefits platform vendor.