It’s that time of year!

Open enrollment is right around the corner and HR departments are busy preparing to ensure that they can offer their people a great open enrollment experience. 

Understanding eligibility and the details of each plan can be challenging. Your people may spend a significant amount of time researching plans and will likely have questions on the process to ensure they’re making the right selection. 

A successful open enrollment begins with an HR team that works together and strategizes early to provide their people with all of the necessary information and best plan options.

Here are 5 things to consider when preparing for open enrollment:   

1. Provide resources early – Only 35% of employers educate their employees on the costs of healthcare. Don’t wait until the last minute- begin educating and familiarizing your people with plan options and details. Create content that breaks down the enrollment process and plan options. Be sure to include important dates, contact information, and helpful tips. 

1. Use alternative methods of communicating- Multi-generational, virtual, and global workforces consume information differently. Consider how your people digest information and send multiple messages via text, email, direct mail, and technology offered by your HCM provider. Updates and messages should be easily accessible for all of your people. 

1. System check along with help desk support- Be proactive and check to make sure any system issues are resolved. Last minute updates can be timely, costly, and have an adverse impact on a successful enrollment. Consider the need to provide some form of chat or help desk support for employees who are first time users of your enrollment platform. 

1. Offer decision support tools- Decision support tools can greatly benefit your workforce and their dependents. By offering plan comparison tools or calculators, your people can compare and contrast plans on their own. These type of tools can save your people time and money by offering a line-by-line analysis of eligible plans. Some HCM providers offer such tools along with most carriers. 

1. Compare open enrollments- Set up a process that allows you to track and report on each year’s open enrollment. As time goes on, you can review the previous open enrollment processes and reflect on what works and what didn’t. This way you can begin to research different tools and strategies on how to streamline processes and eliminate frustrations and obstacles. 

It’s important that your people are informed and fully equipped with the tools they need to help with making the right healthcare plan decisions. Make it a goal to improve open enrollment every year by regularly communicating with your people, streamlining processes, and creating plan options that lead to loyal, engaged, and productive people.  

Footnotes 

[i]Miller, Stephen. “HR Spends More Time Educating About Benefits.” SHRM, 19 May 2017, www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/benefits-education.aspx.