In light of today’s diverse and continuously evolving workforce, it’s more critical than ever to have a targeted strategy for your open enrollment.
You should not consider open enrollment only as the period when your staff chooses benefits. If you can stick the landing during open enrollment, you may be able to boost participation and help your organization attract, engage and retain top talent.
Open enrollment should be viewed as an essential part of your overall human resources strategy. It’s a time to inform your workforce about any changes to your benefits and make sure they have the latest plan documents and any requisite notices.
Guidespark Inc., a human resources communications provider, recommends the following for a successful open enrollment:
Pre-planning to get it right
- With only a few months until open enrollment, meet with your benefits team and involve management to discuss what worked or didn’t during last year’s enrollment.
- Compile last year’s materials, including all documents, brochures, e-mails and social media posts. You can use this trove to start formulating ideas on how to improve and revise them.
- If you plan to add a new health plan, roll out new benefits or make changes to existing ones, gather all the information and backup resources.
- Ask your staff if there are any benefits they’d like to learn more about and how they would prefer to receive that information.
- Talk to us so we can help you tailor the information specifically to your workers.
Review last year’s open enrollment
Evaluate your open enrollment results from last year. This can help you gain valuable insights into your benefits package and communications plan, making your next enrollment smoother and improving your employees’ satisfaction.
This review can also help you allocate resources more effectively and improve the way you reach and train your staff about their benefits and choices.
Design a multi-pronged approach
Be prepared to use a variety of communication channels to reach your employees. If you haven’t already done so, ask your staff how they prefer to receive information about benefits.
Be prepared to accommodate their preferences such as:
- Face-to-face meetings.
- Paper resources like brochures and booklets.
- Web-based resources including e-mail, websites, pdfs and other digital content.
Don’t just use the method the majority of your employees prefer. A successful communications plan can greatly increase enrollment, so try to accommodate all preference types. If you have millennials and Gen Z on staff, they often prefer to consume information on their smartphones.
Also, make sure all your communications are clear, simple and to the point. You should:
- Try to avoid jargon and don’t cram in too much information.
- Include or embed links to tools and resources you want them to use.
- Feed information in bite-sized chunks.
24-hour access
Don’t limit your employees’ access to benefits information to when they are at work. For a successful open enrollment, make sure they can access the information anytime, anywhere.
Web-based content and videos are easy to access around the clock, from home or the office.
All-year access
Once you’ve refreshed your open enrollment strategy and updated resources, keep those resources available throughout the year.
Many of these resources can be part of a year-long benefits education program that provides employees with timeless, useful information.
