Effective Strategies to Help You Improve Employee Engagement During Open Enrollment
Open enrollment periods can often be hectic, with HR teams needing to overcome the challenges of providing employees with the information and support they need to make informed decisions about their benefits.
However, this process can become even more difficult when there is an apparent lack of engagement from employees during this important time of year. To help reduce the stress placed on HR teams when handling various benefits administration tasks, there are some effective strategies businesses can use to improve employee engagement and streamline the open enrollment process.
Begin Early and Communicate Clearly
Although open enrollment periods can create a certain amount of stress on the HR team, there doesn’t need to be a last-minute scramble to communicate the value of the benefits on offer.
To support this effort, it’s important to set aside ample time to communicate necessary requirements while giving employees plenty of room to research their options and choose the right coverage options for their circumstances.
While some benefits programs may be easier to understand, others may need additional consideration. Breaking down complicated information about benefits into more digestible formats can be a great way to avoid confusion. To do this, make decision support tools available for employees to use - instructional videos, benefits comparison charts, etc. - to help them through the process.
Having an intuitive and user-friendly benefits technology solution is also crucial. A clunky or confusing system can lead to frustration and errors during enrollment. This is why businesses should team up with the right technology partner to help them choose a solution that allows for easy navigation and access to a wide range of decision-support tools for employees.
Focus on Educating Employees on Benefits Offerings
Although it’s important to make sure you’re communicating employee benefits options to employees, many times employees need other tools or resources to make the right decisions for their coverage.
Rather than just listing all of the plan options employees can enroll in, businesses should also give them the tools they need to evaluate how each of these options will impact them or their families.
Providing various decision support tools like benefits premium calculators or comparison charts is a great way to help employees better understand how their deductibles, co-pays, or out-of-pocket expenses will impact their financial situation throughout the year.
Provide Access to a Benefits Call Center
It can be challenging for HR teams to manage all of the employee questions or issues regarding their benefits packages or selection processes. This is where a benefits call center can help.
Benefits call centers deploy a team of experienced insurance experts who are ready to help answer any employee queries associated with their benefits packages. This might be helping to understand the various nuances of different health plans.
When organizations partner with a benefits call center, it helps to free up the HR teams to focus on other important business initiatives. It also can be a great way to improve employee morale and add more value to the benefits packages they’re receiving.
Make The Process Accessible and Convenient
Depending on the type of benefits technology solution you have, you may be able to utilize helpful features like multi-device support that enables employees to finish their enrollment on their smartphones, tablets, or laptops. This gives them the opportunity to sit down with their family members and finish the enrollment together.
Whenever possible, you’ll also want to point employees to helpful features like decision support tools or live chat solutions within the enrollment platform. This helps to keep the enrollment process as convenient and user-friendly as possible.
Consider Using Incentives and Gamification
Incorporating various incentives or gamification elements into open enrollment can be a great way to add some fun to open enrollment periods. Although this might not be a viable solution for all business types, it can be a great way to improve employee engagement and add a bit more motivation to meeting specific deadlines.
There are a variety of ways gamification can be added to enrollment processes. Businesses could create customized quizzes regarding certain benefits options and offer points based on correct answers that could be redeemable for gift cards or other perks that interest employees.
Help Keep Your Employees Motivated During Open Enrollment
Open enrollment is an important element of running a business, but it's critical to keep employees engaged in the process.
By following the strategies discussed, businesses can ensure their employees make smarter decisions regarding their benefits options while helping the organization streamline their HR processes.
