3 Tips for a Successful Annual Enrollment

At Businessolver, we eat, sleep and breathe benefits.

1. Do put your ear to the ground.

When planning for AE at Businessolver, one of the first things we do is consider employees’ feedback. After more than 15 years in HR, I’ve learned for certain that employees will tell you what they want – but you have to ask! My team and I take that lesson to heart every year, conducting employee surveys and hosting informal small group meetings to get transparent, honest input about what our people want and need from our plans.

This year, we heard many requests for more comprehensive voluntary benefits – not unlike the majority of employees across the country. With that in mind, this year we added pet insurance, identity theft protection, and enhanced vision and legal support benefits.

How do I know listening pays off? Vision insurance was the most popular benefit this year! Further, more than half of our eligible employees have enrolled in accident and critical illness insurance. We have learned that it is so important to get feedback from employees; since 41 percent of employees spend 15 minutes or less selecting their benefits, engaging them in our plan design process helps us understand what they are looking for in their benefits plans so we can better shape our offerings to meet their needs.

2. Don’t procrastinate…at least try not to…
We start planning for AE six months ahead, so that we have plenty of time to think through our strategy, plan, revise, adjust vendor agreements, and see to the thousands of small details you well know add up to a successful enrollment. We also use those extra months to make sure our enrollment software, (of course, it’s Benefitsolver – we happily drink our own champagne), is updated and aligned with how our plans will function. Our HR team meets with Client Support monthly to ensure we understand the updated functionality within the Benefitsolver system. It is inevitable that something last minute will pop up, but when you are prepared it is much easier to deal with the unknown. Plus, with added lead time, we feel well-informed and well-prepared as we go into AE.

3.Do get up close and personal.
To boost engagement, we work diligently to get in front of our employees with critical benefits information on a regular basis. We host in-person informational sessions, provide informational videos that employees can easily access and share, and keep our Benefits Guide updated. Plus, this year we partnered with a local brewery and Solvers were able to grab a local craft brew while they learned more about Solver Benefits!

Our team experiences the same struggles you do with getting employees to engage with benefits communication – but we’re not afraid to get up close and personal to ensure a positive outcome: During AE, more than 90 percent of eligible Businessolver employees enrolled in medical insurance! The persistence – and planning – paid off, and the same can be true for your organization.