Are You Ready for Annual Enrollment
Recapping our top three AE readiness takeaways from our August client roundtable.
Our August client roundtable discussion featured three knowledgeable HR leaders who have achieved exceptional results in the field. With annual enrollment (AE) on the horizon, let’s look at three major takeaways from the conversation.
Communicate and educate early and often
To communicate and educate, you’ll need quality contact information for your population. Obtaining quality contact information can be challenging to secure. Many organizations have a mixed workforce of people in office settings, labs or factories, traveling on the road, or other locations. Reaching diverse workforces is a challenge for many, and with digital paystubs, online access to W2s, and other technological engagement, it’s easier for employee information to go without an update.
To combat this, communicate due dates and other important information early and often. Benefit guides, newsletters, or virtual benefits fairs are great resources, but they can often take place right around the time of enrollment. Getting employees up-to-speed before enrollment can help them make sound decisions and be ready to enroll on time without hassle.
One of our HR experts is working on an education series that will go out much earlier than AE in hopes of getting ahead of some questions and getting their members thinking about their benefits and the choices that come with them.
They’re hoping to help their employees:
- Understand their medical plan options
- Use the MyChoice® Mobile App
- Update their communication preferences
- Navigate through their homepage and reference center to find important details
- Understand where to go for help (Sofia, service center, where to find contact information, etc.)
- Change dependents and beneficiaries
By getting out in front of these topics, this HR expert’s employees can hit the ground running come AE season.
Engage your benefits partners consistently
To get the most out of your experience, get the help of experts in their field—your partners. Partnerships like your carriers and benefits administrator can be fruitful when all vendors work together to sort through the pros and cons of the options available for annual enrollment. For one panelist, focusing on Benefitsolver® best practices has been a valuable plan as it’s helped them avoid many major issues. In addition, partners can help you learn from past cycles to ensure mistakes aren’t duplicated year after year.
Another panelist works with our Consumer Experience team to build out custom communication materials. They’ve found great success in creating highlight guides, newsletters, virtual benefits fairs, postcards, emails, posters, and more. Plus, they tailor digital items to the group viewing them, so employees see only the benefits they’re eligible for.
Gather and use employee feedback
Getting feedback from your population is crucial to developing a strong strategy. What works for one organization is not bound to work for another, and you won’t know what your employees truly value without asking them. One of our panelists worked with our Consumer Experience team to create a custom survey at the end of their enrollment experience.
Their survey focused on the employee’s enrollment experience and what type of communication they preferred. It also allowed space for a free-text response where employees could state in their own words how to improve the experience. In turn, they received some quality feedback about their past enrollment experiences. Employees said their most significant issue was the amount of information they needed to read and click through. This employer had previously included non-electable benefits, like wellness, in the enrollment experience – a helpful thought, but one that was lengthening the experience. Now, instead of having employees read through all the information while completing their enrollment, the employer brings these benefits forward throughout the year so employees can learn about them more gradually.
Another panelist received feedback that employees would like more reminder slides throughout their enrollment for items like HSA enrollment. They added many different reminder slides and asked people whether they’d added all their dependents and to confirm other information throughout the enrollment. Next year’s feedback? Employees said they’d had to go through too many screens.
The moral of the story, employee feedback is invaluable in creating an enrollment experience that works for your employees. But you’re also the expert, so trust your expertise. By combining your understanding of your population, your population’s direct feedback, and a resource like our Consumer Experience team – you can create an easy-to-use, intelligent enrollment experience.
Want more AE insights? Check out the recap video below to hear the highlights from our AE Readiness roundtable. Our panel of experts discussed their keys to a successful AE.
