Benefits Strategy: 3 Ways HR Can Streamline AE Communications

Streamlining AE communications: enhancing HR efficiency and employee experience

Annual enrollment (AE) is one of your busiest times of the year. Drive efficiency early and often with these tried-and-true benefits engagement tactics designed to streamline your workload and your employees’ experience.

If you haven’t heard, the annual enrollment (AE) period is right around the corner. We understand that this is one of the busiest times of the year for HR professionals as they gear up to launch their 2024 benefits enrollment. The AE process can be daunting, often boiling down to a 15-minute annual benefits task for employees.

However, there are effective strategies that can streamline your benefits communication process, making it more scalable and efficient. Implementing these tactics can not only enhance overall efficiency but also improve the employees’ experience.

Here are three proven strategies that we have successfully employed while working in the employee benefits space for over 25 years:

1. Define your benefits communication calendar 

You’ve put a lot of work into building a thoughtful benefits strategy and program. Don’t let that effort go by the wayside. Building out a year-round benefits communication calendar can help remind employees about the benefits available to them, electable or non-electable (like that EAP program only 4% of people typically use per year), to keep the momentum from AE going.  

On average, our clients see a 45% open rate for benefits-related emails (double typical marketing email open rates). When these reminders, via email or in-platform notifications, are personalized, 17% of users, on average, will click, call, or otherwise engage with the benefit or solution being promoted to them. 

But benefits communication doesn’t have to be overly technical. While a great benefits administration platform might include embedded communication services, your Outlook is just as effective. At its core, a good benefits communication calendar should: 

• Promote benefits and programs that are available to your employees throughout the year (aim for one a month) 
• Provide actionable and accessible resources, like a link or a PDF attachment 
• Be timely and relevant where possible (like promoting using FSA or HSA dollars once a quarter or reminding people about your EAP during high-stress seasons). 
• Get ahead of any common questions or misconceptions (like the privacy of mental health support or cost) 
• Send out regular communications using channels your employees already use and are familiar with, like email and text messages.  

2. Simplify benefits materials and eliminate jargon 

85% of employees are confused about their benefits. Yes, we know we’ve been harping on this stat a lot, but it’s illustrative of the struggles employees are up against with their benefits, no matter how much work you put into your benefits strategy. 

While employees will never be benefits experts, your enrollment experience can take some of the pressure off of them by ditching the healthcare and benefits jargon and leaning more into personalization.  

By simplifying key benefits materials, like landing pages, PDFs, or emails, you can take the burden off of employees to decode their benefits information.  

3. Embrace proactive benefits marketing

While enrollment windows may only average two or so weeks, benefits information doesn’t have to be limited to that window, especially if you’ve made plan changes for your upcoming plan year.  

Businessolver and many of our clients use virtual benefits fairs as a way to share information about the upcoming benefits options for employees. This is a great opportunity to not only get a head start on your benefits communication, but also support employees with their decision-making process by giving them an early look at what’s available to them. These virtual fairs can often also live on as a recruiting and new-hire benefits guide to help showcase how the organization is supporting employees’ total wellbeing with total rewards. 

Some of our clients gamify their benefit fair experience and others use pop culture themes. However you choose to approach this (even if it’s just on your company intranet), make sure you consider including: 

• Access to 1:1 benefits counseling or navigation support
• Notes about what’s changed in your benefits program 
• Easy-to-understand educational content, including videos, infographics, and plan descriptions 
• Plan documents breaking down what’s being offered, what it covers, and cost 

As benefits become more complex to meet the diverse needs of today’s workforce, HR’s benefits strategy is critical to driving successful engagement. By streamlining the benefits administration process ahead of AE, benefits pros can head into busy season with a strong set of efficient and effective tactics to help them and their employees make the most out of their annual enrollment.  

Need a little extra support with your benefits strategy? Let’s get in touch.