How to Create a Successful Year-Round Employee Benefits Experience
Employee experience is a topic often talked about by HR and benefits leaders. Even so, some may still struggle to pinpoint what it is and how to provide a successful employee experience for their population. And for good reason! The employee experience encompasses every interaction an employee has while working for an organization. It’s a broad topic, and trying to think about how to improve your employee experience at large might make your head spin.
So today, let’s focus on the specific part of the employee experience that is the employee benefits experience. After all, employees’ satisfaction with their benefits will likely color the rest of their feelings about their experience. 78% of employees reported they’re more likely to stay with an employer if they value their benefits program.
So, let’s dive into how you can create a valuable employee benefits experience.
Get intentional with your communications
You can’t make up for lost time when it comes to annual enrollment messaging, so start early. You should start sharing your messaging at least a couple of months before AE arrives. In doing so, you’ll get employees thinking about their upcoming enrollment well before they enroll. A longer runway will give them more time to determine what’s best for them.
Don’t settle for extending the decision-making window alone. Providing your employees with some structure can go a long way in keeping them on track for a successful AE. A simple checklist or timeline can help your employees know what to expect and help them work more iteratively rather than cramming toward the end of the enrollment period.
Beyond giving your employees more time and structure, it’s essential to consider how and where you’re reaching your employees with benefits messaging. Deploying an omnichannel approach is crucial to ensuring you reach as many people as possible wherever they like to be met. Email is great for some, while text messaging may be a better reminder for others. Posting messaging around your facility in the form of posters or flyers is another good idea. By spreading your messaging across channels, you will maximize your reach.
Lastly, work to meet key family decision-makers, not just your employees. Your employees might not be the only decision-makers regarding their family’s benefits—work to make benefits information accessible to those decision-makers as well as your employees. A public web page, mailed newsletter, or postcard can help get a spouse or dependent in the know.
Take advantage of your technology
Creating an accessible, digital experience that reflects what your employees see in other areas of their lives is a great way to make the employee benefits experience more accessible. A benefits mobile app can be a big help for employees trying to better manage their benefits. It gives them a quick, easy way to access their benefits information and can do a whole lot more. For example, with Businessolver’s MyChoice Mobile App® your employees can store ID cards, view benefits details on the go, chat with SofiaSM in seconds, and more.
These tools enable employees to easily self-service—allowing them to get the answers they need without calling their service center. This helps them navigate their enrollment without as much assistance and frees up the lines for callers with more complex issues.
A great way to engage your employees during annual enrollment is by deploying virtual benefits fairs. Businessolver can help you develop a specific theme and style that fits your population. They’re accessible from any device, and other family decision-makers can join them, not just the employee. And finally, if you use the CX team here to deploy them, you’ll get metrics back around engagement, clicks, time per page, and more.
For even greater engagement, consider adding gamification to the enrollment experience. Some competition or point scoring that results in prizes can go a long way in engaging your employees. When it comes to benefit vendor booths—either virtual or in-person—consider working with them to give away a branded tumbler or Bluetooth speaker or points towards a wellness program to employees who visit the booth. Don’t do a benefits fair? Maybe employees who answer a survey are entered into a drawing.
Commit to the process
If you embark on creating a successful employee benefits experience, you should understand that it takes time to find what works. And what worked last year might not be as effective this time around. You must stay open to trying new things while staying true to what you know works for your population.
As you try new approaches, make sure that you can measure the effectiveness of your strategies. Deploy tools with measurable results, such as clicks, average time per page, and email open rates. The old adage is that what’s not measured doesn’t get improved, and that’s true here. By working iteratively each year and assessing your data, you can continue to build on what worked and hone areas of improvement.
