Inspiring Benefits Activation Beyond AE

With annual enrollment season around the corner, many in the benefits world are fully focused on doing all they can to ensure their employees have the support they need to take advantage of their upcoming enrollment window. And while this is a crucial season for your employees’ benefits, it’s not the only time you can make an impact on your employees’ benefits experience.  

Let’s look at three ways you can help employees go from selecting their benefits to activating them throughout the year. 

Help bridge the gap between employees’ needs and your benefit offerings 

Did you know that more than 60% of American workers are considered “over-insured”? It’s not surprising with a backdrop of our data showing that 85% of employees are confused about their benefits. Couple these two percentages with growing employee expectations for more diverse and empathetic benefits, and we’ve got problems. 

So how can employers cut through the confusion?  

For starters, help your employees understand the value of their available benefits to help them better manage their wellbeing and protect their paycheck from overspending on benefits. Our stats show that creating a personalized benefits experience is critical to sustaining long-term engagement. For example, 60% of employees elected right-fit-for-them medical coverage with a savings account (like an HSA) when decision support was available. 

Beyond providing decision support at enrollment, employers can weave personalization throughout the year. And employees want this! 70% of employees opted into using their claims data to personalize their benefits messaging when given the option because it helps them get the most out of their benefits: the more personalized the message, the greater the impact. Consider targeting communications about benefits like telemedicine or 401(k) match to enrollees, not just those eligible, year-round. 

Create an easy-to-navigate benefits experience 

How empathetic is your benefits platform’s experience design? We know today’s consumers expect digital experiences to be tailored to them—in fact, 56% expect personalized experiences. And we know that each employee is coming to the platform for their own reasons, whether checking a spending account balance or asking an intelligent application, like our Sofia, about their copay. So, creating a responsive, personalized benefits experience within your platform is a great way to help your employees engage their benefits meaningfully. 

Speaking of Sofia, she’s a phenomenal help in creating an easy-to-navigate benefits experience. She has a knack for surfacing information relevant to an employee’s needs at each moment. She helps drive 80% of impressions, or visibility of, point solutions based on employees’ intent in the system. 19% of employees activated on a benefit when Sofia provided relevant information or resources in chat. 

Beyond being able to chat with Sofia 24/7, employees can access their benefits, submit claims, and do so much more year-round via the MyChoice Mobile App and desktop platform. Additionally, clients can use Action Manager, Benefitsolver’s in-platform communication tool, to schedule and send timely and relevant benefit emails to their population. 

Meet employees outside their benefits platform

A quality benefit experience needs to be omnipresent and omnichannel. Employees desire to activate their benefits but need help and timely reminders to make it happen. Enter a defined nurture strategy designed to meet employees outside the benefits platform and drive them toward the right resources and benefits. 

Here’s what nurture communications could look like for your organization: 

• Sending emails and text message reminders before and during the AE window. 
• Sharing a list of FSA- and HSA-approved items to help employees use those funds throughout the year. 
• Promoting resource programs, like caregiver support and chronic condition management. 

Nurture campaigns are a long-term approach that likely won’t return immediate results. You’re helping your employees build awareness and familiarity with their benefits before a health event occurs so they’re more prepared to act when it does. Eventually, the employee will activate on the right benefit when they need it, simply because HR helped build their awareness outside of the benefits platform. 

Want to learn more about how to drive employee engagement year-round? Join us for our September 13 webinar to hear our experts talk about how to drive engagement after AE.