Six Steps for a Successful Open Enrollment
Health Care Reform has put benefits front stage and open enrollment (believe it or not!) is just around the corner! Here are six tips to demonstrate and reinforce the value of your benefit offerings.
1. Plan ahead. Contact your health care, dental, retirement and other voluntary benefit providers to set up dates for them to come in and present to your employees so that they can start thinking about next year’s benefit choices before the year-end “crunch time”.
2. Provide a benefit plan comparison. Show the difference in cost and the benefits for each plan. For example, if an employee has family coverage in a PPO style plan and the cost for that same plan is increasing you will want to do some examples on what the cost would be for ALL the plans you offer.
3. When preparing the materials to give to employees, avoid health care industry jargon and instead put the information into plain English; many employees don't understand health savings accounts or even the definition of a deductible. They're too embarrassed to ask because they think they should already know. Encourage questions and follow up to help them understand.
4. SHRM recommends promoting missed and under-utilized benefits. Put together a list of the five to 10 benefit plans employees aren't using enough—health savings accounts, fitness benefits, voluntary insurance, hidden features of the EAP, preventive care benefits, commuter benefits—as a one-page flyer. Title it “The Top 10 Employee Benefits You’re Missing” or “10 Ways You’re Not Getting the Most from Your Benefit Plans.” Ask employees for their ideas.
5. Consider holding a Wellness Clinic in conjunction with open enrollment. Workplace Vitality, www.wpvitality.com, can partner with your organization to provide employee’s access to a variety of health-monitoring services that make staying healthier easier which in turn will reduce your companies health expenses, lower your workplace absenteeism and boost overall productivity. Workplace Vitality also offers low cost on-site Flu Clinics and Health Screenings.
6. Utilize various modes of communication. Employees, especially if you have several generations within your workforce will appreciate efforts to communicate their benefit options via different mediums. A big meeting may work for some employees while Gen Y’ers may get the most out of a benefits blog. Utilizing Skype, www.skype.com may be an excellent choice for a remote workforce. Try to encourage spouses or domestic partners to attend the meetings, as health care is a family decision; holding meetings at lunch or after work will make it easier for a couple to attend.
