Open Enrollment can be extremely demanding and extraordinarily stressful. As such, the step by step guide below was created to promote a seamless open enrollment process.
- Start planning early and allow ample time to receive and analyze benefit options and corresponding data. This is a critical step to make sound decisions that best fit the organization’s needs. Employers commonly wait until the last minute to obtain data and then are forced to make rash decisions. Being rushed to make employee benefit decisions can be stressful and aggravating. According to a 2011 report from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 97% of benefits administrators reported that working on open enrollment consumed at least 50% of their time. Because it is such a time consuming task, give yourself and your team a dedicated amount of time to prepare for the data and decision making.
- Outline the entire open enrollment process from start to finish and assign a time line for each step.
- Specify strategy and goal(s) prior to beginning the process.
While researching and analyzing employee benefit plans, it is imperative to know what the goal and culture of the organization. Be prepared to address the following questions and issues that may arise:
- What kind of plans do we want to offer?
- Will we have different classifications of employees?
- How much, if any, is the organization going to contribute to the premiums for employees and dependents?
- Consult with your broker to ensure Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliance.
- Create new and innovative ways to educate your employees about their benefits. For example:
- Highlight the major benefit changes from the previous year.
- Provide enrollment kits to employees that provide comprehensive information including employee’s cost.
- Consider using a comparison table to help employees evaluate premium costs and coverage among plans.
- Define commonly misunderstood terms such as HMO, PPO, in network, out of network, deductible, out of pocket, aggregate and embedded, etc.
- Explain any premium increases and/or coverage changes.
- Use real life examples that resonate and make sense to employees such as annual exams, child birth, blood work, cost calculators, guest speakers, etc.
- Consider making open enrollment meetings mandatory.
- Invite your broker to attend open enrollment meetings; their benefits knowledge can be a great resource to employees and benefit administrators.
The more informed and prepared your employees are, the more they can utilize their benefits in a sophisticated and useful manner. According to Aflac reports, employees are generally overwhelmed and confused by their benefits plan:
- 77% of employees spend 60 minutes or less on their benefits plan selection (nearly half spend less than 30 minutes), and the overwhelming majority (90%) default to keeping the same benefits year after year, regardless of the impact of this decision.
- 44% of employees say there are some things they don’t understand about their policies,
- 9% say there are many things they don’t understand or they don’t understand their policies at all.
Brainstorm innovative and creative ways to do open enrollments. If every employee learns one new thing about their benefits, then your employees are that much more informed and can make better benefit decisions. Partnering with your benefits consultant, broker, or benefits team is a beneficial and strategic way to direct open enrollment meetings.
- Consider using an online enrollment system. They are on the rise and making the benefit election processes easier for Human Resource professionals. According to an Aflac study, 62% of employees in 2015 enrolled in their benefits online, which is up from 46% in 2011.
Clearly, there are many components and facets to consider when handling open enrollment. The more prepared you are and the sooner you begin, the less stressful the experience will be.
To learn more about open enrollment, contact UBF Consulting at (510) 654-6566.
Hillarie Katz serves UBF clients as our Benefits Specialist. She has a background in benefits as well as management of customer service in the hotel industry. Outside of work, Hillarie enjoys being outdoors in the sunshine and hosting dinner parties. Hillarie can be reached at hillarie.katz@ubf.consulting.