Open enrollment Helping employees fully understand their benefits is crucial to maintaining an open, positive work environment. In fact, by ensuring that workers know their way around their benefits, plan costs, and more, you can help boost levels of efficiency in the workplace. Prioritizing transparency in conversations about employee benefits can even result in improved employee engagement and productivity. If employees understand that their leaders and company want to invest in their health, wellness, and success, employee retention and morale can see significant improvements. Watch your company reap the benefits when you guide employees through processes like open enrollment with honesty and clarity.
Clear Communication Helps Maintain Enrollment Efficiency
A key component to improving open enrollment is streamlining communication within your company. Because office workers receive a deluge of emails day after day, try to send employees benefits information in succinct, periodic updates. Find the balance between one massive email with excessive information and 25 short emails that don’t communicate anything of value. Both approaches will likely be disregarded by employees who are already inundated with numerous messages each day. Instead, make sure that the information you’re communicating is always relevant to employees (i.e. new plan changes, important dates to look out for, etc.). Try following up on electronic updates with an in-person recap or group conference call to make sure that employees are absorbing and processing the information. Let your employees know early when open enrollment will occur, so they have several weeks to read educational materials and ask any questions they may have.
Transparency = No Surprises for Staff
As previously mentioned, allowing plenty of time for employees to sift through benefits information and the related plans and costs will benefit all parties in the long run. Ultimately, you can reduce the risk of unpleasant surprises for employees by providing educational resources and periodical reminders about important upcoming dates early on. By giving staff the chance to consider the specificities of their situation as well as any changes that may have occurred in the last year, annual elections will be a smoother process for all involved. Improve your chances for a smooth open enrollment by designating times when employees can speak with HR professionals and company leadership, voicing concerns or asking questions about their benefits. Foster an open dialogue between leadership and staff by prioritizing employees’ education on available benefits and providing opportunities for feedback.
Streamline Your Enrollment with Simplified Processes
A vital but sometimes daunting process, open enrollment plays a key role in determining your employees’ quality of life over the coming year. Employees want to understand all their options, benefits, and potential costs before they are required to make decisions, but as any Human Resources professional knows, staff are not always fully informed before the time comes to pick a plan. In fact, open enrollment forms tend to be plagued with inconsistencies or submission errors, simply because benefits information was not sent to employees in a clear, digestible way. Empower your staff to make the best decisions for their health and wellness in the coming year by streamlining open enrollment. One of the ways to do this is to move your company’s open enrollment process online. Save managers and employees a headache by choosing an online open enrollment platform that is accessible to staff 24/7, answers frequently asked questions, and ensures forms are correctly completed prior to submission. Moving paperwork online is just one of the ways your business can simplify open enrollment, ultimately creating a more efficient work environment.
Maintaining transparency in regards to employee benefits and open enrollment helps build trust among business leaders and staff. Your company will be more efficient and successful when employees understand their benefits and feel comfortable discussing their concerns with leadership. Gain insight into the benefits of clear communication about employee benefits by downloading Eureka Insurance Solution’s helpful checklist, 10 Steps to Increase Efficiency and Accuracy During Open Enrollment. You can also contact Eureka at 916-742-7842 to speak to an experienced professional about employee benefits or boosting your company’s productivity throughout open enrollment.