Are you tired of dealing with the same complaints around each open enrollment period? Staff members bemoan the need for endless forms, while your HR department groans when they consider the mass quantity of paperwork and questions that are about to hit their desks. If everyone is frustrated and there's no end in sight, you know changes have to come -- and quickly. Fortunately, online open enrollment has a range of benefits that will help increase the efficiency of your process, reduce unnecessary questions and create a more positive environment for your employees to take advantage of their benefits.
1. Higher Percentage of Early Enrollment
Wouldn't it be great to have an automated way to gather up those last few people at the end of open enrollment that have not quite managed to complete their elections paperwork? Instead of phone calls and individual emails -- or even personal visits to their desk the day before the deadline! -- your enrollment period would be much more laid back and functional if the process was streamlined and painless for staff members to complete. When you encourage employees to complete their annual enrollment elections through an online system, you're effectively shifting the heavy-duty work from your HR staff to the software, helping free up valuable resources. Employees are much more likely to rapidly report their choices when the process is extremely efficient and easy to work through. Few people love getting out a pen or pencil and filling out a printed form, while a few additional clicks of the mouse feels much less painful.
2. Improved Efficiency of Workflow
How much time does your HR team spend managing the overall workflow around open enrollment? From gathering packets and putting them together to sorting within departments and ensuring that each staff member only receives their information, there is a great deal of manual work involved in open enrollment, plus the stress caused by the added workload. Online enrollment becomes a much more seamless process that adds efficiency all around: staff members are able to quickly access their information and HR employees don't have to needlessly shuffle paper during the open enrollment process. If there are concerns with an election choice or if there is something missed during a printed open enrollment process, the error may not be noticed right away which can cause expensive and time-consuming rework for the HR department and the staff member. With an online system, there are safeguards in place to ensure that all questions are answered -- which reduces the possibility of issues.
3. Fewer Direct Questions from Staff
What happens when there is a paper-based open enrollment period? The only perceived avenue for staff members is to go to the HR department and ask questions! This can slow down the process overall, not to mention prove frustrating for staff members who are essentially 'taking a number' and waiting for responses to their questions before they can proceed. The entire process grinds to a halt while issues are resolved, which tends to have a snowball effect for others. With online open enrollment, you quickly gain efficiency by being able to share frequently asked questions in context throughout the process.
4. Reduced Security Concerns with Confidential Information
Very few people would purposefully look at the confidential information of another staff member, but it can be difficult to avoid for even the most well-meaning staff member when presented with piles of paper. When you factor in the need to have someone spend their time entering each employee's information into an online system for aggregation -- the task becomes impossible. Not to mention the concerns with having reams of confidential information stored within your building . . . With online open enrollment, the only people that are seeing confidential employee details are your employees. This provides your organization with an added buffer against compliance risk, too.
Ready to supercharge your open enrollment season and boost efficiency? Contact the professionals at Eureka Insurance Solutions at 916-742-7842 to learn more about the benefits of online open enrollment for your staff. Get started with improvements right away when you download our free checklist: 5 Strategies to Bring Clarity to Employee Benefits.