If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that we’ve touched on which benefits videos to start with to get the most interest and involvement from your viewers. Will it be your Consumer Directed Health Plan or your 401(k)? You will also have learned what to include in an Open Enrollment video, which is a powerful place to start engaging employees.

Once you’ve decided on which topic to cover, here’s a plan for pulling together everything you COULD talk about and, from that, how to work out what to actually include in your video and what to provide through supporting documents.

1. Start with plan docs – Pull together and review all of your plan documents. View them through your employees’ eyes and be an advocate for their experience.
2. Decide on scope – Do you want a teaser to get employees interested, a full support solution that replaces your benefits guide or something in-between? Your choice will affect the watchability and usefulness of your video.
3. Beginnings and endings are critical – You have 30 seconds to buy attention span. Be creative. Wrap up with next steps.
4. Keep it Simple – Speak in plain English, as you would if you were having coffee with a good friend.
5. Find your voice – Are you corporate, anti-corporate or somewhere in-between? Make sure your video reflects your organization’s unique culture and voice.
6. Look and Feel – Consider incorporating these five elements:

• “Talking head” introduction – from a key executive is great for Open Enrollment or New Hire Training videos
• Company images – good for branding but be careful using faces as those employees may eventually leave
• Stock photography – select a powerful image to reinforce a key message
• Text – again, used sparingly, it can reinforce your key messages effectively
• Tables/charts/graphs – with video, you can walk your viewers through difficult concepts using tables, charts, graphs and other illustrations

Want more detail? Click here to watch the video course.

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GuideSpark has created a new video course to assist HR departments making the exciting leap into video communication. In this course, our director of Content Development and Video expert extraordinaire, Joseph Larocque, explains that topics which are more complex or require careful explanation are natural places to start. Good candidates are core benefits, Open Enrollment changes and tough messages such as a premium increase.

“Video can really help people understand how these plans work, how they compare, and why they are compelling,” says Larocque. “If you are introducing one of these in the upcoming year, starting your video communications here will drive adoption.”

GuideSpark’s system tracks the usage of our customers’ video libraries in great detail and provides this information the the HR department in an easy-to-read dashboard. Based on our customer statistics, the Top 5 Most Viewed Employee Benefits Videos are:

• Consumer Directed Health Plan
• Medical Plan Options
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Roth vs. Traditional 401(k)

To learn more about how to create benefits communication videos, click here to watch the video course: Transform Benefits Education with Video.

In his new video course–Transform Benefits Education with Video–Joseph Larocque, GuideSpark’s Director of Content Development and video expert extraordinaire, recommends including these five pieces of basic information:

1. Open Enrollment process and deadlines
2. Open Enrollment events
3. Changes to your plan
4. How to enroll in benefits
5. Where to get help

It may sound simple but HR departments are frequently tempted to include large amounts of detail in an Open Enrollment video. The key message here is NOT to give viewers everything they could possibly want to know. Just touch on the main points and tell the viewer where to go for more information.

“An Open Enrollment video can provide a lot of value,” says Larocque. “If you hit these points effectively, you can avoid a lot of support calls.”

For more information on creating benefits communication videos, watch the video course Transform Benefits Education with Video.

GuideSpark, delivering the latest web solutions for HR communications and training, introduces a video white paper to aid HR organizations in the development and launch of their own, customized benefits communication videos.

GuideSpark’s instructional video white paper provides HR organizations with a simple step-by-step process to create and launch customized employee benefits videos. By incorporating video into benefits education, HR organizations can engage employees and increase benefits adoption during open enrollment while saving time and resources. According to GuideSpark’s customer surveys, using rich video content typically garners an overall 98 percent satisfaction rate among employees who praise the “easy to follow,” “convenient” and cost-effective benefits communication videos.

“Across the board, we find HR organizations are juggling the dual goals of enabling employee self-service while driving toward a culture of well-informed benefits consumers,” said Joe Larocque, Director, Content Development, GuideSpark. “Without exception, they’ve seen great success using video to achieve both objectives through a deeper level of employee engagement.”

The video white paper provides information on:

• how to use video for quick wins during open enrollment
• which benefit programs gain the most from video education
• how to decide what to cover
• how to keep the video content simple and engaging

FORTUNE 100 Best Places to Work companies—Adobe Systems and Meridian Health—and other top organizations, currently use videos to improve engagement in benefits education.

Watch the complimentary video white paper “Transform Benefits Education with On-Demand Video”.

Drive 401(k) participation by tying to Open Enrollment

contribution changes to 401(k) plans during open enrollment, employers have seen an increase in participation.   The study showed an 11% year-over-year increase in the number of employees making a change to their retirement plan election as a result of the association with the health care open enrollment period.  And nearly all of these election changes were positive (93%), meaning employees started or increased contributions to a plan.

While Health & Welfare benefits enjoy an annual period for employees to reflect on their needs and make adjustments, retirement plans have not historically enjoyed this kind of attention.  And studies show that it’s sorely needed.  This Open Enrollment period, consider offering some communications dedicated to your 401(k) plan and provide easy access to make changes.  You may be surprised at how many employees engage.

Benefits Communications for Delicate News

that medical care costs will once again rise at near double-digit rates in 2011.  According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute, medical care costs are expected to increase by 9% in 2011, a slight deceleration from the 9.5% rise posted in 2010.

Cost sharing has become a critical tool to help keep medical care costs affordable for both employer and employee.  2011 will be no different.  Here are the key findings of the PwC report:

• 42% of employers intend to increase employee contributions for health insurance coverage
• 41% plan to increase medical cost-sharing, including higher-deductibles and co-pays
• 26% expect to increase prescription drug cost-sharing
• 67% of employers will most likely expand or improve wellness programs

In addition, many employers will add high-deductible health plans in the coming year to help ease the cost burden.

Those employers with a Fall Open Enrollment are heading into a critical time.  Important decisions will be made that will have a significant impact on the cost of benefits for employees and their families.  Careful thought, consideration and resources will go into making plan decisions and yet too little thought and preparation will go into communicating the changes.

With so much at stake, what is your plan for communicating this delicate information?  How will you deliver the news that your employees are once again being asked to shoulder a larger share of the cost burden?  How will you drive enrollment in that new and very complex high deductible health plan?

Rethink the lengthy and ineffective emails, brochures and web pages. You know that employees and family decision makers aren’t reading them – no matter how pretty they are.  And employees who operate in the absence of information are likely to come to the wrong conclusions about plan changes.  They are likely to avoid newer health plans in favor of the ones that feel familiar.

This Open Enrollment period, don’t let your communications strategy go by the wayside.  Demonstrating transparency and carefully communicating the difficult changes that are being made to benefits are nearly as important as the changes themselves.  Remember that introducing a high deductible health plan only saves the company money if you can convince an employee to adopt it (assuming they have alternatives).

For tips on communicating effectively, please see our March post:   Benefits Communications for Today’s Employee.

A confluence of events, including substantial increases in the cost of health care and tough economic times have likely resulted in significant changes to many of your benefits. It is of supreme importance that you understand these changes, how they impact your checkbook and ways to optimize your benefits. Keep in mind that without a qualified change of status, you will be locked into your elections until next year’s Open Enrollment period, so the time to focus on your benefits is NOW. Don’t be surprised by the cost provision changes after they take effect and it is too late to do something about them.

Here are 4 tips for making the most of your Open Enrollment period and cutting your health care related expenses:

1. Get reacquainted with your health care plan options. This may be the most important and likely the most daunting task of all. While employers have largely absorbed the skyrocketing cost of health care (which again will see a double-digit year over year cost increase) you are also likely shouldering some of the burden. Understand the changes that are being introduced and how they will ultimately impact your wallet. Taking the time to dig into the cost provisions associated with your medical plan options will not only help to determine whether you’ve made the right selection, it will also help you to understand how to minimize your out-of-pocket expenses throughout the year. Many employers are introducing low premium/high deductible plans which can be a very cost-effective option for you, particularly if you are not a heavy user of your health care plan. Lastly, if your spouse or domestic partner also has a plan, you will want to incorporate his/her options into the evaluation process.
2. Use flexible spending accounts. So, you knew this one was coming. Any respectable list of tips for Open Enrollment *MUST* have this in their top 4 and despite this widely held opinion, only about one-third of you actually take advantage of them. Using pre-tax dollars to pay for qualifying health care (including medical, dental and vision) expenses can save you significant dollars. For example, assume a married employee with an adjusted gross income of $100,000 who files jointly and accumulates $4,000 in medical expenses for the family. This employee would save just over $1,300 in Federal taxes for the year by using a Health Care Flexible Spending Account. An added and understated benefit of an FSA is that it actually helps you to plan and save for your health care expenses through convenient payroll deductions.
3. Optimize your prescription drug benefits. This tip has more to do with saving throughout the year, rather than a decision that you’ll need to make for Open Enrollment. I mention it because it’s a great way to save money and could potentially impact your health care FSA contribution. Generic drugs are copies of brand-name drugs that have exactly the same intended use, effects, side effects, risks, safety, strength… in other words, their pharmacological effects are exactly the same as those of their brand-name counterparts. Taking a proactive approach and requesting a generic substitution for your prescription medication can cut down your copayment significantly. Use of generic drugs may also allow you to waive your deductible and avoid costs that are incurred when you use a brand name drug when a generic is available. Additionally, you may also be able to cut down on prescription copays by utilizing the mail order prescription drug benefit for maintenance medications.
4. Take advantage of Health Wellness programs. Wellness incentives have become hugely popular. In fact, almost two out of three U.S. companies offer programs to keep employees healthy, and 66 percent of those offering programs use incentives. These incentives come in a number of forms, for instance, a credit toward your health care premiums. It may be the case that your employer is introducing a similar program in 2010, so be sure to understand wellness program features, incentives and consider participation.

Consider for a moment the staff time and dollars go into facilitating New Hire Training and Open Enrollment each year.  Many companies we’ve met with offer half-day New Hire orientations on a near weekly basis.  Not to mention the time and effort that goes into the creation of the stacks of paper that employees receive on their first day.  Open enrollment presents a similar situation.  Each year, HR staff offer a collection of live seminars to explain benefits changes, often preceded by brochures, mailers and the like.  Despite all of this effort, nearly 80% of employers believe that their employees do not have a good understanding of their benefits.

Many employers have asked us how they free up their valuable, and in many cases shrinking HR staff to work on strategic projects while improving rates of benefits understanding among employees.  In addition, finding ways to communicate effectively has become an even higher priority as employers prepare to make difficult announcements about cutting programs and/or asking employees to take on a greater share of health care costs.

Our answers to such questions naturally start with what we know to be true about today’s employees:

• First, given the trend of increasingly distributed workforces and the importance of family decision makers, on-site seminars fail to provide reach
• Next, given the explosion of web multimedia and sites like YouTube, employees have become accustomed to rich, short-form content.  The busy professional of today simply does not have the attention span to thumb through lengthy benefits documents.

GuideSpark’s Benefits Learning Center modules embrace these trends to provide a modern and engaging multimedia solution capable of reaching your distributed workforce and their families.  This online solution automates open enrollment and new hire training workflows to free up valuable resources.  Employees have on demand access to a library of multimedia benefits presentations, allowing them to direct and personalize their learning experience.  In addition, these modules offer custom checklists for open enrollment and new hire on boarding, so that employees can conveniently track their progress.

Please take a look at the New Hire Training and Open Enrollment demonstrations on our site to better understand the power of these new modules.