Organizations spend millions (if not billions) on employee benefits to strengthen the Employer Value Proposition (EVP) critical to attracting and retaining top talent. As the Employee Benefits Research Institute reports, “employees who are extremely or very satisfied with their benefits are more likely to say they are extremely/very satisfied with their job”.
Yet, all too often, employees don’t understand their benefits and/or are unaware of all the options available to them. Open Enrollment (OE) provides an opportunity, not only to increase understanding and encourage enrollment but also to reinforce your company’s commitment to its employees. As HR thought-leader John Sumser said “… a well-crafted Employer Value
Proposition and Employment Branding project is an essential part of the communications between company and employee.
Since benefits are a critical part of that communication loop, they must be articulated in ways that amplify and focus the EVP.”
TODAY’S TOP OPEN ENROLLMENT CHALLENGES
Today’s workforce is diverse and increasingly dispersed, so engaging attention and ensuring that information is relevant and meaningful are more challenging than ever. Top challenges include:
REACHING EMPLOYEES AND THEIR EXTENDED FAMILIES
Connecting with employees is one thing, but making sure they receive your communication and actually engage with content is another. And what about employees who don’t sit at a computer all day, who work out in the field, or who work in a bustling shop environment? Reaching people at home, where family members can be involved in making benefits decisions, is another priority for many employers.
ENGAGING EMPLOYEES AT THE RIGHT TIME
We hear it from HR teams all the time: employees don’t like to sit down and read lengthy HR communications. Sure, you’re sharing important information, but when’s the best time for an employee to absorb it? Not necessarily the middle of the workday while they’re focused on a project or distracted by emails or phone calls. Maybe not even at the annual benefits meeting. Where’s the sweet spot? Most employers don’t have the answer.
COMMUNICATING COMPLEX TOPICS
Employee benefits are inherently complicated. HMO, PPO, HDHP, HSA, FSA…the alphabet soup of benefits terms can be hard to digest. Consider benefits-speak from the employee’s perspective: it’s lengthy and full of jargon. It’s no wonder the prospect of trying to simplify benefits communications is daunting.
CREATING RELEVANCE
HR leaders want to deliver easy-to-understand benefits information to their multi-generational, multi-educational, sometimes multi-lingual workforce. But it’s not always simple to provide a consistent OE experience and a coherent set of benefits messages to different employee segments, especially using traditional communication methods.
This ebook outlines best practices for handling the tactical challenges of OE while improving the employee experience and reinforcing the EVP. Download the Ebook to learn about the 5 best practices.
