August Edition

With the end of summer looming and Labor Day on the horizon, HR professionals at companies across the country are turning their thoughts toward a familiar fall ritual: benefits open enrollment. While there are standard elements to every open enrollment, each year also brings noteworthy changes, as well as a few surprises.

It’s never too early to plan for open enrollment

If there is just one thing benefits pros should do differently this year, it’s begin planning and communicating expectations to company employees. And it’s never too early to start. That’s because the benefits landscape is the most confusing it’s been in years.

A benefits software vendor surveyed hundreds of HR leaders and found that 61 percent of employees are confused about the benefits offered at their organizations.¹ The more explaining and educating a company can do, the better.

One tactic to help deal with increasingly complex benefit guidelines is to use recommendation tools. Employees are more likely to purchase products recommended to them than those who bypass the recommendation engine and shop on their own.

For employees who aren’t sure what to do with a particular benefit offering, a recommendation can motivate them to act. For example, 49 percent of employees who don’t receive a recommendation to buy vision insurance will do so. But conversely, of those employees who receive guidance, 86 percent enroll.²

Check out Benefit Scout^™ by Securian Financial to see how our recommendation tool educates employees.

HR teams can also prepare employees for open enrollment by thoroughly researching the top questions their employees may have about their benefits. According to one company’s survey,³ some of these most-often-repeated questions include:

1. What’s my share of costs?
2. What are my out-of-pocket non-medical expenses?
3. How would I make up for lost income if I became disabled?
4. How might my health history affect my benefits needs?
5. How might my family medical history affect my health benefits needs?

To help determine which questions are on the minds of employees, companies can use informal surveys in advance of the enrollment period. Information is king when it comes to open enrollment.

In addition to addressing the above questions, make sure employees have clear answers around the following topics:⁴

• Enrollment deadlines
• Where and how to enroll
• All provider information
• Changes from the previous year

Most companies today have at least five different generations of employees to communicate with, which calls for a variety of tactics. To be sure, each generation will have their preferred means of communication, and smart HR teams will employ a combination of all to connect with age-diverse workforces.

Consider using all of these tactics to reach your entire workforce:⁴

• Company intranet
• Newsletters
• Posters and banners
• Paycheck inserts
• Webinars

Simplify enrollment with technology

Above all, the more companies can do to simplify the open enrollment process, the better.

To that end, more businesses are going paperless, which eliminates forms and lessens the workload on time-strapped HR professionals. Going all digital allows employees to review and choose benefit options from home, where it’s convenient to share information with a spouse. Electronic enrollment also makes it easy for employees to connect online with insurance carriers to explore plan details.

Need help communicating about the products and services provided by Securian Financial? Reach out and we will start the conversation. Good luck on this year’s annual enrollment journey!

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