How to Take your 2020 Benefit Change Rollout to the Next Level

With open enrollment right around the corner, employers are faced with the annual question: how are we going to get employees engaged while helping them make the smartest benefit decisions for their individual situations?

This year, instead of plain old printouts and email, try a new method. Whether you are changing providers, introducing new features, or simply showcasing existing options, switching up your enrollment process can be easier and more enjoyable than you’d think. Give these quick and easy tips a try for a better time come January 1.

Have a Lunch & Learn

Who doesn’t love a lunch & learn? Free food and a little break from the status quo is a much-welcomed way to get on board with the changes 2020 will bring. Whether you are opting for an informative webinar or an in-person presentation, providing a free lunch is a great way to encourage employee participation while boosting team morale.

If you are hosting an in-person benefits presentation, be sure to have your information nicely (and concisely!) summarized. Having a paper takeaway or a digital follow-up is key, as sometimes open enrollment can be overwhelming. Many people prefer to have something they can reference at a later date to help make their decision, so be sure those materials are available.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

If it’s possible, why not get the whole team involved in asking questions and brainstorming? Benefit changes can be complex and confusing, and sometimes people feel too shy to ask questions during a formal presentation. Try breaking up into smaller groups and challenging each mini-team to answer ten questions related to open enrollment and benefits. The group that gets the most right answers wins a prize!

Design Your Rollout Mobile & Digital First

Mobile. It might seem like a no-brainer, but employees are going to be quicker to respond to changes if there’s an easy process that meets them where they are: their mobile devices. Reminding employees of a mobile registration option is a great way to capture high engagement rates. The key to a user-friendly registration is making it as turnkey as possible. If employees have to fish around for URLs, passwords, group numbers, et cetera, they are going to be less likely to complete these items in a timely fashion. Provide all the information you can upfront.

Add Social to Your Strategy. If you are not taking advantage of a social strategy such as Facebook, Slack, LinkedIn, Twitter, and more, the time is now! Digital quizzes, surveys, and chat channels can work wonders for engaging your employees during the open enrollment process while facilitating knowledge sharing. Why not create an internal Facebook group or Slack channel where your team can ask questions and exchange information? The outcome of benefits decisions usually lasts all year, so it’s important for people to have their questions answered in a casual, user-friendly environment. A big benefit for your HR team is that a digital-first strategy will cut down on “random question” drop-ins and interruptions at your office. Send everyone to one place in the digital space!

Originally featured in UBA’s October 2019 HR Elements Newsletter.