3 Ways to Demystify Benefits Open Enrollment

Every year, benefits season rolls around. And every year, HR departments rev up their engines and kick into high gear to prepare their districts for open enrollment. Though the specific timeframe for enrollment may vary by state, the amount of hard work and preparation that goes into it does not.

But when it comes to navigating benefits, sometimes it feels like wandering through a thick layer of fog with no clear path to take. From insurance jargon to sorting through stacks of paperwork, benefits enrollment can leave employees feeling dazed and confused. The process is complex and complicated for all parties involved, so it’s no surprise that benefit literacy is generally low. According to the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP), nearly half of employees in the United States don’t understand their benefits.

With that statistic in mind, it’s important to ask: how can school districts relieve the confusion their employees face and the arduous tasks their HR teams tackle during benefit season?

One district, Spring Grove Area School District, automated their processes into one system to make benefits open enrollment a whole lot simpler for their employees. One teacher described the new process as “settling for my brain, my heart, and my wallet.” How can you do the same for your teachers?

Communicate Clearly, Concisely, and Creatively

Employees need a detailed understanding of what benefits they’re choosing to feel secure and calm about the process. To make selections that suit their personal and familial needs best, they’ll need information and support. Think about the “three c’s” as you prepare to communicate effectively with your staff:

• Be clear: Insurance jargon is confusing. What’s an out-of-pocket maximum? What does HSA-eligible even mean? Remove ambiguity wherever you can. Speak and write in the simplest of terms.
• Be concise: If your staff receives a massive benefit handbook, will they actually read it? Keep it simple, keep it short, and if you need to share a long document, find a way to review it in simple terms.
• Be creative: Don’t be afraid to mix up your delivery methods. Every individual has a different learning style. Cover all the bases by offering multimodal and multi-channel communications — varying your methods will increase engagement.

Offer Support Beyond the Open Enrollment Period

Open enrollment may be seasonal, but benefits sure aren’t — it’s crucial to keep the conversation going all year long. In doing so, districts can help their employees stay engaged with their benefits, understand how their annual plan works, and better prepare them for the next open enrollment season.

And when it comes to qualifying life events, employees need easily-accessible support at any given time. By offering year-round support, employees will know exactly where to turn, and frustrating scenarios like this can be avoided all together. Throughout the year:

• Create a 12-month communication calendar: This is a great opportunity to visually outline what conversation is the most valuable to your employees each month. Perhaps it’s a back-to-school annual physical reminder or a telehealth information session information session during flu season.
• Promote a wellness campaign: Get your staff on a health kick with events like a nutritional challenge, an employee field day, or a meditation-station.
• Get feedback: Generate a survey and ask your employees what’s working well vs. what’s not. Do they want more creative resources? Do they want monthly reminders on how their benefit plan actually works?
• Send reminders throughout the year: If health care plans offer free preventative care such as vaccines, screenings, checkups, nurse resources, health tools, and other options even before they meet their deductible, schedule regular communications reminding employees to get the most from their benefits.

Ditch Paper — Go Digital

If your open enrollment season is still a series of manual processes, your HR team might:

• Find it hard to locate records
• Struggle to read illegible handwriting on forms
• Waste time updating inaccurate employee information,
• Face redundant data entry

Not only that, but stacks of paperwork can often feel daunting and even tamper the enrollment experience for new hires. So it’s time to reflect on a few questions:

1. How much time does your team spend transcribing written data?
2. How many pages is your employee benefits packet?
3. How long do you spend tracking down or updating employee information?

Are your answers a little (or a lot) higher than you would like them to be? If so, it’s probably time to ditch the paper. When you make the switch to a digital benefits process, your district will cut costs and save time, and employees will have a fuller understanding of benefits enrollment.

Benefits of Going Digital:

• With self-enrollment, employees can make their own benefits decisions
• The employee experience is improved through increased flexibility
• HR teams can provide a greater level of support to their employees
• Countless trees are saved through more sustainable processes

Do More With Frontline HRMS

Are you ready to start your journey toward demystifying benefits enrollment in your district? Frontline HRMS can help.

With Frontline, staff will be able to digitally…

• Select and enroll in benefits packages
• Adjust life/qualifying events as situations change
• Change contact information with the click of a button
• Access pertinent information pertaining to individual plans

Learn more about benefits management with Frontline HRMS.