Employees consistently rank health insurance among the most important benefits that employers provide. That enthusiasm, however, rarely translates to how they actually use their benefits.

With the "great employee shift" upon us, and the economy still strong, keeping talent is paramount. Now is prime planning time for most annual enrollment periods, especially those in October and November, as breaking through all the noise and activity at that time of year will be key to keeping teams on your payroll.

Is a strategy necessary?

Your organization likely devotes a significant budget to create a comprehensive benefits package – one that helps you attract and retain the best talent in today’s competitive marketplace. While some employees go through a plan meticulously, most often find the options confusing, resulting in last-minute or poor choices during open enrollment — or worse, they don’t enroll.  It eats away at their overall experience.

Today’s robust benefit offerings, along with the effort to navigate the various tools to enhance them (for example, savings accounts, cost calculators, employee assistance programs, and consumer discount programs) only add to employee confusion. 

Implementing a communications strategy does two things: educates your employees and saves you time and money. Think about how much time your team spends answering simple questions regarding benefits. How much time and effort are you spending to backfill roles of employees who left for a better total rewards package? 

Who wouldn't want that time back to focus on their primary responsibilities?

To put it another way, a good communications strategy with a reputable vendor can cost less than the associated costs of backfilling just three positions with salaries around $50,000/year. Isn't it worth the investment? We’d love to help.

Why You Should Lean On Communications Expertise

The HR professionals tasked with designing the benefits are often very good at it; where their skills sometimes fall flat is in simplifying that content and developing engaging employee benefit communication. Plus, with endless video conferences, phone calls and returning-to-the-office-initiatives, you may not have the time to create an engaging plan.

The fact of the matter is, communications planning is essential to success, whether it be meeting budget, ensuring migration rates, discussing unanticipated rate hikes or rolling out decision-making tools. And it doesn’t need to be a massive undertaking. With the right strategists at your side, the planning process can wow you with “aha” moments —and you might even learn a few things along the way!

Communications experts, internal or external, should ask about your objectives, conduct audience analysis, use smarter resources, and measure the campaign to see what’s working and what doesn’t.

Over time, a good partnership can help to streamline the communications strategy planning process and save you a significant amount of money.

But, We’ve Always Done it This Way!

Those same communications experts will likely also have insights into new channels for spreading the word. The traditional employee benefit communication effort is typically email and snail mail, possibly with a poster, some intranet messages or a live benefit fair thrown in.

Fresh open enrollment ideas expand your reach to more employees and allow you to highlight key differences for the year that they should be aware of.

Going digital may work for some organizations, while print is a good fit for others. Videos and microsites can work across the board for access at home, work, or on the go.

We have more means to communicate today than ever before in human history. It’s important to be open to new ideas. But without a plan, companies and organizations are stuck in a wasteful, ineffective “throw it on the wall and see if it sticks” mentality that rarely ends well.

When Should I Start?

Now’s the time, especially if you have a January 1 effective date. Depending on what’s happening with your benefits line-up, you may need to start several months in advance to cover all of the plan changes. Or, if you have minimal changes, you might be able to accomplish your communication goals in a shorter timeframe. In general, 12 to 16 weeks ahead of your open enrollment period start date is a good place to begin. This will give you plenty of room to manage the roadblocks you are likely to encounter.

When drafting open enrollment communications, HR benefit managers should consider whether they are reaching people with relevant information, what life stage those employees and their families are in, and what their needs may be at this point in time. Just distributing a booklet and asking them to make choices isn’t enough. Employees need information in digestible formats that resonate with them.

This year, more than ever, the stakes are high for benefits and annual enrollment. It’s an important time to speak to your employees and provide them the information they may need for physical, mental, and financial well-being. Let us know if you need help crafting your benefits story. We’d love to help.