What Makes for a Successful Open Enrollment Process

Open Enrollment Season is Just Around the Corner

While private health insurance coverage continues to be more prevalent than public coverage (66.5% private vs. 34.8% public in 2020), demand for the latter did increase in last year’s open enrollment period. With a significant amount of Americans leaving their jobs for better compensation and benefits, the season ahead could see a stronger gain in private coverage — or a spike in public coverage due to the higher unemployment rate. For companies offering private coverage, now is the time to ensure your open enrollment process conveys the value of the employee benefits offerings you’ve put together. 

Open enrollment is a confusing time for many employees for a variety of reasons, and because of that, mistakes are often made. Employees lack an in-depth understanding of the plans available, don’t understand the level of coverage they need, or mistakenly choose too little or too much insurance, resulting in excessive costs or insufficient coverage later. It’s up to employers, their broker partners, and even carriers to demystify these important benefits to not only support their participants’ well-being but also to make the open enrollment process easier on their end.

Recommendations for a More Productive and Successful Open Enrollment Period

1. Prioritize Education for Better Results

Insurance is a foreign language for many people. Unless employees have a qualifying event during the year, open enrollment season is likely the only time they’ll have to deal with making changes, digging through coverage documentation, and reading up on available plans. Offerings like high-deductible health plans, FSAs, HSAs, PPO, HMO, copays, coinsurance, and others quickly become overwhelming and frustrating. To ensure a smooth open enrollment process, invest in thorough education via tools that reach your employees where they are now. The more employees are educated, the more you’ll be able to eliminate unnecessary claims and costs.

We caught up with Benjamin May at GCG Financial, a broker partner to Cognos HR, to get his insights on what GCG does to keep clients’ employees informed. They work with their clients to create customized open enrollment videos detailing the benefit plan for the upcoming year. Each video is created specifically for the client, their employees, and their plan offerings. The videos are just as helpful for long-time employees as they are for new employees looking to understand their company’s offerings and what may be changing. In addition, GCG provides clients with explainer videos. These are short, educational videos that clients can share with their employees to help clarify various benefit terms, plan types, and more. The use of videos to communicate this important information is particularly helpful with many companies operating with remote/hybrid and distributed teams, which ties in closely with another key consideration for your open enrollment process.

2. Leverage Multichannel Communications

Remote work is here to stay for countless companies nationwide, and with people choosing opportunities where they have the greatest freedom and flexibility to work how (and where) they want, it’ll be important to account for this in your open enrollment process. There can’t be just one communication channel, either. People learn and process information differently, so conducting informative sessions in multiple ways ensures that employees have the options they need to learn more about open enrollment. Additionally, there are currently four generations active in the workplace — each of which learns using different tools and styles.

For its clients, GCG offers a variety of digital and traditional solutions. Customized enrollment webinars are made available, with many prerecorded videos that allow employees on-demand access, wherever they are, and at any time throughout the year. All documents and resources are housed online in a convenient portal. For those who need direct answers, they offer additional on-site group sessions to further engage employees one-on-one. And to support all of these efforts, they also conduct direct mail campaigns and release open enrollment details through company communication channels.

3. Work with an Involved Partner

Unfortunately, many companies don’t get the support they need with their brokers, leading them to try managing open enrollment on their own. Even if you have an experienced benefits team in your HR department, it is often a heavy burden to bear for internal employees who could be better utilized on more important work. To ensure the best possible open enrollment process, consider working with a partner that already knows the ins and outs of this crucial yearly undertaking, and not only offers support for HR teams but also leads everything from start to finish.

For example, experienced brokers don’t just connect employers with carriers and walk away. They’ll seek to add value through the entire open enrollment process. Whether in meetings or in videos, strong brokers will bring a carrier representative to meet with employees to discuss value-added benefits like employee assistance programs (EAP), telemedicine options, health incentives, maternity/paternity programs, and more. (Don’t forget — it’s these fringe benefits that employees are looking for in their careers. Don’t miss this opportunity to compete for talent!)

Your broker should play a meaningful role in the open enrollment process, too. Strong brokers will conduct employee surveys, provide analysis for the renewal process, ensure compliance requirements are being met, and benchmark data along the way to give you the best possible insights and direction in your program. Ultimately, they should take a consultative approach — versus simply serving as a broker — that targets where you want to be and builds a plan to get you there.

Get the Support You Need for the 2022 Open Enrollment Period

Whether you’re looking to improve your benefit offerings, better manage the open enrollment process, or are looking for a consultative partner that provides expert guidance and recommendations, Cognos HR is ready to support your success this fall. With partnership possibilities for everything from benefits and brokers to recruitment for bringing the best talent to your team, we’ll work with you to maximize team productivity while taking the weight of complex tasks off your shoulders.

Connect with us today to make your open enrollment season a success.

Thanks again to Benjamin May from GCG Financial for his insights!