The Best Season of the Year – Benefit Enrollment

It’s beginning to look a lot like … benefits enrollment, everywhere you go! Like the holiday season, there’s a lot of planning, prepping and conversations behind the scenes to pull off a memorable benefit enrollment season and employee experience. It may not include holiday lights and eggnog (although it could) but it should involve a lot of fanfare and communication. Why? Because it’s approximately 30% of the total expense of employing people and plays a foundational role in employee satisfaction.

As business owners and executives, it’s important to reflect annually on where those dollars are being spent and if it’s on items your workforce values. One way to solicit feedback is through a simple and quick electronic benefits survey to capture input about what is currently being offered and what is important to them. You may be surprised (or not) by what they say and could provide you with ideas to make changes that contribute to employee retention.

We’re going to focus on five trends that could have an impact on your organization.

Health Plan Designs

More employers are offering High Deductible High Premium (HDHP) plans. These plans are designed to shift first -dollar coverage to the employee which can empower them to have more control over their health care spending. Monthly premiums are lower, which benefits the employer and the employee. These plans work well for individuals who don’t use a lot of health care because they are paying lower in premiums and not spending a lot at the doctor or pharmacy. HDHPs also work well for those who use more healthcare since they know what their max out-of-pocket expense will be in a given plan year.

When HDHP plans are offered, an employer’s workforce gains access to Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Dollars put into an HSA are pre-tax which reduces taxable income and once the money is in the HSA, the dollars are not forfeited, and they can continue to build a nest egg for future qualified medical expenses. Employers can contribute to an HSA which helps drive employees to those plans and helps offset some of the first-dollar coverage expense. The premium costs combined with an HSA contribution can still be lower than the employer contributions costs associated with a traditional co-pay health plan.

Telemedicine and Virtual Care

A mechanism to help contain health plan costs while giving the gift of time to employees is through virtual care options. Most insurance carriers offer some level of virtual care that is low cost or no cost and typically less expensive than a visit to the doc’s office. Annual benefits enrollment meetings are a great opportunity to promote these options.

Value Add Programs

In addition to virtual care options, many carriers have a host of value-add programs that are of no cost to the employer or the employee. These programs typically target certain conditions (diabetes management, pharmacy management, weight loss, etc.) and provide tools and resources to help manage a specific condition. Obtaining an appropriate care plan is critical to employees feeling their best, which allows them to give their best to their employer. Open enrollment meetings are another opportunity to communicate these benefits.

Mental and Financial Health Offerings

Mental health continues to be at the forefront of conversations at home and in the workplace. We’re seeing more employers offer mental health benefits such as Employee Assistance Programs, mental health days off and simply creating a work environment where it’s ok to not be ok. As costs continue to rise, financial debt is increasing and financial stability is difficult for some. Employers are offering workshops and seminars that help employees come up with plans to reduce their debt, save more and find other ways they can improve their financial position. Most 401k plan administrators offer workshops and webinars. Local banks, churches and other institutions offer low cost or no cost financial education opportunities.

The opportunities are vast to evaluate your benefits programs. As you prepare for annual open enrollment, a few key takeaways:

1. Employee Survey. Conduct a brief employee survey to understand what benefits are important to them. Using this information, an employer can modify their benefits contribution strategy to allocate dollars to the benefits which are important to them.
2. Health Plan Strategy. Ask your carrier or broker for a variety of health plan designs such as HDHP to ensure you are offering the best plans for the best price and value. Obtain quotes from other insurance carriers to compare plan designs and pricing. Evaluate different contribution strategies to maximize impact.
3. Value-Add Programs. Inquire about value-add programs. Most carriers have value-add programs such as case management, telemedicine, diabetes management, smoking cessation, etc. to help control healthcare costs and support employees with their needs.
4. Wellness Programs. In addition to an Employee Assistance Program, promote and / or invest in a wellness program. Mental and physical wellbeing, family and children support, financial wellness and legal support are just a few of the many areas of life a wellness program can help employees boost their productivity and overall health and wellbeing.
5. Communicate, Communicate and … Communicate. When benefits are 30% of the total cost of a workforce, tell them! They want to know and understand how else their employer is investing in them. It is important employees know and understand the benefits being offered, what their employer contributes to and how they can maximize the resources and plans available to set them up for success for the coming plan year.
6. Make It Fun, Informative and Meaningful. There are limited times during the year when an employer has a captive audience. Use it to connect with each employee individually. Set up your benefit enrollment meeting trade-show style with informational tables about different benefits. Review options that may be meaningful to your team such as providing hearing tests, flu shots, a blood pressure reading station or even consider the opportunity to give back to the community through an onsite blood drive. The options are endless!

Once the benefit enrollment dust settles, I challenge business owners to not stop there. Traditional insurance benefits such as health plans are table stakes. These are critical to offer to your workforce to remain competitive and to attract and retain top talent. However, the landscape is changing and what employees value and perceive as benefits continues to expand. More and more employers are enhancing their paid leave programs, offering mental health days, providing flexibility, hybrid work strategies and boosting retirement plans to name a few. Now is an opportune time to gain feedback and introduce enhancements to these programs or offer a pilot program. You may be surprised at what you learn. And I bet a holiday bonus is not at the top of the list.

Learn about Connectify HR's Benefits Services and Benefits Offerings for employees.

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