We cannot stress enough the importance of good communication at the office. But unfortunately, most employers drop the drop in areas where it counts like health insurance. It’s no secret, health insurance plans change often. As such, communication between employers and employees should be effective enough to communicate the change. This way, the employees will receive maximum benefits judging with what they need and want from a health insurance plan. In this piece, we look at open enrollment and how communication can be more effective.

What is Open Enrollment?

Now, to make the education and change process effective, employers have open enrollment towards the end of the year. During this time, it’s common for employers to invite representatives from different insurance companies to provide relevant information to employees. In some instances, HR representatives present these options to employees. Others still make due by sending emails or availing pamphlets to employees who need them.

The open enrollment lasts for a couple of weeks to provide employees with enough time to deliberate and consult on the benefits in the plans they consider.

Open enrollment Tips for HR Professionals

First, are employers required to notify open enrollment? Well, employers are not obligated to communicate open enrollment. However, most employers do since it improves the employer-employee relationship, allows employees to get the most benefits, and improves employee retention.

With that said, below are some tips to improve your open enrollment process.

Use multiple channels of communication

To communicate effectively to your workforce you need to use more than just emails of printouts. You can go the extra mile to create infographics, online games, and videos since they are more captivating and engaging. Remember, generally, people tend to remember the things they hear better than those they read. And those they see better than those they hear. But when you combine the three senses, the learning outcomes are mind-blowing.

Communicate throughout the year

Instead of rushing to educate your employees at the last minute, communicate the benefits throughout the year. This way, your employees have more time to digest the information and choose a plan that’s best for them.

If you wait for just before open enrollment to educate, you’ll miss the mark and risk overloading your employees with information. Eventually, they might not act on the information provided.

Customize your message

Regardless of the communication avenue you choose, you’ll get better results when you target your employees right. By this, we mean using the right examples to speak to your employees. Because of this, you’ll have to communicate different things to your employees depending on their needs and wants. Using a one-size-fits-all approach will not yield the desire results.

Last but not least, make sure you seek out input from the employees. This is the best way to understand what they need and to create targeted copies.

Last but not least, it’s important to use emotions and not facts. You apply open enrollment best practices but without appealing to employee emotions you might miss the mark. Remember, emotion often means more to individuals than the facts. Therefore, infuse emotion in the messages you send out.

Conclusion

To improve open enrollment, you have to improve communication tactics and copy you use. In the end, happy employees will translate into a productive company, which is great for you.