Managing open enrollment in a hybrid world

Open enrollment is an opportunity for companies to help employees explore and evaluate their healthcare and benefit options. As the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the way we live and work, the days of meeting in-person to discuss benefit plans are over.

Many employees continue to work remotely, while some have returned to the office, and others are alternating between the two. In light of these changes, employers must pivot their open enrollment strategies and programs in order to assist employees in meeting their healthcare needs and achieving a healthy financial future.

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The core components of a successful open enrollment season are communication and education, which are even more important now that a full return-to-office seems increasingly unlikely. Today, the most accessible and efficient open enrollment experience employers can provide is a virtual one.

Employers must first anticipate that the open enrollment process may take longer this year. The intensified focus on healthcare during the pandemic may result in employees requesting additional time to digest information, review plans, calculate how options will work for them and even include other family members in the decision-making process.

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Every open enrollment season has its new employees or first-time enrollees. However, this year, the pandemic may again act as a complete level-set, spurring employees to start from scratch and revisit their benefits, reconsider long-term health and wealth goals, and perhaps factor in family members or situations that had previously not been a concern.

For this reason, pre-enrollment communication ought to include high-level, back-to-basics information about benefit plans, such as an overview of what various benefits like a health savings account, flexible spending account, or health reimbursement arrangement are, how they work, the differences between them, and why HSAs in particular can be such a powerful component of a healthy financial future.

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Keeping communications clear and streamlined is important, especially for those who entered the workforce during the pandemic and may not be familiar with consumer-directed plans, high deductible health plans or HSAs. One way to ensure that you are not using confusing jargon or complicated concepts is to enlist groups of employees to help you create the presentations, websites or brochures for open enrollment. As a bonus, these employees are far more likely to become advocates for your benefits offerings.

Help your employees see how their benefits decisions do more than just tick some boxes. Offering access to interactive online tools, like a savings calculator, provides visual evidence of the personal benefits and financial support their choices can realize. Side-by-side comparisons of traditional health plans and HSA-eligible plans, webinars, and video testimonials from colleagues, can further engage and motivate employees by allowing them to envision their benefits in real-time.

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For employees who are back in the office, one-on-one meetings are both safer and more personal than group meetings. Also, this setting may encourage employees to ask more questions given the comfort of privacy and individual attention.

When it comes to HSAs specifically, there are three categories of employees who enroll: spenders, savers, and investors. Creating a compelling and impactful communications strategy to keep each audience engaged is a key challenge during every open enrollment season.