Your annual renewal period, known commonly as open enrollment, can be stressful for both you and your employees. Learn how a PEO can help.
Key takeaways:
- Partnering with a PEO can help your business successfully manage open enrollment.
- During open enrollment, it’s important to communicate with employees early and clearly about their options and deadlines.
- Provide plenty of educational resources to keep employees informed, and gather feedback post-enrollment.
- Integrate technologies that assist employees in making selections and viewing options.
Your open enrollment period is that time of year when you take stock of which benefits your employees want and need. Employee benefits are some of the most important factors in ensuring satisfaction and retention.
But preparing for a smooth open enrollment period takes planning well in advance, prioritizing communication and education. Businesses that partner with a professional employer organization (PEO) gain access to tools that streamline this process with added support.
This post discusses the open enrollment process and how to implement best practices for your business and your employees.
How Open Enrollment Works
First, let’s talk about open enrollment basics. Open enrollment is the period once a year when employees can change their benefits selections and browse new options. For example, if an employee wants a more premium health insurance plan or wants to add dental insurance for the coming year, open enrollment is when those changes can be made.
It can be a challenge for businesses to thoroughly prepare for open enrollment; it takes time, resources and industry knowledge to find the right plan options and communicate these options to employees.
This is where a PEO can make all the difference. PEOs help businesses small and large plan, manage and execute a company’s annual renewal period. They can also provide access to user-friendly employee benefits platforms and handle all the complexities of open enrollment each year.
Tips to Prepare Your Business for Open Enrollment
On the business side of things, you need to start preparing early. Open enrollment should be a year-round priority, not just once per year. These tips will help you implement open enrollment best practices:
1. Review and Update Employee Benefits Packages
Closely evaluate your current employee benefits offerings. Assess utilization numbers to see how many people are signing up and using the benefits. Are these options still meeting the needs of your workforce? What could be improved? Ask for employee feedback during this process to thoroughly assess their benefits.
2. Communicate with Employees Early
Employees need to know well in advance that open enrollment is coming. They need to plan for what they want to change, especially if they’re going through life changes outside of work. Clearly communicate about upcoming dates they need to know, any changes you’re making to their benefits offerings and key deadlines they need to follow.
3. Evaluate the Budget
Part of open enrollment preparation on the business end is budgeting. Carefully weigh the benefits your employees want with what is realistic. A major benefit of working with a PEO is access to premium benefits normally reserved for large companies because of the PEO’s purchasing power.
4. Leverage Technology for Efficient Management
Incorporate tech tools that help you improve the enrollment process even more. PEOs offer access to innovative, convenient HR tech and software that allow employees to view options and make selections from their computer or smartphone. This can make the process more efficient for them and for your HR staff.
5. Monitor Progress and Address Issues Promptly
Track enrollment process as employees are learning and the open enrollment period begins. Be proactive about individual roles and processes to quickly address any issues and concerns as they arise.
Tips for Preparing Your Employees for Open Enrollment
On the employee side, take these steps to support your workforce to ensure open enrollment success:
1. Host Pre-Enrollment Workshops
Before open enrollment begins, host meetings and workshops that walk through upcoming employee benefits changes and available options. Provide materials to which employees can ask questions.
2. Encourage Active Participation
Motivate employees to remain active participants in their benefits selections. Involve them in new technology implementation and ensure they understand every option they have for proper review and decision-making.
3. Offer One-on-One Support
Employees will succeed with more personalized assistance during open enrollment. They may have specific questions or concerns about their benefits that deserve more one-on-one attention.
4. Provide Educational Resources
The more informed employees are, the better decisions they’ll make for themselves and their families. Resources you could provide include employee benefits comparison charts, decision guides and cost calculators. Make sure employees know who to contact with questions about enrollment questions and challenges.
5. Gather Post-Enrollment Feedback
Review how employee procedures went after open enrollment is over. Put survey mechanisms in place to gather feedback from the workforce about how the enrollment process went. Ask for areas they think could improve and for suggestions they have for the future.
Working with a PEO to Improve Open Enrollment
Take these steps to improve your business’ approach to annual open enrollment. Be proactive so you and your employees can enjoy a smooth and successful process.
And remember, you don’t have to do it alone.
PEOs specialize in alleviating the administrative burden of managing important but time-consuming efforts like the annual renewal period. PEOs can help with open enrollment by:
- Negotiating premium employee benefits on behalf of your company at ultra-competitive prices, allowing you to offer better benefits without a cost spike.
- Offering one-on-one support for your HR staff and employees as they go through the open enrollment process.
- Providing customized educational materials surrounding open enrollment so you and your team can be prepared.
- Provide access to digital platforms that make it easy for employees to view and select their benefits.
The experts at PrestigePEO are ready to help you crush open enrollment at your company. Contact us today to learn how.
