How many employees see the “open enrollment starts next week” headline on the company intranet site and panic? Probably a lot. Employers can counter that reaction by getting employees prepared for enrollment in advance with communications and helpful online tools available throughout the year.

Employees are expected to understand, evaluate and choose multiple benefits they know little about in a short period of time, including a growing number of voluntary benefits. Laying all that information on them at once is likely to overwhelm even those with the best intentions. In fact, a recent study found that 47 percent of those surveyed didn't know enough about each voluntary benefit to make an informed enrollment decision. ¹

Building benefits knowledge throughout the year is a powerful tactic for supporting smart decisions at enrollment or when it’s time to utilize benefits. A few best practices to support employee benefit elections include:

Don’t wait for enrollment season. A recent survey found that 81 percent of employees would welcome more information about their company-sponsored benefits throughout the year. Getting employees on track before enrollment season has the potential to build confidence and increase participation.

Build familiarity with tools. Expecting employees to digest multiple benefits in a few days and make smart choices is not setting them up for the best experience. It’s likely that your benefit carriers offer online decision support tools, so work with them to deliver periodic messages to keep employees educated and in touch with their benefits.

Keep it simple. Remove the jargon and keep content simple and relatable. Avoid losing employees with buzz words and abbreviations that leave them out of the conversation.

Securian Financial offers dynamic strategies to educate employees and empower them to take action:

• Benefit Scout® Online decision support tool that helps employees understand which benefits fit their needs, connect coverages, map payouts, access educational information and more
• Customized communications Targeted messaging that delivers clear, relevant information to ensure benefits are top of mind and utilized when needed
• Secure Insights® Powerful data modeling tool offers plan-specific analytics to help employers make decisions, identify areas for improvement and support targeted communications