Overcome Open Enrollment Challenges With Mobile Tools

5 ways how mobile collaboration tools can support HR teams

Say the words ‘open enrollment’ and employees immediately begin to feel stress and anxiety anticipating the barrage of information headed their way. Open enrollment season is also challenging for HR teams, too. They have to reach every employee with information, meet election deadlines, and make sure every form is properly filled out. Top it off with the added complication of a global pandemic, and there's even more pressure to make sure every employee receives and understands their health insurance options.
 

In the past, HR teams have relied on emails, fliers, and in-person meetings to share benefit information. While those methods work for office employees, frontline workers (who often don’t have company email) can easily miss important information — and deadlines. With social distancing measures in place and employees working from home, helping them make their benefits decisions has proved even more challenging. 

When the pandemic hit in 2020, 43.4% of Americans did not have adequate health insurance. For most frontline teams, remote work has not been an option, and showing up to work puts them at risk of getting sick. Making sure every worker has the right coverage is critical — especially right now. But with the right communication tools in place, HR teams can maximize participation and ensure everyone gets the information they need.

Common Open Enrollment Challenges

According to the American Institute of CPAs, 80% of workers in the United States would take a job with benefits over a higher salary. That same survey also found that only three out of every ten workers feel they’re maximizing the potential of their benefits package. 

Some of the challenges HR professionals face with open enrollment include:
 

• Reaching every employee with the information they need
• Making sure employees understand all of their options
• Helping workers choose a plan that is best for them and their families
• Following up with employees and answering questions
• Communicating the urgency of deadlines

These challenges all have one thing in common: communication. When frontline workers are connected to the broader organization they work for, it alleviates stress around internal communication by giving them easy access to all the details they need to make informed decisions. It also enables HR teams to run a successful open enrollment period.

5 Ways Mobile Collaboration Tools Make Open Enrollment Easier

Before the pandemic, many companies were starting to realize the benefits of mobile collaboration tools like employee apps. Being able to reach employees on their smartphones and mobile devices, and facilitate two-way communication creates a fully connected workforce. Employee apps are essential for day-to-day operations. For open enrollment, having a mobile solution can be a game-changer. 

Here are five ways an employee app can support HR teams with open enrollment.

1. Reach Every Worker 

Without a permanent desk or company email, frontline workers can easily miss important messages. In today’s virtual world, getting information to them is even more difficult. By modernizing company communication with an employee app, frontline teams are included in company messages. HR can leverage digital communication tools to reach every employee at once (in real time, too.) 

2. Centralize Benefits Communication

There’s no getting around the enormous amount of information that comes with open enrollment. It can be overwhelming for employees to go through. With an employee app, HR can centralize benefit and health plan paperwork into a document library. Employees can access the exact information they need, when they need it. Digitally storing the information makes these documents accessible outside of the enrollment period so employees who have a life-changing event, like a new child or new partner, can amend their benefits package.

3. Ensure Employees Comprehend Plan Descriptions

One of the most important aspects of an open enrollment communication strategy is to ensure workers fully understand the various benefits and plan options so they can choose the one that’s best for them and their loved ones. Mobile productivity tools often have an inline translation feature that can help workers to communicate in their preferred language. HR can also connect directly with employees through direct and group messages to help go over the plans. Another way to boost comprehension is to break the information down and feature a different plan in each message with information about who the plan would work best for (i.e. a single person versus a worker with a family). Or get creative and make “how-to” videos that can help employees properly fill out enrollment forms. 

Pro tip: During the pandemic, use your employee app to host open enrollment Q&A sessions.

4. Leverage Two-Way Communication Channels for Improved Accessibility

Often, employees who are unsure how to navigate enrollment or don’t understand how to fill out forms will simply stick with the plan they have, even if it’s not the best option, instead of taking time to reach out to HR with questions. An employee app opens up a two-way communication channel so workers can easily message the HR team to ask questions. HR can create employee surveys to get valuable feedback on the enrollment process. 

5. Make Sure Employees Meet Enrollment Deadlines

One of the most important elements of an open enrollment season is the deadline. When that date has come and gone, workers will have to wait until the following year to make changes and are at risk of falling into the “inadequately insured” category. With a fully connected workforce, HR teams can send regular, automated reminders to ensure all employees complete their benefits enrollment on time and identify those who might need help.

There’s never been a better — or a more urgent — time to incorporate an employee app into your HR communication strategies. It will streamline open enrollment communication, ensure every employee is up to speed on all of their options, and put everyone’s minds at ease.

Daniel Sztutwojner is Chief Customer Officer at Beekeeper. Visit www.beekeeper.io Connect Daniel Sztutwojner Follow @sztuto