Open enrollment can feel like a whirlwind for HR and benefits leaders. Over a few short weeks, they must guide the entire organization through the process of selecting or changing their healthcare benefits.
Launching a new benefit, like a Center of Excellence (COE) program, adds to the flurry. The pressure can make open enrollment one of the most demanding times of the year for benefits teams.
Some key challenges include:
– Communicating complex information about benefits options, plans and any changes
– Demonstrating the practical value of benefit or service
– Meeting tight deadlines while coordinating communications and answering questions
– Helping employees choose the right benefits for their families
– Considering the financial impact on the organization and employees
But surviving open enrollment doesn’t have to be difficult. When done effectively, open enrollment helps benefits leaders manage costs, boost employee satisfaction and ensure that everyone is covered with the right benefits for the coming year.
The following tips can help you raise awareness and communicate the benefits of your COE program during open enrollment.
1. Incentivize Learning About Benefits
Open enrollment can be intimidating for employees, too. There are mounds of paperwork to read, documents to sign and complex medical jargon to decipher.
A recent MetLife study found nearly half of employees never consulted anyone before enrolling in their benefits over the previous year. This suggests it’s likely they’re unaware of the full scope of available services.
Awareness drives engagement with health benefits, but employees need to know their options. Hanging posters in the break room or sending emails is rarely enough. Rather, benefits leaders need to get creative and give employees a reason to learn about their benefits. Even better, reward them for making the effort.
Laura Wallace, Director of Total Health at ArcBest, did just that when her team designed Benefit Fair Bingo during enrollment to drive awareness about their benefits, including Lantern, a specialty care platform that provides employees and their families with access to a national COE network. To compete—and win prizes—participants were required to talk with each healthcare vendor at their benefits fair.
You know the engagement tactics that work with your employees, so make it fun and rewarding for them to learn about their benefits. For instance, provide employees free lunch while you explain their benefits. Offer gift cards, or raffle off a day of PTO. If you make it worth the effort, employees will act.
Also, make sure to promote your benefits beyond open enrollment. In the same study, 65% of employees said they want their employer to communicate benefits year-round.
2. Leverage Employee Testimonials and Word-of-Mouth Referrals
Employees may be skeptical of COE benefits like free surgical care, leading them to assume they’re too good to be true.
Learning about a positive experience directly from colleagues builds credibility. Employees are more likely to trust the opinions and experiences of their coworkers, as testimonials reflect the real-life use of benefits, not HR messaging.
Testimonials also simplify complex benefits by focusing on practical, personal examples. This personal touch helps employees envision how the benefits could meet their own needs.
“It’s all about the member stories and testimonials from employees who’ve used the services,” Wallace says. “They’ll share their experience, and then other employees say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know we had these benefits, that’s great to know.’”
As open enrollment nears, invite employees to speak about their experiences during company events and include success stories in your internal communications to spread awareness about COE programs.
3. Explain Why You’re Offering the Benefit and How it Impacts Employees
When launching a COE program, benefits leaders should consider explaining the rationale behind the decision and how it directly impacts employees, especially employers who require the usage of the COE for certain procedures. Simply telling employees they have to access health services from a specific network or hospital may feel limiting.
When employees understand why you’re offering a specific benefit—whether it’s to save money or gain access to high-quality care—they’re more likely to take advantage of the benefit.
Benefits of a COE program often include:
– Free and low-cost procedures
– One-on-one care navigation
– Guidance to top-quality providers
– Lower complication rates
Second opinion review for surgeries and cancer treatment
Again, this is where your employee testimonials can make a significant impact. Brittany McIntosh, Director of Benefits for NextEra Energy, uses an omnichannel approach to communicate employee benefits, but says employee referrals are most effective for promoting benefits like Lantern.
“We continue to receive really positive feedback from those who interact with the benefit,” McIntosh says. “Just understanding that someone else within the organization had a positive outcome helps drive awareness when employees or their family members need a procedure.”
4. Translate Enrollment Materials to Support All Employees
Benefit plans are complex. Employees who struggle with language barriers may not use or even be aware of benefits if they don’t fully understand them.
Translating materials ensures non-native English speakers have the same access to important information as their English-speaking counterparts, promoting fairness and inclusivity.
Employees are also more likely to engage with benefits when they clearly understand their options. This leads to higher participation rates, ensuring more employees take full advantage of available benefits.
Suzanne Usaj, Senior Director of Total Rewards for The Wonderful Company, knew she needed to overcome the language barrier when she launched Lantern’s Cancer Care and Surgery Care benefits for the organization. With 50% of employees speaking Spanish, Usaj worked with Lantern to translate program materials. She says the effort made a significant impact on driving awareness and engagement with their COE program.
“The feedback on the member experience has been so positive,” Usaj says. “Employees can’t believe we’d offer a benefit like this and feel like we truly care about them.”
Ultimately, providing enrollment materials in an employee’s native language eliminates confusion, helping them make informed decisions about their health.
5. Highlight Related Benefits by Theme
Promoting similar employee benefits during open enrollment can offer several advantages for both employers and employees, from increasing utilization to enhancing awareness and reducing confusion.
For example, if your organization offers benefits to address orthopedic injuries, like a digital physical therapy program and a surgery care program, promote the benefits together and explain how they complement each other.
ArcBest provides employees with virtual PT through Sword and surgery care via Lantern. While Wallace champions both benefits, she says the two vendors actively promote each other to employees, which proves highly effective. After employees have surgery, Wallace says Lantern surgeons recommend employees complete their physical therapy through Sword.
“That’s exactly what we want our vendors to do,” Wallace says. “We not only want to have a great partnership with our vendors but for them to have partnerships with each other so they’re cross-referring services and recognizing each other as trusted partners.”
Avoiding the Open Enrollment Rush
If you’re planning to introduce a COE program but want to avoid adding new benefits during open enrollment, you still have options. By partnering with an independent COE provider like Lantern, you can roll out the benefit at any time of the year—not just during open enrollment.
Ready to learn more? Get in touch with us.
