13 Sure-Fire Ways to have a Lousy Open Enrollment

I went to see Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice over the weekend. It’s good; not great but, you know, good in the way that a sequel can get away with. In the sequel (no spoilers, don’t worry) Michael Keaton’s titular character is the boss of what looks to be a Call Center for dead people with complaints about the living. Or, put more simply, a Call Center. His employees universally have broad shoulders, snappy blazers, shrunken heads and panicked, bulging eyes of the kind you can only really appreciate if you’ve worked in a Call Center.

Their faces made me think of the imminent benefits Open Enrollment season. I know, it’s an odd association to make and a sad comment on my chosen profession. But look around and you will begin to see very similar expressions on many colleagues’ faces, all thanks to this annual process. You’ll even see a few HR Business Partners doing their best Beetlejuice impression if you’re lucky.

Now, enrolling in medical benefits is its own little slice of heaven, and this task gets the most time, consideration and dollars thrown at it. But equally valuable and important is the landscape of ancillary benefits options like accident and hospital indemnity, critical illness, short- and long-term disability and even gap coverages. These have the power to help employees protect their savings and mitigate rising healthcare costs.

But be honest: Do your employees know that?

It’s simple, really. The non-medical benefits enrollment paradigm is a hierarchy of steps, none of which can be skipped if you’re serious about delivering the most value to employees. It goes something like this:

Looks daunting, right? Don’t worry, the odds are good that your employees aren’t getting past the bottom two layers. So the hopes of them making financial decisions based on cost vs. benefit are pretty thin.

If you were so inclined and had the time, there are, oh, a dozen or so ways you could help employees truly understand their benefits options, which would go a long way toward making sound decisions for their (and their families’) financial wellbeing. But given the time of year and the already-bulging eyes of your team members, it might just be easier to tank the whole thing.

In that vein, here’s a Baker’s Dozen ideas all but guaranteed to desiccate the good mojo out of your juicy, extensive and expensive benefits program:

1.?? Take your time.

Some people work best under pressure, after all! You’re probably one of them. So why not just wait until the last minute to think about the discretionary benefits available to employees, the ones they can use to make a real, hard-dollar difference in their health care spend. (Pro Tip: If this article caught you by surprise, you’re already doing great at this first one!)

2.?? Pick a lackadaisical partner.?????????????

A successful enrollment is all about engagement. So, planning one realistically takes not only a proverbial village, but a solid partnership with individuals or organizations that share your values and passion for making a difference in your employees’ lives. If you want to plunge a knife into the heart of your forthcoming enrollment, make sure your pick a partner who leads with, “Let’s just do what we did last year.” If you’re really lucky, that will be what he or she said last year, too!

3.?? Throw the kitchen sink at them.

Offering tons of different benefit options, each skillfully designed to alleviate a specific challenge and bearing a wide variety of premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket maximums, is a GREAT way to increase employee confusion and frustration. Just toss ‘em all out there at once; more is better. Watch closely, and you’ll see their eyes start to bulge almost immediately.

4.?? Sit back and watch the benefits sell themselves.

Don’t worry, the odds are good your employees already understand the difference between a voluntary benefit and a core buy-up. And if not, hey, that long benefits newsletter or dense email does all the heavy lifting. There’s absolutely no need to fuss with meetings, call-in hours, ask-me-anythings, FAQs or, really, any kind of additional information and/or decision support. Maybe a cafeteria poster; yeah, that’s fine.

5.?? Lean into swag.

Everyone loves balloons and cheap pens. Throw your logo on anything you can and watch your employees’ engagement soar! (They’re called stress balls for a reason, right?) It’s a lot harder to plan for and execute Q+A sessions, webinars and interactive employee resources. Stick with Post-Its?!

6.?? Keep things light.

Employees enroll in medical and dental plans to use them. By comparison, all these other benefits require something BAD to happen to even need them! Yuck! Hey, what are the odds you’ll end up in the emergency room sometime next year anyway? Just let your employees know what’s available. Don’t harsh their buzz by reinforcing how often life can go awry – or what that can do to their savings!

7.?? Don’t connect the dots.?????????

Here’s the headline: Your benefits cost more this year than last year. Big surprise, right? Guess what – you paid more last year than the year before that. So how much information and guidance do you really need to provide employees to help them mitigate the effects of new plan designs or higher out-of-pocket costs? It’s just part of the season.?

8.?? Bunch up all your benefits information in a big, pretty bow.

The first day of enrollment is the best time to give everyone all the information they need to navigate the OE period. Too much information, conveyed too far in advance, won’t be helpful at all to employees who aren’t ready to think about their best interests.

9.?? Restrict influence to HR team members.

Getting key company influencers onboard to explain, amplify or even present open enrollment messages is a huge lift. They have their own jobs to do, unlike the HR folks who really only wait around all year for this one big month. Do other leaders have varied and valuable experiences and perspectives to offer others? Maybe, but again: that’s a lot of work.

10. Leave the enrollment door open.

You know the saying: When HR closes a door, it opens a window. If you have the longest possible enrollment window, you’re saying to employees, “Relax, dudes. There’s no urgency to this set of decisions and no real penalty for ‘phoning it in.’ Not with everything else on your plate.” (Pro Tip: The combination of a single, dense benefits communication and a long, meandering enrollment window is ideal for sucking the life out of your plan participation.)

11. Dazzle them with tech.

The only thing better than using the newest benefits admin platform for your enrollment is using SEVERAL of them! Employees love technology, every HR tech platform vendor will tell you so. Each one is easier to navigate than the last. And if one platform is the new gold standard, well, why not make a little Fort Knox out of your 2024 employee enrollment period?

12. Forget about it until next year.

Think of the relief you feel when enrollment season is over! Another box checked, another bullet dodged. Bliss. It’s the broker’s and the carriers’ problem now; let them cash the checks and deal with the wreck. As someone smart once said, “The unexamined life is….” Something. I don’t remember. Oh, well.

13. Bonus tip: New hires, you’re on your own.

Hey, it is not your fault if an employee wasn’t onboarded in time for benefits enrollment. You can’t be expected to cater to every Tom, Mitch or Nancy who gets hired any-old-time of the year. Sign them up for the basics and call it a job well done.

There you have it. No need to wait for Halloween to feel the predictable, well-earned dread inspired by annual Open Enrollment. And now you have an at-a-glance guide that makes escaping the season virtually unscathed a reality. You’re welcome. If you elect to follow the above steps faithfully you will ensure your employees have a completely satisfying Hollywood experience when they show up to enroll in benefits for next year. Specifically, their experience will be comparable to the waiting room showcased in both Beetlejuice movies.

Of course, on the off chance you still want to help employees realize the value of your organization’s investments – and your hard work – there are rules for that, too. Start by reading the above pointers upside-down and backwards. And then pick a partner (starting with your broker) who is eager and able to put in the time, perspective, and knowledge to approach enrollment with your goals in mind and your employees’ wellbeing at heart.

David Gittelman is Vice President, Marketing Communications for Reliance Matrix, a leading group benefits and absence management provider based in Philadelphia. Reliance Matrix was named the #1 US Absence Management provider, by employees served, by Spring Consulting Group (December 2023) in their biennial survey. Gittelman is a long-time collector of cheap pens (of the sort found in cafeteria benefit fairs) and the author of Holy Shirt: Thoughts and observations on the end of the world.?