5 Ways To Enhance Your Passive Enrollment
If you connect employees to your benefits offerings through passive enrollment, you already know the advantages.
Passive enrollment allows employees to keep their current benefits selections unless they opt for changes. This strategy contrasts with active enrollment, which requires employees to select their benefits each year, even if they want to keep the same offerings and coverage levels.
According to the insurance and HR platform OneDigital, the advantages of passive enrollment include:
- Easier HR administration
- Higher enrollment among employees who lack benefits knowledge, are disengaged from the enrollment process or would miss deadlines related to active enrollment
- More time for employees to process their benefits without the stress of losing coverage after an enrollment deadline
The downsides of passive enrollment are:
- Employees might let their benefits roll over from year to year without addressing their mental, physical or financial health needs.
- They could become underinsured by making poor initial choices or failing to adapt to changing life circumstances.
- They may not appreciate or use benefits as much as when they are required to select offerings yearly.
Getting the most out of your strategy is critical because benefits are essential to employees’ mental, physical and financial health. The HR and benefits communications firm Segal Benz recommends the following steps to enhance your passive enrollment and support employees’ benefits needs.
Talk to your employees
Engage in regular, interactive communications to better understand how employees interact with and understand benefits offerings.
Surveys can provide a broad view. Focus groups can help you dig into the details. Questions to ask include:
- What benefits do employees use and appreciate?
- Do they see any gaps?
- Can they identify new and emerging benefits they want?
- Which tools and communication styles are most effective at helping them understand their benefits?
Examine your benefits resources
Armed with benefits insights from your employees, you can examine your resources to ensure ease of use and alignment with their needs.
Ask your HR and benefits staff to regularly test your benefits resources, including websites, apps and platforms. Ensure they are easily accessible and user-friendly. Test outside of the office to make sure they are accessible at work and at home. You want benefits information to reach dependents covered under the plan. Higher engagement from plan participants can improve health outcomes and reduce costs.
Once these resources have passed your testing, use them to communicate benefits offerings, updates and tools. Communications that direct employees to your benefits resources drive awareness and engagement.
One strategy to enhance ease of use is to make your benefits resources navigable by mental health, physical health, financial health and similar categories. Offer decision support tools, interactive guides, FAQs and employee testimonials. These efforts normalize and encourage access to and usage of benefits.
Personalize communications
Providing your employees with the right information at the right time is critical. Personalized benefits communications can help.
You likely have employees from multiple generations, at different career stages, and with unique life circumstances. Personal and professional data can support your efforts to provide employees with information relevant to their needs.
In addition to employee surveys, anonymized plan data can help you understand areas of focus, such as physical and mental health, financial management, professional development, and retirement planning. Individual needs will vary and change over time. Common challenges include budgeting, homebuying, caregiving, saving and investing, and managing illnesses and disabilities. The ability to target relevant benefits and tools can increase use, appreciation and return on investment.
Content is one piece of the puzzle. The “how” is as important as the “what.” Ask employees how they want to receive communications. Preferences may include:
- Face to face
- Phone calls
- Text messages
- Websites
- Apps
- Social media
- Printed materials
- Short-form video demonstrations
- Infographics
Use virtual benefits fairs
Online benefits fairs can further increase awareness. Offer live presentations and recorded videos. Live events allow employees to ask questions and receive immediate responses. Recordings expand your reach by making events available for repeat viewings and for those who can’t make a scheduled time.
Virtual benefits fairs should provide downloadable resources, real-time chats and access to benefits professionals. The online setting allows employees to access this information on their schedules.
Consider a mixed approach
The industry news site BenefitsPRO suggests a mix of passive and active enrollment. You can do this by requiring employees to turn down benefits offerings from year to year.
Instead of automatically enrolling them in the same coverage, this tactic asks employees to review their current benefits coverage and affirm or deny their choices.
Requiring a simple yes or no doesn’t force employees to spend much time and effort on enrollment. However, it can increase engagement by creating a pause for them to consider how a benefit offering could enhance their health or finances.
This strategy uses behavioral science to encourage employees to act because they fear losing out on the benefits offerings. It’s likely to increase engagement and the amount of coverage they select.
Refining your approach
Passive enrollment has some built-in advantages, but it still pays to explore ways to improve the process for your organization and employees.
For more strategic insights, talk to your insurance broker or benefits adviser. They can help you examine your benefits offerings, resources and communications to enhance your enrollment practices.
This content is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing professional, financial, medical or legal advice. You should contact your licensed professional to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem.