Open enrollment season is coming: 4 tips for a stress-free experience
Guest post by Emily Linch, Vice President of People for Beam Benefits
For many in HR, this annual event can bring stress, anxiety, and confusion to those tackling benefits administration. Hours upon hours are spent communicating, educating, and reviewing employees’ benefits data to ensure each individual has made their selections correctly.
It feels like just yesterday when I led my first open enrollment period. I was leading a human resources (HR) department made up of one – me! On the day we launched our benefits program, so many questions crossed my mind: Did I know enough details about the plans and coverages? Would our employees like our offerings? What happens if something goes wrong?
For many in HR, this annual event can bring stress, anxiety, and confusion to those tackling benefits administration. Hours upon hours are spent communicating, educating, and reviewing employees’ benefits data to ensure each individual has made their selections correctly.
Given my role as Beam’s Vice President of People and years of experience and knowledge in HR, I’m in a unique position to experience all facets of the open enrollment process from start to finish. I’m delighted to share with you my insights and pro tips to help you survive and thrive this open enrollment season.
Pro tip #1: Get your associates excited about their benefits
Benefits can feel overwhelming due to the abundance of information and terms that may be unfamiliar. I focus on keeping things simple and straightforward by highlighting key features that our employees might find beneficial. You can choose to do this in a variety of ways, but here at Beam, we usually communicate during each day of open enrollment, spotlighting a different benefit.
Pro tip #2: Make a benefits guide
This resource serves as a one-stop shop that goes over high-level plan details and shares contact information for each of your plan offerings. Your talent acquisition team can also share this document with prospective new hires.
Pro tip #3: Create an internal cheat sheet
Ever get the same questions from multiple employees? Create a shared document for your HR team to quickly reference before you launch open enrollment. I recommend including questions you anticipate receiving, a summary of what’s changed from your prior year, and boilerplate responses to allow you to answer questions consistently and quickly. Preparing this in advance and keeping it as a living document throughout the process will make your team more efficient.
Pro tip #4: Celebrate the wins
I understand how much time you’ve invested in making your process successful. Once open enrollment has closed, I highly recommend you take some time away to recharge. Remember, at the end of the day, you oversee a process that betters the lives of your associates, and your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed in coordinating this huge initiative.
We’re all in this together! Reach out to me any time with your own insights and tips and you never know, you may be featured in an upcoming blog from Beam!