Running a successful open enrollment can be a challenge. Often times businesses may just renew plans as is to avoid the pains of open enrollment and hope that employees do not make changes to their benefits for the sake of ease. This route often can lead to an inferior benefit plan being auto-renewed as well as employee frustrations due to lack of communication of benefits and rising costs. Here are some tips for creating a successful open enrollment for your business:
Have a market survey done:
Does it seem that you are experiencing rising costs every year all while getting weaker benefit coverage? Rates on average have been going up about 9% every year while the copays and deductibles have risen. With over 400 options of medical plans offered in the Bay Area and a limitless amount of ancillary plan options, a market survey is always a good idea to make sure you are getting the best benefit at the best rate.
Make sure that communication is good:
Sometimes it may be hard to communicate open enrollment effectively to employees. This leads to an overall bad experience for employees and the employer. Make sure that you have a solid means of communicating open enrollment, plan changes and options to employees. The most cost effective and streamlined way is to offer an online open enrollment. This leads to better explanations, timely enrollments, no paper burden and a more satisfactory experience.
Get started early:
All too often employers fall behind on prioritizing benefits decisions and open enrollment. This often leads to a non-thorough review and analysis of the benefits offering and last minute open enrollments. Not only does starting later lead to a more hectic and rushed experience, it can also lead to employees having delays in membership or receiving their ID cards. This is especially prevalent for those with plan effective dates in December & January where the vast majority of businesses are also sending in their enrollments at the same time.
Want to ensure that your business has a successful open enrollment? EVCO Insurance can be a great resource. You can reach out to Brian Allen via email at brian@evcoinsurance.com or by phone at (925) 478-2223.