If you check out my bio, you will know that Benefits is not my thing. I enjoy plan design and contribution strategy, but it takes a special person to be passionate about benefits and that special person is not me. Like many small to mid-sized companies, we outsource our benefits administration to a local benefits broker. I've been through many open enrollments as a user at my former Fortune 500 Company and two complete open enrollments as the HR leader. I'll share the top 5 ways to screw up your open enrollment process with the hopes that someone out there will have a better experience on the HR leader side of the process because of my pain!
1. Don't create a timeline. My new rates arrived about two months before the actual open enrollment date. If you want to give your employees two weeks to make a decision and two weeks to update the information before the new plan period begins, open enrollment meetings need to begin one month before the new plan period. So you probably need to meet with your benefits broker BEFORE the new rates arrive. And, don't forget about your employees on disability and COBRA. It takes forever to get responses via snail mail. If you don't create and follow a good timeline, you will enjoy catching up with every employee the day that the forms are due. You will get to know about medical conditions and help them make their last minute decisions because they forgot all about this huge expense coming from their paycheck.
2. Don't plan for a rate increase. Healthcare costs are discussed every day on the news. It should not be a surprise when your rate increases 30% or more for your current coverage. If you haven't started planning for this increase by considering creative benefits options, changing company contributions, or checking out new vendors, you are already behind. The rush to shop around for new rates will not be done effectively unless you have already planned for an increase. The leg work, including a census and company profile, should be done and ready to go when you get your new rates. That means that the open enrollment meeting with your benefits broker needs to happen at least 90 before your new plan begins (see point 1 for reinforcement).
3. Let your benefits broker drive the process. I've been through a number of Project Management courses and consider Project Management one of my strengths. I made the incorrect assumption that the same or similar is true for benefits brokers. Ask for a timeline of the process when you are not even thinking about open enrollment. Clarify expectations on both sides. Just because your benefits broker does this for a living does not mean that you will receive great service throughout the process. They have other customers and your employees are just not as important to them as they are to you. The only way to get through this is to drive the process yourself.
4. Assume that no news is good news. I am an email communicator. I communicate frequently and expect that the person on the other end will do their job and follow up. I have come to the realization that I need to follow up again and again if I want something done to my standards. If you do not receive an email response or confirmation, CALL. (Ok, I'm totally saying this for me.) Don't be afraid to raise your concerns to a manager if you are not getting an acceptable response before it's too late. I have assumed that the person on the other end is doing their part and found out that the person is no longer at the Company. Then, I had to do all of their work myself last minute and it sucked.
5. Don't be creative. Healthcare as we know it is changing. People are naturally concerned about change, especially when it effects their health insurance. Anyone who has introduced a high deductible plan can attest to this. If we don't get creative, companies and employees will not be able to afford status quo healthcare. That's why the government is getting involved. Change in healthcare is good, but don't wait for the government. Push your benefits broker to think outside of the box. If they can't, find a new one that will be creative to give you options that will work for your company and your employees.
Now that my therapy session is over, what is the one thing that you did that was successful during your open enrollment? What would you do differently?
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