12 Oct 3 Open enrollment lessons

Source: ebn.benefitnews.com

By Ed Bray

• Develop and distribute a wallet-sized carrier contact card. There are many times when I’ve said (and been asked by employees), “what’s the dental insurance or vision insurance or EAP or FSA Administrator’s phone number?” Providing a wallet-sized card to employees with all of your carrier’s contact information is an easy, low-cost way to provide the information they need at their fingertips, which will also reduce calls and emails to your desk.
• Provide a pre-open enrollment benefits confirmation statement to each employee. There are a number of opportunities for printing and distributing pre-open enrollment benefits confirmation statements to employees but two that I have found most useful are: 1) Providing an opportunity for employees to recognize and correct any missing or inaccurate data (e.g., home address, dependent social security numbers, etc.) and 2) Highlighting the value of any benefits the employee is not currently enrolled in (e.g., company match if not participating in 401(k), pre-tax flexible spending account benefits)
• Include any carrier discount opportunities in employee open enrollment packets. Outside of their core product offering, many carriers offer free and/or discounted services to employees that are not commonly advertised. Such offerings often include discounts on fitness, alternative medicine, weight management, LASIK, etc. Check with your carriers to determine if such services are available to your employees (there is a good chance your medical carrier will offer something) and then provide any brochures, etc., in the open enrollment packets.