With annual enrollment season in full swing, many in the benefits world are fully focused on doing all they can to ensure their employees have the support they need to take advantage of their upcoming enrollment window. And while this is a crucial season for your employees’ benefits, it’s not the only time you can make an impact on your employees’ benefits experience.
Let’s look at three ways you can help employees go from selecting their benefits to activating them throughout the year.
Did you know that more than 60% of American workers are considered “over-insured”? It’s not surprising with a backdrop of our data showing that 84% of employees are confused about their benefits. Couple these two percentages with growing employee expectations for more diverse and empathetic benefits, and we’ve got problems.
So how can employers cut through the confusion?
For starters, help your employees understand the value of their available benefits to help them better manage their wellbeing and protect their paycheck from overspending on benefits. Our stats show that creating a personalized benefits experience is critical to sustaining long-term engagement. For example, 67% of employees elected right-fit-for-them medical coverage with a savings account (like an HSA) when decision support was available.
Beyond providing decision support at enrollment, employers can weave personalization throughout the year. And employees want this! 85% of employees opted into using their claims data to personalize their benefits messaging when given the option because it helps them get the most out of their benefits: the more personalized the message, the greater the impact. Consider targeting communications about benefits like telemedicine or 401(k) match to enrollees, not just those eligible, year-round.
How empathetic is your benefits platform’s experience design? We know today’s consumers expect digital experiences to be tailored to them—in fact, 73% expect personalized experiences. And we know that each employee is coming to the platform for their own reasons, whether checking a spending account balance or asking an intelligent application, like our SofiaSM, about their copay. So, creating a responsive, personalized benefits experience within your platform is a great way to help your employees engage their benefits meaningfully.
Speaking of Sofia, she’s a phenomenal help in creating an easy-to-navigate benefits experience. She has a knack for surfacing information relevant to an employee’s needs at each moment and helping them solve whatever issue they might have. 82% of all chats with Sofia stay resolved after 7 days, showcasing her ability to answer employee questions and get them across the finish line without any outside assistance. On top of that, 19% of employees activated on a benefit when Sofia provided relevant information or resources in their chat.
Beyond being able to chat with Sofia 24/7, employees can access their benefits, submit claims, and do so much more year-round via the MyChoice Mobile App and desktop platform. Additionally, clients can use Action Manager, Benefitsolver’s in-platform communication tool, to schedule and send timely and relevant benefit emails to their population.
A quality benefit experience needs to be omnipresent and omnichannel. Employees desire to activate their benefits but need help and timely reminders to make it happen. Enter a defined nurture strategy designed to meet employees outside the benefits platform and drive them toward the right resources and benefits.
Here’s what nurture communications could look like for your organization:
Nurture campaigns are a long-term approach that likely won’t return immediate results. You’re helping your employees build awareness and familiarity with their benefits before a health event occurs so they’re more prepared to act when it does. Eventually, the employee will activate on the right benefit when they need it, simply because HR helped build their awareness outside of the benefits platform.
Check out our Benefits Insights Report for more ideas on how to engage your employees year-round and ensure they activate on their benefits.
