Top 5 mistakes that can wreck your open enrollment efforts

by Jared Bilski

Most HR pros are hyper-focused on wrapping up their open enrollment process and getting everything just right. But you also want to be aware of the major pitfalls that can jeopardize all of your hard work.

Here are the top open enrollment mistakes to avoid:

1. Failing to engage workers

Despite the fact that healthcare offerings are becoming more and more complex, employees aren’t spending any more time reviewing their options.

Case in point: Nearly half (46%) of Americans take less than 30 minutes to make benefits decisions and 89% simply choose the same plan as they had last year, according to Aflac.

What you can do: Tell workers to schedule specific blocks of time for benefits review during the workday.

Example: Suggest workers put aside 45-60 minutes on their calendar to review benefits materials. Then, tell them to block off another 30 minutes for the actual benefits decision. Why? Research shows that the specific act of scheduling can make a person more likely to follow through.

2. Trying to cover too much

It’s tempting to try and cram every aspect of your benefits package into an open enrollment meeting.

After all, it’s one of the rare times you do have employees’ attention. But if you overload employees with information, they’re just going to tune you out and make benefit selections without putting in much thought.

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