Is your broker helping you conduct a successful Open Enrollment during the pandemic?

There are many things uncertain about the world we are living in. The recent global pandemic has left many businesses and employees with questions that cannot be answered yet.  One major question…. Will there be a second wave of COVID-19?  This question alone, has left business owners wondering how another wave will affect their Open Enrollment.

Here are three tips that your broker should be thinking about to ensure a smooth and successful Open Enrollment:

1. Preparation –Preparation will be a key factor in a successful open enrollment regardless of conducting it virtually or in-person. Talking to stakeholders early and being prepared to answer employee questions together will be a key factor to success. Employees will need the knowledge of how they will be enrolling, when enrollment is happening and where they can find help.

2. Education– Developing educational tools and materials is a huge necessity for a successful Open Enrollment. Employees in today’s workforce have enough uncertainties without needing to worry about not understanding their benefits and how they work. Making sure employers have materials readily available is crucial. Brokers should be supplying clients with benefit booklets, creating videos if needed, giving out direct contact information, sending pamphlets and brochures and even providing online software to be a database of information. Employees need to feel confident in their understanding of how their benefits work in order to make a good decision for enrollment.

3. Documentation- With varying schedules and remote working environments, documentation from open enrollment is still relevant. Human Resources should not need to stress about not getting forms back from employees for elections. Brokers should be providing alternative enrollment options other than paper applications and face-to-face meetings. Whether that be providing ways for employees to fill out their elections and sign virtually or providing the software to track employee elections online. Human Resource and payroll teams need to feel at ease with the flow of documenting employee elections.

Is your broker helping you prepare, educate, and document for your open enrollment? ISA wants to help you feel confident in the way you are handling open enrollment.

Contact our Life, Health & Employee Benefits Team to find out how we can help. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you!