by Sarah Gunter
Earlier this year, a report was published by BenefitsPro addressing voluntary benefits, retirement benefits, and the medical plan in general. Interestingly, the majority of employees surveyed—62% —prefer to enroll in a plan electronically in the future. So, while your open enrollment may have passed, now is the time to learn how to ensure a smooth rollout going forward. We turned to another Benefits Pro, Nila Carrington, for insights on how her organization made a swift and well-received shift from in-person enrollment to a full digital platform. Nila is Director of Benefits and Well Being at Regional One Health, a hospital system with approximately 3000 plan participants.
Why now? What led to the decision to move to a fully electronic platform?
Nila Carrington: We were thinking about making a change to provide a more consistent and available option to all employees. When COVID hit and we could no longer have vendor partners come onsite, it became a natural solution.
What was the satisfaction level like for employees?
Carrington: For those already comfortable with technology, very high. However, we have five generations in our workforce, and some of our employees do not check email on a regular basis, so they were very hesitant of the change. We sent out many communications, through email, organizational wide manager meetings, newsletters, and mailing to homes. We also needed to staff a “help room” during our open enrollment period to teach employees how to log on and “claim their account” on the new system and then guide them through the enrollment process.
What kind of engagement and control did it give plan participants?
Carrington: We have slightly over 3000 employees on our medical plan; tracking during open enrollment indicated approximately 1200 participants. We still have some records that are incomplete, where the employee did not fully finish the process, which is slightly higher than our previous passive enrollment years.
How did additional partners (like voluntary, wellness, telehealth solutions) fit into the framework of the process?
Carrington: We asked that they be included as an “information only” option, such as our EAP and Retirement plans. We have seen an increase in the participation rate in our 403 B plan, probable due to increased visibility.
Is there an ongoing level of engagement for them between employees and their solution via the platform?
Carrington: Employees use the platform to enroll into the voluntary benefits; however, I think they need more education on how to fully engage, especially as they need the products. We in the benefits department are still fielding many employee calls and questions but are implementing communication plans to drive employees back to the platform to engage.
What challenges did you face?
Carrington: Employees being fearful of “hitting the wrong button,” not fully understanding a new benefit, or understanding the new system. But having Benefit Consultants they can speak with is very helpful and having them year-round is wonderful. Employees I have personally spoken to who did not participate in open enrollment tell me that they are used to things just “rolling over,” so they did not want to change anything. A common challenge is the Flexible Spending Account regulations that require enrollment each year; someone always misses that piece of information! Other challenges were on the programming side—the importance of communicating your current programs and system logic cannot be overstated—plan additional meetings on that topic alone.
What do you wish you had known going into the process that other HR leaders could benefit from going forward?
Carrington: I wish I had known that IT programmers, belonging either to your organization or the enrollment firm you are working with, are not always familiar with benefits terms, policies, or procedures. Definition of terms such as “Effective Date” become very important; is it the “Benefit Coverage Effective Date” or the “Premium Effective Date,” according to your organization’s payroll schedule or to the specifications document from your IT department that you are referring to? When programming a system, having all parties involved on the same page regarding terms and the impact of the programming is very important. It can save you days of trying to discover why a file did not load properly to your system and then re-programming it so it will work.
What were the outcomes?
Carrington: Ease of administration for employees, positive impression overall with employees and senior management, and access to personal benefit information improved to 24/7!
Any additional thoughts?
Carrington: Lessons learned: the implementation experience reminds me of a woodworking term, “measure twice, cut once.” For benefits I would say, “discovery on programs and processes ten times, build once, then test, test, test!” I would make the same decision to implement a self-enrollment platform but would add two months to the front end of the timeline. I would also ensure a single point of contact with the new vendor partner who is managing the entire project, one with systems expertise, working directly with your organization’s benefits and IT project management team. Have the developers from IT on both sides on all calls, so they get a complete understanding of the desired outcomes and take the time to talk through common issues such as: new hires, schedule changes, re-hires, off cycle hires and anything else you can think of. The workplace has and will continue to become more flexible, and technological solutions must be built with that in mind. The old IT adage still applies: “garbage in, garbage out.” Put top quality information and time in, and you will be happier with your end solution and face less re-programming.
