To answer your questions on annual enrollment, we've asked our expert, David Meuse, principal in Hewitt Associates' Communication Practice, to respond with the most current developments. If you'd like to ask a question regarding annual enrollment or on any pressing human resources challenges you might be facing, email us, and we'll share responses to select questions on a regular basis.

Question: We're just getting ready to start our annual enrollment process, and our employees always ask us the same questions: "What should I do?", "What should I enroll in?", and "How can I get the most value from the benefits offered?" I'm sure my company is not unique. Are other companies faced with this? How are they dealing with it?

Answer: Employees have been asking benefits and HR staff the same questions ever since the first open enrollment. But with programs and enrollment decisions becoming more complex, employees are asking them a lot more often and with far greater urgency.

You probably get these questions yourself every enrollment from coworkers, friends, or colleagues. To help assess specific needs, you walk the person through a series of questions about his or her health issues, family situation, and financial preferences. When you have enough information, you can make suggestions.

For employees getting your advice, your expert guidance gives them a huge head start in the decision-making process. Instead of having to take time they may not have to educate themselves about all the complexities of the available options, they have the option of accepting your suggestions or using them as a starting point to explore alternatives. This takes a lot of the stress out of the situation. It also makes it far less likely the person will make a truly bad enrollment decision. Meanwhile, for you, there's the goodwill you earn and the satisfaction you get from knowing your knowledge and perspective made a difference.

Imagine if you could extend that one-on-one process across your entire workforce. Think of the value you could create for employees and your business.

The good news is that these days, if you can wish for it, someone's finding a way to make it possible. In fact, leading employers such as CVS/Caremark, Kronos, and others are now beginning to develop strategies to more aggressively provide employees enrollment guidance electronically. These "personalized guidance" tools marry the concept of our hypothetical one-on-one conversation with sophisticated Web technologies to create a consistent and repeatable dialogue that can help each employee get an expert and personalized benefits enrollment recommendation.

Easy and fast to use, these tools prompt employees to answer a few simple questions and then provide specific enrollment suggestions at the click of a mouse. Once employees have their suggestions, they can enroll, explore alternatives, or use other tools and information to confirm their suggestions.

For a workforce that's younger, more diverse, and less willing to invest large amounts of time sorting through traditional enrollment information, these tools are one of the best ways to engage large numbers of employees in the enrollment process. According to recent Hewitt statistics, nearly seven out of ten employees ignore the enrollment process and simply default into their current coverage. When faced with a choice between doing nothing and keeping the benefits they already have — and potentially sacrificing hours of time planning and making decisions — many are understandably taking the easy way out.

Online enrollment guidance tools open up a new door by finally making enrollment planning easy and fast. In less time than it takes to watch a few television commercials, people can answer a few questions and see whether the tool suggests their current option or something else. If the tool recommends their current option, they can feel confident about enrolling passively. But if it shows them something else, they have the ability to access other tools and information to help them get answers to their questions, compare alternatives, and decide.

The impact of enrollment guidance tools goes beyond the desktop. They're also opening the door to a whole new way of delivering enrollment communication. By providing employees with specific suggestions at the start of the planning process, there's less need to create comprehensive educational materials. Streamlined materials can focus on answering the type of questions employees are most likely to have after receiving their suggestions. This approach offers employers the potential to downsize enrollment communication while also reducing "enrollment mistakes" and ensuring that more of the "right people" wind up in the "right plans."

Better decisions, better results, more active enrollments, and a better experience. Contact us, if you'd like to learn more.

About Our Expert
David Meuse is a principal in Hewitt Associates' Communication Practice.