Now more than ever, your customers’ employees are looking for a digital open enrollment experience for benefits insurance. They’re used to shopping for all products online. Why should their benefits be any different?
Last year, at the height of the pandemic, 63% of HR leaders reported that their company’s open enrollment strategy would depend more on digital resources than ever before. A year later, with continued work from home (WFH) policies, digitizing open enrollment makes more than just good business sense — their employees are demanding it.
Yet many organizations are still stuck collecting enrollment data with pen and paper and spreadsheets — solutions that seem antiquated in the age of flexible schedules and an accelerated WFH environment.
The benefits of digitizing insurance enrollment
Digitizing benefits enrollment helps both your customer (the employer) and the employee. Here’s how:
- Employers: Automation allows HR staff to be more hands off during an administrative-heavy season. It creates a streamlined process to initiate benefits and complete benefits-related tasks. Digitizing enrollment creates a personal experience for employees without requiring HR staff to participate personally – saving your customers both money and time.
- Employees: Today’s end user is a digital consumer, accustomed to making purchasing decisions online at all hours of the day. They ask questions in the moment, whenever and wherever they log on. And with flexible WFH policies, you can’t assume all employees will select their benefits between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Digital enrollment allows for employee flexibility, and gives them the time needed to make informed decisions.
The key: A customizable, single-source benefits enrollment system
Digital users today want ease of use, visual transparency, and access to information when using your system – and they want it now. Keep this in mind when searching for a tech partner to create your digital enrollment platform. The platform should be flexible enough to follow each individual employer’s benefits journey.
Employers also want a single location for employees to access their benefits information. This isn’t just about enrollment. It’s one piece of a larger benefits ecosystem which may include insurance options from a variety of carriers on a personalized benefits journey. This also helps the employer’s HR team monitor data more efficiently and track metrics to upgrade offerings as appropriate.
Finally, the open architecture of a digital benefits portal allows individual employees to request additional coverage or limits without holding up the rest of the group’s policy issuance. Those who have to go through an additional underwriting process do so on an individual basis, while their peers can be issued their policy immediately upon processing. This automation makes things more efficient for employers and their HR teams.
Making the transition to digital benefits enrollment easier
The transition to digital benefits enrollment isn’t always easy for insurance companies – or their customers. When taking the leap, it’s a good idea to keep these tips in mind:
- Integrate a best-in-class portal. The portal should be easy to use – both for employers’ HR teams and their employees. An effective portal should also provide metrics for your customers’ HR teams to identify employees who haven’t completed their enrollment yet or may need support in the process.
- Train the HR team. For the portal to be successful, your customers’ HR teams must know how to use it. Give your customers a variety of educational resources for their HR teams, from benefit guides to webinars and in-person training sessions.
- Train the employees. Help your customers train their employees on the portal by providing educational materials geared towards employees as well. The digital user experience, from managing employee enrollment benefits to viewing 401k accounts and monitoring claims, needs to be easy.
For your customers, the time to digitize benefits enrollment is now. Helping them stay ahead of the curve is crucial for both their business and your business, in the long run.
For more on how EIS’ digital enrollment solution can benefit your customers, contact us.
