What kind of experience does your firm deliver to employees during open enrollment season?

According to research from Empower, just 38% Americans feel that the open enrollment process is easy and user-friendly. For plan sponsors looking to engage employees and optimize their experience, taking just a few steps could go a long way. These 5 strategies can help you get started.

1. Check your plan

Delivering an optimal open enrollment experience for your employees can begin long before the benefit selection period is underway. Whether you’re developing a plan for the first time, or making annual alterations to your existing one, review your line-up to determine whether it offers employees the benefits they care about most.

For starters, be mindful of:

✔️ Cost. Does your plan include more than one affordable option? Nearly half (44%) say they want better pricing on plan options, and 53% report that cost is the primary driver for choosing benefits during open enrollment. In fact, 27% overall (and 35% of Millennials) enroll in the least expensive option regardless of what the plans offer. Keep this in mind as you monitor and compare fees and negotiate with providers. Think about conducting periodic reviews to explore and identify low-cost options that meet the overall needs of your participants.

✔️ Time. Are you giving employees adequate time to make informed, thoughtful decisions? Just 39% feel the open enrollment window is long enough, and 21% say a longer enrollment period would improve the process. Consider extending the process — or implementing a preview month with information sessions, Q&As, and personalized guidance before the live open enrollment period.

✔️ The total package. Beyond healthcare (70%), dental (53%), and vision plans (45%), access to retirement plans (45%) and financial advice (24% overall, 42% Gen Z) rank among the most important employer benefits. Does your plan address a spectrum of financial needs?

2. Provide clear and accessible information

Some 41% say they would have made different benefit elections if they had a better understanding of the options, and less than half of younger generations know where to find the information and details needed to make decisions about their benefits (44% of Gen Zers, 50% of Millennials). Think about how you can put plan details and answers to common questions at your employees’ fingertips.

✔️ Keep it simple. Some 37% say they feel overwhelmed when it comes to selecting benefits. Along with educating and informing, aim for communications that simplify.

✔️ Make the most of the “off season.” Consider opportunities outside the traditional open enrollment window to reinforce to participants the value of their benefits. For example, if your plan has a fitness component, talk it up at the start of the year when people often make wellness resolutions, and do a quarterly or mid-year check-in. Or build on back-to-school season with communication about benefits like tuition assistance or childcare reimbursement. Periodic plugs about the perks available to employees can help educate, inform, and engage.

✔️ Create a tool kit. Give employees a one-stop shop equipped with the resources they’ll need to help them make their benefits decisions. Nearly 1 in 4 (23%) say a centralized hub for information would improve the open enrollment process. It might include things like fact sheets, educational videos, and other materials your workers would find helpful. For example, nearly half (48%) of Americans, including 60% of Baby Boomers and 53% of Gen Xers, say they would like to see a side-by-side comparison of plans and benefits, and 46% would like a clear explanation of pricing differences among options.

💡 TIP: As a complement to the resources you provide, you can encourage your employees to tap into the wealth of financial education and content available as a benefit to them on The Currency.

3. Dedicate time to explaining HSAs

Does your plan offer Health Savings Account (HSA) eligibility? An HSA can be a helpful option for high-deductible plans — benefits extend beyond covering current medical needs, offering flexibility to potentially grow funds tax-free and provide financial relief for future healthcare costs. Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) Americans (27% of men and 21% of women) have money in an HSA, and about 1 in 5 (21%) have used their HSA benefit so far this year. 

With its triple tax advantage,¹ an HSA is one of the most tax-efficient savings tools available, yet Empower findings reveal only half of people (50%) say they understand what an HSA is, with more Gen Xers (57%) and fewer Gen Zers (40%) familiar with the option.

Consider offering employees information sessions dedicated specifically to explaining HSAs and their benefits. Take the opportunity to address questions and clear up any misconceptions and think about using relatable examples to illustrate the potential for savings.

4. Get personal

About a third (32%) of people say they want customizable tools to help them compare benefit options. While customization can be challenging if you don’t have unlimited resources, try to personalize messaging whenever possible. Also think about other ways to provide targeted information. For example:

✔️ Offer 1:1 consulting. Almost 1 in 3 (29%) would like a central point of contact to ask questions about benefits. While smaller organizations can try to offer one-on-one sessions, for larger firms, you may need to assign groups of people to each HR representative.

✔️ Develop case study scenarios. Consider putting together relevant examples based on some common real-life circumstances and highlight the best choices, and the reasons why.

💡 TIP: Think about providing employees with a personalized snapshot of their retirement. Include target savings goals for their age along with suggestions for helping them stay on track.

5. Make it a two-way street

Optimizing the open enrollment process isn’t a “one and done” undertaking, but an ongoing process that should include two-way communication with your participants. It is, after all, about your people, so it’s critical to take the time to understand the benefits that matter most and how they feel about the process.

Unsure where to begin? Try implementing an annual survey. This can be a great way to engage employees and keep a finger on the pulse of the organization. Don’t be afraid to find out how you did: Follow up the open enrollment period with retrospective sessions to gather feedback about what went well and where there are opportunities to improve. The insights you gather by looking back can be useful to help inform decisions as your plan, and how you roll it out, evolves.

About the study
The Empower “Open Enrollment” study is based on online survey responses from 1,237 Americans ages 18+ fielded by YouGov from September 27-30, 2024. The survey is weighted to be nationally representative of U.S. adults (aged 18+).*