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Open enrollment provides a fantastic opportunity for organizations to combat turnover — by proving they have gone above and beyond to support their employees with top-tier benefits offerings. Statistics reaffirm that open enrollment is the right time to demonstrate support for employees and educate them about their benefits:
About half (58%) of employees consider benefits and job perks when choosing an employer. However, 80% of employees don’t even open or read their benefits materials, according to research from the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans.
Employees are interested in flexible benefits such as wellness benefits, bonuses, and emergency savings accounts. They also seek better and more timely guidance on utilizing their offerings.
Fortunately, employers can leverage open enrollment to showcase their benefits packages and the value they provide to employees and their families, which can help retain and attract employees. This year, especially, the earlier employers can start their open enrollment processes, the better the participation and employee retention potential.
Start Talking About Open Enrollment Today
Good employee communication is critical for a successful open enrollment season, so employers must start developing their plans now.
Review benefits packages
Ensure they include competitive offerings that employees want and have come to expect in the years following the pandemic.
Develop a comprehensive communication strategy
Help employees understand their options and encourage participation.
Showcase benefits changes and updates
Let employees know what to expect, especially if they’re considering leaving the organization for better compensation and benefits.
Communicate
Talk about open enrollment early and often. Start letting employees know now what they can expect.
Share benefits information
Share over an extended period using a multichannel communication approach. To ensure everyone has access to information, share updates across various mediums, such as digital signage, posters, direct messages, emails, and home mailings.
Ready for 2025 Open Enrollment?
Employers will have ample time to tailor their benefits offerings and thoughtfully showcase all employee perks by starting open enrollment efforts early. Consider these steps to begin today.
Tailor benefits options
The job market remains highly competitive as employers work to attract and retain today’s top talent. With the 2025 open enrollment season quickly approaching, employers can develop attractive benefits offerings and proactively communicate with workers to win them over. Early preparation can help show employees they are valued, convince top performers seeking job changes to stay in their current positions, and attract new talent. These benefit offerings can include:
- Greater compensation
- Remote or hybrid work environments
- Flexible or hybrid scheduling
- Paid leave policies
- Mental health resources
- Family-building and reproductive health benefits
- Professional development opportunities
- Financial wellness resources.
Determine key messaging
After solidifying benefits options, employers need to plan their communication strategies. Key messaging might focus on new or updated benefits offerings, which can incentivize employees to stay in their current positions.
Communicate about benefits
Employees want more help understanding their options, so employers should share information early, provide educational resources and have multiple communication channels, such as:
- Group meetings
- One-on-one discussions
- Emails
- Presentations
- Printouts
- Videos
Don’t worry about communicating too soon about enrollment. Repetitive messaging and reminders increase the odds of employees seeing necessary information and understanding their benefits.
Conclusion
The job market remains highly competitive as employers work to attract and retain today’s top talent. With the 2025 open enrollment season quickly approaching, employers can develop attractive benefits offerings and proactively communicate with workers to win them over. Early preparation can help show employees they are valued, convince top performers seeking job changes to stay in their current positions and attract new talent.
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Want Stress-free Open Enrollment Planning?
If you find open enrollment for employee benefits a struggle, there is a better way. The GTM Insurance Agency’s employee benefits design skills, cutting-edge technology, and expert HR support can help you streamline and automate processes, reduce administrative costs, and relieve HR burdens, all while delivering benefits that will delight your workforce.
Skip the hassles by managing your employee benefits, including open enrollment, through GTM Payroll and our affiliate GTM Insurance Agency. We offer the same great rates – with no admin fees – from the local carriers you know and trust, like Anthem, Aetna, Blue Cross, CDPHP, Highmark, MVP, and many others. If you let us be your broker, we’ll work with you to automate your employee benefits enrollment so you can eliminate complicated, manual processes.
A complimentary integration with Employee Navigator or direct integration into GTM’s payroll and human capital management (HCM) platform means you’ll enjoy an efficient online process with access at any time from any device.
With GTM’s HR consulting team at the ready, you’ll have access to experts who can assist with designing a benefits plan, understanding your employee needs, and transitioning your benefits administration. Or, we can take other HR administrative tasks off your plate so you don’t fall behind while focusing on benefits management.
If you’d like to explore stress-free employee benefits administration, contact GTM Insurance Agency at (518) 373-4111 or [email protected]. Or schedule time with an insurance team member at your convenience.
