MENUMENU
  • FREE RESOURCES
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • HR DEEP DIVES
        • Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for HR Professionals
          Employment Law
          Labor Law Posting Requirements: Everything You Need to Know
          Recruiting
          businesswoman selecting future employees on digital interfaces
          Recruiting Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
          Performance Management
          vector image of young female making star rating
          Performance Review Resources
          Employment Law
          Understanding Equal Employment Opportunity and the EEOC
          Recruiting
          Onboarding Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
  • CORONAVIRUS & HR

  • LOGIN
  • SIGN UP FREE

HR Morning

MENUMENU
  • FREE RESOURCES
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • HR DEEP DIVES
        • Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for HR Professionals
          Employment Law
          Labor Law Posting Requirements: Everything You Need to Know
          Recruiting
          businesswoman selecting future employees on digital interfaces
          Recruiting Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
          Performance Management
          vector image of young female making star rating
          Performance Review Resources
          Employment Law
          Understanding Equal Employment Opportunity and the EEOC
          Recruiting
          Onboarding Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
  • CORONAVIRUS & HR
  • Employment Law
  • Benefits
  • Recruiting
  • Talent Management
  • Performance Management
  • HR Technology
  • More
    • Leadership & Strategy
    • Compensation
    • Staff Administration
    • Policy & Procedures
    • Wellness
    • Staff Departure
    • Employee Services
    • Work Location
    • HR Career & Self-Care
    • Health Care
    • Retirement Plans

Benefits confuse 3 in 4 workers: What you can do now

Christian Schappel
by Christian Schappel
October 12, 2011
2 minute read
  • SHARE ON

One stat you’ll want to keep in mind when preparing for open enrollment: 76% of employees who make decisions about their benefits coverage say they’ve made mistakes selecting benefits options.
What’s worse: 42% say they’ve lost money because of those mistakes.
That’s according to the 2011 Aflac WorkForces Report, which surveyed 2,220 U.S. adult workers.
Clearly, employees are confused. Check this out:

  • 74% say when thinking about their benefits choices, they sometimes, rarely or never understand everything that’s covered by their policy options — particularly when it comes to health coverage, and
  • 59% of those who choose the same benefits every year sometimes, rarely or never have a full understanding of the changes in the policies each year.

What to do next
There’s still time to bolster your benefits communications this year.
Five best practices:

  • Survey your employees. Before putting together this year’s open enrollment materials, find out what caused the most problems/confusion last year by surveying workers.
  • Create an FAQ. Chances are you spend a lot of time fielding the same questions every year. Save yourself some time by taking those questions and creating a Frequently Asked Questions handout you can distribute during open enrollment.
  • Communicate year-round. Handing employees a think packet of information is overwhelming, and many just won’t take the time to read through it thoroughly. One way to get employees to absorb everything is to give it to them in bite-size chucks throughout the year. Create a blog on your company intranet and use it to post one short (500 words max) educational article every week or so. You’ll also want to post a glossary of benefits terms on the intranet — but even with it, you’ll want to make sure you use benefits jargon sparingly in your communications.
  • Explain healthcare reform. Not much has happened with healthcare reform this year, but employees are still hearing about it through the media. Keep them abreast of what’s going on — even if you have to say, “Nothing’s going on.” The aforementioned blog would be a great place to do this.
  • Promote cost-cutting tactics. More employers say they’ll push more health insurance costs onto their employees in 2012. To ease the blow, explain how they can keep their out-of-pocket costs down — by switching to generics, participating in wellness programs and taking advantage of flexible spending/health savings accounts. This can ease a lot of the frustration associated with health benefits and help employees make decisions about their options more clearly.

Get the latest from HRMorning in your inbox PLUS immediately access 10 FREE HR guides.

I WANT MY FREE GUIDES

Keep Up To Date with the Latest HR News

With HRMorning arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on labor laws, benefits, retention and onboarding strategies.

Sign up for a free HRMorning membership and get our newsletter!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
HR Morning Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linked In
  • ABOUT HRMORNING
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • WRITE FOR US
  • CONTACT
  • Employment Law
  • Benefits
  • Recruiting
  • Talent Management
  • HR Technology
  • Performance Management
  • Leadership & Strategy
  • Compensation & Payroll
  • Policy & Culture
  • Staff Administration
  • Wellness & Safety
  • Staff Departure
  • Employee Services
  • Work Location
  • HR Career & Self-Care

HRMorning, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest HR and employment law news for HR professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, HRMorning delivers actionable insights, helping HR execs understand what HR trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 2021 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

During your free trial, you can cancel at any time with a single click on your “Account” page.  It’s that easy.

Why do we need your credit card for a free trial?

We ask for your credit card to allow your subscription to continue should you decide to keep your membership beyond the free trial period.  This prevents any interruption of content access.

Your card will not be charged at any point during your 21 day free trial
and you may cancel at any time during your free trial.

preloader