Employees Don’t Understand Benefits: 7 Fixes for Open Enrollment

Nearly 90% of your employees don’t understand benefits. And that’s a real concern as open enrollment season is knocking on our doors.

Employees need to understand the benefits they have, the benefits they need and the benefits they could have.

That means HR pros and their teams want to improve communication and education so employees understand benefits and make better decisions during open enrollment. Then, they can use and engage with what’s available and ideal for them throughout the year.

Why They Don’t Understand Benefits

A BusinessSolver study found that 86% of employees are confused about their benefits. Confusion over costs, options, value, usage and access puts many employees in a spiral.

Beyond being confused, many don’t care enough to learn more. About 90% of employees say they usually choose the same plan as the prior year, according to a Voya Financial survey. That way, they don’t have to think too much about the whole process.

Knowing that most employees don’t fully understand where they stand with benefits, you’ll want to help them learn more.

Conveying Complex Information

Think of benefits information as complex information. Yes, easy for you to understand. But employees don’t always understand the terminology, concepts and applications.

“Benefits are one of the most valuable investments an employer makes in its people, but employees can only take full advantage of that investment if they understand it,” says Michelle Weil, Communication Director of Employee Benefits at Holmes Murphy. “Open enrollment is when employees make important decisions affecting their health, finances, and families, so communication needs to help them feel informed and confident, not overwhelmed.”

That goes for all information — whether it’s delivered through guides or verbally in a presentation. More isn’t always better. You don’t need to cram everything into either.

“Focus on building benefits knowledge over time,” says Weil. “Employees shouldn’t be expected to learn everything about their benefits during a single enrollment period … When employees receive information in manageable, timely ways, they’re more likely to understand their options, know where to go for answers, and become confident consumers of their benefits.”

Use these best practices to convey information during open enrollment.

1. Be Practical

Really, people don’t read most of what’s in your benefits packet. They’re looking for specific information. So make sure you answer those questions upfront — in writing and in talking.

Some essentials:

• What’s changing this year?
• How much will my benefits cost?
• How can I compare plans?
• Which plan is right for me and my family?
• Where can I get help?

Oftentimes, less is more.

“The biggest mistake is assuming that more information equals better communication,” says Weil. “While accuracy and compliance are critical, overwhelming employees with dense content, technical terminology, and lengthy explanations often creates the opposite of the intended result. Employees stop reading or struggle to find the information that actually matters to them.”

2. Audit Information

Well before open enrollment you want to audit the content. (Even better, do it regularly.) Remove anything that’s outdated, unused, duplicated or just plain bad.

“If a page doesn’t help employees make a decision, answer a question, or take action, it probably doesn’t belong in the guide,” says Weil. “That can be a tough standard — and we all know it’s not always possible — but it’s worth working towards.”

3. Use Intrigue

Once you’ve whittled down the information, think how you’ll present it. You can do this via presentation or email blasts.

Your people will try harder to understand information – complex or simple – when they’re interested in it from the get-go. So get them intrigued before they dive into what you need them to review.

A couple of tactics:

• Give them the WIFM (What’s In It For Me). Tease your audience with how information will benefit them in the end. For instance, “You want to know how you can save 25% on your health insurance costs this year, right?”
• Set up the suspense. Instead of scary suspense, give employees a sunny suspense. For instance, “A third of your colleagues saved 25% on their healthcare costs last year. You should be able to do it this year.”

4. Continue to Simplify

We often think we’ve simplified enough because we understand the information. Meanwhile, we’re still steps away from employees understanding it.

So give your messages this test journalists often do: Would your grandmother understand it? Of course, she’s smart and sassy, so she’d likely only need the most basic version to grasp the concept.

5. Compare the Unfamiliar to the Familiar

When people can see the correlation between something they’re familiar with and something that’s foreign to them, the foreign becomes familiar.

When possible, compare something complex to something that touches their everyday lives.

For instance, employees might not understand all the codes associated with the care they receive – the codes that healthcare providers use to diagnose and bill, which show up on the Explanation of Benefits (EOBs). But they likely see the codes associated with produce and deli items in the supermarket. So you might say, “Healthcare codes, like supermarket codes, are a universal language that allows everyone from healthcare providers to insurers to help you manage your well-being.”

6. Practice

Communicating complex information doesn’t come naturally. So understand that you might need to memorize key phrases – those that break down the confusing information into its most essential parts. That way, you’ll always know what to say and can lean into those if people seem confused.

Finally, when you know you’ll need to convey confusing information – especially during open enrollment – practice in front of the mirror, on video and with friends until it’s second nature.

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7. Focus on Consistency and Ease

Going forward — now and beyond the open enrollment season — you want to continue to make it easy for employees to find and understand information.

Why? “Employees are inundated with messages every day, and most aren’t sitting down to read a 40-page benefits guide cover to cover,” says Weil. “They’re skimming emails, scanning headlines, searching for keywords, and looking for quick answers to specific questions.”

Stay consistent throughout the year, sending messages with clear headings, concise explanations, strong visual hierarchy, and straightforward language when you share information.

“It’s also important to recognize how employees are consuming information today. More people are turning to AI tools to help summarize content and explain complex topics,” Weil warns. “The clearer and simpler your benefits communications are, the more likely those tools are to deliver accurate, useful answers.

“A good test is this: can an employee find the answer they’re looking for in less than a minute? If not, the communication is probably too complicated,” she explains. “The goal isn’t to provide more information. It’s to make the right information easy to access, understand, and act on.”