These three effective, low cost solutions can help employers who are trying to balance reaching remote employees while not breaking the bank this Open Enrollment.
Use an HRIS
What is an HRIS?
An HRIS is a human resource information system that acts as storehouse for all your data and HR processes. While there are different systems and tiers, a good HRIS will satisfy multiple HR functions. According to BambooHR, some of the benefits you can expect include organization, compliance, improved employee experience and convenience.
With an HRIS system, you have the ability to automate or track processes, giving you more time to focus on day-to-day activities or unexpected issues that arise. Additionally, many HRIS systems can be integrated with other platforms. This results in a single platform where all benefit-related items are housed, reducing confusion and improving access to key information.
In addition to a single source of benefits information, benefits literacy is crucial for a successful Open Enrollment. Among low cost solutions to improve employee benefits literacy, creating personas is one of the most effective methods.
Create employee personas
In recent years, decision support tools have grown in popularity. However, for companies that can’t support these platforms, there are alternative methods. In our blog “Communication Best Practices for Open Enrollment” we address several cost-effective ways employers can reach employees, including creating personas.
What goes into a persona?
While there are many ways to craft a persona, for the purposes of assisting with benefits selection, personas should cover a few main buckets:
- Family life: Martial status and number of dependents
- Personal demographics: Age and gender
- Financial details: Income and expected medical costs
All of these factors may impact the healthcare choices an employee makes. A good rule of thumb is to provide at least three personas to cover the different generations present in most workforces today. According to HRTechnologist, using personas allows you to reach employees better by “segmenting the workforce into targetable and manageable groups.”
Finally, by creating multiple personas, it is more likely people in your organization will find one similar enough to their own life that they will feel comfortable using it as a base template to understand which benefit options might work best for them.
Need help getting started? Check out these sample personas we created.
Leverage content from vendors
If you’re working with multiple vendors for benefit fairs, there is a high likelihood each vendor will offer free content to assist employees with the decision making process. By leveraging this content, you can save time and money by not having to create and distribute your own materials.
The Resource Center from BRI gives you and your employees quick access to a variety of items that can be used during Open Enrollment and year round. From educational videos and infographics to product-specific FAQs and calculators, everything is in one place. Just use the filters to find exactly what you’re looking for no matter what your needs are.
Browse free Open Enrollment content in the Resource Center today.
Making low cost solutions effective
The low cost solutions we touched on in this blog will only be effective if you’re using them to help your entire employee base. Make sure you’re reaching all of your employees: Download our guide on Remote Benefits Communication.
