We all know that open enrollment season is not exactly a walk in the park. It’s not like you will ever hear anyone say: “I’m really looking forward to benefits enrollment this year!” Planning for open enrollment takes a lot, from meetings with your CFO and benefits brokers to going through the benefit options you will be able to offer to chasing down employees so that they submit all their forms on time. And with COVID-19, there’s a good chance some, if not all, of your workforce, is working remotely, so this year’s open enrollment might be a bit trickier – or maybe not; that is, if you plan a virtual benefits enrollment strategy and have a great benefits administration program under your belt, you can easily streamline the process.

Why Should You Switch to Automated Benefits Administration Software?

If you’ve been handling open enrollment manually, well . . . you know that it’s very time-consuming and hard to administer, and it’s much harder if a significant portion of your workforce is telecommuting. From employees not being able to print or electronically fill out forms to not being able to email or mail them to you on time, this year, manual enrollment will likely be even more complicated – but transitioning to benefits administration software can be your solution.

What are the benefits, you may ask . . . ? Benefits administration software:

• Reduces workload for the HR team – enrollment and administration are easier, and employees can access self-service options, freeing up HR’s time for other tasks;
• Costs less in the long run, in both time and human error;
• Helps save the environment – there’s no need to print and mail paper packets nor pay for postage and shipping;
• Ensures that all enrolled employees are truly eligible, including verifying their dependents;
• Improves data accuracy – no more trying to decipher the handwriting of your colleagues as you manually enter their information and selections;
• Allows for the ability to personalize offerings and guide employee choices through automated systems;
• Connects to your benefits carriers more easily; and
• Allows access to benefits information 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

How Can You Prepare?

Hold Virtual Enrollment Townhalls

Now, more than ever, your employees likely worry about their family's health as well as how much coverage they have if one of their family members gets sick during COVID. In order to ease their minds and guide them through your benefits offerings, you can hold online townhall meetings through Zoom or another conference platform to go over your plans, the details, what each cover, the copayments, and all the other “fun stuff” that comes with open enrollment.

Create Enrollment Office Hours

You’ll be able to facilitate easier communication with employees about enrollment, elections, and changes by holding office hours after your townhall meeting. This way, you can answer any questions that they may have and help them with their enrollment process.

Provide Support

With automated benefits enrollment software, you’ll have the ability to provide the same information and support to all employees, regardless of location or shift. It will also enable you to check on your employees and their progress on the application. Doing so allows you to reach out to those that may be struggling with the application and set up a short meeting or call.

Don’t believe us yet? This is the game-changing result from one of our clients that went from manual to automated benefits enrollment:

“The addition of Viventium’s Benefits Administration module to our product suite has been amazing. We were able to cut almost all of the manual work out of our open enrollment process, giving our HR team much needed time back into their day.”

Learn more about Viventium’s Benefits Administration and how you can simplify your yearly open enrollment process by visiting www.viventium.com/benefits-administration.

This information is for educational purposes only, and not to provide specific legal advice. This may not reflect the most recent developments in the law and may not be applicable to a particular situation or jurisdiction.