With open enrollment season in the rear-view mirror for most employers, benefits are out of sight and mind for most people until next open enrollment season. Employers often focus on benefit promotion immediately leading up to and during open enrollment. However, this might not be enough to get employees to fully understand or retain benefits information. 

We get it, everyone is busy. But there’s a staggering fact that about half of all employees don’t understand their benefits. Using effective communication year-round can help combat this statistic and improve job satisfaction. After all, if employees don't understand their benefits, how can they fully understand the value of what you're offering them for their work?

As an employer, what’s the big deal?

It’s unrealistic to assume that benefits are top of mind for everyone all the time. However, there are immense incentives to employers and employees alike when benefits are understood and utilized. By creating a strategic, year-round communication plan that goes above and beyond open enrollment, employers can better support their hiring and retention efforts.

Retain your employees and attract candidates

Benefits have come to the forefront of employment conversations with the tumultuous economic conditions that have occurred over the last several years. Since benefits have become increasingly more important to employees, helping them fully understand what’s available not only helps them make the most of their benefits but helps them recognize the value of what you have available. This means, employers need to not only offer benefits that employees find valuable, but also be able to effectively communicate and remind their employees of their benefits. After all, employees who are satisfied with their benefits are 70% more likely to remain at their employer than those who aren’t satisfied. Focused efforts on proactive benefit communications can be the difference between someone staying with or leaving their company.

What to keep in mind with your FSA and HSA

Beyond the value of retaining and attracting candidates, employers that offer flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) also save money when their employees participate in these tax-advantaged benefits. Employers save money because they do not pay social security tax on their employee’s contributions to their FSAs and HSAs, which saves the employer 7.65% on every dollar the employee contributes pre-tax. These tax-advantaged benefits are also great for participants because they save approximately 30%¹ on eligible expenses because their contributions are exempt from Federal, State, and FICA payroll taxes. This makes a $1,000 eligible expense costs them only about $700 after the tax savings is applied.

The savings participants receive when using these tax-advantaged benefits can be a key message to convey when promoting benefit offerings. Remember, your benefits are only as valuable as your employee’s see them. Using clear messaging reminding employees of the money their benefits save them will make your benefit offering even more competitive.

^{1This tax example is a broad approximation of tax liability. Further, your contributions may be subject to state income tax in some states. Your specific savings depend on your tax bracket. You should consult a tax advisor for help with your own situation. Current IRS tax laws control all pre-tax payment and contribution matters and are subject to change.}

Proactive Benefit Communication Strategies

With the inundation of information employees receive about benefits in the period immediately leading up to and during open enrollment, it can be easy for the information to get lost or ignored. Practicing a more proactive strategy that spreads communications throughout the year can be a great way to educate and engage employees with their benefits beyond open enrollment season.

Here’s a few proactive strategy and messaging suggestions that employers can use to support a year-round approach to benefit communications:

Send recurring emails or use intranet postings to cover benefit basics and highlight why employees may want to enroll in these benefits like including examples of eligible expenses and sample tax savings. Employers should consider the level of knowledge that their employees have and make sure to provide the basics, especially for those who may be going through open enrollment for the first time. Creating more targeted communications can also be an effective way to reach people, so employers can target communications to individuals specific to benefits they aren’t enrolled in. This way, employees are encouraged to learn more about benefits they might not even know are available to them.

Host dedicated office hours where employees can drop/call in to talk with HR representatives about their benefits or ask benefit questions. If there’s dedicated opportunities for employees to talk with the experts about their benefits, there’s a higher chance employees will think about their benefits and ask more proactive questions. When questions come up that your representatives don’t have answers to, EBC’s support teams are happy to assist clients and participants who have questions about their benefits.

Set up an open survey where employees can submit questions or feedback on their benefits. Like with hosting office hours, periodically sending around a survey will help bring benefits top-of-mind. This way, there’s also an easily accessible open line of communication where employees don’t have to start the conversation themselves, and employers have the opportunity to learn what benefits their employees are interested in for the next plan year.

Remind participants of their online account and EBC Mobile capabilities for easy benefit account management. At EBC, we try to make benefits as straightforward and accessible as possible. Through our online account and EBC Mobile, participants can view account details, including deposits, the date and status of submitted claims, set up direct deposit for quicker fund reimbursement, and more! EBC’s online account and mobile capabilities allow participants to easily self-service many aspects of their benefits, so encouraging them to utilize the available features helps streamline their benefits management.

Use EBC’s communication toolkits throughout open enrollment and beyond. Our toolkits make it easy for employers to promote benefit plans to their employees. Our toolkits include email templates, presentation slides, videos, webpages, flyers, and more! We recommend a multi-channel communication approach to make sure employers are reaching all benefits-eligible employees.

In all, a year-round benefits communication strategy should be a priority for employers this year. Consider using some of our outlined ideas or come up with your own creative ways to reach your employees. In the era of hybrid and remote working environments, remember that not all employees access information in the same way, so using multiple communication methods will help make sure all employees receive the information.