Five tips for a smooth open enrollment

Open enrollment is the period when employers who offer company-sponsored benefits allow their eligible employees to choose or change their benefits to best meet their needs. Whether you’re offering group health benefits for the first time or are a seasoned employer, these five tips could help your business have a more efficient (and smoother) open enrollment. Listen in as we cover:

• [1:59] Where to begin
• [2:36] Employee input to inform a good benefits strategy
• [3:13] How to help your strategy be current and compliant
• [6:00] What information and data to gather
• [6:52] Identifying ways to improve the process

This content is based on generally accepted HR practices, is advisory in nature, and does not constitute legal advice or other professional services. ADP does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, and completeness of the content. Employers are encouraged to consult with legal counsel for advice regarding their organization's compliance with applicable laws. This content is current as of the published date. 

This is informational only and not intended as tax or legal advice. Should you have questions you should consult with a tax or legal advisor. All insurance products will be offered and sold only through Automatic Data Processing Insurance Agency, Inc., its licensed agents or its licensed insurance partners; One ADP Blvd. Roseland, NJ 07068. CA license #0D04044. Licensed in 50 states. Certain services may not be available in all states with all carriers.

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Episode Transcript

Jim (00:00):
If you're an employer offering company sponsored group health and
benefits, Open Enrollment allows youreligible employees to choose or adjust
the benefits that best meet their needs.
It's also your chance to establish a planthat helps drive your business strategy.
Managing Open Enrollment can be daunting
but it doesn't have to be.Welcome to HRpreneur,

(00:21):
this is Jim Duffy. Frommain street to your street
the HRpreneur podcast is centeredaround helping small businesses
like yours, gain the knowledge youneed from HR payroll and hiring to
time taxes, benefits, and insurance.
Today, we'll talk with our guest, MikeLoban about five steps businesses can
take to help simplify open enrollmentfor the business owner and its employees.

(00:42):
Mike is a licensed health and benefitsagent with Automatic Data Processing
Insurance Agency Incorporated,which is an affiliate of ADP.
Mike specializes in helping businessesselect and offer group health and
benefits that meet the specific needsof the business and its employees.
Welcome back to the program, Mike.
It's great to have you join us once again.

Mike (01:02):
Thanks, Jim.
It's great to be with you.

Jim (01:05):
So, Mike, before we begin, I thought it might be helpful to our listeners.
if you could just take a moment tointroduce the agency. It's possible
some of our listeners might notbe aware ADP has an affiliate that
is a licensed insurance agency.
Would you mind just sharinga few words about it?

Mike (01:21):
Sure thing, Jim.
As you mentioned in yourintroduction, Automatic Data
Processing Insurance Agency, Inc.,or ADPIA, is an affiliate of ADP.
as a full service insurance agency.
ADPIA works with more than 250,000small business clients.
We have 1,100 licensed agents whohelp simplify business and health

(01:42):
insurance so our clients can easilyevaluate, select, and manage policies
that meet their unique needs.
We have a lot of information andresources available on our website. 35,36,
Which is insurance.adp.com.

Jim (01:56):
Great, Mike.
Thank you for that.
Uh, so let's dive in when it comes toopen enrollment, where should a business
owner or a benefits administrator begin?

Mike (02:06):
First thing to do is to start with a benefit strategy.
There are many options to consider.
So the benefits you decide tooffer should align with a defined
employer benefit strategy thatconsiders your business goals, your
employee needs, and your budget.
If you're in a highly competitive industrywhere talent is hard to find, you may
need to offer a more comprehensiveand competitive benefit strategy.

(02:30):
If you're in a less competitivetalent environment, you might ask
employees to share more of thecost burden of those benefits.

Jim (02:36):
Mike, what kind of inputs could help inform a good benefit strategy?

Mike (02:41):
Well, that brings us to our second tip for a smooth enrollment,
which is to be sure to get employeefeedback on potential benefits.
For example, you should ask youremployees what benefits do they like, what
benefits don't they like, what benefitswould they like to learn more about.
An employee benefit survey isa great way to help understand
employee benefits preferences.
There are simple survey toolsavailable that enables you to gather

(03:04):
information that can help informyour approach to open enrollment.
And that sets the stage forgetting the level of participation
that you want to see.

Jim (03:13):
Mike, we know the benefits landscape changes, including new
regulations and new plan types.
So how can business owners or planadministrators make sure their benefits
strategy is current and compliant?

Mike (03:26):
Yeah, I can't emphasize enough how helpful it can be if you work with a
licensed broker or agent who understandsyour goals to develop and implement
your benefit strategy effectively.
An experienced licensed agentshould help you get the best
value for your investment.
We can't overlook that second to payroll,benefits are generally the second
biggest investment companies make.

(03:47):
Your agent will help you alignyour organization's benefit
strategy and budget with what'scurrently available on the market.
They have access to the marketand knowledge of the latest
carrier offerings and incentives.
A good agent should alsobring new ideas to the table.
If you've been on the same plan yearafter year, it's probably not because
there aren't better options out there.

(04:08):
It's likely that your currentbroker isn't taking the time to
educate you enough about what'snew and relevant on the market.
An effective agent is a strategicadvisor who's asking probing
questions and discusses options.
If you're not having consultativeconversations with your broker, you
really owe it to yourself and youremployees to look for other options.

(04:28):
And Jim, you mentioned new plan types.
I'd like to give you an example of thekinds of education a broker can offer.
There's a relatively newbenefit option that might be
of interest to business owners.
It's called an ICHRA or IndividualCoverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement.
Depending on the circumstances,ICHRAs might be an ideal alternative
to a group health plan for somebusinesses, and an ICHRA may satisfy

(04:50):
the Affordable Care Act mandate.
It's also worth noting thereare no contribution limits or
participation requirements.
You can customize your employeeallowances, and your ICHRA
contributions are tax free forboth the employer and the employee.
There's obviously more details to talkabout with ICHRAs, but it's a good example
of how a strategic broker can help adviseyou on what's best for your unique needs.

(05:13):
I'd like to add one more point aboutwhy it's important to engage an agent,
if I may, Jim, and that is, if youmanage your benefits manually with pen
and paper, it's terribly inefficientand you're liable to make errors.
With an online digital platform,you and your employees have more
visibility into their benefits.
An online benefitsadministration solution

(05:34):
also simplifies compliance reporting.
If you're administering your benefitsmanually, you most definitely should
speak to your broker about which onlineplatform is best for your unique needs.

Jim (05:45):
Mike, there's a lot of sound advice there.
So thank you for sharing that.
Uh, clearly benefits can be complex,especially for those outside the industry.
So it does make sense to trustprofessional guidance and to use
an online benefits administrationplatform to simplify everything.
So, Mike, you've coveredthree tips so far.
You start with a strategy, you getfeedback from your employees, and then

(06:06):
you seek out advice from a licensed agent.
What's next?

Mike (06:09):
If you're going to go with a new plan, you'll need a lot of information
to make sure the process is efficient.
It's very helpful to get allthe information pulled together
before you get started.
For example, you'll need informationon each of your employees and their
dependents to complete a census.
And this is the document thatinsurance companies use to estimate
the cost of the benefits plan.

(06:31):
The carrier might also want to know aboutyour claims history over the past year.
You should also have on hand summariesof your current plans, benefit summaries
and your actual renewal documents.You can simplify the entire open
enrollment process by having this kindof information available in advance

Jim (06:47):
Yeah, Mike that makes perfect sense that you'd want to get ahead
of that by having all that data onhand. So if you wouldn't mind, please
let's turn to tip number five.
What can you share with us?

Mike (06:57):
Discuss last year's process with your broker and it'll help identify
ways to improve the process and make itmore efficient. For example, as I noted
before, can you digitize or automatesteps that were paper based or manual
last year and probably error prone?
Did you get the level ofemployee participation in the
plan that you wanted last year?
Since open enrollment is your chanceto make changes that will set you

(07:18):
up for the entire year, it's to youradvantage to think through the entire
process to make sure you get it right.
Your broker should play a criticalrole along the way, especially
in helping you take advantage ofbenefits administration technologies
that simplify open enrollmentfor both you and your employees.

Jim (07:33):
That's great, Mike.
This brings us to the end of our episode.
Thank you again for joining us.
Uh, Mike, I took a few notes ofthe tips and I'd like to just
recap them for our listeners.
So, uh, number one, you'dmentioned start with a strategy.
Number two, get input from your employeesabout their benefit preferences.
Number three, you'd mentioned get advice.

(07:54):
Get advice from a licensed agent andnumber four, you had talked about
gathering data to make sure youropen enrollment process is efficient.
And lastly, you said to consultyour broker about ways to improve
the process for next year.
So did I capture thosefive tips accurately?

Mike (08:10):
Yes, sir.
You got it.

Jim (08:12):
Great.
Thank you again, Mike.
Presented by ADP, HRpreneur focuseson the entrepreneurs and business
drivers who are shaping the growthof their companies and positively
impacting the lives of their employees.
With each episode, we'll bring theexperts to you, answer your questions,
and help you think beyond today so youcan discover more success tomorrow.

(08:32):
As always, thanks forlistening to HRpreneur.
Be well, and we hopeyou'll join us again soon.