It’s almost that time of year again, the one that HR dreads most: open enrollment. For many on benefits teams, it’s a time that’s synonymous with frantic emails from employees confused about what’s on offer, how the enrollment process works, the nature of costs, and countless other issues. And once the open enrollment period is over, more emails come in—now sent by employees angry that they missed the cutoff date. The many reminder emails HR sent out must have gone to their spam folder, you see…
But what if these headaches didn’t have to be inevitable? What if there were a way to give disoriented employees the guidance they need—when they need it, in the places they’re most likely to see it—to make the open enrollment process as smooth and pain-free as possible? With the right digital adoption solution, there is.
Clarify what’s on offer
When it comes to open enrollment, the devil is in the details. For employees, one of the most frustrating aspects of the process is the confusion around what specific benefits are available and how they’ve changed from the previous year. This should come as no surprise: Health, retirement, and other benefits apps and sites often have cluttered, unintuitive interfaces and use jargon-heavy language that could leave even the most attentive employee bewildered.
Using a digital adoption solution such as Pendo, HR teams can help clear things up. They can create in-app guides within the relevant apps to highlight key benefits and changes, and clarify and contextualize any language that may otherwise be confusing. They can also alert employees to key timeline and cutoff dates in the apps where they spend most of their time, minimizing the risk that they’ll forget to register during the open enrollment window.
Guide employees to the finish line
If what’s on offer during open enrollment seems unclear, chances are, the registration process itself will be unclear, too. These workflows frequently feature confusing and disorienting pathways. Fortunately, the same in-app guidance that HR can use to clarify benefits can also be used to guide employees through the enrollment process. In doing so, HR teams can meet employees where they are and simplify an otherwise muddled user journey.
What’s more, the guidance HR teams offer around open enrollment doesn’t have to be static or one-size-fits-all. With the comprehensive product analytics tool the right digital adoption solution provides, they’ll be able to see which employees are completing the process and where other employees are getting stuck. With this kind of insight, they can plan tailored interventions accordingly.
Make what’s working even better
As HR guides employees through open enrollment, they have an opportunity to see what’s working and what isn’t, both in terms of the process and the benefits themselves.
A great digital adoption solution gives HR an opportunity to solicit meaningful feedback from employees via polls and surveys. These polls can provide proactive support to HR operations along the way, letting them know which processes and in-app guides are effective, which aren’t, and how to make support even better. They can also give HR a window into employee sentiment and satisfaction when it comes to benefits—providing insights into what to keep or potentially change when the time comes for reevaluating the company’s benefits packages.
The reality is clear: With the right digital adoption solution, open enrollment doesn’t have to be a period of employee frustration and HR headaches. Rather, it’s an opportunity for growth and transformation. The benefits of digital adoption are obvious, and the good news is there’s no cutoff date to get your process in order.
