Now more than ever, effective communication plays a key role in the success of the open enrollment process. With many employees still working remotely, company leadership may find it increasingly difficult to keep their staff engaged and focused during enrollment. Providing consistent, clear, and simple enrollment communication is vital to the success of any company’s open enrollment. What are some key benefits that companies and brokers can experience by improving communication with their staff and clients?
Increased Clarity
With effective communication comes clarity. Providing enrollment materials that employees do not understand does not benefit anyone. In fact, this may cause more confusion, adding additional difficulty to the process. Providing clear and concise enrollment materials to your employees ensures that they understand the process and can effectively participate. This means providing enrollment dates, all benefit options, and keeping an open line of communication so that staff can contact you if they have any questions. When you are in the middle of an open enrollment, clear and concise communication will help you to avoid confusion and conflict.
Improved Engagement
Keeping employees engaged during open enrollment is one of the most difficult aspects of the process. A study by ITA Group shows that while globally, organizations invest $18 billion per year on communication tools, only 15% of adult employees feel engaged with their employers. With many employees still working remotely, it is crucial to develop an effective communication strategy. Having an open line of communication with employees keeps them engaged and focused on the task at hand, improving the effectiveness of your open enrollment. Key to keeping your employees engaged is consistent, clear communication and active listening.
Effective Communication Requires Listening
Another key benefit experienced while practicing effective communication is trust building. However, this one has more to do with listening than it does speaking. Fostering an environment for your team to provide feedback is paramount to the enrollment process. Employees may be having trouble understanding their benefit options, may not understand how their benefits work, or may need help with enrolling. Being open to listen to these issues, and creating simple solutions to those issues, solidifies in the minds of your employees that you are listening to their concerns. When employees can trust management, they feel empowered and confident.
