Employers have needed to change many aspects of their standard operating procedures due to COVID-19, keeping their employees safety front of mind. Reliance on virtual technology is more prevalent than ever, and this includes how employers communicate with employees about their employee benefits. Among the busiest times of year for companies is renewal time for employee benefits.

Think about what your open enrollment meetings look like. Are all employees packed into a room? Are they falling asleep because they are taking the info home to share with their spouse to help, or make, the decision? Maybe you are fortunate enough to split your employees into two groups, so production continues nonstop throughout the day.

The question stands, how will you effectively execute a safe and educational open enrollment this year? 

As a proactive benefits broker, Forsite Benefits believes a crucial part of the solution to a successful open enrollment is utilizing an online benefit election tool. Is your team prepared to offer a virtual open enrollment? 

We asked Velocity Machine's Director of HR to share her story of how switching to an online benefit enrollment platform has her never wanting to go back to paper forms. Here is the video.

Online benefit election platforms provide...

A virtual open enrollment

1. Educates employees and their family members about their employee benefits from the comfort of their home

2. Eliminates the shuffling of papers, exchanging of germs or of personal information

3. Is conveniently accessible 24/7 for employees to elect on their own time

4. Offers uniform employee communication for all employees spread across different locations, parts of the state or country

Happy administrators of employee benefits

1. Distribute required notices electronically and efficiently

2. Can generate an excel file with employee benefit enrollment data to submit to carriers

3. Get reporting for billing reconciliation, payroll deductions, and plan comprehension, demographic reports, work census reports, enrollment summaries, beneficiaries and more

4. Receive real-time open enrollment progress and pre-built reports to track new hires' on-boarding and benefit elections

5. Save time during benefit enrollment and with ongoing management by eliminating paper forms, reducing errors, and creating digital files

Additional advantages of a virtual technology include

1. Availability of open enrollment information in multiple languages, including (most requested) Spanish

2. Ability to house a website link, video, or any employer driven communication piece

3. Expert open enrollment customer support

4. Mobile app access for benefit reference and ID cards

5. Typically cost-neutral

Clearly there are many advantages of utilizing an online benefit election platform, particularly in this day and age. But, along with online benefit election tools, there is another important component to a successful open enrollment environment for this year and years to come.

Choosing the right employee benefits broker and consulting team.

1. A team to help resolve any employee question or concern confidentially

2. Assistance with virtual open enrollment meetings, and voice-overs for educational videos

3. Counselors to educate employees on Medicare options

4. Education on unique populations within your millennial to baby boomer workforce; young families, special needs, COBRA, etc.

At Forsite Benefits & Wellness, we pride ourselves on being forward thinking. We have been offering these hr tools for multiple years, and consistently bring our clients innovative ideas with the employees in mind. To learn more about the multiple online benefit election tools we offer, or any additional employee benefit services, please contact us at info@forsitebenefits.com.