As much as employees may appreciate their benefits, they aren’t necessarily eager to wade into open enrollment communications. These materials are notoriously dense, confusing, or just plain dull.
The goal, of course, is to help employees make informed decisions about their medical plans, as well as the myriad other benefits your company provides — from vision insurance and HSAs to the extras like pet insurance or legal services. And, of course, to get them to make those decisions in a timely way.
Here are five simple tips you might consider:
First of all, ask the writer to use a tone of voice that sounds less like a giant organization talking down to employees and more like an actual person just explaining the benefits to a friend. Benefits are an important element of your employee value proposition, and speaking person-to-person can help employees better understand and appreciate them.
Make it easier for employees to take the actions they need to take. You can help them out by providing a simple list of the decisions they need to make and when they need to make them. Also, show them where they can make those elections by including the appropriate links — or a QR code, in printed materials.
You can’t delete all that legal language, but you can include call-outs and explanations that are more conversational. To avoid a stiff corporate tone, try writing as if you were one colleague explaining it to another. That makes the writing more approachable, but also keeps it from feeling like you’re talking down to employees.
There are a handful of stock photos that seem to make it into every open enrollment document. The kid on dad's shoulders. A woman hugging her mother. These images can drain the authenticity from your materials. Find a great photographer and capture images of the interesting employees who work there.
To ensure that the organization gets credit for the great benefits that it provides, make sure the materials feel like they're coming from – not your provider. Get a talented designer involved to help the communications reflect your brand and culture. Clean, professional design can go a long way towards a more effective open enrollment campaign.
