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Personalization Is The Future Of Employee Benefits

Forbes Human Resources Council

Chief Engagement Officer, overseeing the full Human Resources Department and contributing to a high-performance culture at Businessolver.

Uncertainty around employee benefits isn’t new. Our latest report at Businessolver shows that 85% of employees are confused about their benefits—a trend that’s held steady over the five years we’ve studied it. Despite this, employees want to engage with their benefits. In fact, as today’s workforce shifts, we’re seeing benefits expectations broaden beyond medical, dental and vision. Employees want their employers' help managing their health, well-being and lifestyle needs year-round.

Employees will never be benefits experts. Most only spend about 15 minutes electing their benefits. But the reality is it's not their job to know everything. So how can HR drive engagement across their entire program and throughout the entire year for their employee base? The answer is holistic personalization.

Personalization is the new experience baseline.

Today’s consumer expects a hyper-personalized experience. They want to feel heard, understood and supported. Those expectations span the benefits experience as well. Much like shopping for clothes or picking a restaurant for dinner, benefits decisions are highly personal. Each employee has their own unique needs and goals, and they expect their benefits to support everything from financial preparedness to their mental well-being.

Decision support at the moment of enrollment—those key 15 minutes—can help guide employees toward making elections that actually support their needs. For example, an employee might need someone to point out that a high-deductible health plan and an HSA can keep their monthly costs low while building up a financial cushion for health expenses throughout the year. Others may need clarity around voluntary benefits that could help ease the burden of hospital bills.

Benefits don’t stop at annual enrollment.

What HR professionals, especially those adopting a holistic approach, need to remember is that the work doesn’t stop at benefits election. This data-rich moment is obviously key for HR teams. But once the enrollment window closes, the next phase begins. For example, while decision support can help steer employees towards right-fit paid options, many programs offer company-paid resources that go underutilized, like EAP programs and telemedicine.

Continued benefits engagement can seem challenging, but here are some examples of data HR can look at to help define their year-round communications.

What programs went underutilized last year? Promote those programs with a series of “Did you know?” emails with links to the resource.

Did your plan see high unnecessary ER claims? If so, promote telehealth or other cost-effective care avenues across your platform and through email.

Was there a high rate of FSA forfeiture? Make sure your employees understand what’s covered under that benefit.

When armed with data and scalable technology, HR can keep their populations engaged throughout the year, no matter how diverse their health needs, finances or lifestyles.

Scaling personalization is easier than you think.

Personalized experiences come in different forms. At its core, personalization in a digital experience means ensuring employees feel heard and understood. When it comes to benefits, tactics as simple as removing jargon from communication can help ease the barrier to benefits for employees across all channels.

HR can further tailor programs to their employees by simply asking for feedback. What’s working? What’s confusing? What do they want to see in their benefits? Getting a pulse on employees’ views of benefits can often help HR gain new perspectives and a deeper understanding of where they need to spend more time marketing what’s available across the benefits program. This can also help companies become more appealing to new talent.

As we see more experiences live within technology, benefits teams have more opportunities to engage in holistic personalization. By leveraging these tools, companies can better scale operations, reduce administrative burden and help employees connect the dots from the value of their benefits to their unique needs.


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