Open Enrollment is oftentimes one of the busiest times of the year for an employer.  However, the economic downturn has made the process much more of an arduous endeavor this time around than in years past, as some companies have had to make the excruciating decision to drastically alter or even remove portions of their benefit packages in order to remain financially strong.  If your company falls into this unfortunate sector, then you know that conveying the information to the workforce is just as nerve wracking as the initial determination itself, if not more so.  Anger and disillusionment can easily drape your staff upon hearing the news that some of their benefits they have enjoyed in previous years are either skyrocketing in price or going away altogether.  However, if you properly prepare this necessary interoffice communication, you can make great strides to minimizing the malaise that will be poised to sweep through the office.

The most important thing you can do in light of the potential onslaught is to be sure the communication with your staff over this matter comes across as empathetic, and not just sympathetic.  In other words, meet their mindset as much as possible.  Make certain each memo, e-mail, and newsletter that addresses benefit changes avoids sounding generically corporate and communicates at the staff’s level.  This approach will help to answer a great deal of the workforce’s “why” questions before they get a chance to be asked. 

You can achieve this by pulling back on using blanket statements and revealing an appropriate level of reasoning behind the decision instead.  For example, phrases like “in these tough economic times” have been so overused as the de facto, near clichéd way to signal that bad financial news is afoot that they have become rather cold, impersonal expressions.  Your employees know that everyone is a wading through treacherous monetary waters; a shopworn statement that merely states the obvious will most likely make you look aloof and unaffected in the eyes of your staff.   The better way to inform your staff about the benefit changes would be to provide as much concrete data to the workforce as you feel comfortable sharing.  Just simply stating the ways the economic downturn have affected the company goes a long way than just reiterating a hodgepodge of “times are tough” rhetoric.   You don’t have to open your books or other private ledgers to accomplish this; merely giving innocuous explanations on how the economy has affected you as an employer will actively demonstrate to your employees that you have felt the pinch of the economy every bit as they have.  Moreover, it enhances the element of equality and camaraderie to decisions that otherwise may look a bit feudalistic. 

Additionally, as you share this information with your workforce, do not try and sugarcoat the situation by beginning your announcement with flowery statements of employee appreciation.  On paper, an opening salvo speaking of how the company cares about its staff looks like a good strategy.  However, the reality is such leadoff phraseology may backfire, because your workforce may interpret it as a bait-and-switch of sorts, which could foster feelings of disingenuousness.  Instead, your best bet is to save the words of compassion until after the news has been broken and the facts and data associated with it have been laid out.  Once this foundation has been established, then you can (and should) build up spires of benevolence. 

Of course, there will be grumblings amongst the workforce no matter how you break the bad tidings.  However, following these guidelines can go a long way into keeping such complaints low, which in turn will lessen any dip in office morale.  It will also help reinforce and strengthen bonds between you and your staff, which can ultimately serve you quite handsomely once the economy recovers.

What do you think?  Would following these guidelines help stem the flow of negative vibes throughout the office?  What tactics have you deployed in informing your workforce about tough decisions regarding benefit changes?

There are many tools that can be used to educate your employees. For example, if you are using an online enrollment system, encourage your employees to utilize the site and review the information available to them. Many employers want to make the enrollment process “easy” for their employees and tell them that they don’t need to worry about anything if they don’t want to make any changes. I think this is a disservice, because those employers are encouraging them not to be interested in this subject. 

The subject of “insurance” awareness is similar to “tax code” or “investment” awareness. Most people throw up their hands at the mere mention of these subjects, feeling that they are too complicated to understand and they will deal with it when and if they have to. I say to be forewarned is to be fore-armed. The time to know the best place to take your child for emergency treatment of a broken arm is not when it happens. You should know which facilities are in your network and whether it is best to go the Emergency Room of a hospital (probably not), an Urgent Care Facility, or your doctor’s office.

We need to have more informed consumers of health care. They need to be educated in fraud and abuse tactics so that they can be instrumental in containing health care costs. If they have had a recent array of testing done by a doctor, they should know that sometimes these test results can be shared with a second doctor and not have them repeated. We have all heard the term “second opinion,” but how often do people actually get one? Do employees realize that sometimes the best place for treatment may not be in their own community? There are facilities that have been designated as “Centers of Care” for specific conditions or procedures. 

The attitude of “I don’t have to worry, the insurance will pay for it” needs to stop. People need to be educated to assume responsibility and participate in managing their health care. There is no such thing as a “free lunch.” You will pay for it now or later in the form of increased premiums or other costs.

The bottom line is: encourage your employees to be educated in their entire employee benefit package. Don’t offer short cuts; keep them involved. Knowledge is power. In the long run, they can help contain your costs by becoming responsible, knowledgeable consumers of health care.

So when I read the story of the scheduler for a congressman in Washington, D.C., who flipped out when someone called her Liz instead of Elizabeth (and I mean FLIPPED – 19 emails on the subject), it reminded me that many people take communication these days for granted. It seems rare for people to just pick up the phone anymore, since email is seen as so much easier. Email, though, is also far less personal. And therefore, it is easy for people to misinterpret the meaning behind the words.

We all know that it’s important to be careful with email. Not only does it last forever, it can also get into the wrong hands (remember the last time someone accidentally hit “reply to all”?) – like, say, a reporter who goes and posts not only your 19-email diatribe, but also your full name. While I disagree with the scheduler’s reaction to what appeared to be an honest mistake, I feel bad for the fact that being a federal employee makes her information that much easier to get. You only have to read a few of the comments to realize that this woman is probably getting hundreds of mean-spirited emails and phone messages. All because she didn’t stop to think about the consequences of her knee-jerk reaction to being called by a nickname.

So the next time you receive the 50^th email asking about vacation time, paychecks, or the HMO plan, don’t send back the first thing that jumps into your head (“As I’ve said 50 times already, it’s all in the employee handbook!”). Take a deep breath, smile (remember that old saying that people can hear your smile through the phone? I think it works with email as well), and remember that you don’t want to be like the person whose bad day turned into an Internet phenomenon.

Related article: http://www.politico.com/blogs/anneschroeder/0609/No_namecalling.html?showall

And please, if you read the article above, refrain from doing what many of the comment-writers appear to be doing, which is harassing this woman with unnecessary and mean emails and voicemails.

Now, of course, it’s much easier to connect with people through all these social media sites. Facebook, LinkedIn, even Twitter, are becoming so common that not being on these sites is considered a social and/or professional faux pas.

I never did join MySpace or Friendster or any of those, but I was finally convinced to enter the new millennium (yes, I’m a little behind my contemporaries – being on the tail end of Generation X, I should have been on all of these sites years ago; but alas, I’m apparently a late bloomer) and join Facebook. Shortly after, Facebook launched their Pages, which I think is great way for companies like ours – B2B service companies that are not marketing to teenagers – to get our name out there in a new, modern, techno-savvy way. Plenty of our employees are on Facebook, as are many of our clients, and isn’t bringing all of these people together the point of social media?

Now, I can understand the corporate communication benefits of blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the like, but Twitter? One of the presenters at the workshop mentioned that he heard a social network expert say that companies should go in and squat on Twitter (grab their company names) so that when Twitter becomes the major source of corporate communications in the next few years, they’ll already have the names. I don’t know about you, but when I think of Twitter, I think of celebrities who share way too much personal information about their lives with the world. I don’t think of CEOs or HR departments communicating with their stakeholders (although I have heard that there are some who do). Is this really where corporate communications are headed?

My fear is that employee communications are difficult enough – getting your employees to truly understand what it is you’re trying to communicate, whether it be a benefits package, company finances, or big news (good or bad). For those of us who spend the majority of our time trying to design communications that are effective and can be understood clearly – now we’re supposed to openly accept a tool that only allows you to use 140 characters at a time? Are we becoming so ADD as a society that we can’t take the time to read a full blog posting or an employee memo? No wonder nearly 50% of employees read only what is needed to enroll (or don’t read any enrollment communications at all). Someone else at the workshop said that she doesn’t even read blogs anymore because she relies on Twitter so much. I know that you can post links in your ‘tweets’ to direct your readers to further information, but if the way of the future is shorter and shorter communications, how are we ever going to be able to guarantee that people are going to take the time to read the “further information?”

I’m not saying Twitter is bad. But as a communications professional, I shrink from this form of technology as a form of mass corporate communication in a world where people far too frequently base opinions and decisions on too little information. If we’re encouraging people not to read the fine print, we’re never going to be able to get our real point across.

What do you think? Are you ready to accept social media as your main form of corporate and employee communication, or do you think that certain forms – such as Twitter – are trends that are going to fly south permanently?

The RFP is a necessary evil. You need RFPs in order to determine who the best partner is for you (in our case, of course, that would be the best employee benefits consultant/broker). Unfortunately, most RFP responses tend to look the same and I can only imagine what a daunting task it is for those folks whose job it is to read through the numerous 60-page responses (not including the sometimes 100-200 pages of exhibits and appendices!). It isn’t until the finalist presentations and the face-to-face meetings that you’re really going to get a sense of whether or not we’re going to be a good partner for you.

I work with the members of the sales team to put together responses to RFPs, and I have completed a large number of these over the last several years (at least a few dozen). Using my experience, I would like to make some suggestions of my own, on top of Mr. Haraden’s, to make this process easier for all involved:

• You would not believe the number of RFPs that are sent out without specific instructions as to how the firm would like to receive the responses. Please tell me if you want a copy emailed, or if you need 5 hard copies. I’m happy to provide either, but I need to know what you want.
• If your deadline is the Friday before a holiday, please tell me if your office will be closing early (or won’t be open at all). If you’re deadline is 5pm, but no one will be at the office past noon, I need to know that.
• Review your questions. Many RFPs ask the same questions multiple times and in multiple ways. This may not be the most efficient way of getting to the information you really want.
• Give us enough time to really respond to your questions, especially if you are issuing a long, complex RFP. One week is not enough time. Ever. Two weeks is the minimum, but 3-4 weeks is best. We want to be able to take the time and really delve into the questions and show you how great we are. Ideally, you should have a thorough timeline in place that includes preparing the RFP, issuing the RFP, allowing time for questions, due date, finalist selection and meetings, and final selection of winner. Also, in this timeline, make sure you leave enough time for your new vendor/partner to actually implement the plan. If you want your new plan to be effective, it needs enough time to be implemented correctly.
• Know what your key focus areas are. Provide information on your current plans, employee demographics, locations, etc. The more info we have about you, the better information we can provide.

In short, plan ahead. Those of us who really want your business are going to take the time to give you a great proposal. Make sure that you’re getting what you want and need out of the process.

Having never personally been on the other side of the RFP table, what are some tips that you have for potential vendors who are responding to RFPs?

Recently, Fidelity Investments conducted a poll whose results tend to support a case that the average worker does not. For example, only 15% of all employees surveyed stated that they had a very strong understanding of key health insurance terms. Half of the polled workers could not define a flexible spending account or a health reimbursement account, while slightly more than half did not know what a health savings account was. Furthermore, 13% actually did not know what a co-payment was. While the latter number most likely relates to the naiveties that are inherent to fresh souls brand new to the working world (at least one would like to hope this is the case), the other numbers extracted from the poll relate to products that are relatively new and exotic to the workforce compared to the programs that have been the mainstays of most benefits packages. Given the rising frequency in which employers are utilizing CDHPs, this percentile of ignorance is favored to trend upward. Obviously, this is a problem, because uneducated individuals tend to make uneducated decisions, and such poor planning may end up hurting both the employee and the employer in the future.

The main lesson that can be extrapolated from this data is how essential it is for businesses to find different ways to aggressively educate their workforce on their plans, especially if a new plan option is being launched. It is crucial that the instruction stretches beyond the ordinary parameters of merely handing out a pamphlet or two and having the workers to read through it on their own.  uch materials tend to gather more dust than fingerprints when given out autonomously. Instead, find ways to actively engage the workforce in the weeks leading up to the Open Enrollment period. Hold meetings or presentations that thoroughly go over the make-up of the benefits being offered, ensuring everyone grasps the concepts of the plans firmly enough along the way so any guesswork is squelched as much as possible. If you are rolling out a new plan, such as a CDHP, survey what aspects of the plans employees find apprehensive about it and tackle those intimidating facets head-on, as such fears are most likely wrought out of a lack of plan familiarity. Emphasize the strengths of each plan, but be brutally honest with the potential drawbacks. If more traditional health coverage options like an HMO or a PPO are offered make sure that their plan information is not glossed over due to the fact that they have been around for decades. As the aforementioned survey indicates, knowledge of any plan should not be taken for granted.

The underlying purpose of these edification tactics actually end up being twofold. Not only will they improve the knowledge about benefit information amongst the workforce, but it also presents the employer with an opportunity to reiterate to the employee how valuable of an asset they are. These two effects work in synergy to maintain a workforce that is happier and (hopefully) healthier. However, neither effect will do much to expedite employees turning open enrollment paperwork in a timelier manner.

The annual PIHRA Conference will be held October 16-18, 2007, at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California. Two of Precept’s distinguished colleagues, our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Chris Coulter, and our Vice President of Health Management Services, Charlotte Barry, will each be presenting a session at the conference.

• Understand how to measure health plan performance
• Evaluate health plan performance against benchmarks
• Identify areas for improvement
• Hold carriers accountable
• Produce consistently better outcomes
• Control long-term health benefits costs

• Key elements of an effective health improvement program

A customized, branded program will engage employees – they’ll see it as your company’s benefits program, not just a bunch of stuff they get from random carriers that will give them a headache upon opening to the first page. Creating a simple enrollment guide – or even a tri-fold – that clearly and simply describes their benefits and their costs associated with those benefits, will result in a much smoother and more pleasant open enrollment season. Remember – all those numbers and scary words like deductible, beneficiary, coinsurance, and dismemberment (because, let’s face it, dismemberment is a much scarier word than any other you will read in those documents!) – will be much less intimidating if they are explained simply and outlined clearly.

Another good tip: outline for your employees all of the changes you are making to the plans – increased costs, new carriers, etc. – and explain why you are making the changes. Let them know how much it’s costing the company, so they can keep their own increasing costs in perspective. Very few people actually know how much their health care costs beyond their own monthly paycheck deduction. Employees who understand the benefits and costs associated are more likely to value the program – and not complain.

The most important thing to remember – KEEP IT SIMPLE!