This week wrapped up open enrollment for my office. I’m busy studying for my SPHR exam this week so I’m going to leave you with some tips I picked up from our open enrollment.
Employee’s – Tell your HR person which system you need a password reset for, odds are you have more than one system they can reset so be specific.
HR peeps – Be prepared to spend your day resetting passwords. I think I reset 50 passwords on the last day of our enrollment
Employee’s – Come to the open enrollment meetings, I promise you’ll learn something. I know they are boring, despite our best efforts; there are only so many make me your beneficiary jokes I can do, just roll with it.
HR peeps – Candy at the meeting. ‘Nuf said.
Employees – Read the information you are provided during and around open enrollment. Those booklets provide you with a wealth of information about your benefits.
HR peeps – Yep, you need to read those too, especially if you are an onsite rep that didn’t have a hand in designing the plans.
Employees – Enroll early so you don’t forget. Odds are your HR person is going to be slammed with other people on the last day, enrolling early gives you time to get your questions asked early. Then you can sit back and giggle at the slackers scrambling to get enrolled at 4:30pm on the last day.
HR peep’s – Be available during open enrollment. Don’t shut your door and hide from the questions, that makes you lame and no one like a lame HR person.
Employees – Talk it over with your family and discuss what benefit options are best for you and yours. I don’t know what medical plan works best for you, I can tell you what works best for me and my husband but your situation might not be the same.
HR peep’s – There will be someone that forgets or had an emergency, that deadline should not be your drop dead date. Plan some wiggle room for the CEO or the mom with a sick kid that forgot; just don’t publish the fact that there’s wiggle room.
Anyone else have some good tips for open enrollment or tips for me on the SPHR?
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Employees: Don’t resist filling out a form that indicates your benefit choices (HR people really can’t read minds). Or tell me that where your friends work, they don’t have to go through Open Enrollment.
HR Peeps: Refrain from saying, “really?” and realize some employees will always believe you love administration more than you love them.
Excellent tips for both sides. I saw our benefits coordinator go out and spread word to the masses earlier this summer, and it was crazy how many of them either didn’t reply at all or waited until the last day.
Love the tip about the wiggle room. Everybody has lives, issues, problems etc. And some people will miss the date. Don’t be a jerk and make sure people have the correct coverage. Great post.
Great tips, all of them relevant and practical. We’re in the midst of it right now so will apply immediately. I like the phased open enrollment approach – give EEs a heads-up as far out as possible on contribution changes (that’s at top of mind for them). start with a range and then narrow it to actuals as you get closer to enrollment. i also think focusing on the “why” rather than the “what” during open enrollment sessions goes a long way – helping people understand how plans are designed, how they are priced, and how the changes made impact things at their level (i.e. cost). finally, before we go into the renewal period, we conduct a company-wide poll around “if you could change one thing about the benefit plans, what would it be.” while not every suggestion is practical, it at least gives people a chance to participate in the decisions which affect them. great post.
We had our meetings today, and damn…we forgot the candy! I’m so fired. This would be an ideal time to I pretend I don’t have anything to do with HR and am just a lowly bean counter. Thank goodness our group is <100.
Good luck on your SPHR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait to hear…
@Pasmuz – Excellent additions! I had employee tell me he only wanted dental and wanted to know if he still had to complete a form. That fully deserved a Really?
@Ben – Ugh, stragglers make my head hurt.
@Steve – It’s just mean to tell someone they cant have benefits next year because they were out with a sick child. I’ll give people a hard time about it but I always try to find a way to get them in.
@Charlie Judy – I’ve tried to teach employees the how the plan is designed, the why’s, but I get glazed over looks. Most dont care until it affects them personally.
@Teresa – You forgot the candy?!?! Shame on you!
@Krista – Thanks Krista, I’m only mildly freaking out about it
Good luck on your SPHR! You can find some useful tips at http://www.hrcpblog.com. Don’t panic, get enough sleep, don’t over analyze the questions, answer every question, trust your first impressions, and realize this is just a test which doesn’t define who you are or what you know.