To help employers achieve a successful Fall Enrollment season, insights
from MetLife’s 11th Annual Employee Benefits
Trends Study reveal six simple strategies that can help increase
employee participation and deliver a better return on a company’s
benefits investment.
“Our research indicates that the majority of employees are on
‘autopilot’ when it comes to enrolling in the employee benefits provided
to them through work. As a result, when employees simply roll-over the
previous year’s selections, they are often missing out on important new
coverage options and potentially leaving money on the table,” said
Michael Fradkin, Senior Vice President, Voluntary & Worksite Benefits,
MetLife. “There are also significant advantages for organizations when
their employees take a more active role in their benefits enrollment.
Employees who actively engage in reviewing and evaluating their
workplace benefits options are three times more likely to be satisfied
with their jobs, and more than twice as likely to recognize and value
the benefits offered through their employer.”
MetLife Highlights Six Key Strategies to Drive Employee Enrollment &
Encourages Employees to “Stop. Watch. Enroll.”
Nearly one-in-three employees are not engaging in their annual benefits
enrollment, and less than half (42%) of employers are very satisfied
with employee participation in voluntary benefits. MetLife analyzed data
from the study to identify several strategies that employers can use to
drive participation during this enrollment season.
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1.
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Upgrade the Enrollment Experience: Employers that recognize
the importance of a good customer experience during benefits
enrollment and upgrade their experience to meet the expectations
of today’s employees will see increased engagement. Nearly half of
employees who are engaged in benefits enrollment say that their
employer’s benefit enrollment process offers a customer experience
comparable to the best online shopping experience.
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2.
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Use a Simple and Straightforward Enrollment Process:
Complicated processes can deter employees from participating in
benefits enrollment. Companies that focus on making the process
simple and accessible, with easy-to-use decision-making tools, can
see a payoff in the form of increased engagement.
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3.
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Aim for Online Enrollment: Forty-two percent of employees
say they prefer online enrollment, yet only 35% had the
opportunity to do so at their company. Online enrollment is more
likely to be characterized as simple and straightforward compared
to paper or phone enrollment.
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4.
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Communicate Clearly: Communications are compelling when
they demonstrate that the company knows its employees. More than
half (54%) of engaged employees say it’s very helpful when
benefits materials provide personalized information reflecting
their needs and life stage.
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5.
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Communicate Frequently: Engagement increases when employers
communicate about benefits throughout the year, with 43% of
engaged employees saying that ongoing education about how to use
their benefits would be very helpful.
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6.
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Foster Feedback: Proactively seeking – and incorporating –
employee feedback on the enrollment process can foster greater
employee engagement. Four in ten engaged employees indicated that
their employers obtain feedback on how to improve benefits
communication and processes compared to just 17% of non-engaged
employees.
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“As a leading provider of employee benefits, MetLife is in a unique
position to increase awareness about the value of the benefits available
at the workplace, help employees evaluate their options and ensure they
get the financial security they need,” Fradkin continued. “To provide
employers helpful tools to engage their employees in the Fall Enrollment
period, MetLife recently launched a series of educational videos. These
videos encourage employees to stop auto-enrolling, watch
informative videos that will assist in the evaluation process
and take action to enroll in the benefits they need.”
MetLife’s ‘Stop. Watch. Enroll.’ video series, which was
produced in partnership with the experts in DIY online content,
Lifehacker, a studio Gawker production, includes topics such as Getting
Insurance at Work, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Auto Insurance,
Accident and Critical Illness Insurance and Legal Services. The video
series can be viewed online within MetLife’s new YouTube Learning
Center: www.youtube.com/metlife.
For additional insights about effective enrollment tactics and best
practices – including strategies for applying a generational perspective
to drive participation – employers should visit www.BenefitTrends.MetLife.com.
Visitors to the site have the option to sign-up to receive updates as
new content from MetLife’s research is released.
Methodology
MetLife’s 11th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends was conducted
during October 2012 and consisted of two distinct studies fielded by GfK
Custom Research North America. The employer survey comprised 1,503
interviews with benefits decision-makers at companies with staff sizes
of at least two employees. The employee sample comprised 1,422
interviews with full-time employees age 21 and over, at companies with a
minimum of two employees.
About GfK
GfK is one of the world’s largest research companies, with more than
11,500 experts working to discover new insights into the way people
live, think and shop, in over 100 markets, every day. GfK is constantly
innovating and using the latest technologies and the smartest
methodologies to give its clients the clearest understanding of the most
important people in the world: their customers. To find out more, visit www.gfk.com/us
or follow GfK on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gfk_en.
About MetLife
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) is a subsidiary of
MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET), a leading global provider of insurance,
annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers in
over 50 countries. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife
holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin
America, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. For more information,
visit www.metlife.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2013