Open Enrollment Is Coming: How Employers Can Prepare for a Smoother Benefits Season

Open Enrollment season is right around the corner, which means it’s time for employers to start preparing their benefits strategy, communication plan, and employees for the year ahead.

For many businesses with calendar-year benefit plans, Open Enrollment typically takes place in the fall, often in November, with coverage beginning January 1. However, enrollment dates vary by employer and plan.

While Open Enrollment can feel like a yearly administrative task, it’s also an opportunity to review your benefits offerings, improve employee communication, and make sure your workforce understands the value of the benefits available to them.

What Is Open Enrollment?

Open Enrollment is the designated period when eligible employees can select, change, or update their employer-sponsored benefits for the upcoming plan year.

Depending on the employer, available benefits may include:

• Medical insurance
• Dental and vision coverage
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
• Retirement benefits
• Voluntary benefits
• Other supplemental coverage

Open Enrollment periods commonly last at least two to four weeks, although employers determine their own enrollment schedules based on their plans and administrative requirements.

Why Should Employers Start Preparing Now?

One of the biggest Open Enrollment challenges is waiting until the last minute.

Recent guidance from SHRM emphasizes that successful enrollment starts with preparation well before the enrollment window opens. Employers should review what worked the previous year, establish goals, determine their communication strategy, and create a timeline for the upcoming enrollment period.

Starting early gives your HR team time to:

Review your current benefits.
Look at employee participation, plan utilization, costs, and feedback from the previous year. Are your current offerings still meeting the needs of your workforce?

Understand plan changes.
If premiums, deductibles, networks, contribution amounts, or other plan features are changing, make sure you understand those changes before communicating them to employees.

Prepare employee communications.
Benefits can be complicated. Employees need clear explanations of what is changing, what their options are, what coverage costs, and when they need to make their elections.

Create a timeline.
Map out important dates, including when materials will be distributed, employee meetings will take place, enrollment begins and ends, and elections must be submitted.

Communication Is Key

Even a strong benefits package isn’t very effective if employees don’t understand it.

SHRM’s recent coverage of Open Enrollment emphasizes the importance of frequent communication. Employees may overlook benefits information when it is presented as one large package of information, particularly when they’re balancing work and personal responsibilities.

Instead of sending one long email and hoping employees read it, consider using multiple communication channels throughout the enrollment period.

For example:

• Email reminders
• Employee meetings
• Benefits guides
• Short educational videos
• Frequently asked questions
• One-on-one assistance
• Enrollment portal reminders
• Printed materials for employees who may not regularly work at a computer

The goal should be to make benefits information easy to understand and easy to access.

Help Employees Understand More Than Just the Price

When reviewing benefit options, employees often focus heavily on premiums. While cost is certainly important, it shouldn’t be the only consideration.

Employees may also need to understand:

• Deductibles
• Copays
• Coinsurance
• Out-of-pocket maximums
• Provider networks
• Prescription coverage
• HSA or FSA options
• Employer contributions
• Dependent coverage
• Life and disability benefits

Helping employees understand how these pieces work together can make the enrollment process less overwhelming.

As SHRM has noted, benefits have become increasingly complex, making employee education an important part of helping workers navigate their available coverage.

Don’t Forget About Compliance and Administration

Open Enrollment isn’t just about selecting benefits. Employers also need to make sure required notices, plan documents, eligibility information, elections, and other administrative requirements are handled appropriately.

The specific requirements will depend on the benefits offered and the employer’s circumstances, so businesses should work with their benefits professionals and advisors to identify applicable obligations.

Keeping an organized enrollment calendar can help prevent important deadlines from getting lost in the shuffle.

Make This Year’s Open Enrollment Better Than Last Year’s

Before launching your next enrollment period, take some time to ask:

What worked?
Which communication methods or resources generated the most engagement?

What didn’t work?
Were employees confused about certain benefits or deadlines?

What questions came up repeatedly?
Recurring questions can reveal where additional education is needed.

What do employees actually value?
Employee feedback can provide useful insight into whether your benefits package is meeting workforce needs.

Can the process be simplified?
Technology, clearer communication, and better benefits administration can help reduce the administrative burden for both HR teams and employees.

Open Enrollment doesn’t have to be a stressful annual scramble. With the right preparation and communication strategy, it can become an opportunity to strengthen your benefits program and improve the employee experience.

Let Key HR Help You Prepare

At Key HR, we understand that managing employee benefits involves much more than selecting a plan. It requires communication, administration, compliance, and ongoing support.

Our team can help businesses navigate the benefits process and provide solutions designed to support both employers and their employees.

As Open Enrollment approaches, now is the time to review your current benefits strategy and make sure you’re ready for the year ahead.

🔑 Make this year’s Open Enrollment easier. Let Key HR help you put your benefits strategy to work.

Contact Key HR today to learn more about our benefits solutions and how we can support your business.