Help your employees with Open Enrollment: Tips for employers
Are your employees ready for Open Enrollment? This is the time of year when employees are able to make changes to their employer-sponsored health plan. Some of the most important benefit decisions are made during Open Enrollment, and yet, many employees spend less than an hour selecting their health coverage each year.
Understanding your employees’ enrollment habits can help you provide the support they need to feel confident when choosing an employer-sponsored health plan. Consider these data-backed Open Enrollment tips for employers.
How employees feel about Open Enrollment
Recent studies reveal that while some employees feel very confident in their understanding of their health plan and benefit options, others have relatively neutral opinions and several feel some sense of uncertainty. According to a 2024 Health Equity survey, 26 percent of employees report feeling stressed when choosing a health insurance plan.
The reason for this uncertainty is often attributed to difficulties in predicting future health care needs and costs, the short timeframe to make enrollment decisions and a generally limited understanding of their options. These factors all impact how employees approach making their benefit selections.
Help employees choose a health insurance plan with confidence
Data suggests that employees need clarity and preparation to feel confident when making decisions during Open Enrollment. And with employees continuing to value robust health insurance benefits, it’s important they understand the choices they have.
So, how can you help? Regular education is one of the most effective ways employers can reduce confusion and improve engagement during benefits selection. When employees understand their options and feel supported, they're more likely to make informed decisions and feel confident when choosing a plan.
Give employees the information they need
The Wellmark Marketing Toolkit is your go-to resource for Open Enrollment. Download a ready-to-use email template and educational article to help employees enroll in their employer-sponsored plan.
Support employees with the tools needed to make informed choices
Your employees can't forecast every health need they will have in the coming year, which can make benefit elections feel like guesswork. And while one in four employees automatically re-enrolled in the same health plan in 2025, it’s still important for them to know how to determine if a plan will fit their needs and budget. Here’s what you can do:
- Offer planning tools with relatable, real-life scenarios to help your employees anticipate their care needs, make accurate cost estimates, explore their financial resources and reduce uncertainty. You can find ready-to-use resources on the Wellmark Marketing Toolkit.
- Encourage employees to use myWellmark®. The spend report on myWellmark shows how much employees spent on health insurance in the past year and can help them predict how they will use their benefits going forward. Employees can also get cost estimates for services they anticipate needing in the future.
- Employees need to feel confident that they have selected the best plan so, if possible, have experts readily available on site or virtually to offer guidance and answer questions — even if that expert is you!
Taking these steps helps employees make informed choices, reduces stress and demonstrates that your organization values their well-being. Plus, it will help them confidently navigate their coverage and use their benefits after enrollment.
Reduce confusion during Open Enrollment
Once employees are prepared to engage in the decision-making process, ensuring they clearly understand their health plan options makes a significant difference. Employees need to know what plans are available, what’s changed from the previous year and how each plan supports their health needs. Here’s how you can provide clarity:
- Use simple, clear terms and language in your communications. Include easy-to-understand definitions and consistent language throughout your Open Enrollment materials and overview sessions. Consider sharing this BlueSM article that breaks down the health insurance basics.
- Ensure all information is presented in a way that makes it clear what's covered and what's not. Make information easy to reference on an internal web page or highly visible spot in the office.
- Give your employees several opportunities to hear about the benefit election process and ensure they know who can answer their questions. Be sure to spell out what has changed, if anything, about plans from the previous year so they can adjust their selection if necessary.
- Most importantly, ensure employees feel supported during the enrollment process. Provide clear, step-by-step instructions on evaluating plan options and completing enrollment when Open Enrollment begins. Once employees have made their selections, follow up with an automated confirmation of benefits to give them a written record of their decisions.
Tips for Open Enrollment from Wellmark Customer Service
Looking for more advice on how to streamline Open Enrollment for your employees? This podcast episode is for you!
Wellmark’s Customer Service team knows Open Enrollment. As a highly utilized member touchpoint, we’ve learned a thing or two about your employees’ Open Enrollment needs and shopping habits.
Join Wellmark’s Director of Operations, Becky Brinker, on the Health Matters podcast as she shares her insights on how employers can prepare employees for Open Enrollment and the topics employees are asking about most — like pharmacy benefits, plan costs, claims and more. Watch or listen to the podcast now.
