Employers make employee benefits available to their workers because they understand that it's one of the better ways to keep retention rates high. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the vast majority of the working population gets their insurance through the company they work for, but as a recent survey suggests, these benefits can sometimes be a double-edged sword.
As business owners are well aware, employee benefits can change from year to year, offering different services and treatments that are covered by insurance. What never changes, though, is annual enrollment, the period of time in which workers have to adjust their benefits in accordance with their individual or familial needs. It's this sign-up period that workers are finding fault with, frustrated by its lengthiness and complication.
More than 50 percent of respondents in a new poll indicated that they were "painfully frustrated" by the annual enrollment period, according to marketing analytics and human capital firm Bug Insights. Of the more than 660 participants surveyed, roughly 25 percent indicated that they'd rather be in a dentist chair having a procedure done for two hours than endure the rigmarole that annual enrollment foists upon them.
It's gotten to the point where some workers would consider working for another company if doing so brought some much needed enrollment relief. In fact, approximately half of those polled said that they think they could get better rewards if they worked someplace else, according to the Bug Insights survey.
Veteran employees highly likely to require assistance
The problem is even more acute for those who are middle-aged or nearing retirement. Among employees 55 years of age and older, these workers were two times more likely to require extra help to figure out what plan was best for them, especially when compared with others from the general population in the same age range.
Allyson Kuper, Bug Insights consultant, noted that because business owners spend so much of their time aiming to improve the quality of the benefits they offer, enrollment frequently gets the short end of the stick.
"Annual enrollment is a critical period of time for employees, yet many organizations overlook the many unique needs of each individual employee," said Kuper. "Often organizations will use a one-size-fits-all communications strategy despite the vast differences in needs from the employee perspective. The study results underscore the importance of this – especially when you look at generational differences."
She added that by business owners taking a census of their staff – where workers detail what their frustrations are with enrollment and how long it takes them to sign up – they can identify where the problems are and potentially offer a solution as a result.
Business owners will recall that when the federal exchanges opened for the Affordable Care Act, the enrollment process was a painful ordeal for millions of people. After logging on to HealthCare.org, visitors were met with glitches that prevented them from completing their applications, and in some instances, even canceled existing policies.
In the second go-around of enrollment, which concluded earlier this year, all indications suggest that getting signed up was a bit simpler than last time. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 12 million consumers were automatically re-enrolled in plans as of Feb. 22. Most of these were through HealthCare.gov at 76 percent, with the remaining 24 percent enrolling at the state-based insurance marketplaces. Thirteen states have set up their own exchanges, while 37 use the federal exchange, which can be accessed at HealthCare.gov.
