It’s open enrollment for many U.S. workplaces and one of the most important moments in the employee experience. Employees review available benefits options, compare coverage choices and make decisions that can affect their financial well-being in the year ahead.
As benefits offerings expand and become more diverse, many employees still lack the guidance and confidence needed to make fully informed enrollment decisions. Research from The Hartford found that 75% of U.S. workers simply roll over their benefits year after year,1 even if their needs have changed. As a result, employees could overlook important benefits that provide more holistic financial protection and security.
Here are five strategies benefits advisors and HR professionals can use to transform enrollment into a strategic opportunity that attracts and retains talent while helping employees maximize the value of their benefits.
1. Make Benefits Personal — at Scale
The demand for personalization is clear: 74% of U.S. workers say they want personalized guidance to help them choose their benefits.1 Some employees want the flexibility of digital tools and on-demand resources, while others value personal guidance from a trusted expert.
For benefits advisors and HR teams, AI-backed tools can offer a scalable way to deliver more personalized enrollment experiences. Intelligent decision-support engines, for example, can help employees evaluate their options, identify unmet needs, better understand supplemental benefits and choose coverage that aligns with their personal priorities.
“The average employee spends just minutes on their annual benefits enrollment selections,” says Kaleb Unverfehrt, Head of Customer Growth Strategies at The Hartford. “The more personalized the benefits experience is, the more likely employees are to spend time and engage with in the process.”
2. Turn Benefits Engagement into a Year-Round Experience
Employers see engagement as a hurdle: 34% of employers report low employee benefits engagement during open enrollment, while 79% say educating employees is a challenge.1This presents an opportunity for advisors to help employers engage with employees not just during open enrollment but throughout the year by making benefits easier to understand, access and use.
To keep benefits top of mind year-round, employers can offer quarterly wellness check-ins, either face-to-face or through digital channels depending on employees’ preferences and past interactions. Instead of waiting for employees to reach out with questions, employers can schedule short, 15-minute video calls with employees who have experienced a life event, such as the birth of a child, a home purchase or an injury, to explain benefits they may be interested in prior to open enrollment.
Instead of sharing generalized benefit information, employers can also create timely communications tailored to employees’ life stages and needs. For example, employees in physically demanding roles may value information about accident insurance and disability coverage while those planning to start or grow a family may want more information about pregnancy and child-care related expenses.
3. From Email to the Cafeteria: Meet Employees Where They Are
Meeting employees in the ways they prefer means using multiple channels, such as email and text messages with links to digital resources, posters in the employee cafeteria, workforce demos and scheduling one-on-one meetings during work hours.
“Employee expectations for personalized experiences are reshaping how benefits information is delivered and consumed,” says Unverfehrt. “AI tools offer more ways to seamlessly create and distribute targeted education and communication resources based on factors such as life stage, workforce demographics and individual needs.”
In addition to channel preferences, personalizing communications by age, family status and prior benefits selections helps employees visualize information relevant to their needs. Simplifying complex insurance jargon is equally important. Advisors and employers can lean on their benefits carriers for tools and educational resources that translate coverage details into clear, relatable information employees can more easily understand and use.
4. Move From Product Selection to Holistic Benefits Strategy
While plan design, pricing and product comparisons remain important considerations, many employers, including smaller firms, are taking a broader view of benefits. They’re seeking strategies that support business goals such as controlling costs, attracting and retaining talent, expanding digital capabilities or integrating benefits seamlessly across systems. This shift creates an opportunity for advisors to bring together the right partners, solutions and technologies to address the full benefits journey.
For smaller businesses, this approach can be particularly valuable. “Working with the right partners on a personalized benefits strategy can be cost-effective and help firms deliver benefits experiences that were once limited to larger organizations,” says Unverfehrt.
5. Use New Metrics to Deepen Engagement
The way employers measure benefits engagement is evolving, too. Claims utilization and employee surveys remain valuable, but richer signals including benefits platform activity, content engagement, attendance at educational meetings and participation in personal consultations deliver deeper and more meaningful insights. That information can help employers tailor communications and resources, identify gaps in engagement and remove friction in the benefits experience.
“The content and channels employees engage with tell us what matters to them,” says Unverfehrt. “Those insights can help employers curate a more personalized benefits experience that supports employees not only during enrollment but throughout life’s moments.”
Open Enrollment as Opportunity
Open enrollment is more than an annual benefits selection, it’s an opportunity to help employees make choices that support their evolving needs and financial security. By making benefits personal, engaging employees year-round, meeting them across channels and using data to understand what matters to them, employers and advisors can turn benefits from a once-a-year transaction into an ongoing strategic advantage.
