What HR chore would have HR pros preferring to go to the dentist, to see a movie about the life of Lindsay Lohan, or even to be “fired” by Donald Trump on “The Apprentice” rather than doing?
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According to a recent Harris Poll® survey commissioned by PlanSource, a cloud-based provider of benefits administration and other services, over half of respondents would rather endure watching Lindsay and The Donald than go through the typically laborious process of completing open enrollment!
The survey results reveal that more than two-thirds (67 percent) of employees take time out of their workday researching, choosing, and enrolling in their employer’s benefits plans during open enrollment, and more than half (55 percent) report that sorting through all of the options is confusing.
In response, Steve Adams, president and CEO of cloud-based benefits engagement service Navera, says, “The frustration of completing open enrollment can cause ‘benefits fatigue,’ which results from the serial process of selecting one benefit, choosing the next one, then the next, and so on. It gets to feel like a lengthy serpentine line for an amusement park ride.
“Besides being boring, the serial process of open enrollment doesn’t enable employees and their families to see how the benefits they select work together. Employees are asked to make an independent purchase decision about each of their benefits without ever seeing if this will provide them with the most complete and cost-effective coverage.”
“Open enrollment will never replace online entertainments such as playing Words With Friends or watching videos on YouTube, but, if done right, employees can laugh as they learn and make well-informed decisions without hours of research and frustration,” Adams said.
Any tips on how to change the process so “employees can laugh as they learn,” etc.?