When employees are presented with too many choices, they tend tobecome irrational and may not even make a choice at all. (Image:Shutterstock)

Last year, we discussed some of the irrational ways in which employees act when enrolling, and sometactics we might use to encourage them to think rationally. We knowwe sometimes need to break through their irrationality to help themmake good decisions about benefits.

But let's focus on our own behavior. I recently heard severalbenefits pros say they think employee participation rates should beincreasing, or at least remaining level. Is this an example ofbeing predictably irrational? Wishful thinking?

Marty Traynor is an Omaha-basedconsultant in the benefits field.

Participation is the key to satisfaction for employers (theywant offerings to be attractive to employees) and to our ownsuccess (low participation equals low revenue). We might saytoday's benefit communications will inform employees better thanever. Employees can enroll via computers, tablets, smart phones andpaper; multiple media should make enrolling easy, right? And we useall those mind tricks of behavioral economics. Participation shouldbe terrific.

Perhaps that would be the case if nothing else had changed inthe past 20 years. But multiple factors affecting participationhave evolved, and they more than counter any positiveexpectations.

With costs going up, employers are passing along increases toemployees. Employees are faced with increased expenses for medicalbenefits while their real income grows at a slower pace.

Related: 10 tips to improve employee benefits communicationand enrollment

Second, there are more options. Today's diverse workforce hasdiverse needs and employers reflect this via an ever-broadeningarray of voluntary plans. A recent SHRM study indicated today's employershave a choice of more than 350 potential benefits, nearly six timesas many as 20 years ago. When employees are presented with too manychoices, they tend to become irrational and may not even make achoice at all.

Finally, benefit administration systems have not yet proven tobe as consistently effective as in-person enrollment, yet employerstend to prefer them. Paper forms and messy paperwork areeliminated. This saves lots of work, but the trade-off is often aloss of participation.

It's no wonder participation rates are going down. So what arewe supposed to do about this?

First, we should work with employers to prioritize their benefitoptions. Ben admin systems are capable of offering a very broadrange of benefits at a single time. But just because you are ableto do something does not mean you should. Consider conductingbenefit enrollment twice a year. The traditional fall enrollmentcould focus on medical, term life and health-related products. Theoff-cycle enrollment period might focus on “lifestyle” options andproducts such as permanent life and long-term care.

Second, convince employers that online enrollment should alwaysbe accompanied by in-person enrollment meetings. Employers have aperception that their younger workers prefer online benefitcommunication, but in a recent study, LIMRA found that nearly 70 percent of Gen Zworkers still prefer in-person communications.

Finally, we should be conscious of the price of the products.Since employees are being squeezed by medical costs, make sure thevoluntary products we offer are truly low cost options.

The ball is in our court. We can irrationally expect betterparticipation, or we can work to make it happen.

Read more: 

• Expanding and simplifying benefits packages toincrease engagement
• 2019 predictions: Tech adoption will spurengagement in the benefits ecosystem
• Are you giving employees the benefits experiencethey want?