Ah, the perils of managing the open enrollment "experience." There's almost no way a human resources department can win. Many employees spend less than a quarter hour on their deliberations, and then they choose the same plan as the year before. Part of the reason, employees complain, is that their company doesn't do a good job of educating them about the contents of the benefits package.
Now comes a study from PlanSource, a vendor of benefits plans services, that found the traditional piles-of-papers-to-read method is the bunk. More than half of the 900 or so working adults in the survey said the paper method was "a waste of time," and 70 percent said they'd much rather go through the process online.
Then, PlanSource had a little fun. What, the survey asked, would you rather do than go through the enrollment process? PlanSource gave them some options. Here are some of the responses:
- 23 percent would rather see the dentist;
- 20 percent would rather see a movie about the life of Lindsay Lohan;
- 14 percent would rather star on "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump;
- 13 percent would rather sell items door-to-door; and
- 13 percent would rather be a telemarketer.
PlanSource then asked respondents to cite their main beefs with the enrollment process. Here's what workers said:
- 32 percent said it requires too much research;
- 31 percent said it hard to figure out how to fill out forms;
- 30 percent didn't like it because it's mainly paper-driven; and
- 29 percent said getting confirmation of selections/coverage takes too long.
Overall, PlanSource found, there's a considerable amount of dissatisfaction and frustration with their employer's benefits enrollment program. Here's what workers said befuddled them the most:
- 20 percent said the information they received explaining their benefits choices was confusing;
- 18 percent said there are too many forms to fill out;
- 17 percent said there aren't enough choices in the benefits plan they were offered; and
- 12 percent said the online system they used to sign up was difficult to navigate.
"Our staggering survey findings confirmed that American employees are being let down in the worst possible way when it comes to the open enrollment process," said Dayne Williams, CEO of PlanSource. "They put in the time and effort to research their options as best they can and have important concerns on their minds when they sign up for their benefits, but they're left out in the cold by their health-care decision makers, who provide little to no support to answer their questions and help them make informed decisions to choose the plan that's right for them and their families."
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
