Employees waste an average of $750 a year by choosing a plan that'sthe wrong fit for them. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Like a teen in a Porsche, an uninformed employee with a greatbenefits package is bound to make pricey mistakes. This articleoutlines the mistakes your employees are making with their benefitsand some of our proven strategies to change their behavior for thebetter.
Mistake 1: Choosing the wrong plans
Employees waste an average of $750 a year by choosing a planthat's the wrong fit for them. Meanwhile, their employers wasteanywhere from $500 to $2,100 a year on each employee who choosesthe wrong plan. The average total cost of health care on the vergeof $15,000 per employee, and with health care only getting morecomplicated, those numbers aren't dropping anytime soon.
Communication strategies to try:
- Avoid jargon: In all your benefits communications, explain things the wayyou would to a friend, in-person—with clear, conversationallanguage instead of insurance gobbledegook. In particular, defineterms like "deductible" and "premium." Those words might be secondnature to you, but to your employees they're a clear signal to feeloverwhelmed and panic-choose their plan from last year.
- Create messaging focused on groups: Bytailoring your messaging to fit a group's unique benefits painpoints, you're more likely to get and keep their attention. It maytake a little extra effort, but it's worth it to create content fordifferent employee demographics.
A few meaningful employee groups: Differentdemographics (Generation Z, Generation X, Baby Boomers); union vs.non-union employees; recent hires vs. tenured employees; employeesgetting married or having a child soon
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