Like a teen in a Porsche, an uninformed employee with a great benefits package is bound to make pricey mistakes. This article outlines the mistakes your employees are making with their benefits and some of our proven strategies to change their behavior for the better.

Mistake 1: Choosing the wrong plans

Employees waste an average of $750 a year by choosing a plan that's the wrong fit for them. Meanwhile, their employers waste anywhere from $500 to $2,100 a year on each employee who chooses the wrong plan. The average total cost of health care on the verge of $15,000 per employee, and with health care only getting more complicated, those numbers aren't dropping anytime soon.

Communication strategies to try:

Avoid jargon: In all your benefits communications, explain things the way you would to a friend, in-person—with clear, conversational language instead of insurance gobbledegook. In particular, define terms like "deductible" and "premium." Those words might be second nature to you, but to your employees they're a clear signal to feel overwhelmed and panic-choose their plan from last year.
Create messaging focused on groups: By tailoring your messaging to fit a group's unique benefits pain points, you're more likely to get and keep their attention. It may take a little extra effort, but it's worth it to create content for different employee demographics.

A few meaningful employee groups: Different demographics (Generation Z, Generation X, Baby Boomers); union vs. non-union employees; recent hires vs. tenured employees; employees getting married or having a child soon

Give employees a really good decision support tool

People are more likely to be honest about themselves and their needs when they're using an online tool than they are when talking to a person. Interactive tools (like ALEX) give employees clear, personalized benefits guidance tailored to fit their individual health care needs.

For example, last year, ALEX helped employees save a potential $307 million by choosing the recommended plan over the second-best option.

Mistake 2: Poor health care spending decisions

In 2007, 14.3 percent of employees were on a high-deductible plan. In 2017, that number was 43.4 percent.

High-deductible plans (HDHPs) are giving employees more control of their own health care spending than ever before and many people don't know what to do with it.

Communication strategies to try:

Share medical price-shopping resources: Websites like Goodrx.com help employees figure out which pharmacy in their area offers the best price on their prescriptions, potentially saving them thousands of dollars a year.
Get serious about offering—and promoting—telemedicine: Over half of all companies say providing more virtual-care solutions is their top initiative for 2019, and employees are increasingly open to the idea of virtual visits. In fact, in a recent survey by Advisory Board, roughly three-quarters of Americans said they would consider using a virtual visit.

When it comes to promoting your telemedicine tool, focus on convenience and pricing. Here's some sample scripting for talking about telemedicine…

"Stay glued to your couch when you're sick."
"A telemedicine visit costs a fraction of an in-office visit."
"It's like Netflix, but for talking about your weird rash"

Promote urgent care over ER

One of the most common—and expensive—ways employees misuse their health care is by going to the emergency room for non-life-threatening illnesses. What they don't realize is that they'd get much cheaper—and quicker—care at an urgent care center.

Whip up a shortlist of all the urgent care centers in your area; that way, there's no question where your employees should go at the critical moment.

Mistake 3: Low HSA engagement

Sixty-five percent of Americans don't understand how HSAs work, and 40 percent of HSA-eligible HDHP users never even open an HSA. Ouch.

Communication strategies to try:

Yell about tax savings until your lungs give out: It's simple: When people pay for healthcare out of their HSA account instead of their bank account, they save hundreds if not thousands of dollars in taxes. So it's your job to make those somewhat abstract tax savings feel as tangible to your employees as a handful of cash. Consider creating a simple graphic that visually shows the amount an employee saves for every, say, $200 they put in their HSA. (To calculate savings, use this formula: average tax rate (19.65 percent) x potential HSA contribution = potential tax savings.)
Emphasize the important difference between FSAs and HSAs: Employees don't realize that HSAs –unlike FSAs–have no "use it or lose it" date. The money employees put into their HSAs will stick with them forever (even if they change jobs or retire).
Make your messaging more timely and frequent: Your employees can enroll in–and contribute to–their HSA at any time throughout the year, so don't wait until open enrollment to bring up HSAs. Reach out consistently, whenever your employees are best primed to care: at the beginning of a new plan year; in March and April when tax savings are front of mind; or after a pay raise or promotion.

Mistake 4: Low 401(k) contributions

Many employees who can and should boost their retirement funds…just don't. As a result, they miss out on free money and become less prepared to retire on schedule (which isn't great for you, their employer, either).

Communication strategies to try:

Anchor their brains: When confronted with a series of options, humans tend to be strongly influenced by the first option and accept it as the baseline for evaluating the other options. Behavioral scientists call this "anchoring." That means if you start by asking your employees if they'll simply meet the 401(k) match, they'll tend to assume anything above that is unnecessary.So instead, start by asking them if they'll save the same amount as the top 10 percent of contributors at your company. They'll "anchor" to the higher contribution level.
Describe future retirement funds as monthly income: Your employees know how much they get paid each year, but they experience their pay as month-to-month income. So instead of presenting their potential 401(k) savings as a lump sum at retirement, show them what their monthly retirement income could be (assuming a 20-year retirement).

Being able to easily compare the monthly income they experience now to what they might have in retirement will give them a more visceral understanding of how comfortable—or uncomfortable—their golden years might be. And if you're able to show them the retirement income associated with multiple contribution levels, they'll be able to recognize how much impact the choice they make now can have on their future.

Mistake 5: Low financial wellness program engagement

Even if you do see decent engagement with your financial wellness resources, it's nearly impossible to know if they're working. Unless, that is, those financial products are benefits-related.

Communication strategies to try:

Take finance-related benefits guidance seriously: Any financial wellness program you're using should focus on payroll deductions. When employees save money automatically, before it ever reaches their paycheck, it's (unsurprisingly) much harder for them to spend it.
Provide advice that weighs all of your employees' financial concerns: Your employees have no idea how to prioritize putting money towards their HSA, 401(k), FSA, debts and Emergency Savings Funds. And the vendors for those products… aren't going to help you.

By offering vendor-agnostic advice that looks at an employee's entire financial situation, you'll effect real change and give your company a leg up when it comes to recruiting and retention.

Bob Armour is CMO of Jellyvision.

Read more:

Instant Insights /

5 benefits mistakes that cost employees

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