We need to help employees understand their related risks while helping them balance paying for needed protection against using the money for less-essential expenditures. (Image: Shutterstock)

October is the heart of peak enrollment season. It's time to put aside benefit strategy for executing tactics. Whether it is conducted online, through personal contact with an enrollment professional or both, the key challenge for us as benefit professionals is to help employees balance two intertwined questions: "What do I need?" and "What can I afford?"

Our job is to help employees understand how to get the most out of their enrollment options. We can accomplish this by helping them understand their related risks, while helping them balance paying for needed protection against using the money for less-essential expenditures. How do we do that?

Related: 5 myths about enrollment that employers need to forget

Marty Traynor is an Omaha-based consultant in the benefits field.

We often see paradoxical results when employees are surveyed about their communication preferences. They almost always say they would like to see more communication about benefits. Paradoxically, they also have become very adept at ignoring anything that comes from the benefit management area of their employer or insurance company.

So, what breaks through the indifference and gets employees to pay attention? Here are some ideas.

First, employees like case histories that help them understand how people have used their benefits when something unforeseen happens. Employees also like simple needs calculators that help them determine whether they need a particular benefit, and if they do, how much they should buy. These calculators are especially useful if at least some of the data is filled in for them in advance. Employees like online resources from their insurers, and printed educational material they can take home and discuss with appropriate family members or advisors.

But what about when benefit professionals are interacting with employees in personal meetings? Most in-person tactics used echo the online resources. Enrollers tell personal anecdotes. They elicit stories to help illustrate how products are used. They encourage people to think about their needs, and often provide workbooks that can be used to calculate lost income or increased expenses.

Establishing need is one key enrollment tactic; the other is convincing employees that their voluntary benefit options are affordable. Comparisons to everyday life illustrate how low the cost of adequate protection can be. For many employees, the cost of disability protection or life insurance can compare to a few cups of coffee per week. The same concept generally applies to all voluntary options.

Employees want the information described above. Even more, they want the supporting process to be easy. But making it easy for employees is challenging.

Employers are expanding benefit options to compete for talent. This also reflects increasing employee diversity. Employees are faced with a growing array of things that seem to be "needs" rather than "wants." Benefit administration and enrollment systems are servicing more products, typically from multiple insurance companies. Enrollment training has to cover these systems as well as products. We have to overcome these complicating factors.

Peak enrollment success, then, comes from succeeding in the triple task of describing the value of the benefits we offer, the cost to purchase them, and making the process as easy as possible for employees.

Read more: 

• 10 tips to improve employee benefits communication and enrollment
• High-tech vs. high-touch: the best ways to help with enrollment decisions
• Increasing enrollment starts with employee engagement