Now that the pandemic has irrevocably changed the dynamics of corporate culture and collective workspaces, large in-person events like benefit fairs won't be on the table for most employers this year. How will you help your clients engage employees when it comes to informing them about their annual benefit options? Without in-person meetings, what's the next best thing to being there?

As companies add these questions to their growing list of workforce challenges, you have an opportunity to provide options and insights to help clients transition seamlessly to online events without compromising the employee experience.

Clients face a one-two punch  

Understandably, employers are reeling from a one-two punch they could have never anticipated just a few months ago: Their focus and resources have been largely diverted toward helping employees work through the employment uncertainty and personal anxiety caused by the pandemic and social justice concerns. Now companies are expected to pivot and hold a business-as-usual open enrollment in an environment that's drastically different than anything before – addressing changing audience needs and requiring different delivery platforms.

As Steven Griffin, President of Gallagher Enrollment Solutions (GES) puts it, "Those groups who typically relied on in-person communal gatherings to bring awareness to their teams regarding benefit education and enrollment processes are struggling to connect with their associates. The end result is an anxious workforce."

In addition, employers I've talked to say that in many ways, they are trying to limit the degree of change to their employee benefits, as employees have already experienced a significant amount of upheaval in a just matter of months.

Related: 2020 open enrollment: Uncharted territory

With the support of their broker/consulting partners, employer clients are also how best to approach benefit fairs to ensure employee participation allows for the right balance of awareness and education with management of wallet share across benefit offerings. It's left them asking, "How are you going to help us solve for this? And what are your recommendations for a virtual benefit fair?"

Griffin adds, "This is pushing groups to think "outside the box" and explore alternate means of benefit education and enrollment support that historically would not have been a consideration. Such strategies include telephonic engagement, one-on-one onsite interactions and/or the introduction of virtual type engagement."

The lasting impact of the pandemic will also likely remove or modify the way employers use benefit fairs to communicate new benefits, work with carrier/providers, and stress the importance of certain areas of their annual benefit strategy, such as financial wellness.

As a result, a key challenge to this year's open enrollment will be helping employees obtain the right amount of information regarding their benefit options to ensure that decisions to enroll were based on need for coverage today or insurance for the unexpected.  

3 steps to redefine the benefit fair concept

Whether it's out of sheer necessity or the genesis of new opportunities, now's the time to redefine the entire fair concept for your clients. First, employers are already looking for alternate ways to deliver benefit information to employees. Second, with more and more employees working virtually, you have a growing "captive audience" who are now well-attuned to receiving information online.

Here are three steps to help you transition to more of an on-demand, just-in-time format to deliver this benefit information.

Step 1: Partner with your providers/carriers. Talk to providers and carriers to see what tools they have at their disposal and what capabilities they can offer. For example, do your carriers have an existing benefits website or web conferencing service (like Microsoft® Teams or Zoom) that employees can access? This will help you be on the same page when offering solutions to your clients. Look for programs and platforms that are easy to promote and manage, effectively capture attendee data, and offer a personalized experience regardless of candidates' physical location.

Step 2: Determine what kind of experience clients are looking to create. Keep in mind that shifting from in-person events to a virtual setting can be intimidating or overwhelming, especially to employers that don't have a virtual platform already in place or a team of people to create or integrate a new platform. On the other hand, other companies will know exactly what they are looking for and have specific ideas about what they'd like to do. Remain open to possibilities, ask questions, and determine their communication needs sooner rather than later. But be realistic about the execution timeline. For example, if a client wants to provide a webinar that's available on-demand along with live Q&A sessions with providers, it will be much easier to produce and coordinate with all the players with adequate lead-time.

Step 3: Recommend or provide solutions that best suit their organization. Flexibility and creativity are key here. You can look at tools and channels ranging from virtual booths and webcast streams to webinars and Q&A sessions to create awareness and empower employees to make informed decisions. Think about your clients' audiences and their communication preferences. Are their employee's tech-savvy? Do they have anytime access to a benefits portal? Are they OK with emails or do they prefer personal one-on-one conversations? Consider how the channels you choose will fit into your audiences' lives and how the experience will likely resonate with them.

Opportunity arises out of the chaos

When going virtual, help clients to focus on the potential for and the positives of a virtual format rather than dwelling on the opportunities lost compared with traditional in-person events. Consider that today's in-person benefit fairs require employees to "lock in" to a certain day, time and location where they need to be in order to get the benefit and enrollment information they're looking for.

While some brokers typically employ on-site enrollers to meet with people in conference rooms on a one-on-one basis and help them work through their benefit selections, in a virtual format you are still able to communicate benefits and drive participation face-to-face and interact in real time – it's just delivered a little differently. Employees can get the information they need, when they need it, and in a format that's convenient for them.

Griffin notes how current and new clients are empowered and enthused about how external enrollment resources can lessen the burden on their team(s) while ensuring their employees have a positive and informative enrollment experience. "Employer groups appreciate how we are able to have meaningful interactions with their employees which, in the end, reflects positively on the employer group.

Also read: Alternate reality: Brokers prepare for a new era of business

He adds, "Organizations are able to provide a multitude of enrollment solutions customized to meet client needs and tailored specifically to the challenges imposed by the pandemic at little to no expense to the client."

This is just one of several examples of how you can create human interaction in a virtual world, and it's your opportunity to create an experience that could replace – and even surpass – the capabilities and results a traditional benefit fair typically delivers.

Dennis Healy is a member of the ARAG® executive team.  He has nearly 30 years of insurance industry experience, with a primary focus on the sale of group voluntary benefit products to employer groups of all sizes through the broker and consultant community.