How to sustain momentum during open enrollment

Last week, we talked about driving earlier enrollment—through gamification, anonymous Q&A forums, and more.

This week, the focus is on building and sustaining momentum throughout Open Enrollment. Here are 3 ways to do this:

01. Deputize managers:

Team managers have existing meetings with their people throughout the month. They can be your foot soldiers, encouraging OE participation, surfacing questions or concerns earlier, and keeping attention on it all month long. You could:

• Ask managers to add OE as an agenda item in their November team meetings.
• Send posters or slides to managers that they can put up, based on where their people congregate (ask them to post/share at least 2).
• Send manager updates on what percentage of their teams have completed OE, providing a nudge.

02. Use bells and whistles:

Show-stoppers may seem gimmicky, but they work. Anything that breaks up routines can be a great OE reminder—and double as an employee engagement strategy. You could:

• Partner with your health plan partner to have a fair with something exciting, like puppies or a gelato bar.
• Have a guest speaker on-site, like a customer service lead from your health plan partner, to encourage employees to ask questions.
• Use holidays—like Thanksgiving, company meals or snacks, and any other excitement to talk about OE. For example, order cookies that say “Open Enrollment” on them for a planned snack break.

03. Offer incentives:

Make Open Enrollment an opportunity for employees to win. Use small and large prizes that motivate folks—and provide yet another reason for OE to be top-of-mind. You could:

• Bring small gifts to OE announcements and town halls. Whether they’re branded t-shirts or gift cards or small toys, you can throw them to audience members who answer questions about OE correctly.
• Have a lunch or happy hour to launch Open Enrollment, and invite family members/dependents to join. That can help get the whole family involved.
• Offer a “Work from Home” day or PTO day for anyone who completes enrollment by a certain day. (You can schedule it for the Friday after Thanksgiving, if that applies to your population.)

Your employee experience matters all year long, not just during Open Enrollment.

See how leading companies are doing it differently, in a new Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report.