With 2023 approaching, many HR organizations are beginning their detailed preparations for open enrollment all while continuing to deal with the unpredictability impacting the world of work. One thing is for certain, with the combination of The Great Resignation and low unemployment rates, retaining employees has never been more important, making your benefits offering and process a strategic advantage if managed well.
Once again, the issues facing US employers regarding healthcare are expanding. According to CMS.gov, healthcare spending growth is expected to average 5.1% through 2030, reaching $6.8 trillion by the end of the decade. These rising costs are a concern for most employees as out-of-pocket spending is expected to hit $491 billion in 2022 ($1,650 per person) with an average growth rate of 9.9% for the next five years.
Reducing Stress for Your Employees
They may dread the process because they find it confusing and aren’t confident in making financial decisions. Even though the period is open for 2-4 weeks, many employees spend less than an hour making these important selections and never quite feel like they have all the information they need, and all their questions answered.
To further complicate the matter, the post-Covid proliferation of hybrid work models has permanently changed the process and added new considerations. What it boils down to is that you cannot rely on in-person sessions and face-to-face contact – virtual tools will continue to drive the process.
SHRM suggests that remote workers may need more time to make their decisions, so starting communication as early as possible and providing additional virtual sessions may help the strategy. It is important that remote and hybrid employees feel connected during the process. Innovative organizations are providing tools within the flow of work to answer common questions 24/7. Using push messages during the process to communicate new information and provide reminders about deadlines is also beneficial.
Getting an Early Start
Is your organization prepared to communicate the changes to your benefit offerings and answer the myriad of questions employees will ask? Are you prepared to provide answers to your hybrid workforce within the preferred collaboration channels (by your multi-generation workforce), anytime from anywhere?
MeBeBot’s Intelligent Assistant allows your workforce to ask questions and get accurate answers to open enrollment updates and changes, as an app in Teams, Slack or via Web Chat. Our technology allows HR benefits and total rewards leaders to link to videos and summary plan descriptions for detailed answers to questions. MeBeBot’s push messaging technology enables you to schedule reminders to be sent to all or subsets of your workforce, based on your existing group distribution lists in Teams or channels in Slack.
MeBeBot installs in Microsoft Teams or Slack in under 5 minutes and provides a rapid return on investment. It relieves your HR team from the surge in most open enrollment questions. Many of our customers report a reduction in the volume of questions to HR and IT by over 50 percent, and companies realized a $250k to $1 million cost savings in the first year.
Don’t dread the surge of open enrollment questions. In this year of change, isn’t it time to use the best digital technology to answer your employees’ questions accurately, consistently, and conveniently?
MeBeBot’s AI Intelligent Assistant, recently selected as a “Brilliant Bot” in the Slack App Directory, seamlessly installs in Teams, Slack, or web portals to provide employees with instant automated answers to global HR, IT and Ops FAQS. It also provides real-time usage Dashboards, Push Messaging, and custom Pulse Surveys, generating instant employee feedback on of-the-moment questions. MeBeBot’s “one-stop bot” is trusted by leading organizations to elevate the employee experience so work can be more meaningful and valuable.
Visit our website at https://mebebot.com