One of the most important decisions your employees make each year is choosing which of the benefit options you offer they are going to enroll in.  These decisions can have a direct impact on their family’s finances.  With the advent of Private Exchanges, High Deductible Health Plans with an HSA or HRA, choice of dental programs, supplemental life insurance and so on, employees have a lot of important decisions to make.   The scary part is that employees spend a remarkably small amount of time researching their options.

A recent study showed that more than 40 percent of employees spent less than 15 minutes researching available benefits during the 2013 open enrollment period. About 25 percent of the people surveyed spent less than five minutes researching benefits.  In comparison, look at the survey results below to see how much time people spent on other purchases:

– 10 hours researching a new vehicle purchase.
– 4 hours shopping for a new computer.
– 5 hours planning vacations.
– 2 hours deciding which television to buy.

Most employees pay more than $4,500 annually toward employer-sponsored health plans for themselves and their families. Since they spend this much, it puzzles experts that these workers invest so little time researching benefits in comparison with other major purchases. Choosing a health plan should always be considered a major purchase and treated as such when it comes to investing time for research. Experts encourage employers to stress the importance of not only participating in benefits plans but also researching what is available.

Common Enrollment Mistakes
Employees who do not spend enough time researching their available benefits will often make quick decisions that cost them money later. Researchers found that about 90 percent of employees are simply signing up for the benefits they enrolled in last year instead of researching what is newly available and possibly better. About 40 percent of participants waste as much as $750 annually on insurance benefits mistakes. Researchers also found the following:

– Nearly 75 percent of workers never, rarely or barely understand all that their policy covers.
– More than 60 percent of workers never, rarely or barely understand changes made to their coverage.

To better prepare for open enrollment every year, it is important for employees to take steps to be proactive. This requires a steady stream of communications (a.k.a. nagging) from you which should be provided to you each and every year from your employee benefits advisor.  These communication will encourage your employees to:

– Understand all of the financial consequences that decisions have on a budget.
– Make sure deductibles and premiums are both affordable, and find a good median between them.
– Attend seminars, webinars and other educational events you hold for your for benefits.
– Review and compare all benefits options carefully.
– Request assistance from your benefits advisor or broker to answer questions when necessary.
– Be sure to understand upfront expenses, deductibles and voluntary insurance options.