How should an employer communicate with employees about health care plans?
First and foremost, if an employer is making any plan design changes, it needs to be open and honest in its communication. This is crucial for a change to be successful and for employees to embrace the change. Employees are very adept at seeing through any type of smoke and mirrors that an employer might be putting out there. Beyond that, employees need to understand what benefits they do have in order for them to effectively use the resources available. To achieve this familiarity, many employers are looking beyond employee communication at open enrollment and implementing a multi-pronged education program that touches employees throughout the year. Some of the methods include ‘lunch-and-learns,’ employee newsletters, spousal meetings (as opposed to just employee meetings), posters and payroll stuffers. Why is it important to provide employee education so they know how to best use their programs? Most employees get their benefit information at open enrollment. But that’s the last time
