Speak the same language as employees during enrollment

If you’re like me, the last time you studied a foreign language may have been high school or college. You may recall a few key words and phrases, but any kind of nuanced conversation would be a challenge. So you can imagine what it would be like to have a conversation about benefits in a foreign language. It would be, as my high school French teacher would have said, “très mal” – very bad.



In many cases though, this is exactly what employees are experiencing when they’re enrolling in their benefits. They don’t speak the language of insurance and are being asked to make important decisions about their finances and their family’s protection without the tools to succeed. It goes beyond just the language we use (though that’s a factor), so here are a few key things to keep in mind to make sure you’re speaking the same language as employees during enrollment.

• Prepare them for the conversation – Going back to our foreign language analogy; what did you do when you had a test? You studied (hopefully). Preparation is a key part of enrollment. That means informing them beforehand about when the enrollment is taking place and what benefits are being offered. It gives them a chance to get familiar with what they’ll be discussing and come prepared. And, it works too. Trustmark’s research has found that employee engagement, satisfaction and product take-up rates are all higher among employees who receive three different types of benefits communication.¹ You can’t just rely on the enrollment, you have to prepare them.

 

• Avoid insurance jargon – If employees had to take a vocabulary test for insurance, many of them would struggle. In fact, a survey found that only seven percent of employees could define four basic health insurance concepts: plan premium, deductible, co-insurance and out-of-pocket maximum.² So, make sure that you’re not just throwing these words around casually; you have to make sure employees understand them. If they’re struggling with these terms, you can be sure they’re struggling with others. Speak in layman’s terms when communicating to get your point across.

 

• Emotional messaging – For those of us that work in the benefits industry, we spend a lot of time looking at the facts and figures. We’re determining risk and trying to assess how likely someone in an employer’s workforce is to experience a health event. But oftentimes an employee looks at those stats and says, “Well, that statistic won’t apply to me.” You need to stop speaking so much of the language of logic, and start speaking the language of emotions. We’ve found that the most commonly cited reasons that employees enroll in benefits are emotional ones with “peace of mind” being the most common.¹ Conveying the value of benefits with language employees can connect to personally and emotionally will take you much farther in reaching employees.

 

• Have a one-on-one conversation – My wife can say my name and without saying anything other than “Joe”, I can tell if she just wants my attention or if she’s about to remind me that I forgot to take out the trash for the second week in a row. There is so much added when communication is done directly: hand gestures, tone, body language, where someone’s eyes are looking, etc. That’s why at Trustmark we always advocate for some kind of one-on-one communication during enrollment and, if possible, face-to-face. It works too; 72% of employees who receive face-to-face communication are satisfied or very satisfied with their employer’s benefits program. Wherever possible, make sure you’re making one-on-one communication available, it will help personalize your communication and entice a back and forth that is far more effective than simply speaking at employees.

The goal here is to help employees. They need to understand their benefits, how they fit together and what’s being offered so they can get the protection they need. If they can’t understand their benefits, we’re doing them a great disservice. So, keep these tactics in mind this enrollment season and in your enrollments to come. They’re a great way to speak the same language as employees when it comes to benefits and to make sure your enrollments are “très bien.”

Download our white paper for more of Trustmark’s research into effective employee communication.

¹Trustmark and Customer Benefits Analytics, “Who Buys Voluntary and Why: 2017 Enrollment Study.”
² “Employees struggle with benefits terminology”. Employee Benefit News. Sept, 2016.
³ Trustmark Connell Group Research. 2015.