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Since education is a critical component of successful voluntary programs, this resource provides an increasing compilation of proprietary and non-proprietary articles. Home / Articles / Proprietary Voluntary.com Articles / Successful Enrollments Depend on Strong Benefits Communication and Flexible Enrollment Capabilities Font Size: Successful Enrollments Depend on Strong Benefits Communication and Flexible Enrollment Capabilities by Tom Gilligan May 5, 2008 Every day your clients face difficulties associated with executing human resources functions in an environment of ever-increasing health care costs and limited staffing and budgets. They’re forced to find solutions for the huge financial challenges monopolizing their benefit programs. You can be their go-to person by offering unique solutions from an unexpected source—a voluntary benefits provider that offers enrollment and communication capabilities in addition to voluntary products. Our research tells us that a voluntary benefits provider must be relevant to the number one problem employers face—benefits cost control—and must deliver hassle-free enrollment solutions. In addition to product strategies, a quality voluntary benefits partner should present a combination of enrollment capabilities to help resolve many of your clients’ benefits issues, striking a balance between high-tech enrollment technology and a high-touch professional enrollment team. Benefits Communication Solutions For every dollar your clients invest in their benefits program, do employees really see the value? Effective, consistent benefits communication helps your clients in several ways. It’s in your clients’ best interest for employees to understand what the company offers them, according to a February 2005 Watson Wyatt Worldwide study: “How well a company communicates the value of its health benefits can do more to retain top-performing employees than the actual richness of the benefits themselves.” The study reports that in organizations with rich benefits programs but poor benefits communication, only 22 percent of surveyed employees were satisfied with their benefits. On the other hand, in organizations that do a good job communicating the value of less rich benefits packages, 76 percent of employees were satisfied with their benefits. The richness of a benefits program doesn’t necessarily make the difference; how well the employer communicates the value of the program does. Your clients are making tough cost-saving decisions, such as passing along health insurance increases to employees, reducing or eliminating benefits. Whatever their benefits strategy, communication is critical. Yet with limited HR staff, it’s tough for them to effectively communicate the value of a benefits program to employees. It makes sense to strengthen your agency by partnering with a voluntary benefits provider that can bring enrollment and benefits communication solutions to the table at no direct cost to you or your client. Relying on the communication capabilities of a strong voluntary benefits partner gives you more options for your clients. Enrollment Solutions Any use of this information without written permission from Voluntary.com, LLC is prohibited. Print this article      Email this article • Return to Proprietary Voluntary.com Articles • See Employee Benefit Adviser Articles • See Employee Benefit News Articles