Fifty-six percent of American employees with workplace benefits say that the traditional, paper-driven open enrollment process is a waste of time. Seventy percent say that it would be better to do enrollment through an online exchange, according to a study by PlanSource. Sixty-seven percent of employees have to take time out of their work day researching and enrolling in their employer’s plan during open enrollment, resulting in millions of hours of lost productivity. Fifty-five percent of employees who consider the traditional open enrollment process to be a time-wasting experience say sorting through all the options is confusing.
Employees also have these complaints about open enrollment:
- 32% say it requires too much research.
- 31% say the forms are hard to fill out.
- 29% say it takes too long to get confirmation of selections and coverage.
- 20% say they got confusing information about their benefit choices.
- 18% say there are too many forms to fill out.
- 17% say there aren’t enough choices in the benefit plan.
- 12% had a hard time navigating the online enrollment system.
Employees have these top considerations during open enrollment:
- 44% choosing an affordable healthcare plan.
- 37% staying healthy for their family.
- 37% preparing for a medical emergency or disability.
- 25% ensuring their family’s financial well being after their or their partner’s death.
- 8% getting ready for a new family member.
