5 ways to better support employers during open enrollment
Open enrollment is more than a yearly event — it's an opportunity for brokers and consultants to prove their strategic value.
Employees often say they want more clarity about their benefits. Employers often say they struggle to deliver it. For brokers and consultants, that gap is your biggest chance to add value during open enrollment.
Research shows 67% of employees spend 30 minutes or less reviewing benefits.1 More than one-third (35%) don't fully understand what they chose.2 The opportunity is clear: Employers may need some more support when it comes to providing open enrollment education to their workforces.
Brokers and consultants who help clients meet that goal don't just solve problems — they become indispensable partners. Here are 5 ways to provide them with the support they seek this open enrollment season:
1. Help clients educate their employees early
Encouraging clients to start benefits education before open enrollment can lead to better-informed decisions and a smoother process. With nearly 27% of employees waiting until the final week to choose their benefits, early communication helps reduce confusion, minimize errors and improve satisfaction — while easing HR workloads.1 Brokers and consultants can add value by helping employers deliver timely, clear messaging that covers plan changes, costs, new offerings and key health insurance basics like how plans work, what’s covered and which providers are in the network.
2. Simplify the enrollment experience with tools and visuals
Many employees find benefits information complex and overwhelming, which can lead to missed opportunities or costly mistakes. UnitedHealthcare provides open enrollment resources, informed by consumer insights and data, which are designed to align with how employees think, feel and act during enrollment. These resources focus on simplifying the process and making it easier and more effective for employers’ workforces to select health plans and benefits.
Whether your clients are offering medical, dental, vision or specialty benefits, the open enrollment resources can be customized by a client’s account management team to align with their organizational needs — at no cost to your clients. These resources include PowerPoint presentations, enrollment emails and reminders, cost comparison grids, virtual and in-person open enrollment event support and pre-member websites.
For grab-and-go resources, the Getting Started Toolkit from UnitedHealthcare offers phased communications and ready-to-use materials, including videos, fliers, welcome brochures and more to help reduce administrative burden while driving stronger post-enrollment outcomes. For employers with fewer than 5,000 employees, the Employee Engagement Planner is also available to further streamline outreach. These resources (i.e., emails, fliers, brochures, etc.) can be embedded into existing platforms, making it easier to connect with employees and provide them with relevant, timely information. By guiding clients to send engaging content, brokers and consultants can help improve participation, comprehension and trust — ultimately leading to faster decisions and fewer support calls.
3. Personalize education and assistance
Employers with access to claims data can use those insights to guide benefit design and personalize communications — helping employees feel seen and supported. Brokers and consultants can advise clients to tailor messaging by generational preferences and communication styles, using formats like email, video or in-person sessions to boost engagement. They may also want to enlist the support of UnitedHealthcare Field Account Managers (FAMs), Health Engagement Nurses or dedicated account teams who can help deliver relevant, effective and sometimes even customized benefits education.
4. Work with carriers to proactively prepare for any issues or questions that may arise
Even strong plans can stall if employers, brokers and carriers aren't aligned. Too often, coordination happens after problems surface. Brokers add value when they plan ahead. Setting up pre-enrollment calls with HR leaders and the UnitedHealthcare account team, reviewing timelines, confirming plan details and deciding who answers which questions are all good ways to support a smooth open enrollment. These checkpoints keep everyone aligned before employees start making choices as well as after.
5. Leverage available digital tools
Even after open enrollment ends, many employees will continue to have questions and need support. That’s when it becomes critical for brokers and consultants to remind members about the tools they have at their disposal, including touting the digital tools that different benefit options come with, as a way of helping members feel supported. For instance, members can access the UnitedHealthcare® app and myuhc.com® to do everything from access health plan ID cards to obtain cost estimates and track claims to search for providers.
Learn more about open enrollment resources
Turning open enrollment into ROI
Open enrollment is more than a yearly event — it's an opportunity for brokers and consultants to prove their strategic value. By helping clients educate early, simplify choices, answer questions, align with carriers and promote digital tools, brokers and consultants may be able to turn open enrollment from a pain point into measurable ROI.
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