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Benefits

Cookie Cutter Benefits Decision Support Just Can’t Cut It

Dana Borrero

## 4 Tips for Using Humor to Engage Employees During Benefits Enrollment

Whether you love talking about benefits (we know you do!) or not, we can all agree that most employees can find open enrollment talk confusing, stressful, and maybe even boring. However, a little laughter and fun can go a long way in engaging employees during benefits enrollment. The key is effectively using humor to make your benefits meeting and communications more lively.

However, there’s a delicate balance between being funny and getting the message across. We love using jokes and memes to communicate as much as the next guy, but it’s important that you’re being extremely careful about the jokes you make and the effect that they can have. That being said, we’ve put together a handy list of 4 tips you need to keep in mind when trying to use humor to make enrollment more enjoyable for employees.

## 1) Steer clear of poking fun at any group of people, anyone’s background, or anything personal

Sure, many comedians have built their careers using “edgy” jokes, but it’s a path you should avoid at all costs. Poking fun at any group of people is always a big no, regardless if you have the best intentions or think it’s a little “jab''. This means staying away from jokes involving gender, race, religion, or targeting a specific person like a fellow employee, or even celebrities.

Speaking of celebrities, you want to make sure you avoid any references to any current celebrity gossip or drama. We’re seeing more and more companies chiming in and making jokes about trending celebrity stories, but it’s best to avoid this situation overall. You never want to associate your brand or culture with negativity and gossip.
You want all your humor to be harmless and inoffensive. Think about making funny puns or hilarious videos about cats or dogs being goofy and cute. And keep all the jokes G/PG rated– think about kids’ movies that are kid-safe but many adults still get a chuckle out of them. That’s what you’re aiming for here.

## 2) Avoid anything political

Politics is another area you want to stay far away from. Remember, you’re an HR team promoting open enrollment, you’re not Stephen Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel. While it might be easy to slide in a joke or two about the current political climate, you still risk offending someone on the team. Regardless of anyone’s political views and affiliation, you all have the same goals when at work.

You should avoid any controversial topics. We’ll avoid mentioning anything specific, but we’re sure you have a good idea of what things you should consider taboo in a work setting. Just remember to keep things light, general, and fun so everyone feels in on the joke and your ultimate goal of educating employees about benefits is achieved. One bad joke could make them miss the entire point of what your meeting or communication is about.

## 3) Anytime you're going to make a joke, put yourself in other people's shoes

While this might sound obvious, it takes conscious and deliberate effort to get it right. Step outside your own mind and think about how other people might view your joke. Ask yourself questions like– does this joke make any sense? Is it relatable? Will this offend someone?

And don’t assume everyone will read things the same as you. A lot of inflection and verbal clues are lost in text, so sarcasm might be difficult for people to pick up on when they’re reading emails and messages. We’d say sarcasm should be avoided unless it’s extremely obvious, and it works better when people can hear and see you. Sarcasm is only funny because one of the key elements is saying the opposite of what we truly mean. So, it can be interpreted as literal if used incorrectly.

## 4) Only Use Humor to Grab Attention

Humor should be used only for grabbing the employee’s attention and interest. When you’re getting to important stuff such as benefits information, deadlines, or anything like that, then it’s time to get serious and down to the nitty-gritty. You don’t want to throw jokes around during these parts because you don’t want to confuse people and have them believe something that’s not true. Keep things straightforward and to the point. 

And don’t go overboard with your jokes when grabbing attention. If you take things too far, you will get the opposite result and turn people off. They’ll be less receptive to the serious info later on.

Jokes work best when they’re presented at the beginning of your speech or email. And they can also be used to close things out. However, stuffing in puns and jokes after every few sentences can make the tactic lose its effects.

## Final Thoughts

Using humor during benefits enrollment is a fun and creative way to engage employees in benefits enrollment. However, it has to be done right. Hopefully, these 4 tips we’ve provided will come in handy and help you get started on the right foot. 


Employees can find learning about benefits boring and confusing, here are some tips for livening up enrollment with humor!

Open Enrollment

4 Tips for Using Humor to Engage Employees During Benefits Enrollment

To say that HR Tech was a week well spent is a massive understatement. We had some amazing conversations, connected with friends and colleagues, and had a ton of fun. One of the highlights of our week? Getting to share the stage with ADP and USI to talk about the future of employee benefits!

“Forging a Path to Help Millions Make Smarter, More Informed Benefits Decisions,” was presented by Dan Murdoch, CMO of Nayya, Anne Knight, Principal Product Manager at ADP, and Anne Burkett, National Practice Leader, Workforce Solutions, at USI. The panelists spoke about the current and future state of employee benefits, and how HR leaders can combat the unique challenges facing our workforces today.

## How ya feeling, HR?

“HR leaders are **stressed**,” Murdoch acknowledged as he dove into the presentation. His statement was, understandably so, met with collective nods and murmurs of agreement throughout the audience. It is widely known that organizations, and HR leaders specifically, are being faced with challenges we have never experienced before, such as: 

- Workforces torn between the remote vs. in-office debate
- Pandemic related vaccination requirements
- Inflation hammering away at employee’s wallets
- The great resignation threatening the longevity of workers
- The rise of “Quiet quitting”

And so much more.

Most employees don’t know the full scope of the work HR leaders have on their plates day in and day out. Underneath the hiring, firing, and employee admin that is seen by the rest of the organization, lies layers and layers of complex tasks and challenges that need to be managed.

![Screen Shot 2022-09-23 at 4.31.16 PM.png](https://nayya.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/bee756fca54f163ac262b0846fd268dd.png)

## Employee outlook

For employees, things aren’t looking much brighter. Inflation has just about everyone watching their bank accounts, stressed about price increases across core necessities like gas, groceries, utilities, and rent. The inflated cost of living has many employees thinking about new roles that promise higher salaries to help manage their finances.

This means that HR leaders are now also being tasked with ways to help employees cut-costs and fight inflation, in order to retain their workforce. Since increasing salaries isn’t always an option, one way you can do this is through benefits. Benefits can be the single most important financial decision employees make each year — but unfortunately many employees don’t know how to select the benefits that are best for them, and often don’t choose the most cost-efficient plan for their unique needs. Recent research from our team at Nayya uncovered just how unconfident employees are when it comes to benefits and compared it to HR's assumption about benefits understanding:

![Screen Shot 2022-09-23 at 4.30.47 PM.png](https://nayya.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/e00624b30c8814f82de73d9858a91d25.png)

And this lack of confidence only increases with younger generations:

![Screen Shot 2022-09-23 at 4.31.02 PM.png](https://nayya.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/0f7e1ee2e929198ee5840174aec53cc6.png)

## Making better benefits decisions

It’s clear that employees everywhere struggle with making informed and confident benefits decisions. Parsing through the benefits guides and 'doing the math' on their own makes choosing the benefits that meet their unique mental, physical, and financial needs nearly impossible. Everyone faces different circumstances and their benefits need to respond to whatever life may bring.

Incorporating a decision support tool into benefits enrollment can make a world of a difference for employees who struggle to understand and select benefits. Decision support can empower employees to choose the benefits that best fit their needs. As Anne Burkett put it, you need to think of employee benefits in terms of “mind, body, and wallet.” If employees can’t select the benefits that best support their mental health, physical health, and financial needs, it’s going to be HR’s job to incorporate better benefits education to support them—or risk losing them to the Great Resignation. 

## Giving employees what they want

When thinking about benefits in terms of employee retention, there are 2 core aspects. One, which we’ve already discussed, is better educating employees so that they truly understand the benefit choices they’re making—giving them the ability and knowledge to choose the right plans for their circumstances. The second aspect is one that was brought up by Anne Knight: making sure that your employees know what benefits are available to them, and ensuring that the benefits you’re providing are what your employees actually want. You could offer the best benefits package in the world, but it won’t do anything to help employees if they don’t know about the offering. And it won’t do anything to retain employees if the package isn’t in line with their wants or needs. New unique benefits are working wonders for employee attraction and retention, things like “paw-ternity leave” (the ability to take some PTO when you adopt or rescue a new pet), and other clever benefits don’t pose much risk to an organization, and can really make the world of a difference for employees who are evaluating benefits packages.

For example, [a recent article from Benefits Pro](https://www.benefitspro.com/2022/02/25/pet-benefits-may-be-a-key-to-retaining-talent-412-127259/) outlined employee thoughts around pet-related benefits:

_“Pet benefits being a motivating employment factor was especially true amongst younger consumers, with 49% of Gen Z and 45% of millennial respondents saying they would be motivated to stay with a company that offers pet benefits or leave for one that does._

_When it comes to the type of voluntary pet-related benefits employees want, they expressed interest in several different offerings: 40% told Nationwide they would like to have pet insurance available; 29% would like paid time off to care for a pet; 27% would like a pet-friendly office; and 14% would like their employer to offer “paw-ternity” leave to take care of a new pet.”_

Don’t hesitate to poll your employees to make sure you’re in line with their needs, interests, and goals when it comes to benefits!

## Check out the slides

This panel outlined a path to stellar employee experience and financial success as they relate to benefits. If you’re interested in the presentation slides, [you can access them here.](https://7047256.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7047256/2022-content/HR%20Tech%202022%20Panel%20Deck.pdf)

Check out the highlights from our panel with ADP and USI, "Forging a Path to Help Millions Make Smarter, More Informed Benefits Decisions."

Events

ADP, USI, and Nayya Team Up for Powerhouse Benefits Panel

## How to Build a Year-Round Employee Benefits Communication Strategy

For most employees, enrolling in benefits is top of mind once a year– during open enrollment (OE) season. Unfortunately for HR teams, this can lead to low participation rates (specifically in voluntary benefits), and a lack of understanding and confidence when OE rolls around.

Benefits decisions can be confusing. The jargon can feel foreign and complex, it can be difficult navigating different web ports and managing login credentials. Plus, sometimes employees can be thrown off track by more pressing matters surrounding life and work.

It’s human resources’ responsibility and duty to remove these hurdles and ensure that employees can & do actively engage with their benefits options on a daily basis. In this article, we’ll delve into why benefit support is necessary throughout the entire year and then we’ll give you four actionable tips you can use to make your benefits communication strategy effective.

## Why Does Benefits Support Matter Year-Round?

Benefits support doesn’t end with open enrollment and should be a year-round endeavor. That’s because you’re empowering your employee in multiple facets, which, in turn, creates a healthier, more productive, and loyal staff. By creating an effective communication strategy, you can ensure that employees get the things they need, right when they need them. Simply, because they are aware of the tools and resources available to them. 

It also shows they are valued and appreciated members of the team. And it’s a powerful tool employers can use to attract and retain talented workers. Plus, it’s an investment the organization is making into the employee. And if they aren’t utilizing their benefits to their full potential, then it’s a poor overall ROI. 

It’s important to make benefits a year-round conversation because it prevents employees from being overwhelmed by a huge information dump when everything it’s discussed all at once during the weeks or months leading up to open enrollment. And if your plans include complex benefits such as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Health Reimbursement Arrangements, then you’ll give employees more time to understand these types of benefits that can be confusing and difficult to grasp fully.

## 4 Ways to Create a Stellar Year-Round Benefits Strategy

Using the following tips below, you’ll be well on your way to creating a stellar year-round benefits strategy for your organization:

**1 - Use Hybrid Method that Combines Calendar-Based and Action-Based Education**

As you probably guessed, “calendar-based” education involves using time-related events or schedules to educate employees about various benefits. For example, you can educate staff about the importance of health physicals during American Heart Month. Another idea is creating quarterly or monthly themes around ideas such as finances or health. For instance, the beginning of the year can be focused on teaching employees about various investment opportunities for the future or how to take advantage of HSAs.

There’s also the action-based approach which is educating employees about the benefits that are relevant to their current circumstances. This could mean providing resources and information for newly pregnant employees or educating new parents about their parental leave options. Or it could look like encouraging and educating employees about mental health resources, especially during moments of global crisis. 
The real key to success is combining the two approaches and finding the balance that works best for your organization and the offered benefits.

**2- Meet Employees Where They Are**

Each employee has unique preferences and communication methods. That means your human resources team needs to be adaptable and meet employees where they are. This could mean educating them through various ways. For example, more senior employees might prefer getting benefit information through traditional mail. On the other hand, younger employees might prefer getting it through digital means, such as email or Slack.

This ensures you’re reaching as many employees as possible on the channels they use. It’s simply just another way to remove unnecessary hurdles between staff and the information they need to take full advantage of their benefits.

**3- Use Metrics and Feedback**

Another tip is using data to accurately assess whether your strategy is working or needs improvement. For example, you can measure employee turnover, employee key performance indicators (KPIs)– such as profit per employee, average task completion rate, etc.– and absenteeism stats. You can also get feedback directly from employees to figure out areas for improvement.

Once you’ve collected all this data, you can effectively leverage it to continuously iterate on your strategy in the coming years. For example, if you see that hardly any employees enrolled in your accident insurance plan, maybe next year create additional educational materials for voluntary benefits. Or if your employee turnover rates are high, maybe reconsider the benefits you're offering to ensure they are being used as a method for employee retention.

**4- Use Technology to Your Advantage**

Open enrollment is prime time for HR to focus on strong and robust education. This creates an environment where employees feel confident about their benefits choices throughout the entire year. It also helps strengthen the trust and loyalty they feel toward the organization. That’s where digital resources like Nayya’s decision support tool can help to make things easier.

[Nayya](https://www.nayya.com) is a benefits decision support technology that walks employees through a short questionnaire, and then presents them with a hyper-personalized recommendation of the benefits that best match their individual health and financial needs. Decision support technology can help bridge the gap of employee confidence and understanding when it comes to benefits enrollment. [Learn more about what makes a great decision support tool, here.](https://www.nayya.com/blog/7-must-haves-of-benefits-decision-support-tool)

## Wrapping Up

Improving the employee experience around benefits and enrollment makes it easier for employees to take advantage of the options available to them, _and_ gives employers the chance to fully showcase their comprehensive benefits packages. Creating a year-round benefits engagement strategy can help keep employees up-to-date, confident, and educated about the benefits they have available to them—making open enrollment season a lot less scary.

A year-round benefits strategy can be instrumental in hitting your open enrollment goals.

Cookie Cutter Benefits Decision Support Just Can’t Cut It

Suggested Content

4 Tips for Using Humor to Engage Employees During Benefits Enrollment

ADP, USI, and Nayya Team Up for Powerhouse Benefits Panel

How to Build a Year-Round Employee Benefits Communication Strategy

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