Evaluate Success and Gather Feedback
January 2025
With open enrollment now in the rearview, HR professionals can breathe a sigh of relief—at least momentarily. But before setting it aside entirely, now is the time to dig into what worked, what didn’t, and how to make next year even better. Taking a close look at outcomes and gathering employee feedback can provide insights that help refine processes, improve employee satisfaction and optimize benefits offerings.
Here’s why this post-enrollment period is a valuable opportunity, along with strategies to help maximize your analysis and feedback efforts.
1. Analyze Enrollment Metrics
Once the enrollment window closes, you should begin assessing various performance metrics. Tracking these metrics allows you to see patterns and recognize areas that need improvement.
KEY METRICS TO CONSIDER:
Participation Rates: Analyze the percentage of employees who enrolled in each benefits offering. Did you meet your target participation rates for health, dental, vision or other optional benefits? Low participation may indicate that certain offerings weren’t compelling or that employees lacked enough understanding to feel comfortable making a decision.
Review Communication Analytics: Evaluate open enrollment email performance, including open rates, link click-through rates and video completion rates. These insights will help identify gaps and opportunities for improvement in future communications.
Help Requests and Common Questions: Were there specific benefits that employees frequently needed help with or asked about? This can indicate areas where your communication strategy could improve or where the benefit itself may be difficult to understand.
Establish benchmarks for each metric to measure this year’s success and to have a point of reference for the future. This will help guide you in tracking progress over time.
2. Gather Employee Feedback
The best insights often come directly from those who participated in the process. Collecting employee feedback offers a front-line perspective that can help you refine the experience, improve communication and enhance benefits offerings.
METHODS TO GATHER FEEDBACK:
Post-Enrollment Surveys: Design a short survey to understand how employees felt about the process. Ask questions about their satisfaction with the enrollment system, clarity of benefits information and ease of making choices.
Focus Groups or Listening Sessions: For a deeper dive, hold small focus groups or listening sessions. These allow for more detailed feedback and provide an opportunity to ask follow-up questions. This is especially helpful if you made major plan changes or if you had an active open enrollment.
Suggestion Boxes or Open Feedback Channels: Some employees may prefer anonymous or
informal feedback options. Having a suggestion box or open feedback channel can encourage more honest responses.
3. Identify and Address Gaps in Benefits Offerings
Post-enrollment is also the ideal time to assess whether your current benefits align with employee needs and company goals. Use feedback data to make any necessary adjustments to your offerings, keeping in mind trends that may reveal future needs.
STRATEGIES FOR ASSESSMENT:
Evaluate High- and Low-Engagement Benefits: Identify benefits that saw high participation rates and those that did not. High engagement indicates these benefits meet employee needs, while low participation may highlight areas for improvement or better education.
Consider Industry Trends: Look at new industry trends that may benefit employees, such
as wellness initiatives, mental health resources or increased flexibility with PTO and family leave options.Coordinate with Stakeholders: If you’re considering making changes, connect with leadership and
your Lockton team to discuss how adjustments align with company goals and if they are feasible within your budget.
4. Create an Actionable Plan
Finally, use your findings to make an improvement plan for next year. Set specific goals, implement enhancements and decide on measurable benchmarks to ensure that the upcoming enrollment season is even more successful.
Continuous Improvement Steps:
Streamline Communication Materials: Based on employee feedback, create clearer or more engaging materials for next year, whether in the form of video tutorials, simple plan comparisons or interactive tools.
Invest in Technology Upgrades: If technical issues were a pain point, consider investing in a more user-friendly platform or upgrading your existing system for a smoother experience.
Plan for Ongoing Employee Education: Provide year-round benefits education so employees are informed and ready to make decisions during open enrollment. This could include quarterly benefits updates, “benefits refresher” sessions or a dedicated intranet resource library.
While open enrollment season itself may be short, its impact on employee satisfaction and engagement lasts year-round. By analyzing outcomes and gathering honest feedback, HR professionals can gain actionable insights that lead to better results each year.
Looking for more?
Lockton offers comprehensive solutions and guidance to help HR teams maximize their benefits strategy and create a positive open enrollment experience. Contact us to learn how we can support your team.
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