Communication Challenges Loom Large in Benefit Enrollment Process, Watson Wyatt Survey Finds

WASHINGTON, January 30, 2007 – Communication challenges topped the list of
employer concerns during the most recent annual benefit enrollment process,
according to a recent poll by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global
consulting firm. This came as employers used the enrollment process to more
fully engage employees in their health care buying decisions.

While employers were highly satisfied with the more transactional aspects
of enrollment, they felt that improvements could be made in the areas of
employee communication, health information and decision support. As for
employees, they were most concerned with the growing complexity of the
enrollment process and the level of plan changes, according to the
companies surveyed.

Sixty-three percent of the 67 organizations surveyed cited employee
communications as a top challenge in the recent enrollment season.
Thirty-six percent cited more fully engaging employees as a top challenge.

“Annual enrollment has changed significantly at most companies,” said Jeri
Stepman, Watson Wyatt’s national leader for health and welfare
administration. “It’s moved from a transactional or registration-like
process ­­­­­­– where the goal has been to automate and to increase
efficiency – to an engagement and decision-support process – where the goal
is to engage employees as benefits consumers. It’s the difference between,
say, using the web to pay your bills and using more sophisticated online
tools to model and manage your investment portfolio.”

Employers reported high levels of satisfaction with the transactional
components of benefits enrollment – 75 percent reported being satisfied or
very satisfied with the completeness and accuracy of elections – but were
far less happy with the effectiveness of health-improvement information,
decision-support tools and cost and quality information. Well under half
reported being satisfied or very satisfied with those aspects.

According to employers, the complexity of the enrollment process and the
number of plan changes were major concerns for their employees. Nearly 30
percent of employers reported employee concerns with each of those facets.
The parts of the enrollment process that demand thoughtful decisions –
contributions to health spending accounts, choosing between different
plans, coordination with a spouse’s plans – were also mentioned as
significant employee concerns.

“With many companies implementing consumer-directed health plans and health
spending accounts, the stakes of these decisions are much larger. Employees
need far more help throughout the process,” Stepman said.

Satisfaction with the process was highest for employers using a mixture of
internal and external resources to support their employees through the
enrollment cycle. None of the surveyed organizations using a mixture of
outsourced and internal resources for employee support reported overall
dissatisfaction with their process. In contrast, fully half of
organizations supporting the process solely with local HR representatives
were either neutral or dissatisfied, as were 42 percent of organizations
primarily using outsourcing providers to support employees.

Copies of the survey report, “The Shifting Requirements of Benefits
Enrollment,” are available at
http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=2007-US-0003&page=1.

About Watson Wyatt Worldwide

Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) is the trusted business partner to the world’s
leading organizations on people and financial issues. The firm’s global
services include: managing the cost and effectiveness of employee benefit
programs; developing attraction, retention and reward strategies; advising
pension plan sponsors and other institutions on optimal investment
strategies; providing strategic and financial advice to insurance and
financial services companies; and delivering related technology,
outsourcing and data services. Watson Wyatt has 6,000 associates in 30
countries and is located on the Web at www.watsonwyatt.com.

Contact

Ed Emerman, 609/452-5967, eemerman[at]eaglepr.com
Emily Rieger, 703/258-7634, emily.rieger[at]watsonwyatt.com
 

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