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What I Learned About Open Enrollment From The U.S. Open Tennis Championships

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It’s always interesting to read the survey results and headlines about just how much American workers hate the annual open enrollment season. Workers would rather go to the dentist or prepare their taxes than read confusing health insurance jargon and fill out forms. I doubt but for a few oddballs that either proclamation is true. However, the message about open enrollment is loud and clear—the typical open enrollment season is unwelcome by an overwhelming majority of workers. They want the end result—health insurance and other benefits coverage—without the process.

You see Americans find open enrollment as confusing as finding the section, row and seat number at Arthur Ashe stadium. The information seems so simple but for way too many people all those letters and numbers look like the Cyrillic alphabet. Even when the section and seat numbers are clearly marked on placards you see folks turning around in circles or trying to boot others out of their rightful seats. If they can’t find a clearly marked Section 303, Row M, Seat 18, how are they going to understand a Section 125 cafeteria plan or Section 401(k) retirement savings plan?

And it is not that they can’t understand the information or find the right seat, it’s more that they don’t have the patience to take a step back and think through what they need in a health plan or where they are in the stadium. They want to jump at the first thing they see that looks remotely like what they want, and they want to make choosing it easy peasy.

Unfortunately, open enrollment season is nothing like what people want. Even when employers remove some of the plan jargon and make the process digital, it’s still too complicated and takes too much effort. So if you are looking for a cure to the dreaded open enrollment season, there really isn’t one. However, there are ways to minimize the symptoms.

First, Human Resources professionals need to let go of their need to make open enrollment season as odious as possible. Despite all the feedback to simplify and reduce information, they continue to provide open enrollment booklets and forms with a zillion options. Also, even the best online open enrollment systems require users to view multiple screens and push the “submit” button multiple times. That makes no sense and it needs to stop.

Taking a few cues from my New York tennis trip, why can’t online open enrollment systems be more like buying a metro card? Choose what you want and how much of it you want by pushing two buttons? And why can’t open enrollment materials look more like the train riding etiquette posters plastered above the windows of the 7 Train? This may sound silly but it would be more effective than providing a lot of information that requires more thought and action than most people will willingly expend.

And HR, save your breath trying to explain the importance of open enrollment season. No one cares but you. And people, stop looking for your seats and blocking my view when the players are in action—there are breaks for that.


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