Open enrollment is typically the only time during the year in which employees can make changes to their benefits choices, such as adding or dropping coverage, adding or dropping dependents, or enrolling in benefits new benefits without a qualifying life event.
For an employee, missing this vital deadline can mean losing coverage, or being unable to change benefits elections, which can have a significant financial impact on the employee. For you, when employees miss this deadline, it can result in additional administrative burdens and unhappy or unproductive employees.
In order to prevent these issues, it is important to understand open enrollment and how it can affect your employees. Communicating potential consequences to employees will encourage them to take the open enrollment deadline more seriously.
When is Open Enrollment at Helpside?
The open enrollment period for 2019 for all benefits offered through Helpside is November 1, 2018 through November 21, 2018. No enrollments or changes will be accepted after this date.
Please keep in mind and advise your employees that any new enrollments and changes made during open enrollment will take effect January 1, 2019 and that January’s premium is collected from December’s payrolls. Therefore, any payroll deduction changes will begin with the first paychecks in December.
How Can Employees Research Their Benefits Options, Make Changes, or Enroll in New Benefits?
We are excited to announce that we have a new online benefits enrollment process for all Helpside benefits through the Employee Self-Service (ESS) Portal on our website. The online benefits enrollment portal will allow employees to research benefits options, compare pricing, and enroll in their benefits 100% online. The easy-to-use system eliminates confusion and potential errors associated with completing paper forms. Check out a video tutorial here.
We encourage every employee to login to the open enrollment portal website to review available benefits options, pricing, and confirm that they do not want to make any changes
Please note that if a you offer Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) or Health Savings Accounts (HSA) through Helpside and employees would like to participate in 2019, they must login to the open enrollment portal and enroll by November 21, 2018. Elections from 2018 will not roll over to 2019.
How Can I Help Employees with Open Enrollment?
Clients who participate in benefits through Helpside can rest assured that we make every effort to communicate with all employees about this important time of year. From mailing postcards to each employees’ home address to emailing all employees multiple reminders through the open enrollment period.
That being said, we still encourage all clients to communicate with employees directly about the importance of open enrollment and the deadline in order to make the most out of the open enrollment period and the benefits your company provides. Whenever possible, mention open enrollment in team meetings or other communications you have with employees.
We have also created an Open Enrollment Poster you can print and post in a location where it may be viewed by employees.
If employees have any difficulty logging in or have questions about their benefits options or the open enrollment process, please direct them to a member of the Helpside Client Success team. They can be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm via phone at (801) 443–1090, mail at service@helpside.com, or via live chat on our website at www.helpside.com.
