Top 5️⃣ Tips to Take Advantage of your Benefits Open Enrollment Season 🍁
🤔 What is benefits open enrollment season?
Benefits open enrollment season is a period of time each year when employees can enroll in or make changes to their employer-sponsored benefits. This season falls typically around October and November of each year.
Your benefit offerings includes health insurance, but can also include other benefits such as dental and vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement savings plans, paid time off as well as other possible benefits such as pet insurance, etc.
Of note – the open enrollment season is typically a short window of time, so it's important to be prepared and make the most of it. By understanding your options and making informed decisions, you can ensure that you and your family have the coverage and protection you need. Also, I’m seeing in my practice, that more employers are offering unique benefits, which do change periodically, so you do not want to miss the opportunity of taking advantage of those benefits of special interest to you.
Why is benefits open enrollment season important?
Benefits open enrollment season is an important time for employees because it is the only time of year when they can make changes to their benefits without a qualifying life event, such as a marriage, divorce, birth of a child, or job change.
During open enrollment season, employees can review their current benefits plans, compare them to other options that their employer offers, and make changes as needed. This is also a good time to learn about new benefits that may have been added to the plan or to make changes to coverage levels or deductibles.
What are some interesting newer benefits being offered?
There are so many newer benefits out there this year – here are some of those I’ve seen so far, that you may want to explore further to see if it makes sense to take advantage of:
🥲 Mental health assistance. Many employers are now offering mental health assistance benefits, such as access to employee assistance programs (EAPs), mental health therapists, and online mental health resources. This reflects the growing recognition of the importance of mental health and well-being in the workplace.
🧑🏼🎓 Student loan repayment assistance. As student loan debt continues to rise, more and more employers are offering student loan repayment assistance benefits. This can help employees to pay down their debt faster and save money in the long run.
🤰🏿Fertility benefits. More and more employers are offering fertility benefits, such as egg freezing and IVF coverage. This can help employees to start or grow their families.
🐕🦺 Pet insurance. Some employers are now offering pet insurance benefits. This can help employees to keep their pets healthy and avoid costly veterinary bills.
🩺 Wellness benefits. Wellness benefits are becoming increasingly popular, as employers recognize the importance of employee health and well-being. Some common wellness benefits include gym memberships, fitness classes, smoking cessation programs, and on-site wellness programs, as well as reimbursements for proper desk set-ups, and more.
In addition to these new benefit offerings, some employers are also offering more flexible and innovative benefits packages. For example, some employers are allowing employees to choose their own benefits or to customize their benefits package to meet their individual needs.
Here are some other unique employee benefits offered by top companies:
On-site childcare
Paid time off to volunteer
Sabbaticals
Tuition reimbursement
Employee discounts, such as for cell-phone service
Flexible work arrangements
Professional development opportunities
What steps do I need to make to take advantage of benefits open enrollment season?
Enrollment season can be stressful, especially as it feels like another task on your TO DO list, but it does not have to be.
For this reason, I’ve outlined 5 simple steps to take to optimize your benefit choice experience.
1️⃣ Review your current benefits plans.
Before you make any changes to your benefits, it's important to understand what you currently have chosen as benefits. This will help you to understand what coverage you already have and to identify any areas where you may need additional coverage.
2️⃣ Compare your options.
Once you have a good understanding of your current benefits plans, you can start to compare them to other options that your employer offers. Be sure to compare coverage levels, deductibles, copays, and out-of-pocket maximums.
3️⃣ Consider your needs and budget.
When choosing benefits plans, it's important to consider your individual and family needs. If you have any health conditions, you'll want to make sure that your plans cover those conditions. You'll also want to consider your how much you can afford to spend on monthly premiums and deductibles.
4️⃣ Talk to your HR department and your financial professional – or me!
If you have any questions about your benefits or about making changes to your plans, be sure to talk to your HR department and/or your financial professional. We can help you to understand your options and to make the best decisions for you and your family.
Benefits are one area of your financial life where much of what is presented or offered feels like ‘jargon’ – or another language altogether. That is how I can help. I know what I’m looking at when I review benefit options for my clients and can help them make educated choices.
5️⃣ Commit to make changes to your benefits as needed – give yourself a deadline and stick to it!
Once you've reviewed your options and considered your needs and budget, you can make changes to your benefits as needed. Be sure to make your changes before the open enrollment deadline passes. Do NOT have this be one of those life decisions that feels overwhelming, and thus you are enticed by inertia.
Create a deadline for yourself to speak with your advisor, and choose, and commit to that deadline. You do not want to miss the opportunity to improve your situation if possible!
In fact, many of my clients function best when we do ‘working meetings.’ We’ll set up time to meet live or over zoom, and just get things done together. There is no guilt or shame in showing up and saying “I haven’t had time to do this – can we do it together?” – in fact, I LOVE those working meetings – they make me feel happy to accomplish things together with you.
By following these tips, you can make the most of benefits open enrollment season and ensure that you and your family have the coverage and protection you need.