At Employee Retention Benefits (ERB), we’ve paid close attention to how enrollment platforms are constantly changing, both in order to keep up with these updates themselves and to ensure our ability to make all the other necessary changes to go with them.
Just how are enrollment platforms causing employee benefits themselves to change? Read on to find out, but first a word on how the platforms are shifting.
The Transformation Of Enrollment Platforms Themselves
An enrollment platform, if it’s a good one, is an online site capable of walking a person through filling out their enrollment forms. It will then register them without requiring them to go to any other site.
With information being online on the platforms, most people feel less of a need to have pamphlets and other paper forms with the relevant information.
This has required more of the information to be put online and, furthermore, for brokers and organizations like ERB to find ways to organize said information to ensure it is accessible, simple, and easy to navigate.
Considering the advances in tech, things like processing and changes in the enrollment status are also faster, directly affecting how quickly people can start using their benefits.
Concerns Of These Platforms
There are two main concerns about enrollment platforms, both of which indirectly affect benefits.
Firstly, there are fears about platforms being hacked and sensitive data being leaked. However, paper documents are harder to keep track of, can be lost or damaged, and it’s also hard to keep track of who has access to them.
In short, this makes it about equally likely for information to be leaked in one case as it is in the other. However, in the case of paper documents, it’s possible it wouldn’t even be known about, whereas hacking would leave signs.
Therefore, having a platform where everything is done online is actually overall safer for information.
Secondly, and less considered, is the likelihood of enrolling incorrectly, making them end up with the wrong benefits, without this being caught until much later.
This has had the side effect of brokers and those making the platforms needing to work harder to keep everything as simple and understandable as possible to lessen the chance of errors being made when individuals enroll.
How Enrollment Platforms Are Changing Benefits
The first change is how people are better able to see the differences between benefits. Over the phone, or even with the pamphlets showing information, it can be hard to see which benefits are right for you.
On a platform, especially one that allows comparisons between plans, it’s easier to see which plan is the best fit, making it more likely for people to get the right one.
This has the side effect of helping people understand their benefits more. Additionally, people are more likely to notice if there isn’t a perfect plan for them. This results in a greater desire for more options, especially customizable ones to fit specific needs, a desire which we at ERB are pleased to meet.
