Open Enrollment season may look different this year. Many groups are considering taking it all online by presenting a virtual meeting or recording a presentation, others may feel comfortable to meet in-person, but with new guidelines in place.
Regardless of these changes - there is still a lot of information to go through, changes to address and new offerings to understand.
Is there room for workplace wellness? ...
Yes! Here’s why:
1. Carving out time for wellness can make employees feel valued and cared for.
Wellbeing & physical health are more important than ever right now. There is evidence that people with comorbid conditions are at the highest risk of COVID complications. Additionally, with an increase in remote work, employees may be more sedentary and often feel socially disconnected. It is important for physical and mental health to connect employees and keep them moving. A corporate wellness program can achieve this.
2. It’s something fun to communicate about.
Let’s face it, a lot of benefits talk can get dry... Highlighting the fun health initiatives your organization is offering, like activity challenges or incentives they can earn, can spark interest and give employees something to look forward to as 2021 gets underway.
3. It is a great time to take advantage of a captive audience.
Open Enrollment is a prime time to introduce a new wellness program or initiative, a company fitness challenge or updated incentives.
4. It’s a perfect time to tie your program tighter into your company culture.
Leadership buy-in and promotion speaks volumes for wellness engagement and participation. Touching on the wellness program at open enrollment strengthens that message even more.
5. It gives you a chance to provide clear next step detail.
There can be plenty of materials handed out at open enrollment. The last thing employees want to do is open 10 different attachments and scroll through pages of benefit information, leaving wellness as a footnote.
Consider compiling offerings into a single marketing piece, or in one central location, like a navigable brochure or page on the internal intranet, that highlights the wellness program, its offerings, clear next steps and ways to get involved.
6. It allows you to build on previous year’s success and increase engagement.
You can hype the wellness program at open enrollment with a highlight video of the previous year’s success or a motivational video to kick off the new program year.