It's time to think before you speak: building your employee benefits communication strategy

For professionals in the benefits business, August represents the month when they’re forced to shake the sand out of their ears and start wrapping their minds around those two big words: open enrollment. By now, the change dynamic can generally be articulated, and this allows the shape of certain key milestones, like the dates of the open enrollment window, to form. Details on final decision dates and when locked in rates will be delivered, however, can still be hard to scratch out this early on.

So, what do you do while you wait? Burying your head back in the sand is not a prudent choice. The answer: think before you speak – train your focus on your employee benefits communications strategy. We’ve learned that getting ahead of your employee communications game this month can make a huge difference when it comes to how the month before your open enrollment start date feels.

The strategies behind how employers educate employees on benefits and enrollment can vary significantly. Here are a few principles that can help guide your short-term thinking in this area:

1. Concentrate on style over substance.

Your substance right now may be a work in progress, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting the look and feel of your 2025 communications materials nailed down. At a minimum, you can update dates and replace images to distinguish these new materials from the old ones. Now is the perfect time to conduct a brand audit. Go through your inventory of communications pieces and identify what will stay, what will go and what might be missing. For materials that make the cut, mark them up to gain clear visual representations of how they will need to be shaped up for optimal use in the new year ahead.

If your identity changed this year, get the new artwork and identity standards to your design team. It sounds easy, but gaining organizational consensus on a fresh look can be half the battle. Take it on now and you’ll win this day. You also will drastically cut down on a considerable time drag later.

2. Do something different.

Use the time you have now to find at least one new way to really connect with your employees. If you no longer mail anything home, why not produce and mail a well-designed postcard that teases your key messages for the upcoming year and enrollment season? If you’re not leveraging the power of push notifications to support your overall open enrollment message delivery, getting contracted with a solution and putting a launch campaign in motion can be accomplished in less than 30 total days.

The something different doesn’t have to be monumental in scope either. Coming up with a catchy tagline that connects with employees and permeates culturally can be a huge win all by itself.

3. If you can’t find something to say, look harder!

Chances are your change proposition for the new plan year will end up being minimal. If that’s the case, look beyond it to some potential focus areas that are hiding in plain sight. Look to your beneficiary roles, for example. If your record counts are less than optimal or if it’s been many years since you’ve asked employees to update this information, then run a targeted campaign that raises awareness toward the importance of keeping these records current and reinforces how easy it is to do so. Review the reasons employees are reaching out for support and fill a known gap or two. Consult with your benefits consulting team to identify an area where care utilization is weak and profile it. If you go into the weeds, just make sure your messaging hits the comprehension mark that aligns with the subject matter and your employee population.

Soon enough, the final answers will all fall into place, and you’ll be ready to speak up loud and proud about your 2025 employee benefits program and its accompanying open enrollment. That makes now the absolute right time to think about exactly how you will go about doing exactly that in a way that wins for your employees.

Baker Tilly Vantagen's communications team provides multi-channel employee education program design and development support to employers.