The words “open enrollment” can be enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the most dedicated Human Resources employees. Open enrollment is a labor and time intensive activity that requires planning and a great deal of attention to detail to pull off without a hitch. In fact, a quick online search yields dozens of articles with tips on minimizing stress for Human Resources professionals during the open enrollment period.
The main reason the open enrollment period can be so stressful is the sheer amount of paperwork. Typically, employees will fill out paper forms with their benefit selections, then turn those forms into Human Resources to be entered into a computer and filed. Not only is this time consuming, but it introduces the possibility of human error in the data entry. To add to the intensity of the situation, Human Resources employees are also dealing with a deluge of questions regarding the individual benefits.
A way to ease this stress for your Human Resources team, while also making the open enrollment process easier and more efficient for all of your employees, is to hire a payroll services company to fully manage your benefits administration online. This offers your business a variety of advantages.
Benefits of an Online Employee Self-Service System
- Using an online employee self-service system is a great choice for the environment, as it allows you to go completely paperless. You will no longer need to print booklets of benefit information or selection forms, as they will be available completely online.
- With an online system, employees will enter their benefit choices directly, greatly reducing the chances of human error through data entry posed by the paper system.
- A payroll services company can provide you with enhanced data and analytics to help you observe trends in benefits elections from year to year. This will help you to budget the costs of employee benefits more accurately.