What to Communicate to Employees in February 2023

This post is part of our Benefit Bites Newsletter, where we provide monthly ideas & content you can use to create engaging benefit communications. You can sign up for the newsletter here.

With all due respect to Larry David, we'd like to wish you a Happy New Year! We're back in 2023 with more suggestions about what to communicate to employees in February.

February Theme: Voluntary Benefits

Voluntary benefits are often misunderstood during Open Enrollment or ignored entirely. When employees don't understand which benefits they've signed up for or how to use them, they don't view the benefits as valuable. That defeats the whole purpose of offering them to begin with.

In short, marketing your Voluntary Benefits is a way to increase employees' appreciation of their total compensation. Especially important in an environment where many companies are tightening their belts.

Our data shows that following an Airbo campaign on Voluntary Benefits, over 80% of employees typically state that their appreciation of their benefits increased.

Key Topics to include:

• Voluntary Benefit Overview
• How to Submit Claims
• Voluntary Options Outside of OE

Read on to see sample content 👇‍

Annual Snapshot of Monthly Themes

Here's how February's focus on Voluntary Benefits looks within the context of a year-round benefits engagement strategy.

Read more in our 2023 Annual Communications Plan, a guide to planning your benefits education for the year, all based on our work with hundreds of customers over twelve years.

1. Monthly Theme: Voluntary Benefits

Here's a sample Airbo Campaign: "Voluntary Benefits" with 12 key topics we suggest reviewing for the month of February. You can use this free Airbo resource by:

• Borrowing the content to use in other places (with attribution), or
• Contact us to sign-up for a free trial with a customized version for your organization.

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2. Voluntary Benefits Overview

It is important to communicate the value and importance of voluntary benefits to your employees, and make sure that employees understand the options available to them. Remind your employees that these benefits are completely voluntary and that enrollment is not required. This can help employees make informed decisions about what benefits best meet their needs.

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Sample Content

Do you know what voluntary benefits are available to you?

Voluntary Benefits are services or products that COMPANY NAME offers at a discounted rate as a perk of employment.

As the name implies, participation is optional, and most of these benefits can only be joined during Open Enrollment, as a new hire or if you have a Qualifying Life Event (like getting married).

If you opted into some (or all) of these benefits during Open Enrollment last fall, their cost is deducted via payroll deduction.

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3. How to Submit Claims

February is a good time to give instructions to employees on how to submit a claim for the benefits they have enrolled in. This ensures that employees are able to access the benefits they have chosen and helps prevent confusion or frustration when trying to navigate the claims process.‍

Sample Content‍

How to submit a claim‍

If you opted into Disability, Accident, Critical Illness, or Hospital Indemnity insurance, submitting a claim is easy!

Simply visit MyBenefits through Allstate. It's an easy-to-use website that offers 24/7 access to important information about your benefits. You'll be able to:

• Submit your claim
• Check the status of your claim (including claim history)
• Request your cash benefit to be direct deposited into your account
• Make changes to personal information
• And more!

Go to allstatebenefits.com/mybenefits to get started now.

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4. Voluntary Options Outside of OE

Communicate to your employees that they may have the option to enroll in voluntary benefits outside of the open enrollment period. This is particularly important for employees who experience a qualifying life event, such as the birth or adoption of a child, marriage, or loss of coverage through a previous employer.

Sample Content

When can I change my coverage?

For most of our benefits, you can only change, add and/or drop coverage and dependents during an Open Enrollment period and/or when you experience a Qualifying Life Event (QLE):

A QLE could be any of the following:

• Marriage or Domestic Partnership
• Birth or Adoption
• Court Order
• Loss or Gain of Other Health Coverage
• Loss or Gain of Medicaid/CHIP Coverage

You have 30 days from the QLE effective date to complete the election change process through INSERT ENROLLMENT SITE and upload proof of change documentation. If you miss the 30-day deadline, your next opportunity will be the next Open Enrollment period or if you experience another QLE.

That's all for this time!

Hope your 2023 is off to a great start. Be on the look out for next month's suggestions!

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