CHARLESTON, S.C., June 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/
-- Benefitfocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNFT), a leading
cloud-based benefits management platform and services provider,
announced today the results of its year-long pilot program designed
to increase employee benefits engagement and participation. The
program, launched in August 2018
targeting the company's over 1,400 employees, was established to
create a world-class benefits enrollment experience, test and
perfect employee engagement activities and drive better benefits
utilization.
Coined "Customer #1," the program focuses on three primary
objectives:
- Maximizing benefits participation during the traditional open
enrollment (OE) window
- Increasing adoption of new voluntary benefits during post-OE,
off-cycle periods
- Understanding employee needs and gaps through regular surveys
and the company's total well-being initiative.
During the traditional OE two-week window, the company saw a
significant increase in participation in high deductible health
plans (HDHPs) with a 72 percent adoption rate, which is more than
double the national average range of 25 to 35 percent. Through
creative communications, employee contributions to health savings
accounts (HSAs) also increased by 27 percent. Participants in HDHPs
also had a higher adoption rate of voluntary income protection
products, like accident insurance (31% enrollment), critical
illness (36% enrollment) and hospital indemnity plans (40% growth).
The company will review results and share insights during its
upcoming customer advisory councils to help guide customers'
benefits participation strategies.
"We created our Benefitfocus Customer #1 program to demonstrate
the gold standard of how employers who utilize our BenefitsPlace
platform can fully optimize the tools and services available to
drive significantly higher benefits engagement and adoption – and
do so throughout the entire year," comments Misty Guinn, Director of Benefits & Wellness
at Benefitfocus. "With our mobile app and consumer tools, like
Smart Moments*, we can be intentional in how we engage with our
employees during off-cycle periods. For instance, we launched a
student loan refinancing benefit after OE, with an ongoing
enrollment window, and achieved the highest participation rate of
all Benefitfocus customers nationally who offered that plan."
Guinn continues, "Voluntary benefits aren't just 'add-ons' to
traditional employee benefits; they are complete solutions that
work together in a total wellness benefits portfolio. While we
experienced significant adoption of voluntary income protection
products during our official OE at Benefitfocus, other employers
who use BenefitsPlace could easily roll-out off-cycle programs to
drive higher participation. As employers serve five generations in
the workforce together, the benefits industry needs to transition
to a 52-week benefits approach, not just the two-week open
enrollment period."
Benefitfocus plans to roll-out additional voluntary benefits to
its employees as part of its ongoing Customer #1 initiative. Based
on employee feedback through its total well-being surveys, future
off-cycle benefits may include property insurance offerings,
emotional wellness and mental health benefits, lifestyle benefits
and other financial wellness benefits.
To support employers in achieving open enrollment success,
Benefitfocus offers a free OE Success Kit. The kit provides tools,
resources and best practice guides across all areas of OE. Since
its inception, the OE Success Kit has focused primarily on open
enrollment communication. Now in its fourth year, the focus has
expanded to year-round success with tools and resources for all
stages of OE from planning to communication, execution and more.
Download the free kit here.
* Smart Moments is a company-defined term describing new
moments powered by Benefitfocus BenefitSAIGE™ artificial
intelligence engine that have been added to the platform's Smart
Moments library to connect consumers to their benefit options in
the moments that matter 52 weeks a year. Smart Message
content is being automatically loaded for key BenefitsPlace
products for easy employer enablement.
About Benefitfocus
Benefitfocus (NASDAQ: BNFT) unifies
the entire U.S. benefits industry on a single technology platform
to protect consumers' health, wealth, property and lifestyle. Our
powerful cloud-based software, data-driven insights and
thoughtfully-designed services, enable employers, insurance brokers
and carriers to simplify the complexity of benefits administration
and deliver a world-class benefits experience. Learn more at
www.benefitfocus.com, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Except for historical information, all of the statements,
expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are
forward-looking statements. Actual results or performance might
differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the
forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially include: the need to innovate
and provide useful products and services; management of growth; our
ability to compete effectively; our ability to maintain our culture
and recruit and retain qualified personnel; the immature and
volatile nature of the market for our products and services; risks
related to changing healthcare and other applicable regulations;
privacy; security and other risks associated with our business; and
the other risk factors set forth from time to time in
our SEC filings, copies of which are available free of
charge within the Investor Relations section of
the Benefitfocus website
at http://investor.benefitfocus.com/sec-filings or upon
request from our investor relations
department. Benefitfocus assumes no obligation and does
not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as
required by law.
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SOURCE Benefitfocus, Inc.