The Open Enrollment Mistake 86% of Employers Are Getting Right
Open enrollment is here. And if you're only comparing premiums, you're missing the whole game.
A new study from EBRI and Lincoln Financial surveyed 408 employers and 1,130 workers — and found two glaring blind spots:
**1. Companies aren't offering the right safety nets.
2. When they do, no one explains them.**
Result? 86% of employees spend *less than 4 hours* choosing their benefits. Then, feeling squeezed, they pick the cheapest, most basic option available.
Which is exactly how a $500 ER bill turns into a financial crisis.
The 3 Benefits Everyone Overlooks
Accident insurance. Critical illness. Hospital indemnity.
Boring names. Huge impact.
Here’s what employers who offer *all three* reported:
- **86% see better retention**
- **46% see less absenteeism**
Why? Because employees who have them get back to work faster. And they don't get financially wiped out when life happens.
And life *does* happen:
- Nearly 50% of employees had an accident requiring medical care in the last 5 years
- 39% were hospitalized
- Only 34% said they could comfortably handle a $500 expense
- 47% said medical events caused moderate financial hardship
- 37% had a medical bill sent to collections
Supplemental coverage isn't a perk. It's the thing that keeps a health scare from becoming a job-quitting, debt-spiral disaster. 57% of workers enrolled in these benefits called them "very important" protection.
So why doesn't everyone have them?
They're just not offered.
- Only 28% of workers said accident insurance was even an option
- 21% for critical illness
- 17% for hospital indemnity
And when they *are* offered, HR buries them in a 60-page PDF written like a legal disclaimer.
Only 40% of workers said they really understood critical illness coverage. 35% for hospital indemnity. Compare that to 54% for basic health insurance.
People can't choose what they don't understand.
The Takeaway for Business Owners
This isn't about being generous. It's a retention strategy.
> "There is an opportunity for employers to consider voluntary benefits as part of a broader workforce strategy while helping employees offset medical expenses that primary health insurance may not fully cover," the report says.
If you're offering these three, don't just list them. Sell them.
Ditch the jargon. Use real numbers: "This costs $8/paycheck. A 3-day hospital stay without it averages $X."
As Lincoln Financial's Jimmy Reid put it: "Making benefits clear and relevant can give employees greater confidence as they choose coverage for themselves and their family members."
Stop making your team gamble their savings to save a few bucks on premiums. Offer the backup plan — and actually explain it.