Dive Brief:

• Employee benefits open enrollment season is right around the corner, and if the results of a recent survey of 2,000 full-time, benefits-eligible employees are any indication, employers have their work cut out for them.

• The survey, from Jellyvision and conducted by Harris Poll, found 48% of employees report that making health insurance decisions is always “very stressful” for them. Among those whose employer offers health insurance, 41% feel the open enrollment process at their company is “extremely confusing.”

• The “What Your Employees Think About Your Benefits Communication” report also found that 73% of employees feel confident about health insurance details like deductible size, only 53% know their out-of-pocket maximums and just 47% know their employer’s contributions. Finally, 20% often regret the benefits choices they make, and 56% would like help from their employer when choosing a health plan.

Dive Insight:

Based on the data, it's clear employees aren’t getting enough from their current benefits communication to be fully empowered to make the best decisions. On the other hand, the responses mean there is a huge opportunity for employers to make things right. After all, the survey found that only 34% of respondents claim they pay attention to all of the materials they receive about their company benefits.

One way to get employees to pay attention is to make communications easy to understand. Employers are seeing success with the right combination of accurate, clear information and tools to explain the perks in clean, clear language.