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Open enrollment last year was unlike any other open enrollment for many employers. And it might never be the same again. To promote social distancing and support employees working from home during the pandemic, 67 percent of employers told us that they did open enrollment differently in 2020. And 85 percent who hosted a virtual open enrollment fair plan to do so again, even when the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us. Why? In many cases, because it worked better.

In our latest episode of Benefits, we chatted with Sarah Branciforti, senior benefits specialist at , and Andrea Correia, director of talent at consulting firm , about their open enrollment success story. Wayfair used a virtual open enrollment last year to better reach employees during the pandemic.

Watch now to learn tips on what you can do heading into your next open enrollment, or keep reading to learn how they felt Wayfair鈥檚 employees benefited from a virtual setup.

More exposure

Your employees鈥� benefits may not just cover that employee. Spouses and children could also be covered by their benefits. And oftentimes the employee鈥檚 spouse is the benefits decision maker in the family. By providing a virtual open enrollment, your employees can include their spouses so both can better understand what鈥檚 available. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e the ones who also take advantage of the benefits that Wayfair offers,鈥� Correia said. 

More flexibility

With a virtual open enrollment fair, employees can participate whenever they have time. With an in-person open enrollment fair, that鈥檚 not the case. In-person availability is usually limited to a few time slots. 

Correia has noticed increased employee participation with virtual fairs. Correia said they鈥檝e found that employers get three times more employees to participate virtually than in-person due to the convenience of it. 

鈥淲e do our best job to try to get all employees involved and get the information out there for them,鈥� Branciforti said. 鈥淲e were trying to find a way to build off that. In came the virtual benefits fair.鈥�

More personalized

With in-person open enrollment fairs, timing is often the biggest determining factor for attendees. Because of that, broad messaging is needed to reach them. On the other hand, virtual fairs can be set up tailored to specific employees so they only get the information they need, based on their eligibility. 

鈥淲e can segment the actual rooms that people could see based on what they were eligible for,鈥� Correia said. 鈥淔or example, if you aren鈥檛 eligible for the retirement plan, you wouldn鈥檛 see the room for that. It does seem like it鈥檚 more of an experience for you and what benefits you鈥檙e eligible for.鈥�

More feedback (and ability to act fast with it)

Data drives decisions. And with a virtual open enrollment fair, it鈥檚 much easier to collect participation data and collect feedback directly from employees. Plus, once you have that information, you can make changes to the fair right away to improve the experience. 

鈥淵ou can survey people after every room and at the end,鈥� Correia said. 鈥淵ou can get continuous feedback from people visiting so you know what鈥檚 working and what鈥檚 not working. You can adjust ongoing since it鈥檚 digital. You can make changes pretty easily.鈥�

Do you want to learn more about last year鈥檚 open enrollment experience? Get your free white paper and infographic to find out what we learned from our post-enrollment survey that will help you in 2021.

The information in this blog post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or tax advice. For legal or tax advice, you should consult your own counsel.