Online enrollment for benefits continues to be the No. 1 choice for U.S. employees, with 77percent using the Internet to enroll this year, according to research conducted by Hewitt Associates, the big human resources outsourcing and consulting firm. Thats an increase of 7percentage points from 2002 and more than 25percentage points from 2000.


As online enrollment has increased, use of other channels and paper confirmations has decreased. In fact, the number of companies that eliminated paper confirmations of enrollment jumped 74percent this year, survey results showed.


In addition, only 4percent of participants enrolled through telephone interactive voice response and 19percent through call centers, down from 8percent and 23percent, respectively, in 2002, according to the research.


Smart companies recognize its not enough to offer a Web option to drive paperless enrollment and improve efficiency, says Maureen Kincaid, Hewitts health management practice leader. They also must provide value-added services and tools to drive Web traffic, enable self-service, and support consumer-driven strategies, she says.


During this past open enrollment season, which typically runs from late September until early December, Hewitt says it enrolled more than 10million employees, retirees, and their dependents on behalf of nearly 140clients. Ninety-sixpercent of those clients offered online enrollment (up from 59percent in 2000), and more than one-fifth of its clients had more than 90percent of their participants enroll online, the company says. While extremely complex situations can be handled through Hewitts customer-service call centers, nearly 15percent of firms require self-management, meaning that participants must use the Internet or interactive voice response to enroll.


As health-plan choices become more complex and costs continue to rise, companies are offering employees more educational content and enhanced decision-support tools, such as health-plan comparison charts, flexible spending account estimators, and health-plan cost calculators, Hewitt says.


Through surveys conducted during enrollment, employees indicated that they value and use these tools to aid in their decision making. Sixty-twopercent of survey participants noted that the health-plan cost calculator tool helped them to consider at least one plan different from their current plan. Thirty-two percent said that, based on the information in the tool, they would likely choose a medical plan different from their current one.


Sixty-sixpercent indicated that the health-plan comparison chart prompted them to consider a plan different from their current choice, while 27percent said the tool influenced them to likely choose a different plan. Fifty-fivepercent of participants used the comparison chart to make their final enrollment decisions, and 51percent said that the tool helped them gain a better understanding of plan changes.


Online tools are a must-have for all employers, especially those who need to drive employee behavior change and enhance consumerism to advance emerging health care strategies, Kincaid says. Employees have more skin in the game than ever, and employers are working hard to provide the information and decision support necessary to empower them.


Efforts to add greater value to the online enrollment experience are paying off, not only in terms of usage, but also in terms of satisfaction, Hewitt says. Its data shows that 93percent of employees enrolling for benefits online were satisfied with the overall enrollment process, and 96percent were satisfied with the ease of use and time it took to enroll. With nearly 90percent of participants indicating that they had online access to all the information they needed to enroll, calls to the customer service center decreased 5percent over the previous year.


Hewitt Associates, based in Lincolnshire, Ill., provides global human resources outsourcing and consulting services from offices in 38countries.