3 Reasons to Host Virtual Open Enrollment Fairs

Nearly every state is relaxing its stay-at-home orders and is in the process of re-opening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your clients or your business might also be weighing what a return to the office for employees looks like. Open enrollment is one of those shared experiences that you might be looking to re-create digitally to promote social distancing. And, even beyond the pandemic, there are advantages to hosting your open enrollment virtually, which was discussed in our inaugural WEX Momentum virtual learning event on May 12. In the first post of our WEX Momentum blog series, we’ll break down three reasons why you may choose to make virtual open enrollment fairs your new normal.

Cast a wider net

When you hold an in-person event, employees might not attend because they’re busy at their desks, they have a schedule conflict or because they just don’t think it’s worth their time. However, by hosting an open enrollment fair virtually, you’re able to reach everyone no matter where they are.

“I’m really optimistic that this could also present a unique opportunity for us,” said 24HourFlex Vice President Matt Poppe during WEX Momentum. “In a traditional fair environment, you only get to see who comes to you. If we do this right (virtually), we’re going to have an opportunity to push material out to everybody in the workforce, which ultimately is what our employers would like to happen.”

Built-in efficiency

You might spend lots of time putting together an open enrollment fair. However, as Voya Associate Vice President Nate Black said during WEX Momentum, “the average person during open enrollment spends 17 minutes choosing their benefits.” He added that the average person actually spends more time deciding what to watch on their streaming service than they do picking their employee benefits for the year. So how can you get the most out of your time and make the most out of those 17 minutes? The answer might be to go digital. By doing this, everything you produce can be saved, shared and referred to at any time. You can make your presentation and your materials available for future use. 

Virtual open enrollment is the future

Digital, virtual communication is becoming increasingly important. More than two-thirds of teenagers would rather talk to their friends online than in-person. And we’re already seeing that one-third of adults prefer texting to talking. By conducting a virtual open enrollment fair, you’re actually catering to an audience that might already be hungry to have information served up to them in that way. And that digital-focused audience is probably only going to keep growing, as those teenagers get older and enter the workforce.

Don’t miss out on our virtual learning and networking opportunities! Watch supplementary clips from our first event’s session library at www.wexmomentum.com. 

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.