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Tag: gen z

Educating Young Employees on Open Enrollment

Thursday, 10 August 2023 by RISQ Consulting
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.

Many employees need help with open enrollment. This is particularly true among younger workers, who typically have less experience selecting benefits than older generations that have been in the workforce longer. A study by insurance and employee benefits provider MetLife found that 26% of Generation Z (Gen Z) employees are insecure about making benefits decisions.

Employers who successfully educate young employees about open enrollment are likely to find that workers are more satisfied with their benefits packages, make better financial decisions and are more likely to recommend their organization to other people. Such positive outcomes can significantly influence an organization’s overall financial performance.

To this end, employers can implement several strategies for educating young employees to help them navigate open enrollment.

Educating Young Employees

Clear communication is crucial to ensure workers understand the open enrollment process and the benefits they’re signing up for. Employers should consider the following strategies for educating younger employees on open enrollment:

  • Prioritize internal communications. Young employees may be unfamiliar with the open enrollment process. Inform employees about the upcoming open enrollment through multiple channels (e.g., emails, flyers and meetings). Ensure every employee knows when open enrollment begins, the last day to complete enrollment and the consequences of failing to enroll in time.
  • Create multiple avenues for communication. Ensure young workers know how to ask questions about open enrollment and feel comfortable speaking to HR and their managers about the upcoming enrollment. Encourage these employees to discuss their benefits plans with their friends, family and more experienced coworkers.
  • Provide educational resources. Give workers the information they need to make informed benefits decisions during open enrollment. To target young workers, employers should provide digital resources such as online webinars, videos, social media posts and articles.
  • Explain benefits options. Employees are likely to think primarily of health insurance during open enrollment and may overlook voluntary benefits that could be useful to them. Employers should provide information about employee benefits choices (e.g., pet insurance, student loan repayment assistance and employee assistance programs) so that young employees don’t forgo benefits they may want later in the year.
  • Cater to employee needs. Young generations of workers have different benefits needs than older generations. For example, they’re more likely to prioritize mental health resources and student loan assistance over life insurance or financial planning for retirement. Employers should capitalize on the wants and needs of younger generations to educate them on benefits they care about.
  • Encourage young employees to take their time. Rushing through open enrollment can cause workers to forgo crucial benefits. This is especially true of young workers, who may feel stressed or unsure of the open enrollment process. Give employees ample time to research and select their benefits and encourage them to ask questions.
  • Communicate all year round. Benefits education should be more than a flurry of activity during the open enrollment window. Employers should provide employees with the resources they need to understand and maximize their benefits all year round, highlighting the direct financial impact benefits decisions can have on employees. This can help young workers understand the importance of open enrollment and the impact that rushing through the process can have on their financial well-being, increasing the likelihood that they’ll make informed benefits decisions when the time comes.

Conclusion

Open enrollment can be a nerve-wracking period for all employees. The stress of selecting benefits is often most keenly felt by younger workers with less experience selecting benefits. Employers can use open enrollment as an opportunity to increase communication and trust with young workers by educating them on the process and their benefits choices. This may increase younger generations’ satisfaction with their benefits packages and jobs, improving organizations’ employee attraction and retention and ultimately their bottom lines.

Contact us today for more information.

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How TikTok Can Make You a Better Health Insurance User

Monday, 27 March 2023 by RISQ Consulting

By Alison Nelson, Employee Benefits Account Manager

For better or for worse, the way people are getting their news and information has changed. Senator Mark Warmer from Virginia said in this viral video at a press conference, “With 100 million Americans daily on TikTok, on an average of 90 minutes a day, this is an issue. I imagine most of you would like your networks to get 90 minutes a day from 100 million Americans.”

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of downsides to people gathering their news and resources from social media. But surprisingly, there are also some positives. For example, let’s focus in on how TikTok is unexpectedly shaping the industry of health insurance.

With consumer habits being formed in the midst of funny cat videos, outfit inspirations, viral dances, and book recommendations, TikTok has slowly begun to function like a search engine. Sure, I can lookup things to do for my next vacation, but I can also lookup what an EOB is, what to do if a claim is denied, or how to get my medication for less money. Brokers, providers, and consumers alike are flocking to TikTok to share their tips and tricks for all things insurance. After scrutinizing some of my industry’s relevant content, I’ve got to say, some of the advice isn’t half bad.

Searching “health insurance” on TikTok will lead you to thousands of videos, most with the goal of helping consumers understand their insurance and teach them about available resources in an easily digestible manner. Below are a handful of topics I saw within a few effortless scrolls.

  • What to do when you turn 26 and come off your parents’ health insurance plan
  • Individual health insurance
  • Insurance basics
  • What is HIPAA
  • HSA tips and tricks

 

With an increasing amount of Gen-Z (born from 1995 to 2009) in the workplace, and with Generation Alpha close behind (they’re already 13 years old), it’s important for professionals in all industries to meet the consumers where they want to be met, which, usually means online. The attention-grabbing style of TikTok makes topics like health insurance more palatable to our new workforce generations, and even to the older workforce who never fully understood what they had.

This abundance of health insurance resources on TikTok makes it obvious that this industry is changing. Consumers are savvier than they have ever been. This is incredibly exciting in terms of the educational effort insurance brokers like RISQ Consulting have been striving for. As a health insurance broker, I can’t emphasize enough how important knowing the basics of insurance is.

While I would caution against believing everything you see on TikTok, it is great to see an influx of information readily available to help you learn. Naturally, I always recommend discussing insurance with a licensed professional (preferably one from RISQ Consulting 😊) but, if nothing else, TikTok has proven itself to be a great place to start. It’s amazing to see more and more people take an interest in their healthcare and the healthcare system, after all, knowledge is power.

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What’s the Tea – Your Guide to Understanding Your Gen Z Coworkers

Monday, 03 May 2021 by RISQ Consulting

By Alison Nelson, Sales and Marketing Coordinator

Sometimes I’ll say a phrase at work and receive blank stares from my colleagues. It’s easy to forget that different generations have varying phrases and slang and, while the world focused on Millennials, Gen Z has slowly entered the work force.  According to this article, Gen Z was born from 1996-2015. Having been born in ’96 myself, I’m 25 years old and have been at RISQ Consulting for nearly four years, making me a prime example of how the older members of Gen Z are already starting their careers.

If you find yourself working alongside a Gen Z coworker (and if you’re not already, it’s only a matter of time), you may find yourself a bit off-put by some of the things we say. Below are some common Gen Z phrases and terms, along with their definitions, so you can understand what in the world is being said.

*Say the below terms at the risk of aging yourself and embodying the “fellow kids” meme. Think of this more of a translation guide.

Phrase: What’s the tea?

Meaning: What’s the gossip? The equivalent of “what’s the skinny”

 

Term: Dead / 💀

Meaning: That’s funny, basically the new “lol” and cry laughing emoji 😂

 

Term: Bet

Meaning: They’re not trying to place a bet. It means “ok” and “yes”, some say that it’s short for “you bet”

 

Phrase: It’s the _____ for me!

Meaning: Calling out something you like or dislike. This phrase can be used positively, negatively, and ironically. More often than not, it’s used negatively as a comedic insult.  For example “it’s the unibrow for me”

 

Term: Cap

Meaning: This means lying. It’s commonly used said like “no cap”, meaning “no lie”

 

Term: Salty

Meaning: Bitter

 

Term: A bop

Meaning: A very catchy song

 

Term: Slaps

Meaning: Something that it cool, often used to describe a good song

 

Term: Fire

Meaning: Something that is really cool

 

Term: Sus

Meaning: Suspicious

 

Term: Simp

Meaning: Someone who is trying to hard to impress another person. This is usually used negatively.

 

Phrase: Clap back

Meaning: A comeback to an insult

 

Phrase: Big yikes

Meaning: Bummer

 

Since slang is constantly changing, here are a few phrases that are now considered out of vogue:

  • Adulting
  • I did a thing
  • VSCO girl
  • I’m not crying, you’re crying
  • The struggle is real
  • Sooo this happened
  • I’m just gonna leave this here

 

Before you start to change your lingo, throw away your skinny jeans, or switch to a middle part, it’s important to note that a key characteristic of Gen Z is our value of diversity. Inclusion is also an important value to this generation so I wouldn’t worry about trying to conform to the new norms or fit in. At the end of the day, the divide between the varying generations is smaller than it seems.

I hope you found this guide helpful and enjoy working with your Gen Z coworkers, I promise, we don’t bite.

 

 

 

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