Prepare for Annual Open Enrollment

Kaylie Bryslawskyj

February 20, 2023 16:44

Here are some best practices to prepare for a successful annual Open Enrollment (OE) in Maxwell. We’ll review two major steps in this article.

Finalize your Open Enrollment details
Prepare your employees for an annual OE in Maxwell

Let's jump right in!

Finalizing your Open Enrollment details

Well before the plan effective dates, you will need to decide what Open Enrollment (OE) looks like for your company this year. This will include:

The benefits package your company is offering this year
Whether your OE is passive, active, or a mix of both
When your OE period will be (the period of time your employees can enroll in their benefits)

TIP: You’ll have a chance to change your OE period later, but you’ll want to make sure you have an idea about what what timeframe you're aiming for, well in advance. When you plan your OE period, make sure you think about the time required after an OE ends to submit the information to the carrier, who probably has a deadline. As a best practice, you’ll want to give yourself at least a few days to do this.

You will have to provide our team with all the necessary details and plan documents to set up your Maxwell portal.

Prepare your employees for an annual OE in Maxwell

A few weeks before your OE begins, you’ll want to start creating awareness with your employees. This is a good time to tell them details about what you’ll be offering, and any changes from last year, so they can ask you any questions and consult with their family members before the OE period even begins.

Now’s also a good time to introduce or re-familiarize your employees with Maxwell.

We have some great resources for employees, including:

Quick video introduction to Maxwell (great to show during an OE meeting)
Maxwell Health Shopping Guide - PDF
Maxwell Getting Started Guide - PDF (for employees who do not have an email address set up in Maxwell yet)
And our Employee Help Center is always there, in case they need it

Note: If you have any employees in Maxwell without email addresses, you’ll want to make sure you communicate the steps to access Maxwell with them prior to your Open Enrollment (see the Getting Started Guide above). These employees will not be able to receive the email communications you send from the system, including OE announcements and reminder emails, until they enter their email address.

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