Stop Drowning in Post-Enrollment Questions: Your HR Team Needs a Benefits Information Holiday Detox

The Open Enrollment Hangover Is Real and Costly
If your open enrollment deadline just passed, congratulations. You survived the sprint.

For many HR teams, however, the work does not end when enrollment closes. The weeks following Open Enrollment are often spent reviewing enrollments, auditing carrier files, confirming coverage, handling year-end tasks, and continuing to respond to employee benefits questions.¹ This post-enrollment period can feel just as demanding as Open Enrollment itself.

This ongoing cycle is not only exhausting for HR teams. It can also undermine the value of the benefits investment if confusion continues unchecked.

The Cost of Confusion: What HR and Finance Should Know
Employee confusion around benefits is not just frustrating. It has measurable consequences for engagement, productivity, and cost control.

More than half of employees report regretting their Open Enrollment decisions, most often because they did not fully understand the options available or the benefits they selected.² When employees are unsure, they tend to default to familiar choices, overlook preventive care, or miss opportunities to use available programs. Over time, this can reduce the return on benefits spending and increase downstream costs.³

HR teams absorb much of this impact directly. Ongoing benefits questions, follow-ups, and clarifications require time and attention during a period already filled with competing priorities. Research and industry analysis consistently link benefits confusion to reduced productivity, HR strain, and lower employee confidence in their benefits experience.³

The Simple, High-Impact Solution: A Benefits Information Detox
Breaking this cycle does not require replacing your benefits ecosystem or launching a complex new system. One of the most effective steps is far simpler: centralizing benefits information into a single, searchable digital location that employees and their families can rely on year-round.

The period following Open Enrollment provides an ideal opportunity for a focused “Benefits Information Detox” that improves clarity now and supports employees long after enrollment ends.

Step 1: Audit the Confusion Hot Spots
Begin by reviewing the benefits questions your team has received recently. They often fall into predictable categories:

• What is my deductible?
• Where can I find a claim form?
• Is my provider in network?
• How do I add a spouse or new dependent?

When answers live across emailed PDFs, intranet pages, and multiple carrier portals, confusion is understandable. These recurring questions are your highest-impact candidates for centralization.

Step 2: Consolidate Everything Into One Digital Home
Rather than directing employees to search across emails, shared drives, and external websites, create a single destination for benefits information.

A centralized, searchable platform like SwellSpace allows employers to house key resources in one place, including:

• HR-approved FAQs
• Summary of Benefits and Coverage documents
• Direct links to carrier portals and provider search tools
• Enrollment, claims, and life-event forms
• Contact information for external benefits support

Industry research shows that post-enrollment education and access to clear information play a meaningful role in how employees experience and use their benefits throughout the year.³ A centralized hub becomes a foundational support tool rather than a temporary Open Enrollment resource.

Step 3: Redirect and Reclaim Your Time
Once a single source of truth is established, set a clear expectation. Employees, dependents, and new hires should use the benefits hub as their first stop for information.

This approach shifts HR teams away from repeatedly answering the same basic questions and toward directing employees to reliable, self-service resources. Case studies highlighted by benefits technology providers show that when communication is improved and information is centralized, organizations can significantly reduce support volume during Open Enrollment, including one documented example of a 33 percent reduction in call center inquiries.⁴

While results vary by organization, the underlying principle is consistent. Clear, centralized communication reduces unnecessary friction.

The SwellSpace Advantage: Relief Within Reach
Employees are rarely confused by the benefits themselves. They are confused by how difficult it is to find clear answers.

SwellSpace is designed to be a low-maintenance digital home for benefits information. HR teams can upload existing documents and forms and present them in a clean, searchable experience without relying on IT support. Employees and their families gain 24/7 access to trusted information, whether they are reviewing benefits independently or making decisions together.

By centralizing benefits communication, organizations can reduce repetitive questions and improve the overall benefits experience without adding operational burden.

Give your team the gift of a quieter inbox this holiday season.
Ready for a smoother January? Learn how SwellSpace can help reduce post-enrollment questions and give your HR team back valuable strategic time.

Sources
1. Top 7 Tasks for HR Teams After Open Enrollment, Miller Cares
https://millercares.com/blogs/top-7-tasks-for-hr-teams-after-open-enrollment/

2. Equitable Survey Finds Majority of Working Americans Regret Benefits Selections During Open Enrollment, Equitable
‍https://www.equitable.com/newsroom/2024/equitable-survey-finds-majority-of-working-americans-regret-benefits-selections-during-open

3. Beyond Enrollment: The Hidden ROI of Employee Benefits Education, AEIS Advisors
https://www.aeisadvisors.com/beyond-enrollment-the-hidden-roi-of-employee-benefits-education

4. How to Make the ROI Case for Benefits Investment, Empyrean
https://goempyrean.com/en/insights/how-to-make-the-roi-case-for-benefits-investment