How to Use "Workplace Celebrities" to Boost Open Enrollment Engagement

Does it sometimes feel like your employee emails get sucked into a giant black hole? And even if your emails are opened, do you feel like your employees only sort of scan them and then forget them, because they feel they’ve heard it all before?

If so, consider mixing it up a little this fall and ask someone within your company who has a lot of clout (i.e. a “workplace celebrity”) to vouch for you.

Getting this special person (could be your CEO or any other trusted company leader) to address the troops about an important topic is an excellent–and free–way to make sure your message is consumed. Including the boss’s name in the ‘Sender’ field not only increases the likelihood of people opening your email, but it generates extra buzz around the message as well.

Your executive’s message doesn’t have to be very long. In fact, it shouldn’t be long at all.

Keep what she has to say to 150 words, tops. We suggest using the following structure:

• I want to let you know about something I think is very important or helpful
• I’ve used (or plan to use) this myself, and find it valuable
• I encourage you to (take the action) as well by (registering for the service, seeing if the plan is right for you, calling the number, attending the meeting, etc.
  

A note on style: the more casual and straightforward the tone of the message, the better. You want this to sound less like a formal endorsement and more like a “quick heads up.”

Here’s a pretend example related to ALEX:

If you like this bit of advice, there’s a lot more where that came from. Do yourself a favor and download our 25-page eBook, The Ultimate HR Guide to Promoting Benefits Programs, Tools, and Resources.

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Other resources you might enjoy include:

A helpful list of June/July open enrollment planning tips

How NOT to Use Humor in Your Benefits Communications: What I Learned (a blog post by Tim Sackett)

6 Tips for Communicating Benefits to Millennials (our brand-new eBook)