Workday customers, it’s time to get excited—Workday is rolling out the new Benefits Enrollment designs mid-September, 2021. Customers could previously opt out of the redesign, but that’s no longer an option after the 2021R2 update.
No need to panic about these new changes, however! This article will help you understand the changes coming down the line, as well as some practical advice on how you can prepare your organization for them. Let’s start with what’s going to be different.
What’s Changing in Workday Benefits Enrollment?
Workday is constantly striving to improve its user experience across its many solutions. This latest update is one way the company is working to improve user experience in the Benefits Enrollment module. Here’s what’s changing.
Currently, the system takes users through a series of steps to enroll or manage each benefit in sequential order. You can’t just update a specific benefit without going through the entire process. But after the 2021R2 update, that process will change.
Moving forward, when users open the Benefits Enrollment module in Workday, they’ll get a prompt to make their selection from tiles that are labeled for each available benefit. (Such as vision, medical, dental, etc.) This will allow them to make updates to the benefits they want to change in any order they’d like to change them. It also provides more visibility into all the benefits available to your employees.
Another thing to expect from this latest release? An enhanced mobile and desktop enrollment experience that’s more consistent.
How to Prepare for These Changes
While these changes to Workday Enrollment are a net positive, the new release could be tricky for organizations that will also be conducting open enrollment planning at the same time. If that includes your organization, here are a few suggestions for how to prepare beforehand:
Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute
Did you know that you can opt-in to the Benefits Enrollment redesign today? Here’s how: navigate to “Edit tenant setup – HCM.” From there, scroll to the Benefits section and uncheck “Use Workday 32 Enrollment Workflow.” This section is also where you can opt-in to mobile benefits.
One final tip—keep in mind that it’s always a best practice to test enrollment scenarios in your sandbox before putting them into production. (After all, would you prefer to identify the problems in a closed environment or find out about them when half the company runs into issues?)
Develop an Internal Communication Plan
Communication is critical when it comes to a company-wide change, so start by developing a communication plan that educates employees on what’s going to happen to benefits before the changes happen. Consider all the internal communication channels you can leverage to share this information (i.e., intranet, email, etc.)
And don’t forget to update your current demos and documentation on employee enrollment. These might be housed outside of Workday, so check that each guide is updated to help employees navigate the new user interface.
Update Enrollment Instructions Within Workday Itself
Previously, enrollment instructions were limited to the six basic plan types: healthcare, health savings account, flexible spending account, insurance, retirement, and additional benefits. With this new update, however, you can create custom instructions that apply specifically to a benefit coverage type.
In other words, instead of creating one set of instructions to cover everything under the healthcare section (dental, vision, medical), you can create separate instructions under each type. Customizing these instructions will make it easier for your employees to select their benefits during open enrollment. To update your instructions in Workday, go to Maintain Enrollment Instructions and click “General Enrollment Instructions.”
Surety System Can Help with Your Workday needs
Open enrollment can be a stressful time for any organization, especially when you’re adding even more changes to the process. That’s where Surety Systems comes in.
We offer a wide range of support options to help you tackle this update, or any other issue your organization might be facing. Whether you have questions about the new benefits redesign or need a complete Workday configuration, our team of senior-level Workday consultants can help.
Contact us today to get started.
