Climbing the Annual Enrollment Mountain with Amit Jain

[MUSIC] Welcome to the Bee Swift Beacon, the podcast where we shine a light on the experts, the latest trends, the best practices, and maybe even a few surprises. Hi, I'm Denise. And I'm Joel. We are here to give you a break from swimming and spreadsheets. And from wrestling, whatever weird thing might have popped up today. Each episode, we spotlight the people and the big ideas that make benefits. And work. Work better for everyone. There's no consulting speak, no sales pitches. It's just honest conversations about what's interesting in the world of work and benefits and beyond. Let's get started. [MUSIC] All right, welcome to another episode of Bee Swift Beacon. Denise and I are here again with you today. It is nearing the end of summer for us. I'm not sure exactly when you'll hear it, but for us, it's just about the end of summer. And I know that because I had to drive my kids to a marching band camp this morning. Another sign that follows on its way is that HR is looking at annual enrollment, like it's a mountain in the middle distance. So it might look easy from afar, but the closer you get, the more complicated that story becomes. This was kind of reinforced for me over the summer. My kids actually went on a hiking backpacking trip in Colorado and literally climbed a mountain. >> Awesome. >> Yeah, it was very cool. They did tell me that even with all of the training, they put rocks and backpacks and walked around in parks beforehand. But even with all of that work, it really tested them in some kind of unexpected ways. So nonetheless, all of these kids did make it to the summit. And that is a testament to teamwork right there. They had partners that they had to get up there with. And that is not entirely different in some ways from open enrollment for HR. It's you have to have the right partner, the right team work going on to get to the top. >> Yeah, Joel, exactly. I mean, I'm glad they made it to the summit. But you're right, it takes a team, the right tools, the right people. And of course, you have to have the right plan. One of our own B-swifts checklist guides even calls it HR's Everest. You need all that planning and balance and a little bit of grit to get to the summit. >> I think I actually wrote that checklist. >> Of course. >> Speaking of grit, I think it's time that we mentioned our guest today. We are joined by Amit Jain. He's the chief operating officer here at B-swift. Amit's career spans everything from engineering and strategy, degrees from Case Western and Kellogg. His head rolls at probably every major benefits admin company in the industry. So welcome, Amit. >> Welcome. >> Thank you, Joel, Indonesia. I am super excited to be here. Hey, I love the mountain metaphor. I think HR can really relate with that. On the surface, annual enrollment looks super easy, but I can tell you, it's a climb. You just can't charge uphill hoping for the best. You need to have a plan. You need to pause. You need to take stock and course correct if needed. That's my approach to operations. Don't assume a path is right just because it's right there in front of you. Don't settle for short term fixes. Take a step back, fix the problem at the root. rethink the root. Look for a path that gets you to the summit. >> Yeah, I love that mindset, Amit. I know it shows up in your leadership. I know you've personally had a tough trek too. So tell us a little bit about the Grand Canyon. >> Of course. That was a super memorable trip even though it was a few years ago. It was me and four buddies. In fact, we were four or five in total. We trained like crazy for four months and months. We did a lot of practice high-ex and then came the day. The big day, we started at the South Rim at 5am in the morning. We climbed down 10,000 feet of elevation and then we walked about 20 miles or so. One of the things about Grand Canyon is there can be really while temperature fluctuations. In the morning, it can be in 30s and the afternoons, it can be 120s. And then in the evening again, it's back to 30s. The moral of the story there is that you got to complete the hike before the nightfall. We were about three quarters off the way into our hike when one of our buddies really hurt himself. We panicked for a little bit because we still had a lot of distance to go through. But then we put our heads together. We started thinking through how can we help him get through this because we really needed to get there together. One of the guys pitched in with their poles and other person carried his back. They made sure that he's really hydrated. We shared electrolytes and stuff. And through a combination of courage, determination and teamwork, we were able to get to the top of the North Rim by 9pm, which was a huge, huge feat. The moral of the story is preparation matters a ton. But we end up going into something big like an annual enrollment, which is really a marathon, not a sprint. Be ready for the unexpected. Surround yourself with your A team. So when things go south, you can get through it. You don't get to the summit alone. You get to the summit with your team. That is so true. Whatever the challenge is you're trying to tackle, it really does need to be a team sport. It needs to be something where you've got partners because at the end of the day, they're the ones who help you handle the pressure, right? Yeah, well, let's start there. What kind of strain does annual enrollment put on HR teams? That's a great question to me. Annual enrollment can be deceptively complex. And even intense, actually, without the right support, HR teams face enormous amounts of workload. They have to decide the benefit strategy, choose the right plans, decide communications for their employees, set up the band admin system, do all the integrations, and then answer a deluge of employee questions all the time. And this all happens in Q4, which also happens to be a really busy time for things like payroll, deciding on budgets for next year, going through compensation, and performance management cycles, one misstep, and you're in a compliance remind field. And if you add in outdated systems or lack of automation, it's a pressure cooker. So how do we keep HR out of that spiral of stress or that pressure cooker then? Absolutely. If the enrollment is confusing or messy, people end up in wrong plans. They miss deadlines, which means higher costs with employer. If the carrier files are inaccurate, dependers are not passed over to the carriers, which means you go to the doctor's office and you don't have coverage. If the payroll deductions are inaccurate, that means the paychecks are going to be wrong. So it really hurts employee morale. The engagement can drop and your key employees can walk out the door. So it's not just a people problem. It's actually a business problem. At B-Swift, we lead with service. Delivering great service takes more than good intentions. It's a combination of seamless delivery through people, process, and technology. We're a tech-enabled services business and our people and our culture are our greatest asset. Through ambitions to march exercise a few years ago, we asked an important question, hey, if you were to start B-Swift on another planet, what would that look like? And we identified five core values that define what it means to be a B-Swifter. Very quickly, these values are, we care a ton about our client success. We act with urgency. We try to get back to our clients the same day or in a few hours. We respect and trust. We always act with positive intent. We take pride in our work and deliver high quality service. And lastly, we participate fully in every single meeting whether it's external or internal. Armed with these five values, we strive to deliver an amazing experience to all our clients. What does that materially look like, though, for HR during open enrollment? That means showing up prepared and executing with discipline. So we invest a ton in training our people across the board. We make knowledge-based updates prior to heading into an annual enrollment, which includes plan design changes, integration changes, employee benefit changes. We have more than 700 trained call center apps going into an annual enrollment, along with 500 plus client services teammates. Emma Asian Assist, which is our internal support chatbot for our service center associates, is providing support to our call center people on a real time basis. And we are coordinating delivery across various teams and project plans day to day. It's a combination of preparation and execution. You started to go there, but I'm going to go a little deeper on process. So even with the right people, you still really need systems that don't break under the pressure of annual enrollment. That's right, Denise. Process is how you turn good intentions into reliable outcomes. At B-Swift, we've designed annual enrollment as a high-stay excited reliability system. And that includes conducting training and certifications on our latest and greatest technology and our materials prior to entering annual enrollment. Having detailed project plans with milestones for every single client, conducting toll gates as we step through the annual enrollment season, along with proved sessions, building in redundancy for the unexpected and turning every annual enrollment into a learning opportunity. Let me just walk you through the results from last year, 99% of our clients open annual enrollment in green status. That means they opened on time and they opened with accurate configuration. We received more than 95% CSAT based on 25,000 plus surveys last year from our clients and their employees. 90% of calls for answered in less than 30 seconds. It's a best performance so far. >>Wow, that's a huge win. But this isn't just about this last year, though. This is about being able to repeat it every year, right? >>That's exactly right, Joel. We take a holistic approach to operations and to annual enrollment. It's people, process, and technology all working together seamlessly. And it's augmented by an approach of continuous improvement where we learn from every success and every failure. And lastly, it's execution with discipline. High performance is the norm, not an exception. >>And I'm hearing you say we're elevating our people. We're not replacing them. And then there's a whole component around the enabling technology. >>Yes, there is. Tech is a huge force multiplier for us. Especially when it's designed right, it can be for any organization. Take Emma, our intelligent benefits assistant, for example, it has three different modes. Emma agent assist, which gives our service center reps answers in real time. Emma chat, which helps employees for clients on a 24 by 7 basis and transfers complex issues to our live agents. And lastly, Emma had been pro, which empowers HR to query data instantly. We built Emma under a mindful AI philosophy, which is centered around enhancing the human touch, not replacing the touch. >>And Emma, Emma intelligence is proactive, right? It's something that can get people information before they're even thinking they need it. >>That's right, Joel. Emma learns from each and every interaction. So, for example, if we receive tons of questions around mental health, Emma becomes smarter on mental health. It reminds employees of their pending actions. So, for example, if you just had a child, Emma will remind you, don't forget to enroll your new baby in benefits within 60 days, for example. It flags trends early for our HR practitioners like, hey, there is a rising claim trend in diabetes. So, go ahead and plan for well-less incentives before they're in the well-season that incorporate things like diabetes. >>Incredible. >>So, Ahmed, this has been a great conversation. So, far what can HR do? The folks who are listening to sort of shift that mindset? What would you recommend for them as they sort of head into annual enrollment this year? >>Yeah, I would say flip the script. Don't see enrollment as a slog to get through. This is a key strategic moment. Use it to connect benefits to business schools. Build trust and bring your people together. We see the best outcomes when we stop reacting and start anticipating. So, don't just solve the problem at the surface, fix the root of it with the right people, process, and technology. Beautifully said. Thank you so much, Ahmed. >>Thank you, Ahmed. >>Thank you guys. >> Until next time, everyone. And that's our show for today. >>Thanks for listening to The Beaswift Beacon. For more insights, tips, and resources, visit us at Beaswift.com. If you haven't yet, make sure that you subscribe to get us in your podcast feed. Just search Beaswift Beacon. >>And we love your feedback, too. Leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. >>And hey, if you like what you heard, share it specifically with that colleague who uses one of those big paper desk calendars. My guess is that they probably need us most. Until next time. (upbeat music)