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It’s officially spooky season! That time of year when pumpkins show up on doorsteps, children plan their perfect Halloween disguise, and thrilling, eerie movies show up on heavy rotation on streaming services. As you browse for your next scary show, take a close look at some of the titles. What’s truly terrifying are the similarities between some of these classic spooky movie titles and the pitfalls of selecting a benefits administration system for your company.

As you’re evaluating a new benefits enrollment platform – or taking a close look at your current provider – these cautionary tales and helpful questions can help you prevent a ghoulish benefits nightmare from plaguing your organization!

The Invisible Man - Featuring the incredible disappearing service team
If you review a handful of benefits administration service providers’ websites, you’ll find that everyone is proud of their client service model, staffed by the best people in the business. And while there is surely some merit to these claims, you may find yourself “tricked” after implementation when you find it hard to get ahold of your point person. Or you encounter that the team is so siloed, you are being sent down rabbit holes trying to get in front of the right person for your concern. Dig in to understand the client service approach of your potential partner.

Questions to ask:

• What does your client service model look like?
• What does the handoff look like from implementation to ongoing service?
• How do your teams work together to support your clients?
• Who will be my main point of contact, and can I meet them as part of the RFP process?
• If I have a problem with service, who can I escalate my issue to?

A Nightmare on Elm Street - Nothing is scarier than when open enrollment is a literal nightmare
Poor advanced planning, missed deadlines, insufficient testing, frustrating user experience… there are perils lurking around every corner! Let’s face it, the last thing you need is a service provider adding twists and turns during what is typically a stressful time, regardless of how smooth open enrollment goes. When selecting a benefits administration system, the first focus may be on the initial implementation, but be sure to consider what their project management process and support will look like for your next OE, too. Look for proactive measures to learn about the employee experience to ensure a great open enrollment.

Questions to ask:

• What is your process for handling open enrollment for clients?
• How long does the open enrollment setup process take? When do you start planning for OE with your clients?
• If my benefits change, will you set up our new plans in the system?
• What does the employee experience for open enrollment look like?

A Quiet Place - You’re going to have to speak up!
Let’s face it – we know many employees don’t truly listen when it comes to their benefits. Or they don’t understand what they are hearing! Going quiet on employee communication will only make things worse. It’s important that your benefits administration platform offers effective ways to communicate with employees, whether it’s through customized messaging and workflows, direct email or text communication, or access to 1:1 help if they need it. Look for modern features like real-time chat and ">smart decision support workflows that reduce questions to the HR department.

Questions to ask:

• What types of communication does your system offer (email, text, etc.)? Can I pre-schedule or set triggers for employee messaging?
• How much can I customize messaging or employee workflows in the system to better educate my employees on their benefits?
• If an employee is stuck, is there a way for them to contact someone by chat or phone?

Arachnophobia - Bugs and errors and delays, oh my!
Everyone wants a customized experience tailored to their organization’s unique benefits program. But when system configurations require custom code, it create frightful side effects (not to mention…unexpected cost). New coding, even by the best development teams, may put your solution at risk of new bugs and errors, leading to even more delays. The more customization a system has “out of the box,” the more you can rest easy that small tweaks don’t turn into big EEKS! It’s important to understand what the system is capable of, how customizations or enhancements are deployed and how quickly, and how errors are handled if they occur.

Questions to ask:

• How does your QA process work during implementation? How about during system upgrades or changes?
• How customizable or flexible is your system out of the box? What configurations can we do ourselves, versus are done for us by your team?
• How do you manage code fixes and troubleshooting for clients?
• What are your issue resolution SLAs and average performance?

Hocus Pocus - Because when it just works, it’s like magic
Of course, it’s not all tricks when it comes to benefits administration software. When you find the right match, it just works – almost like magic. Only there’s no shortcut spell to get there. A thorough evaluation process can help you avoid a failed implementation. You can start by assessing your current solution to uncover what works, and what causes pain for your HR team or your employees. Use these insights to really probe with potential new service providers. Insights from their current clients can also help shed light on what you might experience as a new client.

Questions to ask:

• What is your client retention rate or average client tenure?
• Can I speak with one of your clients about their experience?
• Can you share case studies from clients in my industry or employer size?

Leave the thrills and chills to the haunted house and enjoy the sweet success of a well-selected benefits administration partner for your organization. Workterra’s fully configurable, easy-to-use benefits administration and enrollment platform is built to simplify the growing complexity of benefits for HR teams and employees. Knock on our door: we’d love to treat to you a sweet demo of our industry-leading technology!