Last year’s elections are a snapshot, not a strategy. If your process rolls people forward unless they log in, you have designed a default — and then you are surprised when 41% do not understand what they picked. Communication is how you change what “doing nothing” means.
Passive re-enrollment is operationally clean. It is also how stale dependents and a $0 HSA survive another year. Active enrollment is not a moral upgrade. It is a look at household, calendar, and dollars before the default locks. Most programs skip the language and call completion a win. This sits next to the enrollment playbook and the checklist — those cover reach. This is the consequence sentence.
Name the default in one plain sentence
Write the consequence before the inspiration. “If you take no action, last year’s elections continue at this year’s rates — $X per paycheck.” Or: “If you take no action, you have no medical coverage January 1.” Those are different products. Eighty-six percent already say benefits confuse them. An unstated default manufactures the next 41% who will not understand this year’s pick.
Put that sentence on the first screen, the first text, and the poster. Changes are paragraph two. If rates moved, show this year’s paycheck next to last year’s. If you require active enrollment, say what happens the day after close — in week one, not the last 48 hours. The audit mistakes start here: activity that looks like communication and a default nobody can quote.
Calendar language, not a date stamp
A window is not a calendar. Give a sequence: this week, who is on the plan; next week, compare medical in paycheck dollars; then finish on a phone. The open enrollment hub, the templates, and the week-by-week timeline exist so you are not inventing that under deadline.
Time the ask to the household, not HR’s send grid. SMS for the week’s job; the open page for the comparison; print for people who will never see either. Suppress anyone who already completed an active election. Mid-window, report completion by segment. A blended 70% that is 95% at HQ and 40% on third shift is a passive program with a good office.
Household language, or the default wins at dinner
The person who clicks is often not the person who uses the plan. Active enrollment behind a company login is still passive for the household. Write one message to show at home: what we have today, what doing nothing costs next year, a no-login link, the lock date. Ask who should be added or dropped. Dependent drift is the quiet cost of a roll-forward. A Spanish-speaking decision-maker and an English-only default notice is active on paper only.
What “active” is allowed to mean
Active does not mean a tour of every voluntary product. It means a confirmed look at medical, an acknowledgment of the default if you still allow one, and one next step. Confirming “keep what I have” is a decision — count it. The leadership metric is documented action vs. a silent roll-forward. Opens are not evidence.
Managers will be asked “do I have to do anything?” Give them the official consequence sentence and: “I am not allowed to tell you which plan to pick.” Unbriefed managers say “you’re probably fine” and recreate last year at scale.
After close, do not treat a roll-forward as done
Confirm after close — including people who never logged in: election, per-paycheck cost, start date, two setup actions. Then watch active vs. default by segment and tickets that start with “I didn’t know I still had that.” If those do not fall, the sentence is not the problem. The reach is. Score it or get a second set of eyes before next fall copies this one.
Key takeaways
- Last year’s election is a snapshot. Rolling it forward without a stated consequence is a hidden decision.
- Put the default in one sentence — coverage continues at $X, or coverage ends — on the first screen.
- Give the household a week-by-week job, not only a window date.
- A login-walled review is still passive for the spouse who actually uses the plan.
- Count a confirmed “keep what I have” as active. Count a silent roll-forward as a default.
- Confirm after close, including the people who never logged in.
Frequently asked questions
Is passive re-enrollment always a bad idea?
It is a bad idea when the consequence is unstated, rates moved, dependents may have changed, or a large share of the workforce never sees the message. It can be operationally necessary. It is not a communication strategy. If you keep it, the first sentence of every message has to be what happens if they do nothing, in dollars.
What is an “active” election if someone keeps the same plan?
A documented confirmation that they saw this year’s cost and the default rule and chose to keep the coverage. A portal that auto-advances them because they opened an email is not that. Your file should be able to tell the two apart. Leadership should see the split, not a single completion percentage.
How do we raise active elections without nagging?
One job per week, suppress people who already finished, and put the consequence on SMS and a no-login page — not only in a long email. Household language (“show this to whoever handles the kids’ appointments”) outperforms a fifth reminder to the same inbox. Nagging is what you do when every message is the same ask to everyone.
What should we tell managers about the default?
Give them the official consequence sentence and a prohibition on advising plan choice. “You’re probably fine if you ignore it” is the most expensive unofficial policy in the building. If they do not know whether someone must act, they escalate. They do not guess.
Need the campaign calendar and the consequence line in writing? Start with the templates.
Kate transforms complex ideas into clear, actionable employee communications that drive behavior change, leading projects from strategy through production. A Texas A&M communications graduate and IABC member.
