Open enrollment season is approaching for some, and despite all the work HR pros put into making sure the process goes smoothly each year, many employees remain stumped when they go to elect benefits.

When MetLife surveyed 2,600 full-time workers in July, around one-half (45%) said they still don’t fully understand elements of their benefits package. Jamie Madden, SVP of workforce engagement and benefits connectivity, told HR Brew in September that the confusion is driven in part by a lack of education. A majority (60%) of employees who regretted their benefits choices said a lack of understanding or information was to blame.

Experts offered HR Brew tips for demystifying the open enrollment process.

Be transparent. Healthcare costs are on the rise, due to factors like inflation, labor shortages in the healthcare sector, and the growing popularity of expensive new drugs such as GLP-1s for weight loss. Employers expect to see the average employee health benefit cost rise by more than 5% next year, according to a recent Mercer survey. If your employees are going to see a change to their benefits package next year, such as a rate increase, it’s best to be as transparent with them about it as possible, said Cindy Najera, a senior principal management consultant with Helios HR, a consulting division of insurance broker and consultancy NFP.

Keep reading here.—CV

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Much like Taylor Swift’s romantic life, DE&I has been on a roller-coaster this year.

As some DE&I leaders have left their jobs, and some companies have been sued over their diversity hiring practices, the future of the field has seemed increasingly uncertain. However, new data suggests that companies may actually be expanding their DE&I efforts this year.

Job listings for DE&I were down in 2022, job ad company Textio reported at the start of 2023. Furthermore, a February LinkedIn analysis also found a drop in chief DE&I officer roles in 2022.

Fast-forward to September 2023, and just 8% of HR leaders report a reduction in their DE&I budgets so far this year, according to a survey of 445 HR leaders released by software company Capterra. Additionally, 58% reported that their companies had placed a greater emphasis on DE&I this year compared to years past.

Keep reading here.—KP

Here’s this week’s edition of our Coworking series. Each week, we chat 1:1 with an HR Brew reader. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

LaDavia Drane sees herself as a builder, and she has built up the inclusion, diversity, and equity work at Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the three and a half years that she’s been leading its efforts globally. Drane said that after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and 2020 police murder of George Floyd, she was tapped to lead the AWS’s DE&I team. Drane said her work with AWS is special because unlike traditional DE&I work on HR teams focused on internal goals, she’s able to work externally as well, showcasing AWS’s stated values in communities across the globe, from Ghana or Korea to Washington, DC, so “every day truly is different and as exciting as the one before.”

What’s the best change you’ve made at work?

Employees are seeking meaning in their everyday work. A job is no longer just a job. It needs to align with our personal values and have purpose in order for us to do our best work. At AWS, we have a leadership principle called “success and scale bring broad responsibility,” which empowers us to make an impact on our communities. With this in mind, we were able to establish the AWS ID&E Innovation Fund three years ago. It provides employees with micro-grants for them to partner with nonprofits to transform the lives of people from underrepresented and underserved communities. To date, we have funded more than 50 projects reaching more than 25,000 people from all over the globe.

Keep reading here.—AD

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: In 10 major US cities, an average of 50.4% of workers have returned to office compared to pre-pandemic attendance. (the Wall Street Journal)

Quote: “It was [a] no-brainer for me to replace the entire team with a bot…which is like 100 times smarter, who is instant, and who cost me like 100th of what I used to pay to the support team.”—Suumit Shah, CEO of e-commerce platform Dukaan, on firing customer service agents and replacing them with a ChatGPT-based bot (the Washington Post)

Read: Strikes at the Big Three automakers are escalating as the UAW’s new negotiating strategy challenges leadership at the car companies. (Yahoo Finance)

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