Allegis Group Inc. has incorporated scientifically proven communication tactics into its employee communications to drive enrollment in its health care accounts and increase employee satisfaction.
Historically, the consumer-directed health care (CDHC) industry and employers alike have used financial incentives and mandatory benefit designs to affect enrollment and satisfaction. However, research shows that these programs alone are not sufficient to drive uptake, increase savings and improve health.
“When we launched the new campaign last year it was due to a lot of employee feedback regarding their dissatisfaction with our benefits,” said Tracy Johnson, vice president of Human Resources. “We had a difficult time understanding why people did not like them when we offered a great PPO plan with BlueCross BlueShield along with a health savings account (HSA), which the company contributes to each year. What we realized is that we in HR were focused on educating people on how to enroll in and understand the benefits and their choices. We were too focused on process, and we were letting the social norm in the organization be driven by the small percentage of dissatisfied employees who did not like the change from a traditional PPO to a consumer-driven health plan PPO.”
Johnson and the Allegis executive HR team learned about Consumerology, pioneered by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, from its HAS administrator, ConnectYourCare. Consumerology is the advanced application of the behavioral sciences to health care, combining proven consumer marketing strategies, such as targeted messaging, with insights from behavioral economics and affiliated disciplines.
The team quickly latched on to the Consumerology principles of loss aversion, social persuasion, and hyperbolic discounting and now incorporates these principles into every employee benefits communication.
“Early on in the transition to CDHP we recognized that a lot of our employees are not the main user of the benefits,” Johnson said. “So we made sure to deliver our newsletter and other communications to employees through company email and intranet sites as well as sending eye-catching, colorful, easy-to-read newsletters to their homes where the spouse, parent, or other interested parties would have access to the same information.”
Allegis uses loss aversion to guide employees toward an incented action, like wellness initiatives, by phrasing the alternative to this desired action as a loss. Social persuasion (social norms) captures the importance people place on knowing how they are doing relative to others. One month, the company profiled a happy HAS participant in the monthly benefits newsletter. Other communications tout the fact that the majority of employees use and enjoy their HSAs.
Hyperbolic discounting demonstrates that future events feel about half as important as events today, which can lead to procrastination. Allegis counteracts hyperbolic discounting and increases enrollment in health care accounts by highlighting the ease of account use and minimizing the effort needed to enroll in the account.
“My team has worked very hard in moving the perception of the benefits to a more positive position as well as make sure employees are well educated on what is available to them,” Johnson said.
- Company: Allegis Group Inc.
- Headquarters: Hanover, MD
- Website: www.allegisgroup.com
- No. of employees: 8,000 internal employees, and 85,000-plus contract employees
- Nature of business: Allegis Group provides staffing and recruiting services throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
Key Executives:
- James Davis, chairman
- Michael Salandra, CEO
- Paul Bowie, chief financial officer
- Neil Mann, executive president of Human Resources
Key solution providers: 
- BlueCross BlueShield, medical and prescriptions
- MetLife, dental
- VSP, vision
- The Hartford, life and longterm disability insurance
- Health Advocate, ComPsyche, employee assistance programs
- Wachovia, 401(k)
- ConnectYourCare, health savings, dependent care FSA and transportation benefits