Compliance
Employers should position Dependent Eligibility Verification as a necessary measure to ensure compliance with ERISA and other Federal Statutes. Saving money should never be part of the explanation to employees for why they need to verify dependent eligibility.
Word Choice
Communications with employees should avoid the word audit. Dependent Eligibility is the term to use because "audit" is a negative word (thank the IRS) for most Americans. Also, any reference to employees should use the client's preferred term for staff, i.e., associates, team members, or Cast Members (Disney).
Tone
Letters and emails to employees should be focused and specific. Avoid any draconian appearance or tone, as all communications should be upbeat. It would be best if you used color and font changes. Be sure to mention compliance. And, for best results, use proper branding with client logos.
Executive Endorsement
It would be best to introduce Eligibility Verification to employees by a company executive; the higher the ranking, the better. You should tell employees that the project covers dependents regardless of tenure, position, or title. Employees are more receptive to disruptive practices or compliance measures when they believe the company is not singling them out.
Support
You need to educate employees on how to comply with the project, but more importantly, they need proper support to complete the process. A third-party vendor with qualified Customer Service specialists can answer live questions to address every scenario, which keeps the project from weighing down HR.
Resources
Clients conducting a Dependent Audit should be prepared to provide resources to employees for where to find documents and where to find alternate insurance for dependents when necessary. Using a vendor can increase the available resources provided to employees.
Using these best practices will result in less anxiety and noise from employees and much higher levels of participation. In the end, please remember that Dependent Audits should never be scary for consultants to recommend to clients, nor for clients to implement.
A qualified, highly-experienced specialist like DSI will ensure you get the best results with minimum complications for your project. Click here for a detailed quote on your upcoming verification.
