HUMAN RESOURCES CASE STUDY:
City of Memphis Benefits Enrollment

The City of Memphis, the 24th largest municipal authority in the U.S., with more than 6,000 employees, contracted Morris Marketing Group (via HRO Partners) to develop and implement a marketing and information campaign for the rollout of its new employee benefits program.

Since the new benefits program was a dramatic change from historical programs and included new options not previously available to employees, an aggressive campaign was needed to not only share the information about the new program, but also help employees determine which program would be best for them and their dependents and guide them through the enrollment process. The goal was to successfully convince employees to switch plans from the more expensive, Premier Plan, to the new, less expensive, Local Plus plan. The savings would not only benefit the employees, but also save money for the City. Primary research was carried out internally through interviews with City of Memphis Human Resources officers and subject matter experts from HRO Partners.

Secondary research was done to increase familiarity with previous benefits plans, the history behind the need for the changes, and employee and retiree feedback regarding past programs and proposed changes.

The research was relevant to the plan and direction of the campaign as we discovered there was a great deal of animosity and hostility regarding the new plans as well as distrust of City officials by employees and especially the retirees.

The direction of the campaign was directly affected by the results of the primary, but especially the secondary, research as it revealed a crucial need to build trust between current employees and City administrators and repair relationships between retirees and City administrators in order for the benefit plan transition and enrollment to proceed smoothly.

Basing the strategic plan on findings from research it was determined the City of Memphis needed to build reputational capital with current employees as well as retirees, as specifically related to changes in the benefits program structure, in order to facilitate a smooth enrollment period. A robust strategy was defined to specifically highlight the benefits of each new plan option and how plans could be personalized based on individual circumstances and needs. 

The plan was to create a variety of communication materials that would appeal to the broad audience, but also convey the specific details of each plan so that employees could gain a better understanding of the different options that were available to them, while also conveying the need to seek out answers and complete enrollment by specific deadline dates. 

The specific measurable objectives were:

• Design and create separate postcards announcing benefits information sessions to be mailed to all employees and retirees
• Design and create separate booklets of all benefits for employees and retirees
• Design and create separate cards outlining the key elements of the new program to be mailed out to all current employees and retirees
• Design and create a flyer of FAQs for call center employees to use as a reference when fielding calls from employees
• Design and write a content presentation for employee information sessions
• Design, write and record voiceover narration for online informational presentations to be uploaded to the COM website.
• Successfully enroll 6,500 employees in 30 days
• Successfully convert 25% of employees to the preferred plan
• 90% or better satisfaction rate with enrollment communication and implementation

Target audiences were all current City of Memphis employees, plus retirees and eligible spouses or dependents of deceased employees/retirees.

Once primary and secondary research was completed, the activities flow proceeded to the design and creation of the various communications materials.

Key tactics consisted of direct, clear, and concise communications materials facilitated through direct communication with program partners within the City of Memphis administration and indirect communication with end-user employees via the various communications materials.

No difficulties other than previously mentioned resistance to the change in services were encountered and the only organizations that were involved were the City of Memphis HR administrators and HRO Partners personnel.

There was no external advertising for this project.

To evaluate the campaign, we compared the results against the measurable objectives defined in the beginning of the project.

All were met and/or exceeded and reflected a well thought-out and implemented strategy, plan, and tactics, including:

• 6,500 City of Memphis employees successfully enrolled within the 30-day time frame
• 28% of employees converted to the preferred health benefits plan
• 95% reported enrollment satisfaction