According to Voya Financial research, 91% of working Americans say they typically pick the same health plan as last year. That inertia cuts both ways: the window where people rubber-stamp a medical plan is the window where a wellness offer finally gets seen.
Why Open Enrollment Is the Best Time to Launch a Wellness Program
The attention is already there. Employees are in a portal, thinking about their health, making decisions with real money attached. Launch a wellness program in March and you compete with everything else on their plate. Launch in October and you ride a wave you did not have to create.
The window is short. According to Voya, 49% of benefits-eligible employed Americans spend less than 20 minutes reviewing their workplace benefits during open enrollment. Still more than you will get in February, and attention is rising: 77% of employees plan to spend more time reassessing their elections, up from 69% a year earlier, per Voya's 2025 research.
Mid-market employers have the most to gain. Only 28% of workers at establishments with fewer than 100 employees had access to a wellness program in March 2025, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You are offering something most of your competitors' people do not have. Say that in your materials.
What Most Employers Waste the Window On
Most open enrollment benefits communication is compliance-driven: plan descriptions, rate sheets, deadline reminders. Accurate, forgettable. The waste is not sending it. It is sending only that, then launching the wellness program quietly in Q1 when nobody is watching.
The result is invisible programs. According to SHRM's EAP research, most employers now offer an employee assistance program, yet Gallup finds far fewer employees use it, or even know it exists:
That is an awareness problem, not a product problem.
There is a budget consequence. According to SHRM's 2025 survey, just 39% of organizations offered wellness programs with resources. Programs get cut when they cannot show participation, and they cannot show participation when nobody knew they existed.
Your Open Enrollment Wellness Launch Timeline
If you are running an October or November enrollment, build now. A realistic plan gives you six weeks of setup, two to four weeks of active enrollment, and a January kickoff while motivation is still high.
| Timeframe | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Early August | Choose the program, confirm pricing, lock the incentive | Legal and vendor review runs long |
| Late August | Draft the communication calendar and your one-sentence pitch | The pitch comes before the design |
| September | Brief managers, add the wellness step to the benefits portal | Managers field the real questions |
| Early October | Teaser email plus one all-hands mention | Two touches before beat six touches during |
| Open enrollment | Wellness election sits inside the medical election flow | Killing the separate sign-up is your biggest lever |
| November to December | Confirmations, incentive reminder, nudge for non-enrollers | Late enrollers are your cheapest participants |
| January | Launch the first challenge or course | Enrollment isn't participation. Give people something to do |
That last row is where programs die. People enroll in October, hear nothing until spring, and forget they signed up.
The gap is measurable. In an Avidon controlled study of 300 non-incentivized participants, program completion ran 17% with no coaching, 28% with live coaching alone, and 36% with coaching plus technology. Enrollment gets people in the door. Structured follow-through decides whether they finish.
Getting it right pays. Gallup found employees who strongly agree their organization cares about their overall well-being are 4.4 times as likely to be engaged and 53% less likely to be job hunting. Still sizing the spend? Start with what an employee wellness program costs before locking an incentive number.
What to Say in Your Open Enrollment Benefits Communication
Lead with what the employee gets, not what the program is. Nobody enrolls in "a holistic well-being platform." They enroll in "a coach who will help you sleep better, free, plus $150 on your paycheck." Write for someone skimming on their phone at 9pm. Four rules reliably lift enrollment:
The internal business case is easier than most HR leaders expect. MetLife's 2026 study found employers expect an average return of $2.30 for every $1 invested in employee health, and that just 44% of employees feel holistically healthy, so the demand is real.
Design the Incentive So Enrolling Is the Easy Choice
Incentives work when they are specific, near-term, and attached to one visible action. A $50 gift card for finishing a health assessment during enrollment beats a $500 premium differential that takes eight steps across a year. Pick the one action you want done in October.
Incentives are standard at scale, and mid-market employers have more room than they think. According to KFF's 2025 survey:
The infrastructure exists. The enrollment moment is what is missing. Before publishing a dollar figure, work through wellness incentive design for 2026.
How to Tell Whether It Worked
Track four numbers:
- Share of eligible employees enrolled
- Share completing a first activity within 30 days
- The 90-day active rate
- Incentive redemption
Enrollment alone flatters the program. The 30-day number predicts whether you will still have a budget next year. Track the source, too: if 70% of enrollments came through the portal and 4% from your announcement email, you know where next year's effort goes.
Then the harder half: enrollment is a decision, participation is a habit. Habits need cues, repetition, and early wins, which is why the January kickoff matters more than the October signature. Understanding how habits work separates a program with 60% enrollment and 8% engagement from one that sticks.
How Avidon Health Approaches Open Enrollment Launches
Avidon Health builds programs on cognitive behavioral training, meaning content designed to change what people do, not just what they know. For an enrollment launch, that means short courses and challenges someone can start in ten minutes, so the first win lands before the novelty fades.
Speed matters as much as depth. Mid-market teams do not have nine months, so a small-business wellness program needs to be live inside one enrollment cycle. Avidon's health coaching efficacy report has the numbers for the renewal conversation: 73% of participants who attended a first coaching session completed the full four-session program, and 97% would recommend their coach.
