Technology has altered how we communicate in virtually every aspect of our world. Many of us communicate (and over-communicate) via social media sites. I am forever grateful for “Blocking” and “Un-Following” as the overload of updates and “selfies” fill my newsfeeds. In a professional setting it would be deemed inappropriate to follow these same tactics, yet it occurs far too frequently. The lack of communication among professionals boggles my mind.
The HR World is currently finishing up Open Enrollment! This means everyone is busy: inboxes are over-flowing, voice mails are full and to-do lists are never-ending. It’s all part of the gig; it’s the same thing every fall, and at times, some of our colleagues in Benefits Administration choose the ostrich approach. A recent example jumps to mind. As a member of the HR Technology & Outsourcing Practice, our job is to assist our clients and our Lockton Account Teams. Our combined experience has put many of us on the vendor side and on the user side, in short . . . . “we get it!”
So when rumblings became quite loud on an Open Enrollment with a 12/1/2013 start date and communication was lacking from the vendor, I knew it was a job for the TOP Team! Seriously, it’s about time we get our own Bat Signal, right? We started to dig around and ask questions and learned the OE ended in October and our Account Team had not heard from the Benefits Administration vendor for almost a month. In fact, the last message was from the client to Lockton, a cc to the vendor, with an email thread a couple weeks old asking if their vendor contact still worked there. The response: “Hello, yes I am still here but just swamped. I will try to address your issues tomorrow morning. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns.”
Let’s dissect this, shall we? Swamped─ Yes, that is understood based on the lack of replies for the past several weeks. Trying to address the issues the next day─ In technology, we geeks look to Yoda and realize there is no TRY only DO, which may mean seeking out additional resources when things pile up. And the generic closing sentence about contacting them directly is a little redundant, since an email is a form of direct contact. (Or did something shift in how professionals communicate without letting me know?) Customer Service is ongoing and often most important during the busy periods. It’s a challenge and a requirement in our field. Look at the big picture: we are responsible for hundreds of thousands of employees having access to their benefits on the specified plan year start date and if that data does not get to the carriers, there could be delays in getting medical attention or a prescription filled. That’s the bottom line; people are relying on what happens behind the scenes of the enrollment process to make everything work smoothly when they access their benefits. If the communication ceases, so does the process. 
We escalated the issue to one of our main contacts at the vendor and things started happening quickly. The Account Team asked what we did because suddenly they were getting emails after not hearing from the vendor in almost a month. It was discovered the new medical plan structure for our client had not been set up and no file had been sent. This means 800-900 employees and their dependents were without medical/prescription coverage as of 12/1/2013, and we didn’t discover it until December 2nd. This scenario chills the blood of an HR Manager. We facilitated communication with the right people. Mind you, this process involved a lot of rerouting of emails and forwards to different people at the carrier and the vendor. Each email was cringe-worthy as it seemed no one was taking accountability; email threads were growing exponentially and we needed resolution weeks ago! It was decided the vendor could pull an enrollment census and the carrier graciously agreed to load it via a manual process. All was good in the world again and we could now let our client know what had happened, how it would be resolved and when. A day later, we received an email from the vendor stating they would update the plan structure and it would go on the electronic file scheduled for December 4th. Then we had a call with the client, who was notified that the plan of action had changed. Despite the ping pong match of emails and phone calls attempting to finalize the resolution, we sadly sat and listened to the sound of crickets as the clock ticked closer to our follow-up call with the client. This situation was embarrassing to us and should have been embarrassing to the vendor as well─ it’s truly hard to know since communication went offline for almost six hours and we did not hear back until well after close of business.
At this moment, we are back on track, emails from weeks ago are getting responses, the client is up to speed and the eligibility file will be with the carrier today. Heart rates were raised, bad words were uttered, phones were slammed down and nerves were frayed. There will certainly be some staffing changes on the vendor side per the client’s request—a cause-and-effect in motion.
We are all tethered to technology in one or several forms. If you are running late to a meeting you can call, text, email, Tweet, Instagram the traffic or post on Facebook – the days of “not being able to find a pay phone” are long gone. In the technology arena, just dropping off the grid when clients and employees are depending on you is unacceptable and certainly not good for future business. As I sit here blowing off steam from a situation which could have been avoided, I get a call from a vendor I spoke with over two weeks ago. He was returning my call on some questions I had regarding his product. He came across my original message and was getting back to me, again. I let him know we had already spoken I currently had all I needed and he had even emailed me additional data following our discussion. We both had a good laugh over it and he said he would update his notes. I thanked him numerous times for getting back to me . . . . twice! Over-communication trumps no communication every day, in every way.