The Future of Enrollment Isn’t Face-to-Face: Remote Workforces Changed the Game
Remember when benefit enrollment meant clipboards, break rooms, and stacks of paperwork?
That era is long gone. Today’s remote, mobile, and hard-to-reach workforce has made traditional enrollment methods not just inefficient, but virtually impossible.
At Enrollment First, we foresaw this shift more than 20 years ago—and created a solution tailored to meet the evolving needs of employers and brokers alike.
In this post, we’ll delve into why the face-to-face model no longer cuts it, how industry leaders are adapting to these changes, and what you need to do to stay relevant and competitive in today’s benefits landscape.
Why Face-to-Face Enrollment Is Failing
No matter if your clients are in trucking, healthcare, staffing, or service industries, one thing remains constant:
Employees and contractors are rarely in one place.
Traditional face-to-face enrollment presents numerous challenges, including:
- Geography: Distributed, remote, and hybrid teams make coordination difficult.
- Scheduling Conflicts: Shift work, transit schedules, and gig work mean there’s rarely a convenient time for everyone.
- Paper Trails: Manual forms increase the risk of errors, missed data, and compliance issues.
- Time-Consuming: In-person sessions demand significant time from HR teams and brokers, pulling resources away from other priorities.
It’s not just outdated — it’s a barrier to effective enrollment that leaves many organizations struggling to keep pace with modern needs.
How We Got Here: A Transportation Industry Origin Story
In 2002, Enrollment First was born out of necessity. Our initial challenge was enrolling truck drivers in health benefits — a group that was almost impossible to reach because they were constantly on the move.
To solve this, we built a new model:
- A licensed, salaried call center to connect directly with employees wherever they were
- A digital enrollment platform that made sign-ups quick and easy
- A dedicated team to manage administration from start to finish
This innovative approach didn’t just work for trucking — it laid the foundation for what we do today. Now, our model powers enrollment for over 1,000 employer groups and more than 170,000 members across various industries, helping organizations adapt to the realities of a mobile workforce.
The New Standard: Flexible, Digital, Supported Enrollment
Modern brokers and benefit teams are moving toward enrollment experiences that are:
- Online-first – Accessible from anywhere, 24/7
- Guided but optional – With support from licensed agents (phone or web)
- Mobile-optimized – Especially important for gig workers and contractors
- Admin-free for employers – With full service from eligibility to billing
Meet eConnect: Enrollment First’s End-to-End Platform
Our proprietary eConnect technology is designed to streamline and simplify benefits enrollment for today’s workforce. It offers:
- Self-serve enrollment portals for individuals, making sign-ups quick and accessible
- Group administrator dashboards for real-time reporting and invoicing
- Live support from licensed agents available 11 hours a day to assist with any questions
- Built-in compliance with ACA, carrier requirements, and state-specific mandates to ensure accuracy and peace of mind
Whether your client has 5 employees or 5,000 contractors, enrollment becomes seamless — all without a single face-to-face meeting. eConnect empowers organizations to adapt effortlessly to the modern, mobile workforce.
Why This Matters for Brokers
As a broker, your reputation hinges on providing a smooth, efficient enrollment experience for your clients. While face-to-face interactions may feel more personal, they can also slow down decision-making, generate excessive paperwork, and fall short when serving mobile or remote teams — ultimately costing you time and opportunities.
Adopting a digital-first enrollment approach enables you to:
- Scale your book of business
- Serve industries that traditional brokers can’t reach
- Offer year-round solutions with less admin time
- Earn commissions on a wider range of products and broker support
Out With the Clipboard. In With the Click
Face-to-face enrollment had its moment, but today’s workforce demands flexibility, speed, and simplicity — and your enrollment strategy should reflect that.
With Enrollment First, you can offer:
- ACA-compliant health plans
- Dental, vision, and voluntary benefits
- Tech that does the heavy lifting
- Support for your clients from real licensed agents
- One platform. One solution. One toll-free number
Ready to modernize enrollment for your clients?
Let’s talk about how we can help you offer seamless, scalable benefits without paperwork.