Still Printing Benefits Guides? Here’s What That’s Costing You
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Despite the shift toward digital transformation across HR and benefits, many teams are still printing paper guides each enrollment season. Maybe it feels familiar. Maybe it seems like the easiest option. But what does sticking with paper actually cost your team?
Let’s break it down.
1. Time: The Most Expensive Resource
Printed guides are notoriously time-consuming. Between formatting, editing, proofing, translating, routing for approvals, and coordinating with a printer, building a paper guide can take 15-30 hours per client.
Now multiply that by the number of clients, business units, or locations you manage.
And that’s not including time spent answering repetitive questions from employees who never opened the guide.
Stat to know: According to a survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, 80% of employers believe their employees don’t read the benefits materials they receive.
2. Cost: More Than Just Paper and Ink
Let’s talk real dollars.
Printing 60-page guides for 300 employees, plus copies for spouses or dependents, often adds up to thousands of dollars per client. Then add in shipping, storage, and reprints due to errors or late plan changes.
Worse? Once it’s printed, it’s permanent. You can’t update a typo. You can’t pivot. You’re stuck.
Stat to know: Deloitte reports that organizations moving to digital platforms can save $50 to $100 per employee per year through reduced admin and printing costs.
3. Engagement: The Silent Killer of ROI
Even if the printed guide is beautifully designed and technically accurate, the real question is: do people actually use it?
We know that today’s employees are mobile-first. They scroll. They skim. They share links with family. They need quick access to personalized, relevant info—not a stack of printed pages.
Stat to know: A study by Prudential found 64% of employees want to access benefits information digitally, yet only 33% of employers offer mobile access.
When employees don’t engage, they make poor elections, miss deadlines, or flood HR with questions.
4. Agility: What Happens When Plans Change?
You’ve seen it. A carrier makes a last-minute update. A rate shifts. A class of employees gets added. When you’re in a print workflow, those changes mean delays, added cost, and manual workarounds.
Digital tools allow teams to update, publish, and share in real time. No reprints. No overnight shipping. No spreadsheets floating between inboxes.
Stat to know: The average HR team spends 16 hours per client during open enrollment building and editing static materials. That’s time that could be repurposed into strategy, support, or scaling your book.
So What’s the Alternative?
More and more brokers and employers are rethinking the way they communicate benefits. They’re choosing digital platforms that reduce friction, cut waste, and actually improve employee comprehension.
They’re not just making a change for efficiency. They’re making a change for impact.
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