AI-guided benefits enrollment gets a boost

Employees don’t struggle with benefits because they’re careless; they struggle because the choices are complex, time-bound, and often explained in ways that don’t map to real life.

sun life logo

That’s why Sun Life U.S. enabling access to its benefits through Pasito—an AI-powered benefits education and communications platform—is notable. The collaboration connects plan details, payroll data, and personalized context so employees can see how options fit their eligibility, family needs, and budget. The result should be fewer guess-and-hope selections and more confident, informed decisions.

This shift aligns with a broader pattern we track across leaders in HR and communications: confidence grows when guidance arrives in plain language, at the exact moment of choice, and through channels employees already use. The move also recognizes that the hardest part of enrollment isn’t the click; it’s the comprehension.

What’s changing—and why it matters for leaders

Sun Life’s group policyholders will be able to engage Pasito for benefits education and decision support beginning January 1, 2026 (with employers contracting directly with Pasito). Pasito reads plan documents directly and connects with major payroll systems, using those inputs to deliver tailored guidance and employer-branded microsites that link into an organization’s chosen enrollment platform.

For leaders, the significance isn’t only technology. It’s the communication model. When benefits information is accurate, contextual, and easy to act on, employees stop treating enrollment like a compliance task and start treating it like financial and health planning. That builds trust—one of the core planks of the Human Impact Blueprint™—because people experience the organization as a partner, not a gatekeeper.

Closing the confidence gap in supplemental benefits

Most employees feel comfortable selecting medical or dental coverage. Far fewer feel the same with disability, hospital indemnity, accident, or critical illness options. The press release cites LIMRA’s BEAT report: employees report strong understanding of foundational coverages, but confidence drops off with supplemental offerings. That matters because supplemental choices often determine how families weather a serious health event.

AI-guided decision support can narrow that gap by translating dense plan documents into meaningful, personalized comparisons and nudges. When an employee sees, in clear terms, how a disability policy interacts with an HSA—or how hospital indemnity complements a high-deductible plan—confidence rises. And when confidence rises, enrollment selections better reflect actual risk exposure, not guesswork.

HR impact: faster clarity, fewer do-overs

Open enrollment frequently generates rework for HR: repeated explanations, last-minute changes, and post-enrollment corrections when reality clashes with expectations. With employer-branded microsites, automated outreach, and plan-document-grounded guidance, HR teams gain leverage beyond the two-week enrollment window. Education becomes an ongoing service, not a seasonal scramble.

Leaders should treat this as an opportunity to reframe success metrics. Traditional measures—completion rates and error counts—are necessary but incomplete. Add decision confidence, comprehension of supplemental coverages, and claim-time satisfaction. Those signal whether communication is working, not just whether forms were submitted.

Call-to-Insight

If your organization’s benefits message wouldn’t make sense to a new hire on day seven, it won’t rescue a family on day 700. Build for clarity now, when choices are made—not later, when outcomes are fixed.

Leader takeaways

• Start with comprehension, not channels. Use plain-language comparisons drawn from your actual plan documents, then place those explanations inside the enrollment flow.

  
  

• Make education continuous. Treat benefits communication as year-round nudges tied to life events, not a single blast during open enrollment.

  
  

• Measure what matters. Track decision confidence and supplemental coverage understanding, alongside participation and claim-time experience.

  
  

• Align on budget reality. Present options through the lens of real household constraints so employees can calibrate coverage without over- or under-insuring.

  
  

Final reflection

Technology doesn’t replace empathy in benefits communication; it operationalizes it. By meeting employees where they are, with accurate information in usable form, leaders reduce friction, raise confidence, and reinforce a culture of care. That’s how organizations translate benefits from a cost center into a trust engine.

About AdvoCast

AdvoCast is a strategic communications consultancy anchored by the Human Impact Blueprint™—a practical framework for embedding authentic human connection into organizational communication and culture. We help leaders earn trust at scale through clear strategy, modern channels, and measurable outcomes.