About 40% of employees in a recent study indicate that they enrolled in their benefits through Web-based technology only, an increase from the 12% who used online enrollment five years ago.

The use of Web-based technology for some or all of enrollment in employee benefits has increased 165% in the last five years, according to a study from The Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America.

Elena Wu

Just 38% of enrollees did so with paper only, a decline from the 58% who used that approach five years ago. One in five (21%) use a combination of paper and computer, an increase from the 11% who used both in 2005.

“If the trends that we are seeing continue the workplace of the future might be paperless, at least as it pertains to employee benefits,” said Elena Wu, group marketing and worksite officer for Guardian, in a statement. “And we’re talking ten or twenty years into the future, not a half-century from now. In just a short period of time we’ve already seen a dramatic shift toward the use of paperless technology to manage workplace benefits.”

She noted that the Web-based enrollment process is most popular with younger employees, “but surprisingly mature workers also embrace online access to their benefits.”

Among the 61% of full-time employees who used computer-based enrollment for some portion of their employee benefits enrollment, nearly all (92%) cited convenience as the reason. Exactly 87% of respondents said online access to benefits saved time and 73% said it provided them more control.

Among respondents, 67% cited a concern for the environment as a reason for using online benefit enrollment, with women (75%), more than men (61%), valuing the environmental advantages.

“Convenience should be the headline when employers are encouraging employees to transition to online benefits access,” added Wu. “Once you establish advantages of online access such as saving time, improving service and giving employees more control, it is then an important bonus if you are helping the environment.”