Federal contact centers face their biggest staffing challenge of the year during open enrollment season.
According to Federal News Network, federal employees are seeing the largest premium increases in a decade; 13.5 percent for FEHB participants, which means your call center will handle more complex benefit questions and higher volumes than usual during the compressed mid-November to mid-December timeline.¹
Your contact center staffing decisions today determine whether you’ll meet service level agreements during this compressed timeline or face the operational disruptions that come with being understaffed. Security clearance processing alone averages 60 days for the fastest 90 percent of cases, with the remaining 10 percent taking six months or longer.²
This means the window for securing qualified admin and contact center talent is closing fast, and waiting until October puts your open enrollment operations at risk. The good news is that proactive workforce planning can prevent these staffing gaps and keep your operations running smoothly when demand peaks.
How to Staff Up for Open Season
Building a workforce that can handle open enrollment demands requires strategic planning across multiple areas, from talent sourcing to performance monitoring. Here’s how to secure the right people with the skills and clearances your federal contact center needs.
Start Your Talent Pipeline 90 Days Early
Early recruitment is non-negotiable for federal contact centers due to security clearance processing requirements. Begin by identifying candidates with existing federal experience who understand government benefit structures and compliance requirements.
These professionals typically require shorter onboarding periods and adapt faster to federal contact center environments.
Build relationships with candidates who have worked on previous open enrollment campaigns, as their experience with high-volume benefit inquiries proves invaluable during peak periods. Create a pre-qualified candidate pool by screening for both technical skills and security eligibility early in the process.
Screen for Federal Experience and Clearance
Prioritize candidates who bring federal benefits knowledge and active security clearances to your hiring process. Focus your screening on:
- Experience with FSA programs and FEHB enrollment procedures
- Understanding of federal employee benefit structures
- Active security clearances or clearance eligibility
- Customer service experience in high-stress environments
- Ability to explain complex benefit information clearly
Test candidates on scenarios specific to benefits enrollment, including handling frustrated callers dealing with premium increases and navigating complex plan comparisons.
Design Training for Open Season Complexity
Open enrollment training must cover more than standard contact center procedures. This year’s changes make comprehensive preparation even more critical, as federal employees face significant shifts including fewer plan options (130 vs 158 in 2024) and new coverage requirements for anti-obesity medications and IVF treatments.³
These complexities will generate more detailed questions that require well-prepared agents to handle effectively. Start by focusing your training curriculum on the inquiry types your agents will encounter most frequently: premium cost comparisons, plan availability changes, and enrollment deadline questions.
Since these calls often involve navigating multiple systems simultaneously, build extra time into your training schedule for hands-on practice with FSAFEDS platforms and federal databases. Rather than rushing through abbreviated programs, plan for 3-4 weeks of comprehensive training that gives agents the confidence to handle complex benefit discussions from their first day on the floor.
Balance Permanent and Temporary Staffing
Use a strategic mix of permanent and temporary staff to handle open enrollment volume while maintaining cost efficiency. This balanced approach allows you to maintain continuity through your core permanent team while adding the flexibility needed to scale up during peak periods without long-term financial commitments.
Permanent staff bring deep program knowledge and institutional memory, while temporary additions provide the surge capacity essential for managing increased call volumes. Consider temp-to-hire arrangements for promising candidates who need additional evaluation time.
This strategy proves particularly valuable during open enrollment because it lets you assess how well candidates perform under the actual pressure they’ll face, rather than relying solely on interview performance. By evaluating these staff members during high-stakes periods, you can make more informed permanent hiring decisions while reducing the risk of costly hiring mistakes.
Plan for Quality Assurance at Scale
Increased staffing during open enrollment requires proportional increases in supervisory and quality assurance resources to maintain service standards. According to the VA Office of Inspector General, understaffed federal call centers experience significant performance problems—the Atlanta center’s 30 percent abandonment rate occurred when operating with 29 staff instead of the needed 53 (VA OIG).⁴
This demonstrates why scaling quality oversight alongside agent numbers becomes critical for maintaining performance during peak periods. Establish clear performance metrics and monitoring procedures before open enrollment begins, ensuring your supervisors can quickly identify and address issues as they arise.
Plan for real-time coaching during peak periods when mistakes can have immediate consequences for federal employees making important benefit decisions, and implement escalation procedures for complex cases that front-line agents cannot resolve independently.
Critical Open Season Timeline
Your open enrollment staffing success depends on hitting key milestones well before the mid-November start date:
- August: Begin talent pipeline development – Start recruiting and screening candidates with federal experience
- September: Initiate security clearance processing – Submit clearance applications for qualified candidates
- Early October: Finalize hiring decisions – Complete interviews and extend offers to selected candidates
- Mid-October: Launch comprehensive training – Begin 3-4 week training programs covering benefit changes and system navigation
- Early November: Conduct final preparations – Complete quality assurance setup and supervisor assignments
- Mid-November: Deploy full staffing model – Launch operations with trained, cleared, and supervised staff ready for peak demand
Ready to Secure Your Open Enrollment Workforce?
Open enrollment season waits for no organization, and staffing gaps during peak periods can derail your service level agreements and citizen satisfaction metrics. Salem Solutions specializes in federal contact center staffing with pre-vetted talent pools of security-cleared professionals who understand government benefit programs.
Our established relationships with federal contractors and deep knowledge of clearance processing timelines mean we can deploy qualified staff when you need them most. Don’t let staffing shortfalls compromise your open enrollment operations. Contact us today to build your workforce before the mid-November rush begins.
References
1. Friedman, D. (2024, November 28). 3 reasons to review FEHB, PSHB plan options before Open Season ends. Federal News Network. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/open-season/2024/11/3-reasons-to-review-fehb-pshb-plan-options-before-open-season-ends/
2. ClearanceJobs. (n.d.). How long does it take to process a security clearance? ClearanceJobs Support. https://support.clearancejobs.com/security-clearance-faqs/how-long-does-it-take-to-process-a-security-clearance
3. FedManager. (2025). 2025 FEHB open season: Changes to consider. https://www.fedmanager.com/news/2025-fehb-open-season-changes-to-consider.
4. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. (2025, January). Atlanta call center staffing and operational challenges provide lessons for the new VISN 7 clinical contact center (Report No. 23-01609-14). https://www.vaoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2025-01/vaoig-23-01609-14.pdf.
