Late-summer and early-fall is a great test case for benefits platforms. Why?

Consider the plight of the working parent. After two long months with no school (and so a child care setup that requires an Excel spreadsheet, lots of understanding relatives, and a stack of IOUs to be effective), the new school calendar will kick off in many places on August 30^th (a Wednesday), only to be followed two days later by a pre-Labor Day Friday off from school, and so yet another day that will require a tap dance and an understanding pinch-hitting sitter to get to work.

Later in September:

• Elementary school will have a half day (it's inevitable)
• Meet-the-teacher conferences will be helpfully scheduled for 1pm.
• For good measure, messy new drop-off routines will torpedo everyone's commute

That's just the grade-school snapshot. For those beyond it, college applications are due and first-semester tuition bills have arrived. Relied on a college student to look in on mom and dad since June? That's no longer an option. Just graduated in May? Get ready to make that first loan repayment. And for the many employees hitting the books themselves this fall, back-to-school anxiety is more than merely sympathy pains.

Back to School: A Microcosm of the Rest of the Year

The point is, post-summer has a lot going on. And it isn't a one-off, but a microcosm of everything that happens all year - and all at once. Employees may always worry about a child's college education; but never more acutely than when said child is about to take his one and only shot at that dream school he's been working toward for the last 18 years.

The moral of the story is, take a good look at your benefits programs this fall. If your platform is set up to handle the chaos of the back to school season, it can handle anything. 

Watch our webinar on-demand to see how leading employers like Ernst & Young are helping employees strike a better balance - and seeing great payoffs.