Open enrollment may happen but one month a year, but people need benefits the other eleven. And since many life events are pretty easy to predict (School holidays! Winter vacation! Snow!), there's something to remind people about every month of the year.
In the spirit of the season, we offer the twelve months of benefits (in nine installments):
January
There's never a better time to remind employees about 401ks (and money-management benefits in general) than post-black-Friday and holiday-shopping season when busted budgets have folks hungry for financial control.
February/March
Got working parents? In some parts of the country, there's this little thing called snow. And did we mention school-vacation week? If you've got
back-up care (and you should), it's a good time to discuss how these employees are going to work when there's no school. ​
April/May
Know what May 1
st is? It's college decision day ; the day families make choices (big package at a second-tier school or full-fare at a top tier?) that will affect children (and parents) for decades. If you've got benefits that will help, now's the time to send out a reminder. Your employees will thank you.
June
Got wellness programs? The sunny early summer is a great time to trot them out. Around here we host annual competitions to see who can rack up the most foot miles. It gets people out and moving ; and it has a much better success rate than the notoriously unreliable post-New Year programs that tend to last about a week.
July
Have we mentioned school's out? See February/March; school vacation; what to do; back-up care, above.
August/September
Got summer camp plans? Look out for that pesky little two-week hole between camp and school when back-up care is a parent's best friend. And with the school-age masses out getting their shiny new spirals and #2 pencils (back to school!), now's a great time to talk up
education benefits and remind grownups that back-to-school isn't just for kids.
October
You know those new grads you hired a few months back? They're about to hit that little milestone we call the end of their loan-free grace periods. That means those college loan payments that seemed so far off in the future when they took them out are about to become very real. This is a great time for a little financial-aid 101 on paying back without breaking a sweat.
November
There's never a better time to remind employees about 401ks (and money management in general) than
pre-black-
Friday before people go completely out of financial control.
December
It's almost year-end!have employees taken all their vacation? What happens to their days if they don't? This is a good time for a ping them about it. Because nothing says, "Happy New Year" like, "You just lost a pile of vacation days!"
