Employee Benefits Open Enrollment 2026: 90-Day Timeline for HR Directors at Growing Companies
Reading Time: 9 minutesKey Takeaways for HR Directors Open enrollment starts 90–120 days before your plan year, not 30 days — HR Directors who begin the process in September for a January 1 plan year are already behind on carrier negotiations. The carrier negotiation and benchmarking phase (Days 90–60) sets your cost outcome — everything after that is […]
Employee Benefits Strategy for Growing Companies: Beyond the Basics at 100–500 Employees
Reading Time: 12 minutesKey Takeaways for HR Directors and CFOs Benefits strategy is a talent strategy — companies scaling from 100 to 500 employees are competing for the same people, and your benefits program is a material factor in that competition whether you’ve analyzed it or not. The benefits program that works at 100 employees breaks at 300 […]
Outsourcing Employee Benefits Administration: When Mid-Market Employers Should (and Shouldn’t) Use a PEO
Reading Time: 9 minutesKey Takeaways for HR Directors and CFOs The 150–200 employee inflection point is where most mid-market companies outgrow manual benefits administration — HR capacity breaks before headcount does. Outsourcing benefits administration is not the same as outsourcing your broker relationship — a full-service benefits advisor handles both the strategic and administrative layers for companies that […]