Practical insights on employee benefits, HR technology, compliance, and cost strategy from the evco team.
Open enrollment communication fails when it's designed around what HR needs to say rather than what employees need to understand. Closing that gap is what separates a clean enrollment from a chaotic one.
October exposes everything a benefits program got away with during the quieter months — and the mistakes that surface are almost always ones that started in the preparation, communication, and accountability decisions made long before renewal arrived.
The most useful thing a CFO can do before October arrives is get specific about what they actually know going into renewal. If you can answer these questions, you’re in a different position than most.
What most employers don’t realize is that the renewal conversation they’re having in October was largely decided before it started. By the time you see the number, they’ve already done their homework. September is when your homework needs to happen.
Expanding into a new state is a growth milestone for any company. And? It also quietly introduces a layer of HR and benefits complexity that most founders are not prepared for, because nobody tells them it's coming until something goes wrong.
Here’s a pattern I see in almost every company that comes to us after years of managing benefits reactively: The plan isn't the problem. The communication around it is.
The narrative about businesses pulling back may be true at an aggregate level. It’s not true of the companies we work with, and I suspect it’s not true of the companies that most of our clients compete with for talent either.
A new category of employee benefit, Invest America, became available on July 4, 2026. Here’s what we know, what we do not know yet, and how to think about this before you make any decisions.
You don't need to become an expert in insurance analytics to have a useful conversation about utilization data. You just need a broker who's willing to have it with you, who knows your plan well enough to put the numbers in context, and who treats this kind of mid-year review as part of the job.
The benefits calendar, done well, is really just a commitment to having smaller conversations throughout the year rather than one enormous conversation when the pressure is highest, and the options are fewest. Let's discuss.
Benefits aren't complicated by nature. They become complicated when the work that should happen throughout the year gets compressed into the two months when everything is already on fire. Mid-year is how you prevent that, and right now, you still have plenty of time.
Discover why open enrollment feels chaotic and how HR leaders can fix it. The solution isn't a bigger budget, but a shift in communication strategy.
Discover the difference between reactive and proactive benefits management. Learn how better infrastructure, not just plan design, can reduce HR workload and costs.
Many companies manage benefits reactively, leading to high costs and low value. Learn three common mistakes and how a proactive, year-round approach can help.