For years, health insurance costs have already been increasing at more than double the rate of inflation. But even factoring in that trend, next year’s numbers seem like a prank. 

You’re probably sleeping on the biggest company perk just because you think it isn’t free. You may think you’re maximizing the company perks, but if you aren’t maxing out your 401(k), you’re playing like an amateur. 

Insurance premiums have been increasing at more than double the rate of inflation for the past 3 years. In 2026, employer group plans are expected to increase nearly 8%. 

Short term disability insurance (STD) isn’t sexy. It doesn't attract top talent, but it can keep a company from the kind of tough decisions that can end with lawyers. Many employers don’t even know that the situations that are draining their budget are insurable. 

He was quite confident that people always know when their paycheck is wrong. I wish that were always true. Payroll is complex, and you don’t know what you don’t know. I see a ton of these kinds of silent errors with 401(k)s. 

Employers have discretion about what's covered in their HRA plan, which is what makes them so useful. The company decides the annual limit, as well as specifications like whether to cover deductible expenses, post-deductible expenses, and/or over-the-counter expenses and services.

What we’re really seeing is misaligned incentives disguised as authority. They have no reason to follow through, just respond. We wouldn’t put up with this in any other business service.

Parental leave combines the most complicated parts of HR into one policy: protected classes, disability, paid time off and sick time, obscure payroll esoterica, employees who are "active" but not "working" (and sometimes don't come back when you expect), insurance (policy details, deductions, and a qualifying event), onboarding and offboarding (maybe more than once per person), a bajillionty federal, state, and local laws, many of which conflict

Even the fancy ben admin tools. Somewhere behind the curtain, someone is downloading a form and forwarding it to a carrier. Often using unsecured email.

"Is this because I said I wasn't pregnant?" He scratched his beard. He was the first non-birth parent to use the policy. And it wasn’t working as planned. And yes, his claim was denied because he wasn't pregnant.

Everywhere I went, I saw the same thing: Employees didn’t understand what they signed up for. Brokers didn’t really understand either. HR didn’t want to touch it. Claims were denied. People thought their plans sucked.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but Qualifying Life Events (QLEs) aren't written in stone.

These problems don’t show up right away. They lie in wait until someone balances the books and notices thousands of dollars missing. 

FMLA doesn't guarantee paid leave, but some states have paid leave programs.

Running the People side of your business takes a lot of work, but hiring a PEO comes with trade-offs that you may regret later.

Both employers and employees get 1.5x the value of every dollar compensated through a tax-sheltered program that they do through straight co

In this post we’ll discuss how to determine your budget and priorities, what information to look for in plan options, and how to structure a

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Read on for 12 practical tips on how to structure and present your employee benefits to get the most out of your organization’s greatest ass