For many employees, open enrollment may be the only time during the year in which employees can make changes to their benefits choices, such as adding or dropping coverage, adding or dropping dependents, or enrolling in benefits for the first time.

For an employee, missing this vital deadline can mean losing coverage, or being unable to change benefits elections, which can have a significant financial impact on the employee. For the employer, employees missing this deadline can result in additional administrative burdens and unhappy or unproductive employees.

In order to prevent these issues, it is important to understand what it means when an employee misses open enrollment. Communicating potential consequences to employees will encourage them to take the open enrollment deadline seriously.

Click here for an employer’s legal requirements regarding open enrollment, considerations surrounding open enrollment practices and suggested policies.