Year-end checklist for employers

Here’s a short list of key items to check off your list before checking out for the year:

1. Remind employees to maximize what’s left of this plan year by encouraging them to spend any remaining flexible spending account (FSA) funds before they expire, schedule any remaining procedures or treatments if they’ve already reached their deductible or out-of-pocket limit, claim or cash out on any rewards or incentives earned through wellness programs, and take advantage of any benefits or programs they have access to that they may not have selected or enrolled in for 2026.

2. Gather open enrollment feedback by conducting employee surveys or listening sessions to pinpoint ways to improve next year’s open enrollment experience while it’s still fresh in employees’ minds.

3. Educate employees about their benefits — especially new ones — as soon as possible, considering only 20% of those on employer-sponsored health plans report confidence in their health insurance knowledge.¹ This can include scheduling educational sessions with employees, sending benefits communications or working with your UnitedHealthcare representative, broker or consultant to identify additional opportunities. The UnitedHealthcare Getting Started Toolkit can be a great place to start. It provides resources and out-of-the-box communications to help employees make the most of their benefits in the weeks leading up to their plan's start date, once their plan takes effect and during the first few months of coverage.

4. Develop a 2026 employee communications plan to ensure employees are aware of and engaging in the benefits that have been made available to them. You may want to explore creating customized communications for different channels or employee populations, especially with the varying preferences and needs of a multigenerational workforce. Your broker, consultant or UnitedHealthcare representative may also be able to help.

5. Stay on top of regulatory deadlines both on the federal and state level. In addition to reminders sent by your broker, consultant or UnitedHealthcare, it may be smart to create a list of common regulatory deadlines and reporting requirements, such as:

• Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting deadlines
• State-specific requirements
• Gag Clause Attestation
• Annual notices
• Non-discrimination testing
• Summary Plan Description (SPD)

6. Ensure appropriate documentation and audit checks to confirm reporting accuracy and compliance. For example, accurate ACA reporting requires regular audits to verify employee status, work hours and other details.² Employers may need a system to track all plan documents, including amendments to SPDs and enrollment forms. Be sure to also record all benefits-related communication.

7. Review enrollment and dependent eligibility to ensure employees are receiving the right deductions in their first paycheck under a new plan year and verify dependent eligibility so that you’re not inadvertently covering and paying for ineligible dependents. What’s more, ineligible dependents leave organizations exposed to liability and can risk incompliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

8. Review your tech stack and tools to ensure adherence to data privacy and security requirements. This can include running software updates, putting in place proper encryptions to protect sensitive or proprietary information, exploring opportunities to better connect HR systems to other departments or vendors to ease benefits administration, or identifying ways to leverage AI to streamline tasks and boost productivity.