Open in Recurbit
Reusable templateHR & benefits

Open Enrollment Checklist

Everything to run a smooth annual benefits open enrollment — plan review, carrier setup, employee communications, the enrollment window, and wrap-up — timed backward from the day enrollment opens.

Open this checklist in Recurbit → Jump to the checklist

Free to start · No credit card · Add, remove, or edit any step to make it yours

A printable checklist is good once.You build the whole plan once, then rebuild it from scratch next open enrollment.
This one comes back every year.Set the date enrollment opens in Recurbit and every task back-dates itself across the weeks before — every year.

Open enrollment is a hard deadline with a lot of moving parts: renewals to confirm, plan changes to communicate, a system to configure, and a whole workforce to get across the line before the window closes. Miss a step and people end up in the wrong plan — or no plan at all.

This is the sequence most HR and office teams follow, grouped by how far ahead of the enrollment window each task falls. Adjust it to your carriers, your benefits platform, and your plan-year dates, which always take precedence.

Lock the plan decisions first. Rates, plan changes, and contribution amounts drive every communication and every system setting. Get renewal terms confirmed before you build anything employees will see.
↓ The checklist
These steps are a starting point, not a rulebook. Add, remove, reorder, or re-time anything below so it matches how you actually work — that's what the template is for.
−8–10w

Confirm the plan

~8–10 weeks before enrollment opens
−4–6w

Build & prepare

~4–6 weeks before
−1–2w

Announce & open

~1–2 weeks before
Window

Enrollment window

During the enrollment window
After

After the window closes

In the weeks after enrollment

Make it repeatable

Add this open enrollment checklist to Recurbit. Set the date the window opens and every task back-dates itself — plan review, comms, reminders — then reuse it every year.

✦ Add this template to Recurbit

No account yet? The button prompts you to sign in (it's free), then loads the template for review before anything saves.
Prefer to paste it manually?

Copy this code, then in Recurbit go to Templates → Import and paste it.

Running open enrollment every year?

Recurbit turns open enrollment into a reusable template. Set the date the window opens and every task back-dates itself — 'confirm renewals 8 weeks out,' 'reminder 48 hours before close.' Assign HR, comms, and payroll their parts and track the whole thing to done.

Try Recurbit free →

Free plan available · No credit card · Built for agendas, deadlines & admin work — not student records

A general planning guide, not benefits, tax, or legal advice. Notice requirements and deadlines (ERISA, ACA, Section 125, and others) vary — follow your carriers', broker's, and counsel's guidance.