Compliance and Risk Readiness: A Summer Checklist for Employers

Ah, summer. That lovely stretch of the year before open enrollment season, year-end reporting, and strategic planning kick into high gear. Along with being the perfect time for some rest and relaxation, it’s an ideal time for HR and benefits teams to review HR policies, confirm compliance responsibilities, and dig into year-to-date reporting so you have time to address issues before they become problems.  

To help you make the most of the season, use the following checklist across four core areas: HR policies and procedures, retirement plan governance, pharmacy oversight, and health and welfare benefits administration. As you go, ask whether the basics are covered and up to date, whether day-to-day practice matches written policy, and if the right people are reviewing the risk.  

 

HR Policies and Procedures 

A good place to start is a thorough review of the employee handbook and the day-to-day processes that support it. If they’re out of date, your organization may be carrying avoidable risk. Use the summer months to update and communicate the policies and practices. 

• Refresh the employee handbook. If it hasn’t been updated within the last year, it may not reflect current policies, leave rules, or accommodation practices. 

• Check leave administration against policy. Make sure what the handbook says matches what managers and HR are doing in practice, especially around benefit continuation and leave-related communication. 

• Audit I-9s and employee classifications. Don’t just collect forms; confirm they were completed and reviewed correctly to reduce headaches down the road. 

 

Retirement Plans 

Retirement plans often run on assumptions that go unchecked until an error shows up in testing, administration, or participant complaints. Summer is a good time to stop and confirm the basics. 

• Confirm the plan document matches your procedures. A common problem? Compensation definitions or eligibility rules that aren’t being applied consistently. 

• Review fiduciary responsibilities. In many cases, there’s a gap between awareness of responsibilities and the actions required to complete them, especially around plan oversight, vendor review, and adherence to plan documents. 

• Prep for reporting deadlines. For calendar-year plans, summer is a good time to confirm filing status, records, and responsibilities ahead of reporting deadlines. 

 

Pharmacy Benefits 

Pharmacy deserves its own checkpoint because it’s one of the fastest-growing cost drivers for employers. Carve out time to review current plans and reports to understand what’s driving utilization, trend, and costs. 

• Review PBM and pharmacy vendor arrangements for transparency and contract alignment. Confirm how fees, pricing, rebates, or incentives affect the plan. 

• Ask partners for meaningful reporting. Leaders should have an ongoing view of pharmacy claims and utilization data. 

• Check whether lower-cost or more clinically appropriate alternatives are being surfaced. If employees are being steered toward higher-cost products unnecessarily, it can be both a cost and a risk issue. Now’s the time to address it.  

 

Benefits Administration and Compliance 

Health and welfare benefits compliance requires coordinated oversight of documentation, privacy obligations, reporting requirements, and vendor management. It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day administration, so the summer months are a practical time to take a step back to look at the bigger picture. 

• Ensure consistency in documentation. Inventory all benefit plan documents, SPDs, summaries, and employee communications to confirm they are up to date, internally consistent, and match what is happening in practice. 

• Verify HIPAA and privacy materials are current.  Review HIPAA and privacy materials to ensure they reflect current law and your actual practices, especially if you sponsor a self‑funded medical plan or handle protected health information 

• Map reporting deadlines by plan year.  Each plan carries its own filing and disclosure requirements, and summer is the time to get ahead of them. 

• Verify responsibilities. Confirm which administrative and compliance reporting and disclosure responsibilities sit with the employer and which are outsourced.  Ensure that service agreements and internal policies align with those allocations. 

• Start planning for open enrollment in the fall. Identify design changes, timeline, and communication strategy so materials can be drafted and reviewed without last-minute pressure.  

 

A Summer Action Plan

The summer months are a great time to strengthen compliance and risk readiness – but don’t feel like you have to be an expert in every category. Use these checklist items as conversation starters with your expert advisors and vendors to help you identify and address gaps before they cause problems for your organization.  

 

This article includes input from Jessica Hajjar, Senior Employee Benefits Attorney; Richard Lo, Vice President of Clinical Services; Dan Larkin, Client Executive; and Shawn Slemons, Director, Retirement Plan Administration. Collectively, they bring deep expertise and practical, real-world guidance across key areas of benefits and compliance.