Compliance Corner Session:  Top Tips for 2026

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Geometric Image + Icon (5)Join Marissa Rufo, JD, MBA, Lumelight, for the latest Compliance Corner! 

When: Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 11:00 AM Pacific / 2:00 PM Eastern

Where: Zoom | Register here

 

 

Top Tips for 2026

As the year draws to a close, it is time to plan for next year’s compliance. This session offers a comprehensive overview of what to expect in 2026. This presentation will offer compliance updates, legislative trends, and actionable strategies to keep your benefit plans competitive and out of trouble. Whether you are unsure how to navigate regulatory changes or seek some functional guidance, this webinar will provide the insights you need. Be ready to take notes on this compliance wrap-up for 2025!

Who is Lumelight? 

Lumelight is a boutique ACA and benefits compliance consultancy helping people navigate the complex world of employee benefits compliance through deep expertise and superb client service.

Want to attend?

Save your seat by clicking here. 

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Managers Are Running Hot. Here’s How to Fix the Job and Lift Engagement

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Summary 

Manager engagement has dropped, and it’s dragging the rest of the team down with it. If you want better performance, avoid adding pressure and rethink the job itself. 

 

 
Managers are struggling, and it’s showing up across the business.  

The numbers paint a clear picture. Gallup reports that just 31% of managers feel engaged in their work, which is down from a high of 36% in 2020.  

If you’re seeing delayed decisions, stalled projects, or rising turnover, you might be one of the many organizations seeing the effects of this trend.  Read more

Make Meetings Useful: Design Them Around How Your Team Actually Works 

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Summary

Most teams don’t need more meetings—they need better ones.  Meetings that lack structure, clarity, and respect for focus time drain energy and hurt engagement. Protect time, define purpose, and run meetings that move work forward instead of slowing it down.

 

 

Chances are, if you’ve been in the workforce longer than five minutes, you’ve heard someone complain about meetings.  

Today’s reality is that work increasingly tilts toward chat, email, and meetings, while time for real, focused work continues to shrink. From Microsoft’s 2024 Work Trend Index:  

  • People spend 60% of their time communicating and 40% creating, with meetings and after-hours work stuck at post-pandemic highs. 
  • 68% say the pace and volume of work is hard to keep up with. 
  • 46% report burnout. 

That should shape how you run meetings and how you protect focus time around them.  Read more

2026 Health FSA Inflation Adjustments

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The Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedure 2025-32 on October 9, which establishes various 2026 tax-related limits that have been adjusted for inflation. The table below identifies updates to the 2026 health and fringe benefit plans addressed in this notice. The health flexible spending account (health FSA) employee contribution limit, carryover limit, and maximum qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement (QSEHRA) employer contribution are annual amounts that apply once a plan starts/renews in 2026.1 The adoption assistance program limit is an annual maximum that applies for the 2026 calendar year, while the transportation benefit is a monthly threshold that also applies for the 2026 calendar year. 

 

Benefit 

2025 

2026 

Maximum Employee Contribution to a Health FSA 

$3,300 

$3,400 

Health FSA Carryover Limit 

$660 

$680 

Adoption Assistance Program 

$17,280 

$17,670 

Maximum Annual Employer Contribution to a QSEHRA 

$6,350 (self-only coverage) 

$12,800 (family coverage) 

$6,450 (self-only coverage) 

$13,100 (family coverage) 

Maximum Monthly Benefit for Qualified Transit Passes, Van Pool Services, and Qualified Parking 

$325 

$340 

  Read more

Open Enrollment Isn’t Over When It Ends: What Employers Should Do Next  

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Summary 

Read more

Life Insurance: A Benefit Employees Think They Understand (But Usually Don’t)

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Summary

Employees often misunderstand life insurance, leaving them with a false sense of security. Employers can prevent disappointment and build trust by explaining coverage in plain English, using real-life examples, keeping the conversation ongoing, and encouraging questions. Clear communication ensures life insurance delivers on its promise of protection.

 

 

Life insurance is one of those benefits people may forget about once they purchase it. They assume the coverage is “enough” and move on. 

However, most people aren’t sure how much coverage they have, what it actually means for their family, or how long it would realistically last. And this lack of understanding is risky for them and frustrating for you as the employer when it comes back around. Read more

Medicare Part D Creditability Notice Requirements

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As Medicare’s annual open enrollment season approaches, the notices of creditable or non-creditable coverage that employers with prescription drug (Rx) plans are required to provide to their Medicare-eligible participants are frequently topics of discussion. Creditable coverage is expected to cover, on average, at least as much as the standard Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, whereas non-creditable coverage falls below this threshold. Though employers that offer group health plans ARE NOT required to offer prescription drug coverage that is creditable, Medicare Part D-eligible individuals are required to be enrolled in creditable Rx coverage. This requirement makes it crucial for employers to provide notice of their plan’s creditable/non-creditable status so that Medicare-eligible plan participants can make informed decisions about their prescription drug coverage. Read more

How to Improve Employee Engagement With Purpose, Recognition, and Flexibility

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Summary 

Employee engagement is slipping, with only 31% of U.S. workers feeling connected to their jobs. The fix is helping employees feel that their work matters. Career conversations, frequent recognition, and flexible policies build loyalty, prevent burnout, and strengthen business results. Start small: talk about growth, celebrate wins, and support people as humans. 

 

 

Leaders constantly worry about keeping employees engaged. According to Gallup, only about 31% of U.S. employees are engaged today, while more than half report feeling disengaged.  

Benefits, company culture, and professional development are important drivers of engagement. But if you look at engagement from a personal, even emotional, level, there’s something deeper at play. 

Think about the last time you became disengaged with a project. More often than not, we lose interest because we feel the work doesn’t matter, and we lose our sense of purpose. That deep human need to feel valuable, useful, and appreciated drives whether we bring our best to work or slowly check out. Read more

Is Your Team Too Positive to Be Honest? What Leaders Need to Know

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Summary

A positive culture can energize a team, but when it turns into performance rather than reality, it creates distance instead of connection. If people feel pressured to stay upbeat no matter what, real issues get buried, conversations shut down, and growth stalls. Leaders who want stronger teams need to shift the focus from comfort to clarity and make honest dialogue a daily practice.

 

 

A positive culture should lift people up, help them feel supported, and keep momentum moving forward. The trouble comes when positivity turns into something people perform rather than something they genuinely feel. 

When employees sense that only cheerful attitudes are welcome, they start holding back concerns, avoiding tough conversations, and masking frustration so they do not stand out as the person who disrupts the mood.

That kind of culture can feel calm on the surface, but it is often calm in the way a river looks calm while strong currents run beneath it. Without space for honesty, issues remain unresolved, and the trust that binds teams together slowly wears down. Read more

How to Use AI to Improve Employee Onboarding and Retention

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The straight-talk summary  


New hires leave jobs because expectations are murky, the culture feels vague, and they can’t figure out how to get their questions answered. AI can’t replace a good onboarding experience, but it can surface what makes employees feel like outsiders. When you use it to flag those silent friction points, you give your people the clarity they need to stay. 

 

 

We’ve all been there. We hire an employee, they show up for their first week, and then spend the next few months trying to figure things out. 

Who do they go to for a real answer?  

  • What do “LOA,” “PTO rollover,” or “GTL” mean? (Answers: Leave of Absence, Paid Time Off rollover, and Group Term Life insurance).  
  • Who are the decision-makers? 
  • Do we hold team meetings? When? And who’s expected to attend? 

This is where onboarding often breaks down. If you’re not translating the unwritten rules, you’re leaving new hires to figure it out alone. 

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