For many brokers, the breakneck pace of open enrollment season may not even leave time for doctor appointments or lunch breaks, let alone big picture thinking and moments of introspection. I imagine many of you taking the time to read this are doing so with bleary eyes and frazzled nerves. But I recently came across a couple of things that might give you a little boost as you battle end-of-the-year burnout.

The first is a recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management, which provides the latest evidence of the important role that benefits play in job recruitment. The report found that within the last year, 38 percent of recruiters had leveraged benefits to recruit employees at all levels of their organization. That figure is up significantly from 26 percent in 2013.

And the positive trend carries over to employee retention. One-third of the recruiters surveyed said their company was planning to enrich its benefits plan in the hopes of keeping workers on board, a big jump from just 18 percent in 2013. With salaries largely stagnant, the role played by benefits is growing more vital every year.