6 work benefits you're overlooking that could save you thousands

Sebastiaan ter Burg/FlickrIf you tap into employee benefits, you can save a bunch of money every year.

Employee benefits can be confusing, complex, and not fun to talk about.

As a result, they're often overlooked or ignored - but if you're not taking full advantage of your benefits, you're leaving money on the table.

Many employers have a three-week long open enrollment period - generally in the fall - in which many of these benefits are available to select, so it's important to be aware of your company's enrollment window.

(This is different from the open enrollment period offered by HealthCare.gov).

"These three weeks are when employees make some of the biggest purchasing decisions of the year," says Britta Meyer, CMO at consumer-directed benefits administrator WageWorks. "But what we're finding is that people are not paying attention. People are spending more time planning vacations or holiday shopping than they are selecting benefits that are affecting themselves and their families for the entire next year."

It's worth it to put in research and talk to your human resources department to understand the scope of what's available to you.

Start by taking the time to look into these six underutilized, yet incredibly valuable, benefits that could save you thousands of dollars each year:

This article was written by Business Insider without the involvement of Merrill Lynch.