Open Enrollment Shouldn’t Require a Survival Guide

Choosing a benefits plan is one decision. Getting every employee enrolled correctly, answering their questions and making sure payroll deductions match their elections is an entirely different workload.

Right now, that workload is landing on business owners, office managers and HR teams who already have full plates.

An employee adds a spouse. Someone misses the enrollment deadline. A dependent is missing from the carrier’s records. The new payroll deduction doesn’t match the election.

Each issue needs someone to follow it through. When responsibilities are spread across several people, it becomes easy to assume someone else has handled it.

A renewal decision is only the beginning

Your insurance agent helps you evaluate coverage and select plans. Once those decisions are made, your employees still need clear instructions, accurate enrollment records and someone who can help resolve questions.

Benefits administration connects those decisions to what actually happens for your team.

That includes communicating deadlines, tracking elections, coordinating enrollment information and checking that the details line up across your HR system, payroll and carrier records.

Without a clear owner, even a well-designed benefits package can become a frustrating employee experience.

Small errors can become personal problems

For an employer, a missed enrollment may look like an administrative task.

For an employee trying to fill a prescription or take a child to the doctor, it feels much bigger.

The same is true when an unexpected deduction hits a paycheck or someone discovers a dependent wasn’t added as expected. Employees need a person who will listen, investigate and help them understand the next step.

Your managers need that support, too. They shouldn’t have to guess how to answer benefits questions or track down an update between their other responsibilities.

How InnovateHR helps

InnovateHR provides benefits administration support built around your business. Depending on your needs, we can help with:

• Open enrollment coordination: Employee communications, reminders, election tracking and follow-up on incomplete items.
• New-hire benefits administration: Eligibility tracking, enrollment guidance and coordination of effective dates.
• Life-event changes: Helping employees navigate the process for marriage, a new baby or other qualifying changes.
• Payroll coordination: Reviewing benefit deductions against employee elections and helping resolve discrepancies.
• Employee support: Giving your team a clear contact for enrollment and administrative questions.
• Benefits reconciliation: Comparing carrier invoices with enrollment records to identify items that need attention.

We work alongside your insurance agent and your internal team to help keep the process moving and the responsibilities clear.

InnovateHR does not sell insurance. We support the people and administration behind your benefits program. Your agent remains your resource for insurance products and coverage recommendations.

Get support that fits the workload

You may need extra help getting through open enrollment. You may need someone to manage benefits administration throughout the year. Or you may have an internal HR person who needs experienced backup.

Our support can be customized around your needs and budget. You don’t have to wait until your team is overwhelmed—or an employee has a coverage problem—to get help.

Need help? Contact us at (864) 451-7809 or email info@innovatehr.com