Benefits Administrator

Benefits Administrator

The Benefits Administrator is responsible for directing and supporting the day-to-day operations of group benefits programs. This role also provides HR team support and maintains accurate employee records for the HRIS system. In addition, this role will assist in leading configuration efforts for electronic files and basic system management for the Benefits module of the HRIS. This position is also responsible for administration, compliance, carrier review, employee communications and applicable annual audits of the company's 401(k) retirement plan. Additionally, this position will be responsible for managing third party carrier relationships, brokers and our HRIS partner in supporting our benefit programs. The role offers the opportunity to work cross-functionally with several key areas of the business such as Finance and Payroll, HR, Recruitment and Office Administration in addition to continuous correspondence with all employees.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Administer the HR System and provides reporting to support business needs.
• Process Leaves of Absence and maintain communication with employees and managers regarding start and end dates.
• Support US and Mexico employees on benefit plans, paid time off and general policy questions.
• Partner closely with employees, managers, and Payroll for all paid time off adjustments, program revisions and communications.
• Maintain employee benefit files, databases and manage compliance related requirements to include file retention standards.
• Process benefit enrollments and handle correspondence with employees regarding requests for sufficient Life Event supporting documentation, approval of Life Event Declaration Form and notification to proceed with enrollment event in HR system.
• Process termination events, including manually launching COBRA based on Termination notifications received in HR system; conduct quick audit to ensure benefit elections automatically end-dated.
• Populate 401(k) Totals Page upon each payroll commit and upload to 401(k) plan administrator site.
• Perform weekly audit of Payroll Feedback Report for 401(k) contribution elections and loan repayments within HR system; manually resolve system limitation issues and ensure loan repayments are added to the Balances & Arrears section.
• Assist with annual communication to participants eligible for 401(k) Catch-up contribution, as well as manually setting up the additional contribution and ensuring it's turned off at year-end.
• Assist with Short-Term Disability employer information forms; submit back to carrier in timely manner.
• Assist with benefit financial management which includes forecasting, and tracking program costs and incentives.
• Review, analyze and develop quarterly dashboards to report on engagement, effectiveness, and outcomes.
• Conduct benefit and retirement plan analysis by monitoring and analyzing experience of benefit plans and vendors. Develop reports on costs, utilization, and trends.
• Maintain Leave reports, with timely updates to managers, employees, and HR Business Partners.
• Support Workers' Compensation program, including processing claims, responding to questions, and interacting with insurers.
• Prepare reports to capture census data for US and Canada reporting requirements for COBRA, OSHA, etc.
• Develop communication tools to enhance understanding of the company's benefits package.
• Help to design and distribute materials for benefits orientations, open enrollment, and summary plan descriptions.
• Facilitate Benefit Presentations as needed to support new hire enrollment, annual enrollment and acquisition onboarding.
• Send out weekly new hire benefit enrollment reminders.
• Assist with monthly benefit audit process.
• Gather employee data and oversee the processing of monthly billings and payment of administrative fees for all group plans.
• Responsible for the preparation for annual plan audits.
• Administer annual benefits surveys in US and Mexico as needed. Develop recommendations for management.
• Support due diligence by reviewing/assessing benefits programs related to mergers and acquisitions.
• Serve as contact for vendors and third-party administrators. Coordinate transfer of data to external contacts for services, premiums, and plan administration.
• Ensure compliance with applicable US government (federal and state) regulations and laws, as well as timeliness and accuracy of required reporting.
• Comply with federal and state labor posting regulations for the various office locations.
• Document and maintain benefit procedures.
• Maintains high confidentiality standards for data integrity and accuracy in reporting output.
• Oversees self-service modules and ensure relevant data is available for employees to access.
• Responsible for completing and keeping accurate electronic records and ensuring proper document retention.
• Manages all employee benefits escalations with outside carriers to ensure resolution.
• Serves as a frontline resource to answer employee benefit questions and inquiries, pull ID cards, etc.

Required Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Project management in fast paced environment
• Great attention to detail
• Ability to prioritize, balance and manage multiple efforts with strong results.
• Solid analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Solutions and customer service oriented.
• Intermediate to advanced Excel required
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.
• PC Software: Ceridian HRIS experience and knowledge, preferred.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree
• Minimum of 2 years progressive benefit administration and leave administration experience