The passage of Thanksgiving doesn’t just mean “time to start shopping”; it also signals the beginning of the benefits open enrollment period for many employers. Every fall human resources benefits specialists all over the county are responsible for communicating benefit options to employees.  This involves explaining carrier changes, plan changes and yes, of course, pricing changes.  It is that difficult job of explaining to employees why they will be paying more for less coverage next year.        

For many employers, open enrollment also means a lot of paper shuffling; unless of course they use hr software for an online benefits enrollment system.   On an online hr software system (usually as part of a HRIS system) employees can log onto the system via the Internet, view the benefit selections available to them and enroll with a few clicks of the mouse—without any paper changing hands and little training.  Online enrollment is a relatively new technology.  Just 10 years ago, nearly every business was doing open enrollment on paper. But web-based open enrollment has steadily climbed in use. The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2006 Benefits Survey Report found that automated benefits enrollment and management is one of the top trends in human resources.   In addition to eliminating paper, online enrollment systems can improve communication, eliminate errors and save money. Even small companies can realize efficiencies from online open enrollment, and newer delivery models make it affordable and accessible to just about every organization. Web-based applications can do everything a benefits department used to do on paper—plus a lot more.  An online system also makes it easier to communicate with employees in dispersed locations eliminating the need for forms, faxing and filing.   Employees simply log onto the online system and their elections are electronically captured for HR and, as needed, transmitted to the carrier. Reducing the need for paper, handwritten entries and faxing also cuts down on legibility problems and time-consuming errors. There are no materials to store, no forms to file (or lose) and no hard-copy references to update.  An online benefits enrollment system can help any company get more out of its HR staff while providing more efficient, higher quality benefits service.  Achievant is an HR software provider that offers online benefits enrollment and administration.  Our online enrollment allows HR to spend less time on the paper shuffling and more time on adding value to the organization.  Administrators can easily track enrollment to identify whose enrollment remains outstanding and even send electronic reminders. A web-based system also automatically creates an electronic record of all transactions, which makes it easier to resolve issues that arise after the open enrollment period.  The system keeps a record of whether an employee accepted or declined the opportunity to enroll and at what level.  Locating paper documentation a year after the fact can often be a problem.   With an online system, past records can be called up in a few seconds. Don’t think you can afford an online system – consider: 1.      Savings by eliminating printing and distribution 2.      What you are spending to administer your benefits today3.      The follow-up required by errors, invalid elections and incomplete submissions4.      Time spent to identify and follow up on missing elections5.      Calls taking up HR’s time with questions Adopting an online enrollment system may look like “a spend”, but you may already be spending that much today on paper processes and be much less efficient.