JOIN US FOR OUR FEBRUARY 2011 ASCENTIS HR WEBINAR SERIES:

Feb. 16, 10 am, PDT*

Feb. 23, 10 am, PDT*

Do you dread the piles of paperwork that enrollment season brings?

Transmitting employee benefits selections to carriers can be a tedious and time consuming task that usually involves mountains of paperwork — and includes the risk of errors, delays and omissions. Between collecting enrollment forms and signatures from employees, and reconciling carrier invoices, the task of communicating with carriers using a manual, paper-based process can absorb a lot of the HR department’s time and resources.

With Ascentis, there’s a better way!

The Ascentis Carrier Connect service automates carrier communications by sending enrollment data directly to them electronically.

The elimination of enrollment forms greatly reduces the paperwork – and potential errors – of the enrollment process.
In accordance with HIPAA/EDI provisions, Ascentis Carrier Connect securely transmits sensitive enrollment information and reduces the risk of litigation.
The risk of over or under billing is reduced as the data collected and maintained by your company is sent directly to the carriers.
A single source for all benefits related data eliminates dual data-entry and increases efficiency throughout the organization.

Learn more about Ascentis Carrier Connect!

Join us by registering to attend a free Webinar (links above) and see how the integrated Ascentis Carrier Connect, HRIS and Self-Service solutions can help you save time, reduce costs, and increase employee satisfaction.

1.800.229.2713

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*Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now. After registering you will receive a confirmation e-mail that contains attendance information.

Do You Have the Open Enrollment Blues?

If you’re like most individuals working in Human Resources you know all too well how overwhelming open enrollment can be not only for your HR staff, but also the rest of the organization. According to SHRM, HR Managers spend “an estimated 25 to 30 percent of their time managing employee benefits.” During an open enrollment period that number increases, to the degree that some HR departments even bring in temporary labor to assist with the influx of inquires. Other times, a company will simply outsource inquiries to a call center, incurring additional costs. Since the Healthcare Reform Act was passed there is even more information that your employees need, and many more laws with which you must be in compliance. Many companies are trying to find more efficient ways to keep their employees informed on the heath care plans and information. In this post, we’ll discuss open enrollment, the major responsibilities of HR, and some ways to improve the overall open enrollment process and experience.

Simply put, open enrollment is a period of time your employees enroll in benefits or change from one plan to another. After open enrollment is closed, the employee coverage is locked until the next open enrollment period begins. To ensure employees choose the healthcare plan that fits them best, companies dedicate countless hours, additional resources and lots of time ensuring that employees are informed. After all, we want our employees to be happy and healthy, because a happy worker is a productive worker.

Some of the major responsibilities for HR during open enrollment include choosing a benefits package, selecting and preparing communications for employees, setting the stage to make it easy for employees to complete open enrollment and keying updates and changes into additional systems. In each of these responsibilities comes an element of change management. Through the use of today’s available HRIS/HRMS tools, companies are finding it easier to manage the open enrollment process. A great example of such a tool is AscentisHR which is a fully integrated solution connecting open enrollment, self-service and HR administration together as one. The truth is that open enrollment need no longer be a pain point. It doesn’t have to be so arduous or time consuming for HR or for the employee. Employee Self-Service is the answer.

What Self-Service Looks Like. Literally.

Click on this image to see the full screenshot

The self-service open enrollment wizard provides a straightforward and intuitive approach to guide and inform employees on benefit selection. The system allows the employees to compare benefits side-by-side, elect alternative plans, submit benefits electronically to the carrier, and much more. Outside of open enrollment, the onus is placed on the employee to update their personal information throughout the year, taking the burden off of HR. Click here learn more about self-service and other Ascentis solutions.

For more information, or to request a product demonstration, fill out this short form and we’ll show you how we can help your Human Resources department be more accelerated, efficient and compliant. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, the Ascentis HR, Benefits and Payroll News, and stay on top of industry news, best practices and always-evolving legislation. Follow Ascentis on Twitter and “Like us” on Facebook to receive great HR, payroll and business tips. Feel free to share this post using the built-in share buttons below this post.

Watch this archived webinar to learn how adding employee self service your HR technology toolbelt can automate and accelerate the open enrollment process, virtually eliminate costly errors and make employees (and yes, even HR) happier during the open enrollment process. Or, for a bigger picture overview, this four minute self service demo, will give you all the info you need to determine if you want to learn more.

How To Make Open Enrollment a Positive Experience

Contributed by Les Goldstein, Ascentis CEO

We are shortly approaching the “dreaded” open enrollment season where employees are asked to make important benefits decisions for the upcoming year. Traditionally, this has been a time of great stress for the HR department as it requires a huge increase in work with no additional staff. With the continually rising medical costs over the past ten years, this has also placed a great deal of stress on employees as they need to manage a myriad of decisions relating to:

Medical and dental plan choices that will best meet their needs as it relates to coverage, deductibles and shared costs.
Flexible spending accounts that allow them to pay in pre-tax dollars for medical costs that are not covered.
Dependent care, transportation and other expenses that can be paid for in pre-tax dollars.

All these enrollment decisions have become more difficult as the complexity of available options increase. But there is now an easier way to manage enrollment, and many firms have already started to use this process. This time-saving service is known as online, or Web-based, enrollment. This capability allows employees to get on a computer at home or in the office, and by way of the Internet enroll in the benefits of their choice. Here are just a few of the many advantages of online enrollment:

Saves money.
Employees and their families can easily look at all the plans and options in one easy to access location at any time.
Many questions are answered online with no need to tie-up an HR resource.
Employees like the ease of use, and it gives them an empowered work experience.
Minimizes expensive and time consuming errors (this is particularly true if there is an electronic interface to the insurance carriers).

Make your next open enrollment season a positive experience! Ascentis specializes in easy-to-use online tools that make the enrollment process virtually paperless. Ascentis Self-Service pushes out enrollment options and documentation to employees, and then transmits that data electronically to insurance carriers. This process saves time, allows HR to monitor the enrollment process closely, and accurately provides information to carriers.

Easy and Paperless Open Enrollment

Are You Ready for Open Enrollment? 3 Steps for Launching an Error-free and Paperless Process

Have you considered implementing a paperless process? What’s the best way to communicate plan options to employees? How can you eliminate errors when providing data to insurance carriers? Ascentis specializes in helping companies create fully automated, paperless HR processing using self-service technology and electronic carrier communications.

OPEN ENROLLMENT MADE EASY: 3 STEPS FOR LAUNCHING AN ERROR-FREE AND PAPERLESS PROCESS

Step 1: Eliminate paperwork and go green:
With employee self-service you can take your open enrollment online. Publish plan documents, provider directories, beneficiary forms and more, for a truly green – and paperless – process.

Step 2: Use smart and efficient communication strategies:
When you distribute printed benefits options, employees can be confused when they see every option, including plans they’re not eligible for. With employee self-service, you push out targeted options that are right for each employee, adding clarity and simplicity to the process.

Step 3: Fully automate open enrollment by transmitting data directly to insurance carriers:
Use employee self-service to automatically update your payroll system with new deduction amounts, while electronically transmitting enrollment selections directly to your insurance carriers with an electronic carrier connection service. This process virtually eliminates errors that can be introduced with a manual, paper-based process.

OPEN ENROLLMENT MADE EASY: A WEBINAR BROUGHT TO YOU BY ASCENTIS

Click here to register for June 15, 10-10:30 a.m., PDT

Click here to register for June 23, 10-10:30 a.m., PDT

Ascentis Blog

Information to help HR and payroll managers, recruiters, and compliance officers become more effective.

Category Archives: open enrollment