In recent years, there has been a major transformation in the benefits administration system. Gone are the days of filing paper forms; with technological advancement, there are multiple ways to streamline and manage the benefits process at your fingertips.

With HR departments across the world moving from “core” HR task of ensuring that employees are well paid and provided adequate benefits, to the strategic initiatives and providing insights for organizational decision making, the two aspects that remain the daily headache for companies are Payroll and Benefits Administration. More than 75% of organizations have been shifting their focus to finding cost-controlling and time-efficient measures to get these core processes performed in an efficient manner. With accounts departments to handle payroll, benefits administration becomes the major concern to deal with! With more strict regulations and laws for administering employee benefits , it is unavoidable to get the job done using benefits administration software.

But companies from IT services, shipping & logistics, banking & finance, etc. are still in doubt over selecting the most viable option as per their business requirements, i.e. if they should get an in-house system, outsource the job or get an online system. While getting the system in-house seems to be a costly, time-consuming and resource-intensive option, outsourcing option carries its own dilemmas with it. The only left option is to look out for Benefits Administration Software.

But how to start looking out for the option? What features do you need? How to find the right option before Open Enrollments?

These questions might haunt your mind. Here is a quick guide that will help you with the must-haves of an employee benefits system.

Employee benefits system

Manage Life Events

Employees undergo many life events such as marriage, divorce, childbirth, retirement, etc. Thus, the software must be capable of managing and analyzing the different life events taking place throughout the employment lifecycle. The system must allow for open enrollment activation, enrollment communications, event creation, event management, etc. Whenever any qualifying event occurs, it becomes easy to manage changes and make amendments as required with Benefits Administration Software. Employees can also log in on their own and submit it to HR staff to examine and approve the changes made.

Manage Paid Time Offs

Manual vacation tracking is a nerve-wracking task that can majorly affect the workflow of any HR department and a single mistake in coverage can be stressful. Although your existing HR system must be capable of maintaining records of your PTOs, it is typically an important part of benefits administration and the benefits system must be capable of tracking, allocating and managing your time offs.

Deal with Compliance and Employer Mandates

The list of regulatory reforms is quite longer from COBRA to HIPAA to endless employer mandates, the benefits industry seems to be overloaded with more compliance issues. Thus, you need a system that is well-updated with all the mandates and complies with all the laws and standards while making transactions. With no other organizational department in direct contact with such legal aspects, you need to be more sure about staying abreast of any new rule passed or coming into effect that may have a direct impact on the organization.

Manage the Retirement Plans

To engage and retain employees, every employer must provide financial security to its employees. Thus, to keep employees aware of all matching contributions, investment options, etc. retirement management has become a must in a benefits system.

Easy Integration

Since every business already has an existing HR & payroll management system, thus, your benefits system must possess the ability to easily get integrated with any system for better data transmission, thereby saving time and resources.

ESS (Employee Self Service) Portal

Why do we pay for Benefits Administration Software? To bring in work efficiency and save the time of the HR department. The ESS portal enables employees to search and register for benefit plans; they can simply log in to their portal and search plan options as per their preferences during the time of open enrollment. The dual entry brings more accuracy and leaves no room for error.

One-Stop Solution

Benefits Administration software serves as an all-in-one platform to manage every aspect of open enrollment. With a single sign-on platform, the user can update or add any data or information for future reference. It helps streamline the entire reporting process and helps employees remain compliant with government regulations. This way employees and managers can access all the data from a single interface.

Simple Interface

Users will not like to spend time figuring out where to go? Hence, developing software with a simple and user-friendly interface is the need of the hour. It will make it easy for first-time users and those who are not computer savvy to toggle over the multiple pages at the time and adding or changing information during enrolment. Providing a simple interface will give a hassle-free user experience and they will be more confident with the selections they made.

Also Read: Selecting-The-Right-Outsourcing-Company

Bottom Line

The above-mentioned benefits software must-haves will help you evaluate available options and make a well-informed decision. These must-haves will help in choosing the Benefits Administration software vendor. It’s better to find your software before the Open Enrolments period begins later this year. The software solution will undoubtedly ease down processing as well as control costs and time facilitating businesses to focus on other strategic areas.

If you have any questions regarding employee benefits administration software, then Schedule a benefit review with A3logics and discover how you can deal with challenges associated with it.