HRIS Benefits Automation Defined
One of the most important features of a typical HR software application is the capability of automating the difficult and time consuming process of administering benefits. The purpose of this article is to define the typical capabilities you can expect to see in today’s top Benefits Software applications.
HRIS Benefits Administration
HR Benefit Plans – With any of the HRIS Benefits systems, you will be provided the capability of setting up rules or benefit plans to enroll your employees into and have these rules automatically calculate the employee and employer costs based on dependents covered, income, age, or contribution.
When it comes to an HRIS Benefits system, this is one of the trickiest areas to setup. If you are planning on self implementing the application, which I don’t recommend, you may want to evaluate the ease of setting up the benefit plans during your system evaluation.
Reports – Benefits reports showing the individual employees enrolled in a plan and the total cost, will prove very helpful in auditing benefit statements to make sure you were billed the correct amounts.
HRIS Benefits Statements – When I performed demos of HRIS applications, this was always one of the most popular items and most vendors in the market will offer it. These HRIS benefits statements provide a total compensation statement to employees showing, not only their salary, but also what was paid for their benefits. It’s a shame that many employees don’t understand how much the employer pays for their benefits until they hit the roof over COBRA amounts.
HRIS Benefits Open Enrollment – Benefits Open Enrollment is often a feature within an HR software employee self service option, or the software company may sell the ESS system as a stand alone feature. An HRIS Software administrator creates a series of wizards designed to guide employees through the process of enrolling in benefits. Work flow may be added to this process where the employee makes the changes and these changes must be approved by someone you designate prior to the changes actually go live.
HRIS Interfaces to Benefit Providers – This option has become very popular in the last few years. Basically, the HRIS provider creates an interface between the HR system and your benefit provider. Thus, eliminating a tremendous amount of double entry between the two systems.
HRIS Benefits Cobra Administration – The capabilities of tracking COBRA vary tremendously. The HRIS provider you are working with may simply offer COBRA letters and statements or offer a full COBRA service. It’s important to understand your needs on this subject and make sure the HRIS provider you select meets those needs.
About the Author
Clay Scroggin worked in the Human Resource and Payroll Software Industry for more than fifteen years. During that time, Clay and those who have worked with him, have aided hundreds of HR professionals with their HR software needs. In 2007, Clay began working on compareHRIS.com, a site dedicated to assisting HR professionals with their search, selection, implementation and use of HR systems. The site contains several tools to assist HR professionals with their software research including a HRIS Selection Tool.