Benefits Enrollment Experience for Employees
What is the employee experience like for completing benefits enrollment?
Purpose: This guide provides an overview of the benefits enrollment process from the employee perspective.
Employees participating in enrollment should have all of their dependents' information updated in BambooHR before beginning the election process. Dependents without defined relationships in BambooHR will not appear in the enrollment experience.
Accessing enrollment
Once an enrollment window is active, a link for open enrollment will appear in a widget on the Home tab for employees. Click Start Enrollment to begin the enrollment experience.
Benefits election experience
If an eligible plan requires information about you or your dependents, you will need to answer a few questions before making your elections. Once answered, you can start the election process and can track your progress in the top right corner.
Each step will display a new benefit type along with eligible plans that are available to you. Each plan has its own card that includes the plan name, the plan summary, a short description, and if provided by your HR admin, the cost and frequency.
If there are more than three plans, you can click Previous or More Plans to view the plans. Each card has a double-arrow icon in the top right corner. Clicking on the icon will expand the card, showing more details (a full description and any file attachments).
Variable rate plans will not include a preview of costs. If your dependents are eligible for coverage, you will be able to select which dependents you wish to enroll in the plan.
After selecting a plan, the card will be highlighted in green. If applicable, it will also show the chosen coverage level. Navigate to the next benefit type by clicking Next Step. Your progress will be saved within the current session, and if you wish to make a change, you can go back to the previous steps by clicking Back. If you have chosen a plan and want to change your selection, hover over the selected plan and click Cancel.
Choosing a medical, dental, or vision plan
The plans within each benefit type are mutually exclusive. You have the choice of selecting one of the plans or waiving them all. If you select one plan, the rest will be waived automatically. You cannot proceed to the next step until you make a selection.
If you have dependents to include in the plan coverage, they will appear under "Who would you like to cover in addition to yourself?" for you to select. Check the box next to the dependent's name to include them. The enrollment experience will automatically filter the plans you are eligible for and update the cost of the plan based on which coverage level you indicate.
Choosing a retirement, FSA, or HSA plan
When choosing this benefit type, you will need to add your desired contribution amount as a percentage or dollar amount.
Some HSA or FSA plans are dependent on the type of medical plan selected. Plans will appear based on your eligibility and the medical plan you choose. If you choose a medical plan that is not compatible with an HSA or FSA plan, the page will be blank, and you can click Next Step to continue or go back and change your election.
If you choose a medical plan that is compatible with an HSA or FSA plan and go back to make changes to your medical election, you will see specific messaging that informs you what will happen to your original HSA or FSA election (if the HSA or FSA plan requires enrollment in specific medical plans). You can continue the enrollment process as you will receive a prompt to select a compatible HSA or FSA election.
Choosing supplemental health plans
For supplemental plans, you will need to go plan by plan to enroll in or waive coverage. Only standard rate plans will display cost coverage. Within each plan, you will also need to indicate which dependents need coverage. You may notice not all dependents appear under the Who's Covered? field. Your benefits administrator determines which dependents are eligible for these plan types, and only those who are eligible will appear.
Choosing disability and life coverage
Some disability and life coverage plans are company-sponsored and will automatically enroll you in these plans as they are at no cost to you! Who does not love free benefits? Depending on how your benefits administrator set up the plan, you may be able to opt out if you wish.
If enrolling in a voluntary life plan, you will need to indicate the desired coverage for yourself (employee) and any dependents that are eligible and you wish to cover. Click Enroll in Plan to save your coverage amounts. If you do not wish to enroll in this plan, select Waive Plan.
Choosing a reimbursement or Other plan
These plans are simple and will require you to either enroll in or waive coverage.
Finishing enrollment
After you have made all of your elections, the last step is to review your election summary. A table will show all offered plans and which plans you have chosen to enroll in and waive. If enrolling in a plan, you will see the level of coverage, the cost of the plan per paycheck, and when the plan will take effect. Some plans will require your benefits administrator to enter in the amount after submitting your enrollment. In this case, you will see "HR Review" in the You Pay field.
If you need to make changes, simply click on the Back button until you get to the benefit type you wish to change. Double-check all elections are accurate before clicking Save & Submit. Once you submit your enrollments, you will not be able to make edits in the enrollment window.