Benefit Specialist

Summary: The Benefit Specialist will administer all benefits company-wide, such as health, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, as well as 401k and other ancillary company benefit offerings. Also responsible for leave admin and management, open enrollment and qualifying life events. Be primary point of contact for employees’ benefit needs, ensuring a customer‑centric mindset with proactive and thorough communication. Partner with HR management and external brokers and vendors to ensure company offerings are competitive, meet compliance standards, are actively utilized and cost effective.

Primary Responsibilities & Duties:

• Administer all company benefits including health, dental, vision, short‑term and long‑term disability, EAP, COBRA and life insurance.
• Administer the company’s 401k program, including assisting with enrollment, withdraws and loans.
• Administer the ADA process regarding the interactive process and accommodations, in partnership with management.
• Maintain, update and store all company benefit policies in the proper placement (ex: shared drive or HRIS), available for internal HR use and employee reference.
• Partner with HR management and vendors to benchmark and ensure the company is offering a competitive benefit package that meets compliance standards. Also ensure that plans are actively utilized by employees and are a cost‑effective offering.
• Suggest any new wellness programs or benefit offerings based on market trends or employee requests.
• Participate in annual benefit strategy meetings for future years’ road mapping, as needed.
• Host annual Open Enrollment, including enrollment platform readiness, benefit guide production and review, assisting employees with enrollment troubleshooting, and ensuring all employees enroll by the designated timeframe.
• Assist employees with Qualifying Life Events as needed.

• Assist employees on the short‑term and long‑term leave process, including providing and maintaining proper forms and applications, follow up throughout the leave, and ensure status within HR systems is correct and up to date.
• Partner with Safety on Worker’s Compensation matters, including providing and maintaining proper forms and applications, follow up throughout the leave, and ensure status within HR systems are correct and up to date.
• Work with employees regarding FMLA documentation and practices.
• Provide HR and departmental management with employee leave status updates and assist managers in return‑to‑work plans, as needed.

• Meet with new employees upon hire to educate them on our company benefit offers.
• Ensure new enrollments’ actions are completed on time, proper dependent information is provided, EOI forms are provided, etc.
• Provide temporary cards or pertinent coverage information to new employees as needed.
• Assist with the employee offboarding process, such as coverage termination and COBRA.
• Work with current employees nearing retirement, providing tools and resources available to assist in a smooth transition to their new chapter.

• Respond to employee questions within a reasonable timeframe in an appropriate, proactive, and thorough manner. Utilize a customer‑centric and white‑glove service mindset for all levels of employees in the organization.
• Provide company‑wide communications and updates on events such as Open Enrollment, new vendors or policy changes.
• Correspond professionally and timely with external vendors as needed, such as brokers, carriers, medical offices or other.
• In cases of a new benefit offering or current benefit under utilization, come up with creative ways to advertise to the company to promote the product.

• Conduct annual 401k compliance testing, in partnership with retirement broker.
• Conduct annual ACA reporting, such as 1094‑C and 1095‑C.
• Partner with accounting on invoice reconciliation for all benefit lines of coverage.
• Partner with payroll to ensure proper benefit deductions and benefit reimbursements and deposits, such as car or cell phone allowance.
• Ensure that benefits comply with federal, state, and local legal requirements, as well as…