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Form of work*We are looking for candidates with benefits experience to join our inclusive, fun and people-centered HR team! This position, operating out of our DeLand, FL location, serves our employees on all of our campuses (DeLand, Gulfport, and Tampa, FL). This role supports the health and wellness of our community which is guided by the ideals of kindness, empathy, and shared ownership.*
The Benefits Administrator supports Stetson University by providing management and administration of the University’s employee benefits program. Serving as a member of the Human Resources Team, the Benefits Administrator is responsible for educating and counseling employees and retirees on benefit options, resolving problems and concerns, and ensuring the timely and accurate processing of all benefit actions. It further provides support and guidance in evaluating and selecting benefits products and providers. This position reflects the University’s One Stetson philosophy by providing ongoing support and services to all campuses and sites. The position requires the ability to work effectively with all University constituents, across all campuses, and the ability to effectively manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Maintains thorough knowledge of benefit plans, contracts, and vendor agreements, and answer questions from faculty, staff, and University administration.
- Manages and maintains positive relationships with benefit providers and vendors.
- Seeks to enhance benefit offerings by exploring relationships with new vendors.
- Provides guidance and assistance to active participants, new employees, and retirees in making benefit selections, open enrollment changes, and qualifying events updates for all campus locations, and provides information and seeks to resolve issues regarding benefits utilization and claims for members.
- Oversees the employee benefits portal including monitoring employee elections and changes, working with IT resources and benefit vendors to ensure file feeds process in a timely and accurate manner, and providing assistance to employees in navigating the portal.
- Assists employees with retirements, separations, and terminations. Provides proactive guidance and benefit support in filing appropriate paperwork and obtaining benefits at separation from the University including retirements and COBRA processes.
- Serves as the point of contact for retiree benefits and provides management and oversight to ongoing retiree transactions (benefit changes, reconciling invoices, collecting premiums, and processing death claims).
- Processes all disability and FMLA claims. Assists employees in determining eligibility, completing paperwork, and providing follow up with university constituents (employee, supervisor, HR staff).
- Reconciles billing and claims information from benefit vendors. Ensures timely and accurate processing of payments to benefit vendors.
- Under the guidance of the Associate Director of Total Rewards, manages and oversees the annual Open Enrollment process for the University and distributes the required legal notices to employees, coordinates and manages the Benefits and Wellness fairs at the DeLand campus, and coordinates with representatives for all campus locations to ensure employee access to vendors.
- Manages HR benefits web presence, including web-based access to benefits information and forms, web announcements on benefits issues and updates, and vendor contact information.
- Analyzes and recommends changes in benefits, benefit policies and procedures, and legal compliance issues with regards to the University’s benefits programs to the Associate Director and departmental leadership.
- Maintains all benefits-related information in the University’s Banner system for all campuses, including rule forms and employee specific information.
- Provides Banner support to the Human Resources team.
- Performs annual audits and assists with 403(b) audits.
- Processes reports and queries as requested, and supports the data gathering efforts of the University Benefits Advisory Council.
- Maintains confidential employee information according to HIPAA guidelines.
- Assists with HR projects, events, and programs as assigned.
- Supports other HR areas as assigned.
- Performs other site and position specific functions as assigned.
Required Skills
- The ability to provide services comfortably and compassionately to a broad range of constituents with a full spectrum of personal benefits issues.
- Outstanding interpersonal skills including the ability to manage conflict and effectively support employees who may be frustrated or experiencing personal challenges.
- The ability to effectively manage multiple product vendors and broker relationships.
- Excellent written and verbal communication and customer service skills.
- The ability to negotiate positive resolutions to difficult problems.
- The ability to exhibit a professional, courteous demeanor.
- Demonstrated a commitment to supporting the University’s goals of being a diverse community of inclusive excellence.
- Support the University’s Mission and Values in their role.
Required Experience
- A Bachelor’s degree.
- Demonstrated experience processing a high volume of employee records in an ERP system (Ellucian Banner, PeopleSoft, Workday, SAP, or similar) on matters of significance to the employee experience (employment, benefits, and/or financial transactions).
- Demonstrated experience managing multiple employee inquiries daily, while adhering to frequent, ongoing, rigid deadlines (payroll, billing due dates, or similar).
- Experience in some of the following areas: working with outside vendors, customer service and support (specifically advocating on behalf of employee groups), overseeing financial transactions and reconciliations, and utilizing IT resources to improve processes and user experiences.
Ideal Candidate Qualifications: The ideal candidate's qualifications include:
- Three to five years of experience in Human Resources.
- Demonstrated experience with benefit administration.
- Experience in higher education HR.
- Prior experience with the Ellucian Banner ERP system.
Salary Grade: 6
