Benefits Coordinator

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 320,000 students in 600+ schools and employing approximately 40,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments - student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.
Job Summary:
Reporting to the Manager of Benefits, the Benefits Coordinator will support the administration and operations of CPS' $350M+ healthcare plans and $1.7B retirement program.
The Benefits Coordinator will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Overall Tier II support
• Partner with the Human Resources Contact Center to respond to benefits inquiries and issues providing courteous, accurate, responsive and timely service
• Serve as a primary point of contact for staff and vendors to triage and facilitate the resolution of staff inquiries and issues
• Process benefits enrollment per plan verification process
• Pursue and implement innovative ideas and methods to transactional processes that support benefits plans and services to improve staff submission of required documentation
• Identify and recommend transactional improvements to streamline internal processes, increase efficiency and improve vendor performance
• Aid in the facilitation of the annual benefits renewal and open enrollment processes
• Arrange and sort receivables (mail, emails, faxes, etc.) by department and category. Ensure proper labeling and packaging for outgoing distributions.
• Organizes and files documents, records, invoices, receipts and forms. Collecting documents from departments and employees, developing an effective document storage and filing system and digitizing hard copies of documents.

Assist with the ideation, creation, execution, and evaluation of benefits communicationand educational programs for CPS staff.

• Participate collaboratively to assist in improving communications, education materials, tools and guidelines to drive employee plan utilization and improve preventative healthcare plan usage
• Review employee engagement with benefits communications and tools, and recommend changes to meet targeted goals
• Participate collaboratively to assist with coordinating, organizing and executing logistics for staff benefits fairs, orientation, presentations, and events

Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations, Board policies and labor contracts related to benefits administration.

• Assist in the preparation of annual regulatory filings and data compilation for annual audits
• Collect and compile data for compliance and legal-related inquiries
• Stay abreast of emerging government regulations
• Ensure claimant and staff information and records are kept confidential and handled in compliance with HIPAA
• Perform audits and compliance reviews to ensure data integrity and resolve errors
• Performs other duties as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Benefits Coordinator must possess the following qualifications:
Education Required:

• High school diploma or GED equivalent
• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university

Experience Required:

• Minimum of (3) years of experience in a complex environment, large-scale and fast-paced environment
• Ability to research, analyze and present data and recommendations in an organized and logical manner
• Exceptional customer service, interpersonal, and verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrates the ability to handle difficult and sensitive employee situations while maintaining confidentiality and adherence to HIPAA and data privacy laws and policies
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and work effectively with minimal supervision while adhering to strict deadlines
• Experience in program and/or project management and proven ability to own tasks from ideation to execution and evaluation
• Demonstrates skills in the development and maintenance of effective working relationships with all levels of staff, governmental agencies, and labor unions
• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to produce high-quality work

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Ability to articulate a vision, set high standards, and effectively guide schools and principals in the realization of expectations set
• Expertise in leadership development and instructional leadership. Ability to coach directors and managers toward excellence, build capacity of content area teams and develop meaningful and high impact professional communities for teachers and school leaders
• Strong communication skills (speaking - including presentations - listening, and writing)
• Demonstrate high levels of instructional expertise, integrity, honesty, credibility, and the courage to make difficult yet necessary decisions
• Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals, and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment
• Strong leadership and team building skills, e.g. ability to develop high-performing teams united around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving student success
• Knowledge of operations, budget/finance, management and organizational development
• Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support schools and principals
• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps

Conditions of Employment
As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.
• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. "Up-to-date" on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters.