Benefits Administrator

Description

Position Summary: The mission of the Human Resources Department is to support The Woodlands Township in attracting and retaining top talent, rewarding employees with competitive pay and benefits, creating a positive and engaging workplace culture, and providing excellent customer service to employees.  Under general guidance of the Director of Human Resources, the Benefits Administrator advances this mission by advocating for employees and communicating and administering the comprehensive array of health and wellness plans and programs offered by The Woodlands Township.

Plans and programs administered by the Benefits Administrator include, but are not limited to, medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, flexible spending plan, and the Employee Assistance Program.  This position is the primary contact for workers compensation and leave management. The position also performs administration duties for the Township’s 457(b) and 401(a) retirement plans.  As an integral member of the Human Resources (HR) team, this position provides general HR support and services as needed.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provides exceptional customer service while serving as primary contact for employees and plan vendors.
• Develops and coordinates employee communications regarding health and wellness plans and programs, including, but not limited to, annual benefits enrollment communications, education initiatives, and the benefits website.
• Promptly investigates and resolves questions regarding delivery and payment for services by contacting health care professionals and other service providers, benefit plan providers, and employees.
• Works effectively to ensure plans run smoothly. Investigates discrepancies and provides information in nonroutine situations.
• Stays abreast of workplace health and wellness trends, compliance requirements, legislation, and other benefits changes and makes recommendations for adherence to new regulations. Participates in continuing education opportunities, as available.
• Actively participates in benefit strategy meetings providing feedback on plan operations and vendor relations. Proposes benefit changes to respond to employee needs and or market demands.
• Evaluates and revises internal processes to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
• Coordinates transfer of data to external contacts for services, premiums, and plan administration.
• Documents and maintains administrative procedures for assigned benefits processes.
• Ensures compliance with applicable government regulations.
• Participates regularly in meetings with vendors and employees virtually, by phone, and/or in-person.
• Ensures timeliness and accuracy of required legal and compliance filings.
• Leads Township-wide annual benefits enrollment process, including overseeing vendor responsibilities, employee meetings, specialized communications, compliance requirements, and website updates.
• Takes ownership of ongoing employee benefit enrollments, leave administration, COBRA, benefit terminations and changes, beneficiary designations, disability claims/benefits, accident and death claims, rollovers, QDROs, distributions, loans, and compliance testing.
• Oversees maintenance of employee benefits files and updating of employee payroll records.
• Gathers employee data and oversees the reconciliation and processing of monthly billings for all group plans.
• Allocates group health and dental claims monthly.
• Analyzes the current benefits, evaluating the use, services, coverage, effectiveness, and competitive trends in benefits programs.
• Monitors, verifies, and reconciles benefits costs to budgeted projections.
• Reviews and approves employee leave requests. Coordinates benefits payments and time-off utilization. Reports all employee accidents to worker’s compensation carrier and ensures compliance with all requirements.
• Creates and conducts presentations for benefits orientations, benefits enrollment meetings, and other health and wellness initiatives.
• Collaborates with other HR team members to support all HR and Benefits related initiatives and projects.

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities: None.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education: Bachelor's Degree (B. A.) from four-year college or university.

Experience: Three (3) to five (5) years of benefits administration experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Licenses and Certifications:

• Must possess or obtain a valid Texas driver’s license within the first ninety (90) days of employment and meet the driver safety policy requirements.

Computer Skills: Proficiency in Microsoft Office required.

Language Skills: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Has the ability to draft routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of the organization.

Ability to fluently converse and write in Spanish a plus.

Mathematical Skills: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.

Reasoning Ability: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

Human Collaboration Skills: Decisions regarding implementation of policies may be made. Contact may involve support of controversial positions or the negotiation of sensitive issues or important presentations. Contact may involve stressful, negative interactions with employees requiring high levels of tact and the ability to respond to aggressive interpersonal interactions.

The likely impact on organization is moderate.

Freedom to Act: The employee normally performs the duty assignment according to his or her own judgment, requesting supervisory assistance only when necessary. Special projects are managed with little oversight and assignments may be reviewed upon completion. Performance reviewed periodically.

The impact of action is moderate: Moderate benefits or costs in time, money, or public/employee relations.

Technical Skills: Skilled: Work requires a comprehensive, practical knowledge of a technical field with use of analytical judgment and decision-making abilities appropriate to the work environment of the organization.

Work product affects accuracy of multiple projects.

Budget Responsibility: Does research for documents, compiles data for computer entry, and/or oversees data entry. Has responsibility for monitoring budget/fiscal expenditures for a work unit less than department size.

The size of the budget is moderate.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

Work Conditions: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Good: Relatively free from unpleasant environmental conditions or hazards. Office environment and little physical effort is required.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

The Woodlands Township is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values diversity at all levels of its workforce.

Salary : $66,510