What are benefits?

An organization can provide various types of benefits to employees in addition to their regular wages. The benefits package varies significantly between organizations and may include health, life, disability, and other types of coverage. Smart Onboarding enables users to create customized benefit plans and benefit programs tailored to their organization's needs.

Who can access setup pages for benefits?

Users with the System Administrator role can access the setup pages for benefits.

How to add benefits activity to the New Hire's onboarding?

To add benefits in the New Hire's onboarding process, follow these steps:

• Add benefit program in the Attribute Revision
• Add and configure benefits in the business process
• Attach the benefit program to the New Hire's invitation
• New Hire's enrollment in the company benefits

Add benefit program in the Attribute Revision

The first step is to add the defined benefit program to its parent attribute in the Attribute Revision. For more details, please click here.

Add and configure benefits in the business process

Next step is to add benefits activity in the business process. This can be done by creating a new Process Revision.

On the Process Revision page, click the "Configure Business Process" link.

Configure benefits activities in the business process. Scroll down to the "Benefits" section and add them under Generic Benefits. 

Save and apply the Process Revision.

Attach a benefit program to the New Hire's invitation

For adding and defining a benefit program in the New Hire invitation, click this link.

New Hire's enrollment in the company benefits 

For benefits to appear in the onboarding process, the new hire must opt into company benefits by selecting "Yes" in the Benefit Elections option during the Employee Information activity.

If the "No" option is selected, the onboarding process will skip the benefits activity.

When benefits are opted, the related benefits activities will be included in the onboarding process for the New Hire. 

How a New Hire can complete benefits activities?

Benefits enrollment for dependents/beneficiaries include the following step:

Note: The following details include the recent changes/enhancements that are implemented to the benefits activity. For the transactions that are already process completed, a conversion App Engine will be run to apply these new changes. 

Define Dependents & Beneficiaries

The first step in benefits activities is adding the dependent/beneficiary information. The "Define Dependents & Beneficiaries" page may or may not display the self/candidate row of the new hire, depending on the system configuration. If it is configured not to display the self/candidate row, the page will appear as shown below.

If it is configured to display the self row, the page will automatically populate the New Hire's details as the initial row.

To add a dependent/beneficiary, click the "Add Person" button.

Fill out the fields shown below. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required. Validation messages will appear if any required fields are not filled in.

Example: 

The details of each section of this page is discussed below:

Name:

The fields and their description of the above section are provided in the following table:

Enter all the name fields.

Error messages are triggered if invalid values are entered in these fields.

When "Relationship to Employee" is selected, the default value of dependent/beneficiary "Type" is auto populated. 

When modifying the default value for "Type", make sure it is appropriate to the relationship selected. Otherwise, the following error message displays on the page and you may have to modify your entries.

Person Details:

Depending on the configuration, filling in the Date of Birth field for individuals classified as "Dependent" or "Dependent & Beneficiary" may be either mandatory or optional.

If the Date of Birth is set as mandatory, entering a value in this field is required.

In this case, if the value is not entered, the following error will be displayed on the page:

If the Date of Birth is configured as optional for types "Dependent" or "Dependent & Beneficiary," you can choose whether or not to enter a value in this field. It is not required.

In the above case (Date of Birth = not required & Type = "Dependent"/"Dependent & Beneficiary"), if Date of Birth is not entered the following warning message will be displayed.

When Type =  "Beneficiary", Date of Birth is optional.

Address:

The fields with asterisk are mandatory to enter. Based on the Country you choose in the drop-down, the address field format will change. By default, the address field format displayed is for the United States.

The required address fields are validated and the related error messages are displayed if required fields are not entered.

When "Address Same as Employee" is checked, the dependent's/beneficiary's address defaults to the employee's Home address as given below. This "Address Type" can be changed to "Mailing" if the mailing address of the employee is to be populated.

When "Address Same as Employee" is unchecked, the dependent's/beneficiary's address has to be manually entered. Make sure the address fields are entered as required.

The Dependent/Beneficiary/Dependent & Beneficiary can be added with Country other than USA.

National ID

By default, the Country under National ID shows as "United States" and National ID Type as "Social Security Number". The Country can be changed by clicking on the dropdown value.

The values presented in the drop down for the National ID Type will vary based on the Country selected. Few examples are shown below:

Entering the National ID is optional; however, if a National ID is provided, selecting the National ID Type is required. If not entered, the following error message will be displayed when the activity is saved..

The value entered in National ID is validated based on the National ID Type. Error message displays if the entered format is not correct specific to that National ID Type.

Country = United Kingdom

National IDs are also checked for duplicates within the same Dependent/Beneficiary Type. If the ID you are trying to enter has already been used for a person with the same Type, the following message will appear upon saving the activity. You may need to adjust the person’s Type or correct the National ID before saving.

Phone Information:

If "Same Phone as Employee" is checked, the employee's phone information populates on the page as shown below:

If "Same Phone as Employee" is unchecked, the phone information has to be entered.

Email Information:

If "Same Email as Employee" is checked, the employee's email information populates on the page as shown below:

If "Same Email as Employee" is unchecked, the email information has to be entered.

After entering all the information, click the "OK" button to save the details. 

The added dependent/beneficiary information shows on the main page as given below:

To see the details, click the arrow on the right side of the grid.

Once all Dependent/Beneficiary information is added, save the changes. The individual’s information can be edited until the process is submitted to HR.

If changes are needed after the process has been submitted, the process/activity may need to be restarted. This will be discussed in the following section.

To download the signed forms of the completed activity, click the "Download Signed Forms" icon present at the bottom right corner of the page.

Benefits Enrollment

The Benefit Plans (of Plan Type "Medical", "Dental" & "Vision") that are included in the Benefit Program are shown in the Benefits Enrollment activity.

On this page, you will have a choice to enroll for the Medical, Dental and Vision benefits.

Select the option "No" if you do not want to enroll for Medical benefits. If "No" is selected, the Medical Coverage Waiver form displays down the Medical benefits section as shown below.

Complete this form and then proceed to other sections i.e Dental and Vision plans.

Click "Yes" if you want to enroll for Medical benefits. A drop down will display all the Benefit Plans available.

Note: The Benefit Plans showing in the drop down depends on the effective date of the Benefit Program in the setup and the employment start date specified on the invitation.

The Benefit Plans configured in the maximum effective dated row of the Benefit Program will reflect in Benefits Enrollment activity only if the Start Date of the invitation is greater than the Benefit Program's maximum effective date.

For the invitations with Start Date less than the maximum effective date of the Benefit Program:

• the Benefit Plans will not show up in the drop down if there is only one effective dated row in the Benefit Program
• will show the Benefit Plans of prior effective dated row if there are multiple rows in the Benefit Program

If there are multiple Benefit Plans of Plan Type as "Medical" configured in the Benefit Program setup, then all the values of the Benefit Plan will show in this drop down. For more details on adding multiple benefit plans of the same Plan Type (Medical/Dental/Vision) in a Benefit Program, please click here. 

Select any Medical Benefit Plan that is applicable to you from the list. If the selected plan has downloadable attachment(s) configured in the Benefit Plan setup, then it will appear next to the Benefit Plan. The attachments showing here are driven by the invitation Start Date. The attachments configured in the maximum effective dated row of the Benefit Plan will reflect in Benefits Enrollment activity only if the maximum effective date of the attachment is less than the invitation Start Date. Otherwise, the attachments of prior effective dated row will show in this activity.

You can download by clicking on the download icon. For creating new Benefit Plans with attachments, please click here.

Until the Benefits Enrollment activity is completed, the changes made to the attachments in the maximum effective dated row of the Benefit Plan will reflect in Benefits Enrollment activity for the New Hire. Once the activity is completed using the Benefit Plan, the attachments of that Benefit Plan cannot be modified. 

After completing the Benefits Enrollment activity, if new attachments are configured in the Benefit Plan setup with new effective dated row, they will not reflect in the activity. (For details on configuring new attachments to an existing Benefit Plan, please click here), The New Hire can see these attachments only if the activity is opened in edit mode (until the process is not submitted to HR) and the effective dates of attachments, Benefit Plan and Benefit Program are less than the invitation Start Date. If the process has already submitted to HR, then the Benefits activities or the process has to be restarted to see these attachments. For more details on activity or process restarts, please click here.

If you have any other medical insurance, select "Yes" in other medical insurance option and enter insurance details as given below.

Similarly, enter the options for Dental and Vision Benefit Plans.

Complete Benefit Enrollment details and save.

To download the signed forms of the completed activity, click the "Download Signed Forms" icon located at the right bottom corner of the page.

Life Insurance Designation

In this page, select the persons to add as primary and contingent beneficiaries for Term Life insurance. 

If adding a Primary Beneficiary is required, the following error will be displayed if not entered.

Click on the Person ID drop-down and select a Primary Beneficiary from the list.

The details of the beneficiary from the previous setup (Define Dependents & Beneficiaries) populates on the page. Enter the percentage of Life Insurance benefit of the beneficiary.

To add another row, click on "Add Primary Beneficiary" button.

Select the beneficiary in the new row and add percentage.

Similarly, select a Contingent Beneficiary from the list and add the percentage and click "Save".

After saving, the signed forms can be downloaded by clicking on the "Download Signed Forms" icon present at the right bottom corner of the page.

Voluntary Benefits Enrollment

Add self details as well as dependents in the form given below to enroll for the Voluntary Benefits.

Employee details:

The Plan Types that the employee can enroll are: Accidental Death, Life, Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability and Supplemental Life.

For the selected Plan Type, all available Benefit Plans will appear in the drop-down menu. Choose a Benefit Plan from the list.

Note: The Benefit Plans shown in the drop-down depend on the Benefit Program's effective date in the setup and the invitation's Start Date.

Benefit Plans configured in the most recent effective-dated row of the Benefit Program will only appear in the Benefits Enrollment activity if the invitation's Start Date is after the Benefit Program's maximum effective date.

For invitations with a Start Date earlier than the maximum effective date of the Benefit Program:

• The Benefit Plans will not appear in the drop-down if there is only one effective-dated row in the Benefit Program.
• The drop-down will display Benefit Plans from the previous effective-dated row if there are multiple rows in the Benefit Program.

Based on the Rate Type of the selected Benefit Plan, the values in the "Coverage" drop down will vary. 

If the Benefit Rate Type is "Compensation", the values displaying in the "Coverage" drop down are the "Compensation Multiples" entered under Rate Data section of the Benefit Plan.

If the Benefit Rate Type is "Covered Person", the values displaying in the "Coverage" drop down are the "Coverage" values entered under Rate Data section of the Benefit Plan.

if the Benefit Rate Type values are "Age" and "Flat Rate", then there will be no Coverage values in the activity.

If the selected plan has downloadable attachment(s) configured in the Benefit Plan setup, then the download icon will appear next to Coverage field. If the Benefit Plan has no attachment, the download icon will not appear.

The attachments showing here are driven by the invitation Start Date. The attachments configured in the maximum effective dated row of the Benefit Plan will reflect in this activity only if the maximum effective date of the attachment is less than the invitation Start Date. Otherwise, attachments of the prior effective dated row will show up in this activity.

You can download the attachment by clicking on the download icon. For creating new Benefit Plans with attachments, please click here.

When Plan Type is selected, providing the Benefit Plan and Coverage (if available) is required. If you save the activity without providing these details, the following error messages display on the page.

If Plan Type is selected and Benefit Plan is not selected:

If Benefit Plan has Coverage values available and if activity is saved without selecting the Coverage:

Employee can have multiple Benefit Plans of different Plan Types added under Voluntary Benefits Enrollment. 

If multiple rows of same Plan Type are added under Employee, the following error displays on the page.

Dependent details:

Adding Dependent information is optional on this page.

Select a "Person ID" under Dependents and proceed with adding the Plan Type. Dependents can be enrolled for three Plan Types: Accidental Death, Life and Supplemental Life. 

After adding the Person ID, if activity is saved without selecting the Plan Type under Dependents, the error message displays as below.

Vice versa, if Plan Type is selected and "Person ID" is not selected, the error displays as follows.

After selecting the Plan Type, add the Benefit Plan. The error displays as follows if Benefit Plan is not selected.

If Coverage is applicable for the Benefit Plan, and the activity is saved without selecting the Coverage value, an error displays as follows.

Note: Coverage values will show up for the Benefit Plans with Rate Type configured as "Compensation" and "Covered person" in the Benefit Plan Setup. For the Benefit Plans with Rate Types "Age" and "Flat Rate", the Coverage values will not be available. This is explained in detail in the above Employee section. Please click here for more details.

If Benefit Plan has attachment configured in its setup, then the download icon will show up next to the Coverage field. Click on the icon to download the attachment.

Also, make sure dependents are not enrolled for the same Plan Type multiple times. If multiple rows of the same Plan Type is added for a dependent, the following error displays on the page.

When enrolling for dependents, you can add multiple dependents as shown below.

However, the same dependent cannot be added multiple times. If same dependent is added multiple times, the error displays as below.

After entering the enrollment details, click "Save". 

The signed forms can be downloaded by clicking on the icon present at the right bottom corner of the page.

This completes all the benefits activities. 

How to edit the information provided in benefits activities after the activities are completed?

The information provided in the benefits activities can be edited until "Submit to HR" activity is completed. 

To edit the information in any benefits activity, click on the "Edit" button available at the bottom of the page. This will open the activity in edit mode.

The below example shows editing the Voluntary Benefits activity. 

The fields on Voluntary Benefits activity open in edit mode as shown below.

Update the information for Employee and Dependents as needed. Like in add mode, the field values (Plan Type, Benefit Plan and Coverage) are validated and the corresponding error messages are displayed when the errors are found. For more details on Voluntary Benefits field validations, please click here.

If new attachments are configured in the Benefit Plan setup (with the effective dates of attachments, Benefit Plan and Benefit Program less than the invitation Start Date) then the attachments will show in the edit mode. For details on configuring new attachments to an existing Benefit Plan, please click here.

After updating the information save the activity.

Can you delete the individuals from the benefits activity?

The individuals who are added as Dependents/Beneficiaries can be deleted if they are not enrolled in any benefits. This can be done before "Submit to HR" activity is completed.

Click on "Delete" to delete the Dependent/Beneficiary row.

Click "Yes" to continue.

The row gets deleted from the Dependent/Beneficiary list.

If the individual is enrolled in benefits, the following message displays when you try to delete the corresponding row.

How to get multiple values of Benefit Plans in the dropdown in Benefits Enrollment activity?

If you wish multiple values of Benefit Plans (Medical, Dental, Vision) to be shown for the New Hires in Benefits Enrollment activity, then follow the steps given below:

1. Create multiple Benefit Plans as needed with the same Plan Type using "Benefit Plan" activity. For more details on creating Benefit Plans, please click here.

2. Add these Benefit Plans under the Benefit Program. For details on creating a new Benefit Program, please click here.

If you want to add Benefit Plans under a new effective dated row on an existing Benefit Program, please click here.

Note: Make sure the Benefit Plans are created with effective date less than or same as the effective date of the Benefit Program. Benefit Plans with later effective dates cannot be added under an already existing Benefit Program for the current effective date.  In such case, you can create a new effective dated row in the Benefit Program and add the newly created Benefit Plans.

In this example, a new effective dated row is added in the existing Benefit Program to add the newly created Benefit Plans. Here the previous Benefit Plan with Plan Type as "Medical" is deleted and the newly created three "Medical" Benefit Plans are added and saved.

3. Create an invitation using the above Benefit Program with invitation start date on or after the maximum effective date of the Benefit Program.

(Note: If you are using a new Benefit Program then it should be configured in Attribute Revision to appear in the Benefit Program lookup on the invitation. For more details, please click here. If you have updated an existing Benefit Program which has already been configured in the Attribute Revision then there is no need to repeat this step)  

If invitation start date is less than the Benefit Program maximum effective date (which is 02/27/2023 in the above example), then the Benefit Plans configured under that maximum effective dated row of the Benefit Program will not appear in Benefits Enrollment activity for the New Hire.  The Benefits Enrollment activity will show the Benefit Plans that are configured under prior effective dated row (which is 06/25/2021 in the above case) of the Benefit Program.

To have the newly added Benefit Plans appear in the Benefits Enrollment activity, the start date of the invitation should be same or greater than the maximum effective date (i.e "02/27/2023" in the example) of the Benefit Program.

In this example, an invitation is created with start date same as the maximum effective date of the Benefit Program i.e "02/27/2023".

4. When the New Hire chooses to enroll for the Company Benefits by choosing "Yes" in the Benefits Elections option in Employee Biographic information, the Benefits activity will appear in their onboarding process. 

In Benefits Enrollment activity, the new Benefit Plans of Plan Type "Medical" configured under the maximum effective dated row of the Benefit Program will appear as shown below. 

How to edit benefits information after New Hire submits the process to HR?

After the process is submitted to HR, the New Hire cannot edit the onboarding information unless the activity/process is restarted by the HR Specialist. There are two ways to restart the benefits.

• Restart Activity
• Restart Process
  
  

Restart Activity:

Must be a HR Specialist to perform this action. 

Let us consider a New Hire's process with Submit to HR completed.

Restart activity through Invitation Console:

Select the Invitation ID for which you want to restart the benefits activity. Click on "Info and Actions" and select "Restart Activity" under Actions.

Restart activity through Elasticsearch:

Click on the Elasticsearch icon and select "Invitations" in the Category drop down. Enter the keyword in the "Keywords" field and click "Search".

Here, Invitation ID is used as the search keyword. This displays the invitation in the search results. Click on actions and select "Restart Activities".

Select from the Restart Group dropdown which activity you want to restart. Each option in the Restart Group is a collection of different activities that was previously configured.  

To restart benefits activities, select "Correction to Benefit Forms" option from Restart Group dropdown.

Enter a comment explaining why you are restarting the activity and click "Submit".

Click "Ok" to continue.

Confirmation message shows as below:

The New Hire receives the following email about the restart activity.

The benefit activities show under pending tasks for the New Hire. By clicking on the link, the New Hire can open the activity and complete them.

Restart Process:

This option will restart the complete New Hire's process.

Restart process through Invitation Console:

Select the Invitation ID for which you want to restart the process. Click on "Info and Actions" and select "Restart Process" under Actions.

Restart process through Elasticsearch:

Click on the Elasticsearch icon and select "Invitations" in the Category drop down. Enter the keyword in the "Keywords" field and click "Search".

Here, Invitation ID is used as the search keyword. This displays the invitation in the search results. Click on actions and select "Restart Process".

Select the Reason and enter a Comment explaining why you are restarting the process. Click on "Submit".

Click "OK" to continue.

This sends the following email to the New Hire to let them know that the process has been restarted.

The New Hire needs to start the onboarding process over, starting with the electronic disclosure. They can edit the benefit forms in the process and resubmit to HR.