Don't Let Open Enrollment Spook You!

Open Enrollment season may feel like a haunted house full of twists and turns, but Dominion Payroll is here to make sure you get through it without any fright! Whether you're battling the ghosts of past open enrollments or facing new, unknown challenges, we’ve got the tips and tricks to help you survive this spooky season. Let’s jump into how you can make sure your open enrollment is all treat, no trick.

Start Preparing Early

One of the best ways to avoid last-minute headaches is by getting an early start. If you're maintaining your current benefit plans, your broker should contact you ahead of the renewal date with updated rate structures. If you're considering switching carriers, proposals should be sent from new insurance providers. Finalizing these decisions early will allow us to set up your benefit plans and open your enrollment portal in isolved ahead of time!

KEY TIP:
Finalize benefit plans early so we can configure everything in isolved before your enrollment begins.

Work with Your Benefits Specialist

If you’re using our Benefit Administration service with Employee Self Service Portals, your designated Benefits Specialist will reach out 60-90 days before your renewal date. Here's what we'll need from you:

• Finalized rates, including the cost breakdown between employer and employee
• Anticipated dates for your open enrollment period

To ensure enough time for setup and review, we need this information at least two weeks before your open enrollment begins. This ensures there’s ample time to build and test your benefit plans.

Test Your Enrollment Portal Thoroughly

Testing your portal is critical to the success of your open enrollment. We encourage you to “break it” during the testing phase to ensure everything works as expected before employees access it.

When testing your portal, verify:

• Correct benefit plans and accurate rates are displayed
• Plan dependencies work properly
• Required demographic information for dependents is captured
• Evidence of Insurability (EOI) rules are functioning as needed
• All messages and documents in the portal are accurate

Once you approve that everything is set up correctly, we’ll schedule the portal to open on your chosen date.

Communicate Clearly with Employees

Your employees should be fully informed about the open enrollment process. Since this is their only opportunity to make benefit changes outside of qualifying life events, communication is key.

We can help by:

• Setting up automated email notifications to eligible employees when the portal opens
• Sending recurring reminders to those who have not yet submitted their elections

Monitor Enrollment Progress with the Dashboard

Our Enrollment Management Dashboard gives you real-time insight into your employees' enrollment status. We recommend regularly checking the Eligible to Enroll tab to track submissions throughout the enrollment period.

Additional Features:
Once employees submit their elections, an e-signed copy of their Benefit Confirmation Statement is saved in their Employee Documents folder for both their and your records.

Approve Employee Elections

Once the open enrollment period ends, all elections will need to be approved in the Enrollments – Pending Approval tab. This step must be completed before payroll deductions can begin. If any of your benefit plans require Evidence of Insurability (EOI) approvals, review the Pending EOI Requests tab to update employee coverage amounts based on carrier feedback.

Utilize isolved's Benefits Enrollment Reports

Isolved offers several reports to make benefit enrollment easier, such as the Benefit Plan Detail report. This report provides all the necessary information for enrolling employees with your insurance carriers.

If you use our Carrier Connection service, we will handle the coordination of open enrollment files with your insurance carriers. The sooner everything is approved in isolved, the quicker your employees will receive their insurance cards before the coverage starts.

Wrap Up Your Open Enrollment Without the Frights

We get it—open enrollment can feel like a monster lurking in the shadows, but with Dominion Payroll on your side, you’ll be ready to take it on without any jump scares! Your designated Benefits Specialist will be there every step of the way, ensuring your open enrollment process is as smooth as a perfectly carved pumpkin.

If you have any questions or need extra help taming the open enrollment ghouls, reach out to your HCM Sales Consultant. Together, we’ll make this open enrollment season a walk in the pumpkin patch!