Benefits Manager

What this job involves: 

The Benefits Manager, UK&I will be responsible for managing and providing leadership to the HR Operations team across all benefits including Health and Welfare, Retirement, and Financial and Physical Wellness. Plans, directs, and controls the activities and staff involved in the implementation and administration of Company employee benefit programs. Serves as subject matter expert and provides guidance to Ter 1 team on employees queries. Supports the Benefits CoE in developing processes and procedures to drive and assist in development of operational efficiencies.

What your day-to-day will look like:

Benefits Delivery:

• Manage end-to-end cyclical activities e.g. benefit renewals, communications, regulatory reporting, documentation etc. 

• Support Tier 1 on resolving complex benefits related queries and escalations

• Act as subject matter expert for wider HR team in relation to benefits queries

• Maintain benefits communications and leverage provider resources, internal networks and technology to drive benefits engagement. 

• Partnership with the HR Ops team to support benefits delivery. Proactively collaborate with the team to develop / improve processes, with the aim to minimise administration errors and drive operational efficiencies.

• Consult with the Benefits CoE resource to ensure there is a globally/regionally consistent approach to benefits delivery. 

• Maintain the inventory of programs, policy documents, calendar of activities, etc so that there is a clear understanding of the programs and activities required to actively manage. 

• Provide technical expertise to the business on complex issues as required.

• Overall responsibility for the delivery of all voluntary benefit enrolments including renewals, effective communication and project management.

• Ad-hoc project lead as needed for items that require involvement from Benefit Operations 

• System management: ensure timely changes to benefits related system

• New Programs – upon notification of a new plan/program, identify the file requirements to support and work with the Benefits CoE/implementation team. Also includes changes to existing programs. Develop and execute comprehensive test plans

Vendor Management:

• Manage the vendor and 3rd party relationships working closely with them to ensure service levels, budgets and agreements are adhered to.  

• Invoicing: will be responsible fortimely submission and processing of invoices

Data Integrity management:

• Provide guidance, including but not limited to compliance, vendor utilization, external relationship management/utilization to all division and/or business unit representatives

• Responsible for overseeing metrics tracking

• Identify potential areas of compliance vulnerability and risk and provide general guidance on how to avoid or deal with such situations.

• Manage audits of payroll/benefits data, especially with regard tobenefit deductions.

• Manage internal compliance audit and monitoring activities inclusive of department and overall organization

• Invoice Management for UK Benefits

• Contributes to creating a budget and ensures billing is monitoredfrequentlyin an effort to streamline costs and invoicing processes for vendors.

• Act as the escalation point for issues with data compliance risk (e.g., tax implications, legal ramifications, etc.)

Governance:

• In partnership with Benefits CoE, manage benefits programs in line with the agreed operating framework.  Proactively review and offer recommendations for enhancements to the guiding principles, policies and processes.  Programs include pensions, healthcare, insured risk benefits, car benefits, wellbeing programs and other perks.

• Maintain the inventory of programs, policy documents, calendar of activities, etc so that there is a clear understanding of the programs and activities required to actively manage.

Process efficiency/management 

• Act as a solutions architect assessing chronic data issues that could be solved programmatically.

• Provide guidance on research and resolution of interface-related issues, including the error reporting process.

• Evaluate existing procedures and identifyoptimal solutions, whether administrative or systematic, to improve internal processes and ultimately user experience. 

• Collaborate with other internal departments (HRIS, Payroll, Tax, Legal, Finance and Compliance) to ensure operational success across the organization and support feedback documentation and enhancement cycles.

• Support Benefits CoE in all aspects of Open Enrollments including submission of headcount/salary related data to vendor

• Builds strong relationships with internal and external partners to help ensure optimal process satisfaction

UK Transitions:

• Support the UK business and PXP’s with key TUPE transfers with benefits management

• Provide statistical analysis on benefits usage and ROI to aid both management reporting and proposals

Stakeholder Management:

• Build effective working relationships with key stakeholders, incl. People Partners, PSD, Global Reward teams, Procurement, Legal/Compliance and Finance to successfully deliver change initiatives

Risk Management:

• Monitors legal, tax and statutory requirements, developing processes and controls to ensure compliance with internal and external regulations.

• Responsible for frequent and proactive communication on operational execution and delivery

• Creates and uses formal processes and tools to manage resources, budgets, risks, and changes.

Required Skills and Experience: 

• Workday HRIS knowledge. 

• Project management experience implementing new programs. 

• Functional knowledge of data interfaces

• Excellent consultative problem-solving skills

• Strong communication and presentation skills