Benefit Specialist

Reports to: Senior Director, Human Resources

New Hope Community supports people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities with day programs, housing, health services, supported employment, and more. Our staff power the realization of our mission. We seek to build dynamic, HR practices that help us meet the needs of the people we support.

Our Benefits Specialist will direct and plan the day-to-day operations of the agency’s group benefits program (group medical, dental, vision, short-term disability, workers’ compensation, life insurance, identity fraud, flexible spending, retirement plans, and more). We seek someone who has a passion for listening and learning what’s most important to our staff and finding creative ways to build excellent, valued benefits that add exceptional value to our compensation packages. Our ideal Benefits Specialist is a creative problem solver who can easily explain and communicate the “why” and the “what” and “how” behind our benefit offerings to our wide variety of employees.

Our next Benefits Specialist will be:

• enthusiastic about building and sharing New Hope’s benefit offerings with our staff, communicating the value of our packages, and effortlessly explaining how employees can take advantage of available benefits. 

• acutely alert to details and timelines; we seek someone with exceptional organizational skills who will be able to capably keep track of overlapping deadlines for our large staff of 600 employees.

• a people person who will go the extra mile to meet staff where they are when explaining benefits and assisting with enrollment.

• a creative problem solver and empathetic listener who is excited to expand and develop New Hope’s benefit offerings to suit our diverse team.

Don’t meet every requirement here? New Hope seeks to build a diverse and inclusive workplace that includes people with a variety of lived experiences. If you’re excited about this opportunity but don’t see an exact match with our criteria, we encourage you to apply anyway. You could be a great fit for this role or future roles with our organization.

Responsibilities

• Research employee benefit plans and vendors and recommend those that present the best value to the agency and our diverse team.

• Design, recommend, and implement new benefit programs.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for plan vendors and third-party administrators.

• Coordinate data transfers to external contacts for services, premiums, and plan administration.

• Document and maintain administrative procedures for assigned benefits processes.

• Coordinate daily benefits processing, including handling enrollments, COBRA, terminations, changes, beneficiaries, disability, accident and death claims, distributions, loans, hardships, and compliance testing.

• Serve as the point person for all leave of absence requests and claims, including workers’ compensation, FMLA, PFL, disability, and related benefits/status issues.

• Oversee maintenance of employee benefits files, maintain New Hope’s group benefits database, and update employee payroll records.

• Gather employee data and oversee the processing of monthly billing and the preparation of check requests for all group plans.

• Provide customer service to all staff seeking information on benefit plan offerings.

• Develop communication tools to enhance staffs understanding of the benefits package.

• Design and distribute materials for benefits orientation, open enrollment, and summary plan descriptions.

• Complete various special HR projects and initiatives as directed.

This job description is not designed to be a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities. Our Benefits Specialist should be flexible and eager to accept additional projects, tasks, or responsibilities at a moment’s notice! The New Hope Human Resources team is cross-trained to serve in a backup capacity for others within the department.

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.

• Frequently required to stand, push, pull, squat, bend, reach, and climb stairs.

• Required to communicate clearly and effectively with employees across the organization and external vendors. 

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee regularly works in an office setting including typing, filing, and prolonged sitting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related field and 2 years’ experience with demonstrated expertise in employee benefits and/or benefits administration OR 5 years’ relevant job experience plus demonstrated expertise in employee benefits and/or benefits administration

• Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite and HRIS and payroll systems

• Strong interpersonal communication skills and the ability to work with a diverse customer base of varying organizational levels

• Exceptional ability to track and maintain complex timelines and remain deadline focused

• Comfortable working in a team environment with high-pressure, evolving situations

• Must complete a Criminal History Background Check with a result indicating the applicant has no prior convictions that are disqualifying offenses.

Preferred Qualifications

• HR Certification

• Familiarity with benefit platforms/portals and UKG (Ultipro)

The salary range for this position is $ 45,000 - $55,000