Recent Topics
HRIS Systems
Hello everyone! Can you recommend some great HRIS systems for non-profit organizations with 1-100 employees?
BerniePortal training for new agency employees?
I'm curious how other insurance agencies train their new hires on BerniePortal. Most of our team members have been here since we started using BerniePortal so their knowledge has come over time and using the system. How do you get a new team member up
Employee field Hours Worked - As a Reportable field
If the Hours Worked field, which is required when entering a new hire was reportable (ie: a field included in the All Data/reporting fields), this would allow employers to run a report an capture staff who are FTEs, not true full time, but they could
How do you remind people to use PTO? Or avoid them using it all at the same time?
I have had EIGHT!!! People that work the same shift request off for the same week in July. I'm ready to riot. Any advice welcome.
What is the best way to introduce your new hire to the team?
Looking for tips & ideas. Thanks!
I am sick of my payroll provider. When is the best time to switch payroll companies?
I’m a pretty small operation and I’m ready to be the change you want to see in the world. Pls, just give it to me straight on when to switch and how hard it might be!
STD Employee Contribution by $ Amount (Instead of %)
Trying to build out an STD plan where the employer contributed the base level of benefit and employees can buy up. ER Contribution by amount versus % would help.
100% Employer Paid Plans & COBRA
Currently if you have a Non-contributory ancillary plan (Dental/Vision), it will show as 100% Employer Paid when a former employee is enrolling in COBRA. Unless I'm missing something, it means you need to create two separate Dental plans: One that's ER
My CEO wants to start meeting with employees 1 on 1, not just their managers. Has anyone found success with doing skip-level meetings?
I feel like meeting with the CEO would be more nerve-wracking than anything, but that could be my own anxiety talking lol.
Add a place to enter the State tax Id in addition to the Federal tax id in BerniePortal
Our comptroller would love for the state tax id to be able to be mapped onto the state w-4 along with the federal tax id. There is not currently a place to enter the state tax id in BerniePortal and must be added to each employee's state W-4 form.
EOI approval - change to allow a different amount for approval if Carrier approves a different amount
If carrier approves an amount other than the requested amount it would be very helpful to enter the accepted amount instead of just the current 2 options of accept/deny.
Add marriage status and hours worked to Demographic information and map to forms
i would love to have marriage status and hours worked added as demographic information instead of in the current format of added questions
Eligibility Report is actually an "Enrollment Report"
We noticed this week that the "Eligibility Report" does not include those employees who were Eligible but Waived coverage. It pulls only those employees Enrolled for the selected month, which would be considered an “Enrollment” or “Election” report. I
Red checkmarks rather than blue when questions on a benefit plan are not answered
I would love it if the blue checkmark for a benefit plan would turn red if there is something missing from that plan (election or unanswered question from carrier form) so that it indicates to the enrollee why they cannot move forward with their enrollment.
Minimum Amount for Critical Illness Plans
Currently, an employee can elect $0 as there is no "Minimum" setting on critical illness plans, only maximums. An employee can technically elect $0 as a coverage amount. This creates confusion when enrolling the employee and causes discrepancies on EDI
Beneficiary Detailed Information Request
Most life insurance carriers require additional information about the beneficiary in the event of a claim- i.e. contact information, DOB, and/or SSN. It would be nice for if the system would capture this information on the beneficiary election screen
Improvements for Custom Onboarding Documents
When we setup a custom onboarding document we're able to add text and ask questions to complete the background form. Sometimes the background form includes images that are helpful to improve employee understanding. Having the ability to request an upload
Save & Continue Button - In Enrollment Change to just "Save"?
Could the Save & Continue button that appears during Enrollment be re-labeled to just Save? My understanding is that the button Saves the content on the benefit page, including any custom question answers, but Continue was really meant to move a person
In your experience, what perks are people looking for jobs most excited about?
I want to have fun new perks. I've seen stuff about gym memberships online but I want stuff that may appeal to other people too. Ideas?
What pay schedule is best: biweekly, monthly, weekly? Advantages or Disadvantages?
I'm considering making a change from monthly but want some pros and cons of other options.
Recommendations for sexual harassment training?
No, I don't want to talk about why I need to have someone take it ;/ please provide links~~
How far into the interview process do you share benefits information?
We would like candidates to know what we have to offer but don't want to overload ourselves with questions too early.
I have an employee with an accommodation that lets them work from home some days, but others on their team are beginning to ask questions. How do I respect the privacy of someone with a disability?
This question pretty much covers it. (fake names) Sally works from home two days a week due to a medical disability, but now Mark is mad he can't work from home and keeps pestering me about it. How do I get Mark to back off, respectfully?
How to tell an employee they are on a performance improvement plan and go about that process?
I have an employee that has had a noticeable and sustained drop in their performance. I've never had to create a standard PIP, but since we are growing pretty rapidly, I figure now is as good as ever. Any tips on how to get started and what it should
Does anybody know where I can get free HRCI and SHRM credits?
Remembered at the last second that I need, oh, 20 or so credits in 2 weeks. No big deal. Please link options! Located in Michigan if that makes a difference.
Has anyone used an Indeed ad to recruit? How did it go?
I am working on my recruitment strategy and have heard mixed reviews about using ads. Any personal experience with Indeed is great, but I'm open to others! Just not LinkedIn Recruiter.
What perks do you offer to employees to get them excited about new training or development? Are there any tax advantages?
I have to convince my people to continue their training. I don't know why since they have to maintain licensing for their role.
Employer be able to Cancel a QE Request
If an employee's account was mistakenly reopened for a Qualifying Event (QE) or maybe the employee changed their mind & did not want to add newly eligible dependents, we do not currently have the option to simply CANCEL the QE request. The only way now
Spousal Surcharge default setting be group choice
My group charges a spousal surcharge. The automatic default to the question of does your spouse have access to employer health coverage is NO. This should be a choice for the group if default to yes or no. People DO NOT READ, they are breezing over that
Cancel Correct Mistake or Qualifying Event
Employers will occasionally open up elections with a "Correct mistake" or "Qualifying event" by mistake, or realize after the fact that no updates actually need to be made. It would be nice to either be able to cancel the reopened elections, or have the
Do not allow employer codes to start with a capital i
If a setting or something in the portal can be changed in the system so that employer codes never start with a capital i because employees think it is a lowercase L and cannot figure out why they cannot login. This has happened with multiple groups and
Consolidate & Clarify Employee Salary Detail
Working with a client we just realized that the annual salary that shows on the employees profile is set to calculate for a 40 hour work week, which means it is displaying an inaccurate amount for their part-time employees. Most of the information currently
Allow different notification settings for Admins vs Employees.
Our Agents and the HR Admins like having the carrier forms attached as it simplifies communication with the carriers. We would prefer to limit the PHI that goes out in email, so we'd prefer to have employees receive only their Election PDF when they complete
FMLA Tracking/ Benefit deduction payments
Now that Payroll has been added to BerniePortal, it would be nice if we could have some additional capabilities related to FMLA (Family and Medical Leave). Tracking Area where an employer can track what kind of leave is being taken (LOA v FMLA), leave
EOI amounts listed on Reports
Currently, EOI amounts are not listed on reports. If an employee is subject to EOI, then the reports show "0" as the amount they elected. You have to look at each employee's sheet to understand that they elected, and are pending of an additional amount.
Voluntary disability amount option
It would be great to have the voluntary disability default to the maximum amount of coverage rather than the minimum. The employee just sees the $300.00 minimum and chooses instead of dragging the bar to the 60% Maximum.. This happens very often and is
All Edit Functions from the Gear on the Employees Profile
You've added a gear option that allows us to masquerade while looking at an employees profile. Can we get additional admin functions under that menu as well? I'm opening up some W-4s for changes for one of our clients. I have to look at the employees
Issue Age Plans
There is no ability to indicate a Vol Life, Cancer, Medical Bridge, or disability plan to apply premiums based on issue age. This would be nice to have!
Add beneficiaries as mapible fields for forms.
I searched for this topic but did not find it previously noted - apologies if this is duplicate. It would be useful to be able to map the beneficiaries collected under the beneficiaries tab at enrollment to the carrier forms.
Comparing premiums side-by-side
It would help employees to make enrollment decisions if they could see plan premiums side-by-side when enrolling. For example, if there are 3 health plans being offered, being able to compare premiums between the health plans on the same screen would