How to Configure Upcoming Offer - Benefits
If open enrollment is around the corner, you’ll need to update the benefits in BerniePortal to allow employees to make open enrollment elections! To do so, you’ll need to configure “Upcoming Offer” for each benefits subgroup.
To configure upcoming offer:
- Select the “Benefits” tab in the top navigation menu, then the “Subgroups” tab in the secondary navigation menu.
- Select the desired subgroup.
- Select “Upcoming Offer” in the left navigation menu.
- Begin adding plans to the offer by selecting “Attach a Plan”, then selecting a plan from the dropdown. Repeat for all plans to be offered in the subgroup.
- If your employer has multiple renewal dates, don't forget to include the benefits that are not currently going through open enrollment.
- You should think about "Upcoming Offer as the full suite of benefits that a new hire should be able to elect.
- Once open enrollment has been opened for an employer, the benefits configured in "Upcoming Offer" will move to "Current Offer" and new hires will make elections from "Current Offer" benefits.
- Once all plans have been attached to the “Upcoming Offer”, you’ll need to configure the contribution strategy per pay period for all appropriate benefits.
- Select the plan and enter the employee and employer cost per pay period.
- Plans such as Employer Paid Life or Disability do not require further action as the contribution is already set upon plan creation.
- Once you’ve set the contributions for all plans, select “Save Changes.”
- If your employer has multiple benefit subgroups, repeat for all subgroups.
Under the Upcoming Offer tab, you’ll notice “Test Rates” and “Import from Other Subgroup” in the top right corner.
Test Rates:
- This feature allows you to run calculations based on different employee parameters.
- Select a plan, then select “Test Rates.”
- A pop-up will display on your screen based on the plan selected showing per pay period costs based on tier, age, and benefit volumes.
- Some plans may require you to enter test information such as ages and salary.
Import from Other Subgroup:
- This feature allows you to import existing plan data from another subgroup.
- Select “Import from Other Subgroup” and a pop-up will prompt you to select the subgroup you’d like to import data from.
- Select “Import.”
- The selected plan will now display the deductions from the imported subgroup’s plan.
Setting Contributions (Step 7 above):
BerniePortal can support a wide range of contribution strategies.
- Custom
- Composite Rates
- Age Banded Rates
- Fixed % Based on a Plan/Tier
- Defined Contribution – if your employer uses Defined Contribution, contributions will be configured on the “Defined Contribution” tab under “Benefits” then “Settings” as well as the “Configure” tab on the benefits subgroup. Once configured, no action is required under the Upcoming Offer area.
Custom (Composite Rates):
- Enter the employee and employer cost per pay period for each tier.
- Entering an amount under the employee cost will auto populate the employer cost based on the plan’s total cost, and vice versa.
Composite (Age Rated):
- Enter the employee and employer cost per pay period for each individual, either as a dollar amount or percentage.
- Use the radio buttons to toggle between dollar amounts and percentages.
- Entering an amount under the employee cost will auto populate the employer cost based on the plan’s total cost, and vice versa.
Fixed % Based on a Plan/Tier:
- Select “Fixed % based on a plan/tier” from the Employer Contribution Calculation dropdown.
- Select the base plan from the dropdown.
- The “Base plan” must already be configured and saved in the subgroup for the plan to be available.
- Select “yes/no” to “Rollover unused Employee contribution towards dependent cost.
- Select “Employee Only” or “Tier chosen by employee” from the dropdown.
- Enter the contribution percentages.
- These numbers should be entered as the percentage the employer is paying towards the base plan.
- For example:
- If the employer is paying 100% of the base plan’s employee only cost towards the selected plan, the configuration should display as below.
- If the employer is paying 100% of the base plan’s employee only cost and 50% of the base plan’s employee + spouse, employee + child(ren) and employee + family costs towards the selected plan, the configuration should display as below.
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