What is Auto Enrollment & How to Configure it - Knowledge Base | BerniePortal

What is Auto-Enrollment & How to Configure Auto-Enrollment

Auto-enrollment automatically enrolls employees who did not submit benefit elections before you close open enrollment. When you close enrollment, you match each Prior Offer plan and coverage tier to a Current Offer plan and coverage tier. Those mappings are used for employees who still need elections.


Terms used in the configuration modal

  • Prior Offer — plans and coverage tiers that were previously offered for the renewal group (shown as Prior Offer: [plan name] and in the Prior Offer Coverage Tier column).
  • Current Offer — plans and coverage tiers employees can be mapped into (shown in the Current Offer Plan & Coverage Tier column).
Who can configure auto-enrollment

Employer users with access to Benefits → Open Enrollment. Users who are masquerading as the employer (including brokers, agencies, and feature admins acting as the employer) use the same path.

How to configure auto-enrollment

Configuration runs as part of closing an open renewal group when employees still need elections. If no employees need auto-enrollment, choosing Close Enrollment closes open enrollment without showing the configuration form.
  1. Go to Benefits → Open Enrollment.
  2. In the row for the renewal group with enrollment status OPEN, open ACTIONS and select Close Enrollment.
  3. When employees need auto-enrollment, the Configure Auto-Enrollment: [MM/YYYY] Renewal modal opens. Read the guidance at the top of the form about matching each previously offered option.
  4. Use the benefit-type list on the left to move between benefit types.
  5. For each Prior Offer: [plan name] section, open the Current Offer Plan & Coverage Tier dropdown in every Prior Offer Coverage Tier row and select the plan and coverage tier (or Waive) to use for auto-enrollment.
  6. Repeat for every benefit type, then select Save Settings and Close Enrollment.
  7. In the Are You Sure? confirmation, review the warning that closing enrollment ends open enrollment immediately, auto-enrolls employees who did not submit elections based on your settings, and that the action is final and cannot be undone. Select Close Enrollment to confirm, or Cancel to go back.
After you confirm

  • BerniePortal closes open enrollment and processes auto-enrollment for eligible employees.
  • While auto-enrollment is still processing, you cannot use Open Enrollment and related Benefits pages. You will see a message that the section cannot be accessed until the process finishes.
  • When processing starts after a close that includes auto-enrollment, you are taken to the employer dashboard with a message that open enrollment is closed and that you will receive an email when auto-enrollment is complete for employees who did not make active elections.
View your saved settings later

After the renewal group is closed and settings were saved, open ACTIONS for that group and select Auto-enrollment settings. See Viewing Auto-Enrollment Settings.

For edge cases such as when Waive is the only option, see Auto-Enrollment FAQs.

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