The annual increases in the cost of employee benefits is one of the biggest challenges facing comp and benefits managers like me. We have taken alot of steps including increasing the employee-paid portion of the premium, increasing copays, implementing prescription drug formularies, and introducing

employees benefits upon hire – no waiting or probationary period. Our corporate office doesn’t always

I am in need of assistance in calculating the tax gross up on fringe benefits. I have found costly progams online that can assist with the project, however I was hoping to find someone with a spreadsheet or other tool that I might be able to use instead of buying a program. I only have a couple

I know that I do need to contact the HP to discuss but going to check with you folks anyway - is this something that the HPs would normally allow us to do ? Admit we should have enrolled 4 months ago and add her? Everytime I've dealt with them or the broker its seems as they are pretty solidly set on their enrollment dates - I can slide a week or so into the next month and still get it retro'd back but I've never tried this far. I've had them call me to verify employment dates to check eligibility

We are looking at offering an HRA for our medical renewal effective January 1st. If we offer this plan, the overall increase to the health care plan is only 1.6%; however, the administrative fees for the HRA plan is extremely high as they charge a monthly "employee usage" fee and annual administrative fees. I'm curious about others experiences have been with an HRA, the costs to the company, and the general pros and cons.

I was wondering how other orgs handled it. The 'fudging' was a consideration but I was not comfortable doing that for a variety of reasons, including those you list. I've basically decided to toss it back to corporate to handle and don't expect to be included in how its handled.

I understand from talking with other HR professionals that if they forget to include someone in their enrollment, or if they were unaware of a new employee that they too have fudged the start date. I don't think that it is an uncommon practice. However, I would be very careful with this type of work. While it is probably a long shot, when (if) you provide a census near the end of the year to get competitve quotes you might be providing the carrier with the correct start date and they will have something

We used to have the same problem. If it is a common occurence the insurance carrier will probably not budge. Ask if you can do a promise to pay letter and get an exception. We had to change our waiting period at renewal to 60 days and start coordinating with payroll to track new employees when the location were not properly notifiying us. Unfortuneately, I have had occasions where i have had to fudge the date of hire and enroll them current and then refund them any deductions (or pay for the medical

Does anyone have any big ideas on helping to stem the fast-rising costs of benefits? My company needs to offer solid benefits plans to be competitive, but we are finding it harder and harder every year. 2007 seems to be more of the same

It's an error on the company's part. The employee shouldn't have to wait until open enrollment. Notify the insurance company that her benefits are retroactive to the proper date