Job Details

Essential Functions:

• Manage the daily benefits administration including medical, pharmacy, behavioral health, dental, vision, supplemental, and life insurance plans.

• Serve as the liaison for the retirement process for faculty and staff including retiree benefits, administration, communication, events, and open enrollment. Provided vendor management of external partners, including contract review and oversight for service level agreements.

• Acts as the primary liaison with insurance brokers, carriers, vendors and third-party administrators.

• Monitor plan performance and address any service or claims issues.

• Evaluates program effectiveness, recommends improvements, and analyzes trends to ensure competitive offerings. Monitor industry trends and best practices, evaluate peer benchmark data, and recommend new or enhancement/changes to existing benefit programs.

• Manage the open enrollment process for active faculty and staffing including planning, communication, and administration.

• Lead the development of benefits-related communication including benefits guidebook, flyers, newsletters, online resources, and presents new employee benefits orientation.

• Provide exceptional customer service comprehensive support and assistance while counseling employees regarding benefit plans, complex issues, policies, claims, and eligibility inquiries.

Budget 25%

• Reviews, processes, and reconciles all third-party administrator billing.

• Manage the fringe benefits budget and prepare updates to support data-driven decisions.

• Support management’s decision-making process by analyzing options and projecting future costs.

Compliance 20%

• Manage compliance with the Affordable Care Act process and compliance efforts.

• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local legal requirements (i.e. ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA, ACA). Ensure annual filings, reporting, and plan documentation are up to date.

• Stay up to date on legal changes.

Systems Support 10%

• Manage data integration files between the University and third-party administrators and lead benefits-related enhancements and updates in Workday.

• Evaluate and seek to improve benefits operating systems, processes, and efficiencies.

• Analyzes business requirements and system capabilities.

• Participates in the design, implementation, and testing of new benefits systems and system enhancements.

• Develops and executes test scripts, validates results, and ensures data integrity across HR, payroll, and benefits platforms.

Team Management 5%

• Provide supervisory oversight to the Benefits Specialist position.

• Develops team work plans, establishes priorities, and leads the implementation of process improvements and new initiatives.

Required Education, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field plus three years of benefits-related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Solid experience of accounting and budgeting.

• Solid experience of benefit programs and administration.

• General knowledge of HR functions.

• Ability to analyze, interpret, and communicate complex data.

• Proven ability to maintain the confidentiality of sensitive HR information.

• Knowledge of superior customer service standards, with the ability to project a cooperative and professional demeanor when working with a wide range of individuals and constituencies in a diverse community.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in person, email, or by phone.

• Excellent attention to details.

• Proficient with technology (i.e. web, email/calendar, Google Office Suite, Microsoft Office, spreadsheets, basic reporting tools, ERP systems).

• Ability to work efficiently and effectively and prioritize in a multitasking environment.

• Ability to work in a team-oriented, continuous improvement, and customer-centric environment and to quickly adapt to new procedures.

• Must be able to complete work by deadlines that are provided.

Preferred Education, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Experience with Workday.

• Experience in higher education.

• Five years of benefits experience.

• Two years experience in a supervisory or managerial capacity.

• GBA/CEBS/SPHR/PHR certification.

Accountabilities:

• Responsible for own work.

• Responsible for managing fringe benefits budget expenses.

Physical Requirements:

• Sedentary work that primarily involves sitting/standing. Talking, hearing, and repetitive motions. Ability to lift up to 20 pounds. Close visual acuity.

Environmental Conditions:

• Subject to inside environmental conditions. Not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions.

Wake Forest University, formed in 1834, has experienced decades of growth and innovation.  WFU is a distinctive university that combines a liberal arts core with graduate and professional schools and innovative research programs.  The University embraces the teacher-scholar ideal, which prizes the personal interaction between students and faculty.  It is a place where exceptional teaching, fundamental research and discovery, and the engagement of faculty and students in the classroom and the laboratory are paramount.

Wake Forest University is a community that seeks the enlightenment and freedom which come through diligent study and learning. Its higher goal, however, is to give life to the University motto "Pro Humanitate," as members translate a passion for knowledge into compassionate service. The community shares a tradition that embraces freedom and integrity and acknowledges the worth of the individual. The heritage, established by the school's founders and nurtured by succeeding generations, promotes a democratic spirit arising from open-mindedness and discourse. Wake Forest fosters compassion and caring for others. Its collective strength and character are derived from the values and distinctive experiences of each individual; therefore, it affirms the richness of human intellect and culture and its contribution to knowledge, faith, reason, and dialogue. Furthermore, it strives toward a society in which good will, respect, and equality prevail. To that end, Wake Forest University rejects hatred and bigotry in any form and promotes justice, honor, and mutual trust.​

The University is comprised of:  the undergraduate college, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Divinity, School of Law, and School of Medicine (located on the Bowman Gray campus with Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center) and today enrolls about 4,846 undergraduates and 2,823 students in graduate programs at its principal location, the Reynolda campus.  Students at Wake Forest University enjoy a great deal of access to and interaction with world-class faculty both in and out of the classroom setting with a student-faculty ratio of 11:1.  Wake Forest employs approximately 2,772 full and part-time faculty and staff.

Wake Forest is a collegiate university offering a vibrant, intellectual community with a rich cultural life, an impressive array of facilities, and a strong athletics program competing in the fifteen-team Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).  Since its founding, the university has adopted the motto “pro humanitate,” which is exemplified by a deep institutional commitment to public service and engagement with the world. Wake Forest has a strong commitment to holistic, eight-dimensional well-being for students, faculty and staff as evidenced in the Thrive initiative.