Coordinator – Benefits Administration

GENERAL
Under the direction of the supervisor and as a key member of the Finance department’s leadership team, the Coordinator, Benefits Administration is responsible for the college’s day-to-day benefits administration. The Coordinator selects the appropriate financial treatment for a variety of benefit transactions and activities to ensure the accurate production and/or completion of benefit processing, reporting, remittances and the department’s compliance with established benefit and accounting principles, collective agreements and terms & conditions, legislation and requirements of external agencies. This position also participates in the development and monitoring of benefits plans in conjunction with Human Resources, and working with external services and organizations.

TYPICAL DUTIES
• Administers the college’s benefits contract, including regular review and reconciliation of the contract terms, costs and payments to the financial accounts; recommend cost containment strategies including alternative methods for administration and funding, as well as participates in the renegotiation process of future contract(s)/RFP process and evaluation;
• Take a leadership role in being knowledgeable about current benefits practices and functions, processes, and standards; and develops, researches, and recommends improvements within the benefits administration, including implementation and communication of resulting changes;
• Demonstrate benefits expertise, systems knowledge, and support to fiscal operations and to applicable college-wide projects and systems integration initiatives in collaboration with other departments to support college goals
• Anticipate, recommend, design, implement and maintain a streamlined benefit processing procedures and best practices; ensuring comprehensive controls exist and are operational for accurate, secure records and applicable compliance to reduce risk to the organization;
• Ensure benefits data quality meets reporting and accountability requirements and standards;
• Liaise with the College’s benefits carrier(s) and pension provider(s) to set-up information sessions, ensure that employee queries/concerns are resolved; seek clarification regarding benefits contract clauses, policies, and plan document interpretation/ application, as well as arrange special needs and supports; liaise with the benefits provider and employees and their families on sensitive benefit coverage issues;
• Ensures and/or completes applicable payroll processing including pension enrolment for Continuing Education contracted instructors/employees;
• Develop and distribute communication tools/materials benefits orientations, enrollment and plan summaries, to enhance understanding of the College’s benefits packages;
• Conduct internal business process reviews, including evaluating the related areas of the integrated database system (Colleague), act as an escalation point of contact for end user or system issues regarding Colleague, to ensure a coordinated approach, consistent practice, and effective operation as affects benefit administration
• Liaise with Human Resources, other internal and external customers, in the compilation and interpretation of information, policies, and legislation while ensuring adherence to established benefits related policies, procedures, and regulations;
• At the request of CFO, Director Financial Planning & Accountability, Labour Relations, or others including internal or external partners, or own initiative, collect data from Colleague or from external sources, generate statistical reports, analyze and interpret reports; create data summary reports for potential use in college wide-planning and strategy, as well as accountability and compliance;
• Develop, promote and support effective working relationships with users of benefits data;
• Create and maintain relevant documentation/forms for manuals, checklists, intranet and other sites; review changes in collective agreements, communicate with benefits providers as applicable ensuring updates to benefit handbooks and other information occur;
• Gather and analyze client feedback to propose enhancements to report formats, web information and business processes;
• Bring forward issues related to procedure and policy development that require broader consultation and consideration from other members of the leadership team;
• Participate on various committees and/or user groups as directed by supervisor, both within and external to the College.

Supervision and Leadership
• Demonstrate and mentor for service excellence and to meet department standards and goals; proactively monitor and prioritize workload to meet deadlines and department/college goals; support staff through organizational change and in resolving internal conflicts;
• Provide ongoing advice, guidance and clarification to staff to ensure accuracy of work and service quality;
• Coordinate the processing of benefit transactions and payment of invoices to carriers/providers and related report production; problem solve, and communicate information, and new process implementations within the department, college areas and, if applicable, external agencies,
• Liaise with the Director; Coordinator, Payroll Operations; and Human Resources to ensure staffing matters related to collective agreements and college policies are handled appropriately and consistently;
• Provide data and analysis for audit, year-end purposes, and other activities at the request of supervisor;
• Participate in the development and review of applicable job descriptions; as well as in the hiring process in accordance with supervisor and collective agreements, to meet service expectations and position requirements
• Participate in employee evaluations in accordance with supervisor and college practice and orient and support training to ensure workgroup members become fully functional in their role
• Perform the duties, as required, in the absence of the Coordinator, Payroll Operations.

General
• Contribute to decision-making and planning related to procedures, business processes, service standards, participate in identifying projects and supporting setting new directions within the Finance department; may lead projects as directed;
• Participate in the on-going analysis regarding utilization, costs, and other factors (such as plan design, forecast trends, long term disability validation, etc) to provide options and recommendations to help assure maximum coverage at the least possible cost to the College and employee. Includes preparing/summarizing benefit information, statistical/census data, annual financial statement data, as needed;
• Prepare related budgetary recommendations and assist in the monitoring, verifying and reconciling of applicable budgeted funds;
• Liaise with other post-secondary institutions, professional organizations, and other relevant committees or organizations as necessary;
• In addition, performs the duties of the Payroll/Benefits Assistant, as required;
• Perform other related duties similar in scope and complexity.