Importance of Benefits Administration and the Role of HRMS/HRIS Software Applications

In the modern corporate landscape, organizations are not just obliged to pay basic salaries to their employees. There is a list of benefits prescribed in employment contracts that companies owe to their permanent/full-time workers. Benefits administration entails the effective management and tracking of those perks and facilities and how employees use them. It also plays a role in decision-making regarding the changes and revisions of the benefits program. Benefits administration tools that also include HRMS/HRIS software applications can provide a lot of assistance to boardrooms for managing and adjusting their benefits programs. With the proper use of HRMS/HRIS software solutions, they can make the program mutually beneficial for the organization and workforce.

This post will shed light on why having dedicated benefits administration is important and how Human Resource Management Software (HRMS) or Human Resource Information System (HRIS) software solutions can help the HR department maintains and track employee benefits. 

Importance of Dedicated Benefit Administration

Gone are the days when the best employee benefit programs would feature just pension plans and health insurance. Today, benefit programs have branched out in many categories. Seasoned HR administrators divide a robust employee benefits program into four parts: benefits at work, benefits for financial security, benefits for health, and lifestyle benefits.

Each of these benefit categories could be even further branched out. For instance, benefits at work would include skill development opportunities, employee clubs, and time-off details. Then, benefits for financial security will include pension and insurance plans as well as options to invest in company stocks. 

Healthcare benefits cover different medical allowances and health insurance plans. Lifestyle benefits are a relatively newer type of employee benefits. These benefits are primarily focused on making everyday life easier for employees. These benefits usually include childcare, legal services, grocery delivery, travel plans, everyday conveyance, and similar other facilities. 

As you can see, you can’t have a makeshift arrangement to maintain and track such a long list of benefits for your entire workforce. Even a small enterprise that has less than 50 employees would struggle to successfully manage a comprehensive employee benefits program without dedicated benefit administration in place.

Besides ensuring that employees don’t abuse the benefits program, benefits administration also helps with two things.

• Regulatory Compliances: National and local governments obligate organizations through employment standards acts and other legislations to offer a set of employee benefits. The non-provision of those benefits can land an organization into compliance troubles and subsequent legal ordeals and penalties. The proactive benefits management ensures that the organization maintains the applicable minimum requirements of employee benefits regulatory directives. 
• Employee Satisfaction: Cohesive benefits administration guarantees that employees can make the most of their perks in a transparent and hassle-free manner. The streamlined delivery of benefits makes for happy employees.

The Role of HRMS/HRIS Software Applications in Benefits Administration

Robust HRMS/HRIS software applications can come in really handy in helping organizations with their benefits administration. The following are some areas where those software programs help you maintain and track your company benefits in a more streamlined manner. 

You Can Customize Configuration of a Variety of Benefits with HRMS/HRIS Software Applications

Setting up a benefit (medical, retirement, investment, etc.) is one thing and getting it customized for your employees is another thing. With HRMS/HRIS solutions, you can configure all your employee benefits to don’t have to manually and individually track and manage for their duration. It can take some of the work off HR professionals’ shoulders. 

For instance, your HR team doesn’t have to track contribution percentage by the organization and employees. HRMS/HRIS can take care of it. Moreover, it can help you devise and execute bonus/incentive programs without needing other applications and too much back and forth.

HRMS/HRIS Software Applications Track Past Records, Payroll and Taxes Deductions to Ensure Minimum Discrepancies

HRMI/HRIS software applications let you track past employee records. Whether it is leaves, health history, or compensatory payments, you can keep track of whatever benefits you have delivered to workers. Moreover, it also keeps a check on payroll and tax deduction history. This information may also link to how employees have used the company benefits in the past. This quick access to various sets of information allows HR professionals to process new benefits requests without any mistakes quickly. 

This robust tracking of past benefits and the subsequent fast application process make for a win-win situation. It protects employees from the frustration of not getting their requests approved and save companies from extra disbursements.

HRMS/HRIS Software Applications Help HR Departments See Through Open Enrollment Seasons with a Relative Ease

The annual open enrollment period can put a lot of stress on your HR people when they are just on their own to deal with it. Months of planning and budgeting get into creating revised employee benefits documents. Without software-assisted benefits administration, it becomes really difficult for HR professionals to manage the benefit revisions of all the employees successfully. 

The enrollment tracking comes in useful to review every employee case in lesser time. Also, self-service features support communication with employees. It saves HR professionals from answering each and every employee query in person. 

HRMS/HRIS Software Applications Attends Employees with Its Self-Service Features

The self-service features mentioned above involve the other side of the benefits management spectrum. It helps employees maintain and track their benefits program on their own. An HRMS/HRIS with a robust benefits tracking system offers a list of self-service features. For instance, it provides employees an easy-to-understand summary of their benefits and coverage. It also let them track their payroll deductions. Some HRMS/HRIS applications also authorize employees to choose and change their benefits through their employee self-service portals.

HRMS/HRIS Software Applications Helps with Data Analysis

HRMS/HRIS software applications with good benefits tracking also analyze data resources and generate reports that help organizations optimize their benefits administration further.

If you want to streamline your human resource management in general and benefits administration in particular, you should get in touch with Microsys. We help small-to-medium enterprises set up their customized human resource management systems to make sure they can take care of their employee affairs more efficiently.

Microsys deliver simple solutions for complex problems through a one-stop service. Our professional services will provide your business with a hassle-free experience and an end-to-end solution. You can focus on your business while we take care of your day-to-day system challenges.