Create an Enrollment Window

How do I create an enrollment window?

Purpose: Whether it is your annual open enrollment, an employee having a baby and adding a dependent, or a new hire needing to sign up for benefits, this help guide will walk you through how to create all three types of enrollment windows in Benefits Administration. 


Are you looking to set up automated enrollment windows for your new hires? Click here to learn more!

Need to update an employee's benefit coverage due to a qualifying life event (QLE)? This section will walk you through this streamlined process in BambooHR now that employees can request benefit changes from their Benefits tab!


Create an enrollment window

To create a new enrollment window, navigate to Settings (gear icon) > Benefits > Enrollment Windows. On the Enrollment Windows tab, click New Enrollment Window. A drop-down menu will appear for you to choose from three enrollment window types: Open Enrollment, New Hire, or Qualifying Life Event

When creating an enrollment window for a qualifying life event, you can specify the event type from a dropdown menu under "What was the Qualifying Life Event?"


Enrollment window settings

Selecting the enrollment type will bring up a two-step modal, where you can determine the following fields and settings: 

  1. Enrollment Name: Give your enrollment window a name. This is for you to easily identify the enrollment window when navigating settings and reports of Benefits Administration. 
  2. Plan Year: Choose which plan year with its benefit plans the enrollment window applies to. After selecting the plan year, the list of benefit plans (see #6) will automatically match the plan year settings. 
    • Any plans not included in the selected plan year will be grayed out and unavailable for selection.
  3. When will elections within this window become effective?: Choose when the plans included in the enrollment window will become effective for enrolled employees. 
    • The rules for how BambooHR calculates the effective date vary by window type. If creating a new hire window, each plan's new hire eligibility settings will automatically determine the default effective date. You will be able to edit effective dates when approving benefit elections.
    • Any plans that expire before the selected effective date will be grayed out and unavailable for selection.
  4. When can employees complete their enrollment?: Specify dates for when the enrollment window period will start and end for your employees. The To* date field will be the last day employees can submit their benefit elections.
    • Note: The enrollment window will close at 11:59 PM (company timezone) on the end date. 
  5. Which plans will be included in the enrollment window?:This list shows all current and future benefit plans set up in BambooHR. By default, the system automatically selects each plan, as indicated by the green checkmark. Once you select a plan year, the plan selections will automatically match the plan year settings. You can edit the plan selections by selecting or deselecting each plan. Be sure to review your selections before moving on to the next step. 
    • Employees who are not currently included in a benefit plan according to the rules defined during the plan setup will not see the benefit plan during their enrollment experience. The system will filter out the plan, so you can and should include multiple eligibility groups in the same enrollment window. 
  6. Next: Click Next to go to Step 2 of setting up the enrollment window. 
  7. Who can enroll during this window?: In Step 2, select which employees you wish to include in the enrollment window. All employees will appear in this list, but employees who do not have Benefits Administration enabled will be grayed out and labeled as "Not Included." 

When you finish setting up the enrollment window in Step 2, click Create Enrollment Window to save the window. The new enrollment window will now appear under active enrollments on the Enrollment Windows tab, and employees will receive an email notification on the start date of the enrollment window.


Benefit effective date calculation

New Hire windows

If the system generates an eligibility date for an employee because of the time-to-eligibility setting in the benefit plan setup, the eligibility date will become the effective date. You will have the option of editing the effective date during the benefit election approval process.

If the system does not generate an eligibility date because the time-to-eligibility setting is manual, the effective date will default to the manually inputted eligibility date. If you do not enter an eligibility date before the employee elects their benefits, the Effective Date field will be blank until you start the approval process, which is where you will need to add the effective date.

Open Enrollment and Qualifying Life Event windows

The effective date chosen when setting up the enrollment window will apply to all plans the employee is eligible for. You will have the option to edit this date when approving benefit elections.


Benefit coverage requests for QLEs

On the Benefits tab of the employee profile, employees can easily report any qualifying life events (QLE) that may impact their benefits. You can refer to this help guide for more details on the employee's view. 


Please keep in mind the Update Benefit Coverage option on the employee profile is specifically for making changes to an employee's benefits due to a qualifying life event they have experienced. By design, the Update Benefit Coverage option does not apply to benefit changes for reasons other than a QLE.

Once an employee submits a benefit change request, the Account Owner and Full Admin users will receive an email notification. Click Open Request in BambooHR to view details about the request within your BambooHR inbox.

When reviewing a pending request, you can add comments (e.g., request QLE documentation) and the employee will receive a notification about any comments added.* To approve their request, select Create Enrollment Window. This will bring up a form (see below) for creating a QLE enrollment window specific to that employee so they can update their benefit elections.  

If you need to deny the request, click Deny. An email notification will go out to the employee, letting them know about the denied request. Additionally, the denied request will move to the Completed folder in your BambooHR inbox, but it will remain in the employee's Sent folder of their inbox with the Denied status.

*If an employee responds to your comment, the system will send an email notification to you. However, the system will not notify you of comments added by other admins, but you can review any updates made to the request in your inbox.

The QLE Enrollment Window form will have both auto-filled and blank (manual entry) fields. Ensure you have all fields completed before clicking Create Window:

  1. Employee: Auto-filled with the employee's name (not editable)
  2. Enrollment Name: Auto-filled as [QLE: [YYYY/MM/DD] Last Name, First Name]
    • The date is what the employee selected for the QLE event date.
  3. Plan Year: Requires manual entry by selecting from the available plan years in the dropdown menu
  4. Qualifying Life Event: Auto-filled with what the employee selected
  5. QLE event date: Auto-filled with what the employee selected
  6. Benefit effective date: Defaults to the date of the QLE 
  7. Enrollment start and end dates: Requires manual entry by selecting specific start and end dates
  8. Benefit plans: Requires manual entry by selecting which benefit plans the employee is eligible for

The new QLE enrollment window will appear under the Active Windows filter on the Enrollment Windows tab (Settings > Benefits > Enrollment Windows). The employee will click Start Enrollment on their employee profile to begin the enrollment experience and then submit their updated benefit elections for approval. 

Once the employee submits their updated benefit elections, you can review and approve their elections on the Employee Elections tab.

Inbox (7)

After you approve the employee's request by opening a QLE enrollment window, the request will move to the Completed folder under the Assigned to Me view in your BambooHR inbox. Other admins will be able to view the completed request under the Assigned to Company view in their inboxes. (The same applies to a denied request.)

Admins also have the option to bypass the request workflow by creating a new QLE enrollment window directly from the employee's Benefits tab. Navigate to an employee's Benefits tab, select Update Benefit Coverage, and then fill out the QLE Enrollment Window form.

If you need to submit a benefit change request on the employee's behalf, you can use the Preview as This User option for that employee. When previewing as the employee, navigate to their Benefits tab and select Update Benefit Coverage. This will bring up the request form, and clicking Submit will send the request to admins' inboxes (including your inbox) for approval. 

The employee will receive an email notification about the request and will be able to review it under Sent > Benefits > Qualifying Life Events in their inbox.