Benefits Enrollment Experience for Employees
How do employees enroll in benefits within BambooHR?
Purpose: This guide provides an overview of the benefits enrollment process from the employee's perspective.
Employees participating in enrollment can update information about their dependents on the Benefits tab before enrollment or add/edit a dependent during the enrollment experience. A dependent will need to have all required fields (First Name, Last Name, Birth Date, Gender, and Relationship) completed in BambooHR in order to show up in the enrollment experience.
Have you experienced a qualifying life event and need to update your benefits? Click here to learn more about submitting a benefit change request directly from within BambooHR.
Overview of the enrollment experience
You will receive two notifications before accessing the enrollment experience: a reminder email three days before the enrollment start date and another email on the start date.
On the enrollment start date, ensure that your personal and dependent information is up to date, and you can begin electing benefits by clicking Start Enrollment in BambooHR. Or, you can start enrollment from Home on your employee profile.
You will receive a reminder email three days before the enrollment window closes if you have not submitted your benefit elections.
After an enrollment window closes, and you have not selected your benefits, the Start Enrollment in BambooHR button in the email notification will redirect you to a new page letting you know the enrollment window has closed. If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to HR at your company.
Start enrollment
Once an enrollment window is active, a link for open enrollment will appear in a widget on the Home tab for employees. Click Start Enrollment to begin the enrollment experience.
Only employees who are eligible for at least one benefit plan will be able to access Start Enrollment on Home to begin electing benefits.
Benefits enrollment experience
Keep in mind that changes made to dependent information during enrollment will override any pending information update requests you have submitted for dependent information.
The first step will populate all dependents who have the Name and Relationship fields completed on your employee profile. Review your dependents' information to make sure it is accurate. If you do not have any dependents associated with your employee profile, you will see a blank state with a note saying you can add a dependent if needed.
- Add a new dependent: If you want to add a new dependent, click +Add Dependent. Then, add the dependent's information in any applicable fields in addition to the required fields. Once added, the dependent will also appear on your employee profile.
- Edit a dependent: If there are any errors or new informational changes, click on the pencil icon at the right of the dependent's row to make edits.
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Delete a dependent: If you need to delete a dependent record, click on the trash icon. If the icon is grayed-out and shows an informational tooltip, you will not be able to delete the dependent because they are either currently enrolled or scheduled to enroll in a benefit plan.
- If you do not want to enroll a dependent in a benefit plan, you will have the option to deselect the dependent when electing benefits in the following steps.
- Missing information: If you have a dependent without the Relationship field completed, the system will show an error message, and you will be able to click on the edit icon for that dependent and add a relationship.
After reviewing your dependents' information, click Next Step to continue enrollment.
If a benefit plan requires information about you or your dependents, you will need to answer a few questions before electing benefits.
Each available benefit type (e.g., medical, dental, vision) will show benefit plans you are eligible for. Each benefit plan has its own card, and you can click on the double-arrow icon to view more details about the benefit plan.
- Plan name
- Plan summary
- *Full description
- *Cost and frequency: This shows how much you would contribute and how often. Variable rate plans do not include a preview of costs, but you can refer to benefit pricing materials provided by HR at your company.
- *Links: Click on a hyperlink to learn more about the benefit plan.
- *File attachments: You can download a file attachment to learn more about the benefit plan.
If there are more benefit plans to view under a benefit type, click Previous or More Plans to view the additional plans.
*Full description, costs/frequency, links, and file attachments will only appear if your HR administrator has added them to the benefit plan setup.
The system will autosave your progress as you go through each step, as indicated by the progress tracker in the bottom right corner of the enrollment experience. You may see how many minutes ago the system last saved your progress (up to five minutes) if you have not clicked on anything.
If you need to exit the enrollment experience, a success message will appear on Home, letting you know that the system has saved your progress. To pick up where you left off, click Continue Enrollment from Home.
If you want to include coverage for your dependents, check the box next to the dependent's name to include them. The system will filter all benefit plans under the benefit type to show the plans you and your dependents are eligible for. Costs will adjust accordingly based on which coverage level you indicate.
Click Select This Plan once you determine which benefit plan you want to enroll in. The plan card will appear highlighted, and if applicable, it will also show the chosen coverage level. Navigate to the next benefit type by clicking Next Step.
- If you wish to review or edit your selections, use Back or Next Step as you navigate through the enrollment experience.
- If you have chosen a plan and want to edit your selection, hover your cursor over the selected plan and click Cancel. Then, select the other benefit plan you want to enroll in.
- If you want to waive coverage under a specific benefit type, click Waive Coverage.
Specific benefit types (e.g., Medical) allow you to enroll in only one benefit plan under the benefit type. In this situation, enrolling in a benefit plan will automatically waive all other benefit plans under that benefit type.
A message will appear under a specific plan type if there were any changes made to a plan by an HR admin. Before submitting your benefit elections, be sure to review the changes and ensure you have the correct selections.
When choosing a benefit plan under those benefit types, you will need to add your desired contribution amount as a percentage or dollar amount.
Some HSA or FSA plans are dependent on which medical plan you choose.
- If you choose a medical plan that is compatible with an HSA or FSA plan, you will be able to select a compatible HSA or FSA plan in another step.
- If you choose a medical plan that is not compatible with an HSA or FSA plan, this step will be blank, and you can click Next Step to continue with enrollment.
Note: If you choose to cancel or waive your HSA- or FSA-compatible medical plan selection, you will see specific messaging that informs you what will happen to your original HSA or FSA election (if the HSA or FSA plan requires enrollment in specific medical plans).
For supplemental health plans, you will need to go plan by plan to enroll in the benefit plan or waive coverage. Only standard rate plans will display costs. You will also need to indicate which dependents need coverage within the coverage dropdown menu. You may notice not all dependents appear in the dropdown menu. This is because your HR administrator determines which dependents are eligible for these plan types, and only those who are eligible will appear.
Some disability and life coverage plans are company-sponsored and will automatically enroll you in these plans as they are at no cost to you! Who does not love free benefits? Depending on how your HR administrator has set up the plan, you may be able to opt out if you wish.
Life coverage
If enrolling in a voluntary life plan, you can use the slider to determine specific coverage amounts for yourself (employee) and any dependents who are eligible and you wish to cover. Depending on how your HR admin has set up the plan, you may not have the slider option but text fields, in which you can input specific coverage amounts. Click Enroll in Plan to save your coverage amounts. If you do not wish to enroll in this plan, select Waive Plan.
Disability coverage
A disability plan card has two different views, depending on how your HR administrator has set up the plan.
- You may be able to view your calculated per-paycheck rate within the plan card when electing disability coverage.
- Short term disability plans will show the percentage of weekly wages.
- Long term disability plans will show the percentage of monthly wages.
- If calculated per-paycheck rates do not appear, please refer to the benefit pricing materials your HR administrator has provided.
Those two benefit types are simple. You can choose to either enroll in a benefit plan or waive the plan.
Enrollment summary
After selecting your benefits, you will need to review your benefit elections before submitting them.
- Dependents: This table will appear if you have included your dependents. If you need to edit a dependent's information, click on the pencil icon upon hover.
- Enrollment Summary: This table includes all benefit plans—plans you have elected to enroll in and plans you have chosen to waive. Each elected plan will show the coverage level, cost per paycheck, and when the plan will take effect. Some plans will require your HR administrator to enter in the amount after you submit your benefit elections. In this case, "HR Review" will appear in the You Pay field.
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Confirmation: Below the Enrollment Summary table, there are two checkboxes—one for acknowledging the accuracy of your benefit elections and the other for signing your elections. All benefit elections will require your e-signature, and once you click on the checkbox to sign your elections, the system will recognize your e-signature as legally binding.
- You have also the option to review more details about e-signatures in Section 16 ("eSignature Service") of our Terms of Service.
- Keep in mind that your HR team may use your e-signature on forms that your benefit providers request in completing your enrollment.
If your HR administrator added legal information to a plan you have elected to enroll in, there will be an additional step—User Agreements and Signatures—which is where you can view the legal information and agree to the terms.
Submit your benefit elections
Once you submit your benefit elections, you will not be able to access the enrollment experience to make edits. Notify your HR administrator of any changes you are requesting.
If you need to make changes, simply click on the Back button until you get to the benefit type you wish to update your plan selection for. Make sure all benefit elections are accurate and then click Save & Submit. You will receive a email notification that confirms your submission, and your HR administrator will review your benefit elections.
Once your HR administrator approves your benefit elections, you will get another email notification notifying you of the approval.
If your HR admin has edited your selected benefit elections, you will receive an email notification letting you know about your updated benefits. Click Review Updated Benefits to view more information.
After your HR administrator has approved your benefit elections, you can review information about the benefit plans you are enrolled in. Navigate to your Benefits tab and select the Enrolled filter next to "Showing." After applying the Enrolled filter, you can click on a benefit plan to review the following details, if applicable:
- Plan summary
- Enrollment status
- Plan description
- Deductions
- Who’s covered
- Effective dates
- Any attached links or files
- Plan details