Careers in Benefits
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Careers in Benefits
Introduction
It is typical for each organization to have its own unique culture that encompass its visions, values, working language, ideas, habits, and systems of a group working together. It is the responsibilities of the human resource to develop and manage the culture through, recruitment of new hires, engage training and development, and coordinating the payrolls and benefits. Managing and maintaining benefits is one of the roles incorporated in the core of the organization’s success; thus, benefits managers are essential staff in the human resource department.
Benefits Manager
A career in benefits mainly focuses on benefits management where the benefits managers also referred to as remuneration professional oversees the benefits of the employees, databases, benchmarks, and annual performance reviews on the same. The benefits managers analyze how the employee’s benefits affect their loyalty, performance, and retention in the organization. Benefits management also includes the establishment and implementation of benefits plan for the current employees or to offer to the new ones. Often the benefits management programs are designed in such a way that they reduce the costs for the client but also give the most value to the job candidates.
Career Path of a Benefits Managers
The time taken attain the position of Benefits Administrator depends on the educational background and obtained professional certifications. Those with legal and technological backgrounds, mainly information system management, will be offered the priority as the field of benefits plans laws and regulations continually grow complicated by the day. Some of the steps taken to help an interested individual to transition their career in Benefits Management smoothly include obtaining certification on Benefits Administration such as veteran’s benefits, arbitration, mediation, and Social Security disability benefits.
For one to work as a benefits specialist or manager, it is required to have at least a bachelor’s degree, which may be in business management, human resource, finance or business administration. Although the bachelor degree is the minimum requirement for a candidate, others choose to pursue a human resource in master degree or any other related field (Steinbarth and Steinbarth, 2011). Various organizations offer different certifications on courses related to benefits management. In this career path, work experience essentiality important as much as the education itself where the benefits managers tend to begin as specialists to obtain experience working in various fields like human resources, finance, management position, and business administration insurance.
The employees require the benefits managers candidates to have good written and excellent communication skills to effectively draft recommendations for the senior management as well as explain the benefits programs and programs to the employees. It is also important for candidates to be equipped with basic computer skills and familiarity with spreadsheets and word processors. Besides, the benefits managers should have some knowledge of statistical analysis and strong analytical skills (Belcourt, 2006). Such can significantly analyze the benefit numbers are delivered from spreadsheets and surveys’ data analysis. It is an added advantage for the candidates to be updated with relevant information regarding state and federal legislation and regulations, while the knowledge on trends on general benefits may be helpful to the benefits administration candidates. Moreover, the benefits managers should possess good work ethics and be capable of discretion as organizations require the benefits packages be remained confidential. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in America, the average annual salary of the benefits managers in 2015 was $111,430 (Belcourt, 2006).
Benefits Managers’ Daily Duties
Some of the daily duties and responsibilities of benefits specialists include administering the benefits programs of the employees such as medical, vision, and medical plans, retirement plans, wellness programs, retirement plans, and temporary disability programs. They are also required to assess and compare the existing organization’s benefits programs with those of the other employees by analyzing the surveys, plans, and pieces of information (Belcourt, 2006). After analyzing the data, the benefits managers participate in the surveys related to the industry and other related areas. Then, after survey’s activities the results are analyzed to develop specific recommendations for review by management. Third, benefits managers develop and specifies new plans or modify the existing ones to maintain the competitive position of the company in the labor market and establish uniform benefits plans for all employees where possible. Besides, benefits management department ensures that the company complies with the standards for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Affordable Care Act (Steinbarth and Steinbarth, 2011).
Further, the Benefits managers supervise the preparation of the reports required by the law for filing with the state and federal agencies like the Department of Labor. The benefits specialists are responsible for preparing and executing the benefits documentations based on the legal consultation. Such documentation includes insurance policies and benefits agreements; thus, ensuring prompt but accurate compliance with the same (Belcourt, 2006). Moreover, benefits administrators should recommend lessons for the eligible employees to inform about the modified or new benefits plan. In such a case, they are supposed to develop census data and solicit insurance firms for quotations, which are evaluated to make recommendations regarding the offered management classes.
To gather more information regarding a career in benefits, an interview was conducted with personnel from Mabgathis General Hospital’s human resource department. The interview involved questionnaires, which were administered verbally using predetermined well-structured and planned questions. The interview aimed to discover the views, motivations, duties, and responsibilities as well as the career paths followed by business managers. The interviewee was the Benefits Administrator for Mbagathis Referral Hospital, and the conducted interview took twenty-one minutes, and at the end, much information on benefits administration has been obtained to compare the expectation with the reality.
The interviewee confirmed the expected traits and qualities of a benefits administrator. He stated that a candidate must be familiar with numbers, analytically inclined, great communicator, detail-oriented, and have strong discretion and ethics. The benefits managers are not limited to one type of company as the can be involved in nearly all the industry, but typically in offices. For instance, in the hospital setting referred during the study, benefits managers work to administer the benefits programs of the employees including leave and insurance policies, retirement plans, and wellness programs (Belcourt, 2006). They have to ensure that the benefits of all the hospital workers align with the government laws and regulations by regularly monitoring the benefits trends. The interviewee also stated that although certification is not a requirement for a candidate to be hired as a benefits specialist, it is an extra way to demonstrate expertise, knowledge, and commitment to the field. Most of the employees consider highly those individuals who have taken the time to develop their careers by obtaining professional certifications. Some of the organization that offers such certificates include the Retirement Plans Associate and Group Benefits Associate (Steinbarth and Steinbarth, 2011). One can further their education and knowledge on benefits managers like Master of Business Administration majoring in human resource management (MBA-HRM).
Conclusion
The benefits specialists and managers are professionals who work on an organization to coordinate the benefits packages and programs offered. Benefits administrators are essentials staff in any institutional culture as they can determine its productivity and success. Benefits are used as a way to motivate employees to give their best while performing tasks to ensure all the organizational goals and objectives are achieved. Thus, benefits management department play an important role in analyzing statistical data regarding employee’s benefits, benefits, and wage structure, and monitoring the business trends to keep the company updated.
References
Belcourt, M. (2006). Outsourcing—The benefits and the risks. Human resource management review, 16(2), 269-279.
Steinbarth, J., & Steinbarth, P. (2011). U.S. Patent No. 8,078,481. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Appendix
1. What do benefits managers do?
2. What are the common employee benefits?
3. How can you describe the job analysis of a benefits manager?
4. What are the benefits manager skills and qualifications?
5. What skills do the employers want to see on your resume?
6. Why should recruiters understand benefits management?
7. What do the recruiting team need to know about employee benefits management?
8. How can one become a benefits manager?
9. How can you describe the work environment of the benefits managers?
10. What are some of the physical demands of the jobs?
11. Can you please mention and elaborate on the organizations offering certification for a career in benefits courses?
12. What is the average pay of a Benefit Managers?
13. Do federal regulations affect human resource benefits management?
14. What are some of the organizations offering professional certifications in a career in benefits?
Interviewee
Robert Sanchez
Norwegain American Hospital
1044 North Francisco Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622.
Sanchezrobert01@gmail.com
9333(778-246-9333)