Benefit Consultant

Arthur J. Gallagher · Milwaukee

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Benefit Consultant

EmPower HR

We believe in our Employees first and we get great results because of great people. We continually strive to create a workplace culture that challenges and encourages our employees to step outside their comfort zones and promotes creativity and participation. We pursue the greatest possible impact in every interaction, every minute of every day. Our foundation is made up of our Pillars:

Dream Big     Have Courage     Take Initiative      Be Accountable      Enjoy It  Give Back

In terms of cultural fit, the successful candidate will win the hearts and minds of our clients, be self- motivated and be energized by working amongst a group of thoughtful, smart, fast-paced and successful colleagues. He or she will enjoy being a part of an organization focused on excellent service to our clients and will be a naturally collaborative individual who enjoys interacting with individuals at all levels. Additionally, he or she will be a strong team player with a proactive approach and the ability to take initiative with discretion and judgment.

Position Summary: The Benefit Consultant 1 is responsible for the day-to-day management of the benefit programs and serves as an internal subject matter expert for EmPower HR staff members, clients, and client’s employees. While functioning as a key internal subject matter expert for benefits, this position will train and educate internal staff on the standard benefit offerings, processes and procedures and will be positioned as the escalation point for complex employee benefit questions, issues, and compliance topics. The Benefits Consultant 1 also creates and maintains strong working relationships with clients and vendors to ensure a consistent and compliant experience.

Essential Responsibilities and Duties:

Internal Subject Matter Expertise

• Build out and maintain knowledgebase for Benefits
• Serve as an escalated point of contact and subject matter expertise for benefit issues regarding items like enrollment, coverage, claims, premium discrepancy, billing, etc.
• Provide HR Business Partners and service teams with necessary documentation necessary for participants such as SBCs, Summary Plan Descriptions, etc.
• Process member-level insurance coverage enrollments, changes, terminations, and COBRA processing using vendor portals for lines of coverage in which EmPower HR’s preferred broker partner is not the broker of record.
• Advise internal payroll processing teams regarding benefit billing adjustments.

Implementations and Renewals

• Guide new clients through health and welfare benefit program implementations. This includes but is not limited to; discovery, strategic consulting to clients pertaining to plan options and cost, leveraging broker relationships, documenting client elections, communicating to internal teams about plan and open enrollment and instructing teams on set up, ensuring successful open enrollment and/or creating benefit census to import, and ensuring the on-going servicing of the client is successful.
• Manage and execute non-master plan renewal process with client, broker, and internal
• Provide basic financial analysis for client and global level when needed. For new and existing clients, this includes utilizing census data to complete basic calculations of monthly and annual premium breakdown of existing rates as well as renewal rates and alternative plan design rates.
  • This would also entail estimating annualized cost of proposed benefits for new clients and prospects.
• Provide guidance to all HR Business Partners, service teams, and internal staff on renewal and open enrollment processes.
• Work with VP, Benefit Consulting to develop client and employee communication pieces for
• Create and maintain documented framework for the renewal process, OE system set up,
• Work with broker to carry out annual COBRA open enrollment
• Work with HR Business Partners to provide necessary key contact Conduct key contact meetings as well as employee webinars or in-person meetings when necessary.

Benefit Plan Procurement and Brokerage services

• Supports brokerage process, including preparing quotes, underwriting, developing sales prospect presentations, compliance, and benefit guide creation.
• For existing clients, serve as primary client contact for data collection necessary to obtain
• Review financials of existing plans/premiums quotes plans and rates to provide recommendations to HR Business Partner and/or client directly.

Vendor Management

• Become the centralized point of contact between internal teams and vendor partners (broker, carriers, third-party administrators, etc.)

Compliance Reporting, Controls, and on-going Plan Administration

• Provide guidance/expertise to internal teams and external clients and employees on COBRA and state continuation.
• Work with broker resource and third-party COBRA vendor to update plan rates upon renewal of master polices and carve out plans as well as set up new clients for COBRA
• Maintain master carve out listing and ensure compliance on continuation administration internally and with COBRA third-party administrator.
• While utilizing broker resources, create compliance communication pieces when necessary and coordinate/strategize the methodology for distribution of required notices.
• Perform periodic control reporting to ensure plans are operating within the confines of policy provisions, such as life insurance age reductions, loss of dependent status, etc.

Required Skills/Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to act consistently with the company’s Purpose and values (6 Pillars).
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to cultivate curiosity, vision, and thought
• Excellent verbal and written communication
• Organized with attention to
• Strong problem solving and critical thinking
• Demonstrated ability to influence without formal
• Strong independent judgement and decision-making skills, even in the absence of
• Exceptional analytical
• Proven capability to plan at both strategic and operational/tactical levels with alignment to

the company’s goals of increasing sales.

• Ability to drive complex change and manage key
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to organize and mobilize cross-functional teams to support multiple priorities.
• Relentless client focus combined with a strong commitment to continuous
• Ability to work independently and with a high level of autonomy and
• Ability to handle difficult conversations and resolve
• Display a positive attitude and passion for serving
• Ability to practice attentive and active listening
• Able to manage through and be comfortable with ambiguity; can effectively cope with change and adapt according to business or client needs.

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in human resource management or related field. Equivalent work experience may be substituted for education
• Wisconsin Health, Accident, and Life Licenses a plus. Will be required to obtain within 90 days of hire, if not currently licensed. 
• Three to four years of benefit administration or HRIS experience with a focus on benefit set up and reconciliation.
• Proficiency in MS Office
• Experience with HRIS platforms a
• Experience with Salesforce or similar CRM tool is a
• Strong business knowledge and the ability to understand business

Work Environment:

• This position operates in a professional office
• This position routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, and
• Frequent travel to client locations, prospect meetings, networking events, and internal market visits.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

EEO Statement: EmPower HR provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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