The information below will help employees and managers understand the enrollment process and timing. Further down I have also included the canned email I send to employees with instructions for contacting the call center for enrollment.

 

• Salary Employees are eligible the first of the month after the date of hire. 

  • Example: Jane Smith’s hire date is 10/2 or 10/30 – she is eligible 11/1. She needs to call the service center to enroll asap. Jane Smith’s hire date is 10/1, she is eligible that same day, (10/1) and would need to contact me personally to get enrolled.  

 

• Commission and Hourly Employees are eligible the first of the month after 60-days. -- they need to call to enroll during that first 60-days.

  • Example: John Smith’s hire date is 6/22/18 – he is eligible 9/1/18.  He needs to call to enroll between  6/23/18 – 8/31/18.

 

• If an employee waits until the date of eligibility to call (e.g., 9/1/18) they have already missed their enrollment deadline. I try to encourage employees to call before the last day of the month in the event the call center is busy and they are not able to get through. If they call a few days before the end of month it allows time for a call back if necessary.

 

• In addition to communication from the markets, we also send out an email reminder to all eligible employees 30-days before their deadline to enroll expires. This is an automated email generated by the system and a confirmation report is provided that verifies every employee that the email was sent to. They do not have to wait on the email to enroll, they may call to enroll as soon as their 2nd week after being coded. If an employee does not enroll in the timeframe allotted they forfeit their option to enroll and will not be eligible to enroll until Open Enrollment which occurs annually in February unless they have a qualifying life event. We do not accept ‘I didn’t get the email’ as an acceptable excuse for missing enrollment.

 

Lastly, the canned email below is what I send to employees when they are still within the enrollment period.

 

As a newly eligible employee you must call BCI to enroll in benefits. Counselors can be reached at 1-888-659-0127 Monday – Friday 8AM – 5PM CST / 9AM-6PM EST. 

 

When you call please be prepared with

1. Your benefit election decisions

2. All dependent information including dates of birth and social security numbers

 

To assist you in making your election decisions please login to PlanSource then go to Myself > More > Manage My Benefits and then under the Info Center tab you can access the Benefits Guide.