Benefits Analyst - Leaves and Disability
for section headings. Use - for any list of duties/requirements/benefits. Use
for prose.
We must preserve all substantive information; do not invent or summarize away detail. So we need to include all details from posting, but we can format as lists.
We need to be careful not to omit any substantive info. That's a lot. We'll need to capture responsibilities bullet points, requirements bullet points, benefits list, pay range, schedule.
We must not add filler like "commensurate with experience". The posting includes salary range specifics, we will include that.
We need to avoid duplication: The posting repeats some sentences; we should preserve but can deduplicate? The instruction: "Preserve ALL substantive information; do NOT invent or summarize away detail." It doesn't forbid deduplication but we should not lose info. If we combine similar points, we might lose nuance. Safer to keep as is but we can combine similar bullet points if they are identical. However there are many repeated sentences; we could keep them but that would be huge. Probably acceptable to combine similar points but must not lose any distinct info. We'll try to capture distinct responsibilities.
Let's extract distinct responsibilities:
From job description:
- Provides vital support toward ensuring smooth delivery of all WGU employee benefit plans, programs, and policies (retirement, healthcare, wellbeing, EAP, life and disability, paid time off, leaves-of-absence, accommodations, recognition, ancillary benefits).
- Provides personal-touch customer service to WGU employees nationwide.
- Operates in high-pace, high-growth environment demanding positive passion and enthusiasm.
- Delivers critical strategic, administrative and transaction support within People & Talent team.
- Provides stewardship of processes, analysis, data reconciliations and auditing, reporting, communications, and project management critical to design and operation of all benefit plans.
- Works closely with all areas of People & Talent and various internal and external contacts.
- Provides analytical, technical, process, and project support to Employee Benefits team and others within Total Rewards.
- Collaborates with Employee Benefits team members and others on benefits strategy, design, operations, reporting, regular data reconciliations, audits, and system configuration reviews.
- Provides customer service, administrative, tactical, and system transaction support for a wide range of employee benefits tasks and processes (answering benefits questions, processing eligibility and enrollment transactions within HR system, running reports, checking accuracy of data, researching issues, open enrollment, new employee presentations, and more).
- Provides comprehensive case management and administrative support for high volume of leave of absence and workplace accommodation cases, ensuring cases managed accurately, timely, confidentially, and per policies and federal, state, local requirements.
- Reviews and evaluates leave and accommodation requests and supporting documentation; tracks case status, required documentation, eligibility, deadlines, employee communications; coordinates appropriate next steps with employees, managers, People & Talent partners, Benefits, Payroll, vendors, other internal stakeholders.
- Manages multiple complex and time-sensitive leave and accommodation cases simultaneously, prioritizing work based on business needs, employee circumstances, regulatory requirements, and established service-level expectations.
- Maintains accurate and complete case records and documentation in applicable systems and ensures timely follow-up on outstanding actions, certifications, approvals, denials, extensions, returns to work, and other case milestones.
- Supports administration of leave programs, including FMLA, company-provided leaves, personal leaves, disability-related leaves, workers' compensation-related absences, and applicable state and local leave programs.
- Assists with administration of workplace accommodations under ADA and applicable state/local requirements, including intake, documentation review, interactive process support, accommodation tracking, reevaluations, coordination with appropriate People & Talent stakeholders.
- Partners with managers and People & Talent business partners to provide guidance regarding leave and accommodation processes, employee communications, attendance considerations, return-to-work requirements, and applicable policies.
- Escalates complex, sensitive, or potentially high-risk leave and accommodation matters to appropriate leadership, Employee Relations, Legal, or other subject matter experts as needed.
- Provides impeccable customer service and support in a timely, accurate, and professional manner. Using internal “help desk” support system, coordinates handling of employee benefits, leave and accommodation questions from employees, business managers, third-party benefits administrators, payroll, and HR colleagues within People & Talent. Responds to questions and requests via phone, email, instant messaging, in-person, support queue, and other channels.
- Coordinates with third-party leave, disability, and benefits vendors to support timely and accurate case administration, resolve escalated issues, research discrepancies, and ensure appropriate communication and follow-up. Monitors vendor performance and case activity and escalates service concerns, processing errors, or employee-impacting issues when appropriate.
- Serves as a mentor and trainer for less experienced team members and provides peer review of team member work as necessary.
- Supports team consistency and quality by sharing knowledge related to leave, accommodations, benefits administration, case management, policies, procedures, systems, and regulatory requirements.
- Develops and maintains documentation of critical employee benefits, leave and accommodation processes and procedures. Assists team members with root cause analysis associated with issues or problems and helps identify process, policy, workflow, or system improvements.
- Identifies opportunities to improve employee experience, reduce case backlogs, increase operational efficiency, strengthen compliance, and improve accuracy and consistency of case administration.
- Performs regular case audits, data reviews, and quality assurance activities to identify trends, ensure accurate case management, verify compliance with established processes and service-level expectations, and support continuous improvement.
- Assists with reporting and analysis related to leave, accommodations, benefits, case volumes, trends, and operational performance.
- Plays an active role in employee benefits, leave and accommodation education, training, and communication across the organization, including delivering and assisting with digital and print materials, in-person and online presentations, manager education, and employee communications.
- Performs other job-related duties as assigned.
That's a lot but we can keep as bullet list.
Now Requirements: Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities list plus Minimum Qualifications.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities bullet points:
- Strong interpersonal skills in dealing proactively with all levels of internal and external individuals including employees, leaders, fellow team members, and external administrators and advisers.
- Ability to work effectively in a collaborative team environment, demonstrating influence and leadership.
- Strong communication skills marked by the ability to write, read, and interpret technical material.
- Knowledge of and demonstrated prior experience with operational and strategic aspects of employee benefit plans, including insurance renewals, retirement plans, vendor management, government filings, communications, and benchmarking.
- Ability to maintain a current, solid understanding of University employee benefit programs and available resources.
- Strong understanding of laws and regulations as they apply to HR areas, especially employee benefits, leaves, and accommodations.
- Comfortable working with MS Office products, data in various formats, and information systems to process requests, answer questions, prepare reports, and identify problems.
- Solid technical understanding of HRIS and related processes associated with employee benefits, and the cross-functional impacts with other enterprise systems.
- Data-driven orientation with ability to diagnose root causes, identify primary drivers of outcomes, and recommend positive changes.
- Applicable knowledge in the design and management of all standard employee benefits programs; maintaining retirement programs; to include project management, enrollment, vendor management, auditing, filings, and training, education, and communication.
- Ability to provide creative and innovative thinking to identify inventive and unique applications of standard/common solutions.
- The ability to make presentations to groups of employees or team members, and to communicate technical matters effectively and persuasively in writing, through emails and reports, or verbally.
- Very strong work ethic, collaborative orientation, and eagerness to take on new assignments, with the ability to excel in a very fast-paced environment with frequently changing priorities.
- The ability to plan, organize, and prioritize multiple and simultaneous time-sensitive activities.
- A keen interest in contributing to the success of teams and growth of individuals. Actively contributes to a feeling of belonging among individuals in the organization.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to make data-supported decisions.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources or related field or equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.
- High school diploma required.
- 2-3 years of experience specifically working with Leaves of Absence and Accommodations.
- Ability to manage a high volume of LOA and accommodation cases simultaneously.
Preferred Qualifications (could be included in Requirements or separate Qualifications). We'll include under Requirements maybe as "Preferred Qualifications" but we said few sections. Could add a "Qualifications" section covering both minimum and preferred. But we already have Requirements; we could add a separate "Qualifications" section for preferred. However instruction: prefer few substantive sections over many thin ones. So maybe combine minimum and preferred into Requirements. We'll include both.
Preferred Qualifications bullet list:
- Experience presenting to groups.
- Experience in a large organization's human resources function.
- HR shared service center experience.
- Experience with HRIS/payroll systems.
- Workday experience.
- Progress toward or completion of Certified Benefits Professional (CBP), Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS), or other HR-related certifications.
Travel: This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.
We could include travel under Responsibilities or a separate section? Not required but we could add under Responsibilities as a bullet.
Benefits: From "Position & Application Details": list includes:
- medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare
- health savings account and flexible spending account
- basic and voluntary life insurance
- disability coverage
- accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages
- legal and identity theft coverage
- retirement savings plan
- wellbein (cut off? likely "wellbeing"? The text truncated: "wellbein". We'll preserve as given: "wellbein". Might be incomplete but we must preserve. We'll include as is.
Also "eligible for bonuses". Also "Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbein"
Thus benefits list includes bonuses as well.
Pay: "A reasonable estimate of the current range is: Grade: Professional 307 Pay Range: $68,30
for prose. We must preserve all substantive information; do not invent or summarize away detail. So we need to include all details from posting, but we can format as lists. We need to be careful not to omit any substantive info. That's a lot. We'll need to capture responsibilities bullet points, requirements bullet points, benefits list, pay range, schedule. We must not add filler like "commensurate with experience". The posting includes salary range specifics, we will include that. We need to avoid duplication: The posting repeats some sentences; we should preserve but can deduplicate? The instruction: "Preserve ALL substantive information; do NOT invent or summarize away detail." It doesn't forbid deduplication but we should not lose info. If we combine similar points, we might lose nuance. Safer to keep as is but we can combine similar bullet points if they are identical. However there are many repeated sentences; we could keep them but that would be huge. Probably acceptable to combine similar points but must not lose any distinct info. We'll try to capture distinct responsibilities. Let's extract distinct responsibilities: From job description: - Provides vital support toward ensuring smooth delivery of all WGU employee benefit plans, programs, and policies (retirement, healthcare, wellbeing, EAP, life and disability, paid time off, leaves-of-absence, accommodations, recognition, ancillary benefits). - Provides personal-touch customer service to WGU employees nationwide. - Operates in high-pace, high-growth environment demanding positive passion and enthusiasm. - Delivers critical strategic, administrative and transaction support within People & Talent team. - Provides stewardship of processes, analysis, data reconciliations and auditing, reporting, communications, and project management critical to design and operation of all benefit plans. - Works closely with all areas of People & Talent and various internal and external contacts. - Provides analytical, technical, process, and project support to Employee Benefits team and others within Total Rewards. - Collaborates with Employee Benefits team members and others on benefits strategy, design, operations, reporting, regular data reconciliations, audits, and system configuration reviews. - Provides customer service, administrative, tactical, and system transaction support for a wide range of employee benefits tasks and processes (answering benefits questions, processing eligibility and enrollment transactions within HR system, running reports, checking accuracy of data, researching issues, open enrollment, new employee presentations, and more). - Provides comprehensive case management and administrative support for high volume of leave of absence and workplace accommodation cases, ensuring cases managed accurately, timely, confidentially, and per policies and federal, state, local requirements. - Reviews and evaluates leave and accommodation requests and supporting documentation; tracks case status, required documentation, eligibility, deadlines, employee communications; coordinates appropriate next steps with employees, managers, People & Talent partners, Benefits, Payroll, vendors, other internal stakeholders. - Manages multiple complex and time-sensitive leave and accommodation cases simultaneously, prioritizing work based on business needs, employee circumstances, regulatory requirements, and established service-level expectations. - Maintains accurate and complete case records and documentation in applicable systems and ensures timely follow-up on outstanding actions, certifications, approvals, denials, extensions, returns to work, and other case milestones. - Supports administration of leave programs, including FMLA, company-provided leaves, personal leaves, disability-related leaves, workers' compensation-related absences, and applicable state and local leave programs. - Assists with administration of workplace accommodations under ADA and applicable state/local requirements, including intake, documentation review, interactive process support, accommodation tracking, reevaluations, coordination with appropriate People & Talent stakeholders. - Partners with managers and People & Talent business partners to provide guidance regarding leave and accommodation processes, employee communications, attendance considerations, return-to-work requirements, and applicable policies. - Escalates complex, sensitive, or potentially high-risk leave and accommodation matters to appropriate leadership, Employee Relations, Legal, or other subject matter experts as needed. - Provides impeccable customer service and support in a timely, accurate, and professional manner. Using internal “help desk” support system, coordinates handling of employee benefits, leave and accommodation questions from employees, business managers, third-party benefits administrators, payroll, and HR colleagues within People & Talent. Responds to questions and requests via phone, email, instant messaging, in-person, support queue, and other channels. - Coordinates with third-party leave, disability, and benefits vendors to support timely and accurate case administration, resolve escalated issues, research discrepancies, and ensure appropriate communication and follow-up. Monitors vendor performance and case activity and escalates service concerns, processing errors, or employee-impacting issues when appropriate. - Serves as a mentor and trainer for less experienced team members and provides peer review of team member work as necessary. - Supports team consistency and quality by sharing knowledge related to leave, accommodations, benefits administration, case management, policies, procedures, systems, and regulatory requirements. - Develops and maintains documentation of critical employee benefits, leave and accommodation processes and procedures. Assists team members with root cause analysis associated with issues or problems and helps identify process, policy, workflow, or system improvements. - Identifies opportunities to improve employee experience, reduce case backlogs, increase operational efficiency, strengthen compliance, and improve accuracy and consistency of case administration. - Performs regular case audits, data reviews, and quality assurance activities to identify trends, ensure accurate case management, verify compliance with established processes and service-level expectations, and support continuous improvement. - Assists with reporting and analysis related to leave, accommodations, benefits, case volumes, trends, and operational performance. - Plays an active role in employee benefits, leave and accommodation education, training, and communication across the organization, including delivering and assisting with digital and print materials, in-person and online presentations, manager education, and employee communications. - Performs other job-related duties as assigned. That's a lot but we can keep as bullet list. Now Requirements: Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities list plus Minimum Qualifications. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities bullet points: - Strong interpersonal skills in dealing proactively with all levels of internal and external individuals including employees, leaders, fellow team members, and external administrators and advisers. - Ability to work effectively in a collaborative team environment, demonstrating influence and leadership. - Strong communication skills marked by the ability to write, read, and interpret technical material. - Knowledge of and demonstrated prior experience with operational and strategic aspects of employee benefit plans, including insurance renewals, retirement plans, vendor management, government filings, communications, and benchmarking. - Ability to maintain a current, solid understanding of University employee benefit programs and available resources. - Strong understanding of laws and regulations as they apply to HR areas, especially employee benefits, leaves, and accommodations. - Comfortable working with MS Office products, data in various formats, and information systems to process requests, answer questions, prepare reports, and identify problems. - Solid technical understanding of HRIS and related processes associated with employee benefits, and the cross-functional impacts with other enterprise systems. - Data-driven orientation with ability to diagnose root causes, identify primary drivers of outcomes, and recommend positive changes. - Applicable knowledge in the design and management of all standard employee benefits programs; maintaining retirement programs; to include project management, enrollment, vendor management, auditing, filings, and training, education, and communication. - Ability to provide creative and innovative thinking to identify inventive and unique applications of standard/common solutions. - The ability to make presentations to groups of employees or team members, and to communicate technical matters effectively and persuasively in writing, through emails and reports, or verbally. - Very strong work ethic, collaborative orientation, and eagerness to take on new assignments, with the ability to excel in a very fast-paced environment with frequently changing priorities. - The ability to plan, organize, and prioritize multiple and simultaneous time-sensitive activities. - A keen interest in contributing to the success of teams and growth of individuals. Actively contributes to a feeling of belonging among individuals in the organization. - Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to make data-supported decisions. - Strong verbal and written communication skills. Minimum Qualifications: - Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources or related field or equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager. - High school diploma required. - 2-3 years of experience specifically working with Leaves of Absence and Accommodations. - Ability to manage a high volume of LOA and accommodation cases simultaneously. Preferred Qualifications (could be included in Requirements or separate Qualifications). We'll include under Requirements maybe as "Preferred Qualifications" but we said few sections. Could add a "Qualifications" section covering both minimum and preferred. But we already have Requirements; we could add a separate "Qualifications" section for preferred. However instruction: prefer few substantive sections over many thin ones. So maybe combine minimum and preferred into Requirements. We'll include both. Preferred Qualifications bullet list: - Experience presenting to groups. - Experience in a large organization's human resources function. - HR shared service center experience. - Experience with HRIS/payroll systems. - Workday experience. - Progress toward or completion of Certified Benefits Professional (CBP), Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS), or other HR-related certifications. Travel: This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements. We could include travel under Responsibilities or a separate section? Not required but we could add under Responsibilities as a bullet. Benefits: From "Position & Application Details": list includes: - medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare - health savings account and flexible spending account - basic and voluntary life insurance - disability coverage - accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages - legal and identity theft coverage - retirement savings plan - wellbein (cut off? likely "wellbeing"? The text truncated: "wellbein". We'll preserve as given: "wellbein". Might be incomplete but we must preserve. We'll include as is. Also "eligible for bonuses". Also "Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbein" Thus benefits list includes bonuses as well. Pay: "A reasonable estimate of the current range is: Grade: Professional 307 Pay Range: $68,30