Benefits Specialist

About The State University of New York :

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY's 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the state's only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.3 million students in credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2021, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum.

Job Description:

The Benefits Specialist is the main day-to-day benefits administrator, interacting directly with Human Resources and Benefits Administrators at our 64 State University and community college campuses, as well as with retirement plan administrators at New York State agencies on an as-needed basis.

This team member will work closely with internal clients to assist in day-to-day operations, including problem resolution. In addition to daily and ad hoc responsibilities, the Benefits Specialist owns regular project work and performs recurring reporting duties.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assume role of first and potentially main customer service representative for SUNY campus Benefits Administrators and potentially SUNY employees seeking assistance and issue resolution related to the Benefits we sponsor and/or administer.
• Assist campuses with health care plan, workers' compensation insurance, and other benefits questions, including tuition assistance, commuter assistance, daycare assistance, flex spending limits, et al.
• Assist with union benefit questions, including redirecting inquiries to proper authorities.
• Act as day-to-day operational liaison for SUNY vendors/business partners, the University-wide Benefits team and SUNY campus administrators.
• Develop and manage strong relationships with administrators at State-wide University campus, Community Colleges, and NYS agencies.
• Assist Associate Director of University-wide Benefits in overseeing relationship with our Long-term Disability and Paid Family Leave insurance provider (currently The Standard), with a focus on their custom Ergonomic Assessment program for SUNY M/C and UUP employees.
• Owns coordination of The Standard's Ergonomic Assessment program activities with participating campuses and the University-wide Benefits team.
• Provide Long-term Disability and Paid Family Leave administration, including reconciling billing, fielding questions and addressing issues with insurance provider and campuses.
• Facilitate regularly scheduled ongoing calls to resolve retirement plan participant issues.
• Coordinate and monitor ongoing updates to information.
• Coordinate and project manage annual Benefits Administrators Meeting.
• Coordinate and schedule bi-monthly calls/virtual video meetings with State campus Benefits Administrators and the University-wide Benefits team.
• Assist University-Wide Benefit leadership, including Director and Associate Director with evaluation of information, identifying trends and exploring enhancements to programs.
• Oversee development of Discount programs (maintaining vendors, fielding campus issues/questions).
• Handle and manage retirement plan arrears calculations (verifying calculations from campuses, double-checking employee eligibility, et al).
• Update Benefits documents, announcements, and website pages as needed.
• Assist in data collection and coordination of retirement plan issues and initiatives (forced distributions, look-backs, sponsorship reports, employee enrollment issues, etc.).
• Develop educational and training materials with University-wide Benefits teammates, campus administrators and business partners.

Requirements:

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree
• Ability to receive, prioritize, and complete tasks from multiple sources with minimal supervision and must also possess proven customer service skills.
• Ability to self-manage in a fast-paced environment and to troubleshoot issues as they arise.
• Three to five years of relevant work experience is strongly preferred, ideally in a customer-service focused and/or Human Resources/Benefits/Retirement Plan work environment.
• Excellent interpersonal, analytical, and written communication skills.
• Ability to think creatively and solve problems and must be able to work effectively and efficiently within strict deadlines as part of a team.
• Ability to work in a hybrid environment, adept at maintaining work communications and relationships to fulfill responsibilities in a remote work situation.
• 3-5 years' experience administering employee benefits or insurance benefit information.
• Proficient project/task management skills with the ability to track the collection of data and manage correlating reporting requirements.

Preferred Qualifications:

• A strong knowledge of Excel, including formulas and pivot tables is highly preferred.
• Independent, highly organized worker with proven project management experience is preferred.
• Operations management with financial transaction experience preferred.
• Experience or familiarity with SUNY benefit plans preferred.
• Has desire to work in team environment with long-term professional development objectives.

Additional Information:

Some travel to SUNY campuses, SUNY Global Center (in New York City) and select national industry conferences may be necessary to fully realize responsibilities in this position. All travel is coordinated with Director and Associate Director of University-wide Benefits.

Excellent Benefit Package which includes; NYS health insurance, free dental and vision, competitive retirement options, tuition assistance, paid parental leave and generous vacation, sick and holiday accruals.

Application Instructions:

Interested candidates are invited to apply online. The Search Committee will begin the review of applications immediately and continue until the position is filled.

State University of New York System Administration is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, creed, age, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, pregnancy, predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, criminal conviction, or retaliation.

Pursuant to Executive Order 161, no State entity, as defined by the Executive Order, is permitted to ask, or mandate, in any form, that an applicant for employment provide his or her current compensation, or any prior compensation history, until such time as the applicant is extended a conditional offer of employment with compensation. If such information has been requested from you before such time, please contact the Governor's Office of Employee Relations at (518) 474-6988 or via email at info@goer.ny.gov