The Many Moving Parts of a Successful Year End

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What is Year End?

Well, it means different things to different people and parts of your organization.

If you’re in Human Resources, Year End means getting ready for a new benefit year with Open Enrollment, reviewing policies to make sure they are in compliance with new laws, and fielding last- minute questions from employees about their existing or new benefits.

In payroll, Year End is the culmination of everything done during the year, as well as a number of processes that you execute only once a year. Year End is your last chance to find and fix issues from the current year before they become complicated. These issues might include: an employee moved without telling anyone; people were overpaid or underpaid; someone just noticed duplicate employee records.

In short, Year End can be hectic, but it’s easier to get all the details right, the first time, instead of having to go back and make adjustments later. UKG Pro gives you tools and resources to manage the process, and, if you are using UKG Pro, Mosaic is here to help! Check out Simplifying Your Year End for more tips and tricks.

UKG and Mosaic Consulting Group experts agree: for a successful Year End, the key is to begin the process as early as possible. Here are some other resources and tools that will help make the process easier for you. At the bottom of this article you will find a recording of a Mosaic Webinar on this topic.

Leverage UKG Pro for a Smooth Year End:

As an UKG-only consulting firm, Mosaic has the knowledge you need to be sure you are using this powerful tool to its fullest capacity during the busy Year End season. It is important to understand the what’s involved in preparing for Year End, know the resources available to you, identify the people to have on your team, make a checklist to keep track of all the moving parts, and get familiar with the new features of UKG Pro that will make the process easier for you! Keep reading for more information on what UKG Pro offers to ensure you have an easy transition in to the new year.

UKG Pro Year End Gateway:

If you are a Mid Market client, and UKG Pro files your payroll taxes for you, you can turn on the Year End Gateway in UKG Pro. This can be found under Administration > Year End, and you can provide access to this tool to everyone on your team.

If you don’t see “Year End Gateway” and you think you should, have your Security Administrator review your access level. If it’s enabled and you still can’t see it; you aren’t eligible. If that’s the case,skip to the UKG Pro Checklist section of this article.

The Year End Gateway is an online checklist for the Year End process as they relate to UKG Pro. Pay close attention to the Due Dates – these will change color if you don’t mark something as completed on time. The Gateway walks you step-by-step through the process, and it not only tells you which reports you need to run or the business rules you should look at; it will also take you directly to the report when you click on the links. As an added bonus, as you complete each task, it is marked “complete,” and people working on different parts of the process can see what has been done and what hasn’t. It is a great tool to keep you – and all members of your Year End team! — organized and informed.

UKG Pro Checklist:

UKG also provides a handy-dandy Year End Checklist. Typically, clients who use UKG Pro but who file their own taxes will have access to the checklist instead of the Gateway. To find the checklist, search for “Year End Checklist” on the Customer Success Portal. While not as interactive as the Year End Gateway, this list does provide the tasks that must be done and the sequence they should be completed in. It also gives you the names of the reports you need to run, and the pathways for accessing tasks within UKG Pro.

If you do not use UKG Pro for your tax filing, you will need to append any Year End tasks from your tax filer to this checklist.

New UKG Pro Features – Right on Time for Year End:

One of the biggest changes that happened to UKG Pro this year was the added ability to do reversals and adjustments on the web. This is a game changer for UKG Pro and Mosaic clients! Previously, if you needed to process a reversal and/or adjustment in order to correct a tax issue, you needed to go through the Back Office or, if you don’t have Back Office, open a ticket. Now you can process these changes on the web.

Another exciting change is the addition of an import tool on the web. With the new web import, you can give more people access to import files. If you’re not familiar with creating imports for UKG Pro, these can be complicated, so please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need any help. Here are some links that may help:

UKG Pro Import Tool Instructions:

Is Anything Else New in UKG Pro?

Yes! UKG Pro dropped a batch of new sample reports in BI last month, and these reports will save our clients a great deal of time during year end. Here’s a preview of what you’ll find:

  • New Tax Reports: Combines a few ‘Standard Reports’ and highlights errors. This means you can find problems quickly and address them effectively.
  • Earnings and Deductions Reports: Combine two or more ‘Standard Reports’ to make everything work better.
  • W-2 Box DD Report: This report will filter through your data and show you only those employees and deductions you need to pay attention to.
  • PTO Reports: These focus on the key dates in each plan, so you can avoid problems with accruals and rollovers at year end.

Want to know more about simplifying year end? Check out Mosaic’s tips and tricks to simplify year end.

Whether you’re executing Year End for the first time or looking for ways to make the process more efficient, we can help. Our team has developed best practices from working with a broad range of clients and can help make Year End seamless. Take advantage of the resources, tools and tactical support your Mosaic team can offer.

Contact Mosaic today for help with any and all UKG Pro related projects or questions.

Watch the Mosaic Webinar on The Many Moving Parts of a Successful Year End

Think Like a Marketer to Recruit Top Talent

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It’s been said that the hardest sales job is recruiting – because your product can change its mind. It’s true and it’s a good reminder that recruiting is selling. If you want to recruit the top performers, here are four important things to get right:

  1. Marketing.

The key to great marketing is to know your audience and speak to what matters to them. Audience is just as important in recruiting. Job descriptions that first answer “why work here?” are much more appealing than those that start with a long list of job requirements. You need to capture your audience, in the same way that the best marketing messages focus on how you or your product can help your prospect. The best job descriptions start by answering whats in it for me?

  1. The Sales Pitch.

When you describe your company to a candidate, is your message consistent with the company’s marketing materials? What is your market differentiator? Are you delivering the same message to candidates that the sales team is delivering to prospective customers? A solid understanding of the company’s business model and where it is going is essential for communicating how your opportunity will boost careers. Make sure recruiting is aligned with the sales team in terms of conveying a consistent message about the company.

  1. Get on the phone!

70% of the workforce is comprised of people who aren’t looking for jobs, yet 87% of both active and passive job seekers are open to new opportunities. Like customers, the majority of candidates do not magically appear. This means that you need to find them and proactively engage with them. Despite the heavy usage of technology and social media today: the most effective way to recruit passive candidates is to pick up the phone.

  1. Get the right technology.

The correct technology is crucial in finding and engaging top talent, and once you find the right one for you, it will simplify your process and improve both your team and candidates’ experiences. The right technology allows you to engage and navigate your candidate pool, it also removes barriers for applicants, making it easy for the right candidates to apply to the right jobs, while allowing your team the tools they need to manage their relationships with applicants. In fact, 77% of people think less of companies that don’t respond to job applicants, your recruiting processes are a big part of your brand! How do you track and manage your candidate pipeline? Timely responses to candidates and frequent updates to applicant status is critical in building a positive employer brand.

With all of this in mind we recommend UKG Pro Recruiting. As part of the UKG Pro Talent Acquisition Module, UKG Pro Recruiting offers a full breadth of services that will allow you to manage your candidate experience by personalizing your engagement with them. Candidates will be able to leverage familiar tools and use their mobile devices to search and apply for your open positions. Your team will be able to proactively engage with candidates and plan for future talent needs as well as assess not only skills and experience but also behaviors, motivations and career aspirations to ensure only the best people, with the best fit, join your team.

As a UKG-only consulting group, Mosaic can help you implement or optimize your UKG Pro Talent Acquisition Module as well as the whole UKG Pro suite. Our team of experts can make sure you are getting the most out of your system.

Note: UKG was formerly Ultimate Software. UKG Pro was formerly UltiPro.

Best Practices for Effectively Managing Open Enrollment

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Open Enrollment (OE) is a complex journey – one of the most labor-intensive processes for HR teams and one of the most important times of year for your employees. Managing the myriad details of enrolling employees, updating data, and keeping the process smooth and seamless for participants is critical, not only for regulatory compliance but also for employee engagement.

A successful OE session starts with the right technology platform for your business, first and foremost. We recommend UKG Pro because it is a simple and streamlined tool that is easy to use. That being said, technology isn’t the only thing you need. Other key factors in a smooth and seamless open enrollment include a thorough analysis of your OE process, planning ahead, good communication, and bringing on help – like your team at Mosaic Consulting Group — if necessary. Go to the bottom of this article to see the Mosaic Webinar on this topic.

Read on to learn 4 best practices we’ve collected over our years of experience with UKG Pro Open Enrollment.

Always Use Active Enrollment

When deciding between passive and active Open Enrollment: Mosaic recommends all Clients do an active Open Enrollment, every time. Active Open Enrollment is when all eligible employees must re-elect their benefits, even if there are no plan changes or they wish to make changes in their coverage, in order to keep them. On the other hand, passive open enrollment is when employees are automatically re-enrolled by default. In passive open enrollment if  if an employee does not make an election during Open Enrollment, they will be enrolled again, with same benefits they currently have.

There are a few reasons for our active open enrollment recommendation:

  • Active open enrollment allows for a much cleaner process and flow.
  • It also allows serves as a good reminder for all employees to review their current benefits and actively select keeping them.
  • It is a good reminder for all employees to confirm their current dependent and beneficiary information.
  • If any new vendor is included in Open Enrollment, the process MUST be active. This is because during a passive OE, your vendor only receives any changes — meaning that if someone wanted to keep the same selections but with a new vendor, those selections wouldn’t be transferred unless it’s done through active open enrollment

Teamwork

As mentioned earlier, OE is a complex process. Including the right people in the process is an important step to take very early in the planning stages. Make sure to have a conversation with your payroll team to define important dates. Since new benefits usually become effective at the beginning of the year, it is important to understand when the first payroll of the year will take place, not just when it is paid but when it will be processed, as well.

It is also important to keep your entire team informed and be on the same page when you define dates for OE and the dates when benefits and deductions become active. Remember, once open enrollment goes live, you can still change some dates EXCEPT the “pending effective date”. Pending effective date or dates (depending on how many sessions you have) is the date that all benefits become active. This is the cornerstone of the entire open enrollment setup and attempting to change the pending effective date, once open enrollment is live, will erase all other data and configuration.

Messaging

Included within your session are specific messages that are related only to open enrollment. These messages can be edited and personalized. We recommended you do so to help employees as they proceed through OE. These messages can include forms and links to resources and tools such as vendor websites, so that team members can get more information if necessary. The best way to format these messages is to type them all in to a Word document, format the font and paragraphs there, and copy and paste them in to the messaging field in UKG Pro. The formatting will transfer seamlessly from the Word document and you will be ready to go.

As a benefits administrator, you will also be able to see a dashboard with the progress of your team’s enrollment. On that page, you will be able to message employees based on their status, which allows you to remind employees about due dates based on whether or not they have completed their selections.

Testing

Once open enrollment is configured, it’s time to test. The “Employee Elections” tab will show all employees who are eligible for that session. At this point you can review and make sure all employees listed have the correct qualifiers for that session. From there, you can click on the employee’s name and run the process as if you were an employee, and the session will display to you in the same way it would for an employee. NOTE: the very first page, “Verify Beneficiary and Dependent Information,” is not on test form. This is the only screen in this “test-mode” that is live, meaning any change you make on that page will go in to the employee’s permanent information. Every other page following that will not affect the employee’s information.

Thorough testing should include:

  • Decline buttons
  • Plan rates
  • Plan names
  • Plan messaging
  • FSA maximums
  • Age limits
  • Valid dependent relationships
  • Any Open Enrollment customs

Once you completed the testing, make sure to “re-set elections.” This will re-set all of your test elections so that employees can start their own process with a clean slate.

As you prepare for open enrollment, don’t forget about your expert team at Mosaic! We are happy to answer questions, trouble-shoot, or help your team with extra manpower, if needed, to make sure your next open enrollment is a success! Don’t forget to follow us on social media for updates and information.

Watch the Mosaic Webinar on Managing Open Enrollment:

What is Off-Cycle Open Enrollment?

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And 9 other questions you didn’t know you had on the topic. 

Considering off-cycle open enrollment but not sure where to start? We have you covered! Check out our list of 10 common questions around off-cycle open enrollment and the benefits this transition may have for your team.

  1. Ok, first things first… What is off-cycle open enrollment?

The definition of off-cycle open enrollment (sometimes known as mid-year open enrollment) is simple: it is when a company decides, for various reasons, to move their benefits open enrollment from the typical fourth quarter to a different (usually less busy) time of year. Once a company decides to move its open enrollment process to an off-cycle schedule,  some of their employees’ benefits become effective off-cycle as well.

  1. Why would a company consider off-cycle enrollment?

For various reasons but mainly, convenience. Certain businesses (particularly B2Bs) have a very busy calendar year-end, the typical time for open enrollment (with an effective date of January 1). This “end-of-year crunch” sometimes leaves employees rushing through their benefits selection process. Companies that are looking for ways to alleviate the stress and workload at the end of the year, or want to ensure their employees prioritize their benefits enrollment would benefit from an off-cycle enrollment.

  1. Are there other benefits of an off-cycle open enrollment? 

Companies with busy year-ends benefit from an off-cycle open enrollment because it allows their team members to focus on their clients’ needs at the end of year. Year-end is stressful, both professionally and personally, and holiday leave time further shortens the time frame for reaching out to employees and completing necessary enrollment steps and paperwork. Off-cycle open enrollment will help relieve some of that year-end stress.

Smaller companies can also benefit from off-cycle open enrollment since fewer companies are “going to market” (searching for benefit packages) for medical plan carriers and other providers, this allows them to be more attentive. The market saturation during year-end can leave small companies in a time crunch to get any information they can into their team members’ hands. Going off-cycle allows for a better experience for the entire team.

  1. Once a company decides to move to an off-cycle open enrollment, will they continue to process open enrollment off-cycle, going forward?

Yes, companies that choose to do off-cycle open enrollment typically stay on the same off-cycle schedule for the foreseeable future.

  1. Is the first off-cycle open enrollment a good time to re-consider carriers?

Yes! A company’s first off-cycle open enrollment is a great time to revisit benefits options. As mentioned previously, moving off-cycle allows for all decisions to be made at a less busy time of year. This is true internally as well as on the vendor side. Medical providers and other carriers have more time to focus on your team and their needs; therefore, you have more time to compare plans and leverage that information to make the best choices for your company.

  1. When do benefits become effective if a company does off-cycle open enrollment?

Part of the luxury of off-cycle open enrollment is that companies have the ability to choose a benefits effective date that makes best sense with their own business cycle. Typically, companies choose the beginning of a financial quarter, just to keep things as simple as possible.

  1. Do all medical plan carriers allow off-cycle enrollment? 

No. It is important to know that not all carriers offer off-cycle enrollment, so you should work closely with your benefits broker or in-house benefits leadership to ensure you are working with a provider that offers this option.

  1. What happens if an employee, who has enrolled in the off-cycle enrollment benefits, decides to change their medical coverage to a plan elsewhere (e.g., their spouse’s on cycle plan)?

If an employee who enrolled in medical coverage during the off-cycle enrollment decides to change their coverage to an outside plan; the open enrollment session for that plan would count as a life event, and they would be able to do so. Note: If any money was applied towards a deductible (also known as deductible credit) this money will not transfer over to the new “on-cycle” plan.

  1. What happens to the money a team member has paid to their current plan toward their deductible and out-of-pocket maximum when the change to off-cycle open enrollment occurs?

With off-cycle open enrollment, deductibles and out-pocket maximums continue to run on the calendar year. Any money that has been paid into the plan before the open enrollment session will be carried forward and applied to the new plan. This is true even if a company decides to change coverage providers. If changing coverage providers, there is a delay from when the previous plan ends to allow for the claims process to occur before the previous vendor can communicate the funding to the new provider. The delay can take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks.

  1. How do FSAs and HSAs work on off-cycle open enrollment?

FSA changes can be made during an off-cycle open enrollment or at the beginning of the year. HSA changes can be made anytime during the year. So, if a team member elects a plan during the off-cycle open enrollment that includes an FSA, they can start contributing to the FSA, but they will only have the remainder of the calendar year to use those funds. The FSA’s “use it or lose it” policy still revolves around the calendar year, which means all expenses must be incurred by December 31 of the calendar year. (Remember that employees can file for reimbursement on calendar year expenses up until March 31 of the following calendar year (per IRS regulations)

Great! Is there anything else I need to know about off-cycle open enrollment? 

Open enrollment is one of the busiest times of year for HR teams. If moving it to a less busy time of year makes it easier for your entire team, it may be worth considering.

Contact Mosaic Consulting Group to find out more about specifics and how you can optimize UKG Pro for off-cycle and on-cycle open enrollment.

Simplify Your Year End

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The end of the year is a busy time for most industries, not to mention in our personal lives. Make your Year End easier with the following tips from Mosaic’s very own Year End Subject Matter Expert Aimée Morgan!

Year End Tips and Tricks:

Start By Setting Up Your Rockstar Team
Regardless of the size of your company, a smooth Year End requires the support of several members of your team, as  well as other departments. Make sure your team members know and understand their responsibilities as well as any deadlines that might be approaching. Communicate now with team members in other departments, like Finance and HR, to ensure they are aware that Year End is just around the corner to let them start planning for their piece of the project.

Don’t forget to make extra sure everyone is aware of their role and that you have communicated ownership of each task and accounted for the time required, including: printing W2s, sending W2s, benefits reconciliation, accounting and taxable fringes, communication with employees, and tax setup and reconciliation.

Set Up and Extend Your Calendars
Once you’ve established your team, make sure to set up, extend, and update the following three calendars: Team Calendar, UKG Pro Payroll, and Timekeeping. All three calendars should include Bank Holidays and Company Holidays, as well as the upcoming year’s pay schedule. By establishing the pay schedule and bank holidays within UKG Pro, the system will recognize if a bank holiday falls on a payday and adjust accordingly. By setting up these calendars in your internal team calendar, you will be able to plan in advance if a holiday falls within a processing week and adjust your schedule to allow enough time for you and your team to prepare.

Set up a Supplemental Payroll
Set up a supplemental payroll dated the last banking day of the year (this year, it is December 29th). Even if that day is already a payroll day, set up an additional payroll on that day and use it for any last-minute adjustments or bonuses. Set up this supplemental payroll for all pay groups and prepare yourself for the unexpected. Reach out to your Accounting and HR departments now to get an idea of any taxable fringes that may also need to go in to that supplemental payroll.

W-2 Printing
The easiest thing to simplify this part of Year End is to contact us today! Enterprise customers can completely remove the hassle of printing W-2 tax forms. Once your W-2 files are created, Mosaic can print your team’s W-2 forms and ship them directly to each employee or to the company. It’s that simple! If you do choose to do this internally, remember that you must send a W-2 form to anyone who was paid within the 2017 calendar year. You will also need to be sure to order enough forms (we recommend your employee count + 10%) to account for any special circumstances such as  team members who have moved out of state. If you have more than one component company or have team members in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Kentucky you may need to order more than +10% to account for extra pages. All W-2s must be post marked no later than January 31st, so make sure your postage meter has enough postage before then. Finally, don’t forget to order enough envelopes to ship all of the forms and remember, any extra envelopes can be used next year!

State and Local IDs
You can run a report within UKG Pro Business Intelligence to show if you are missing a state or local ID. If you do this check now you still have time to apply for any missing IDs (this process usually takes a few weeks, with some localities taking even longer). This information may be missing because new locations were added, or employees started working from home. Visit: payroll-taxes.com for information on any state or local taxes you may be missing.

Verify Employee Data
Make sure that the data in your UKG Pro system is clean. Verify employees’ Social Security Numbers by running a report from BI. No employee should have a SSN beginning with the number 9. Also remember to verify SSNs for dependents for your 1095 reporting.

All team members must have an assigned primary location or they will not receive a W-2. Review who is claiming “Exempt” and who is claiming “Block”. If current employees are claiming “exempt”, they will need to re-submit their request for the new year. If an employee is claiming “block,” they are not reporting taxes to the IRS, this may be because they are on a work visa but verifying is always a good practice.

You shoul also take this opportunity to verify and validate all employee’s adresses to make sure all W-2s are delivered to the correct location. Employees move throught the year and often forget to tell their employers.

Tax Recon
Tax Recon should be happening after every payroll or monthly. Year End is a good time to review and verify that everything has been done properly. Compare your Wage Summary Report to your W-2 summary; they should match.

Seize this opportunity
Finally, take this opportunity to change anything you have been unhappy with this is a new year! You have a chance to create or correct new versions of earning and deduction codes to work the way you want them to. Remember that once you set up a code, you cannot change the tax category associated with it, so take your time and plan your new codes appropriately.

We hope these tips and tricks are useful in supporting your work for a successful Year End. For more information, feel free to download our presentation, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for more updates.