About Mills College:

Located in Oakland, California, in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area, Mills College is a liberal arts college for women and gender non-binary students, with graduate programs for all genders. Consistently ranked one of the top master's universities and one of the best value colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, Mills also has been named one of the Best Colleges in the nation by The Princeton Review. The Mills experience is distinguished by small, interactive classes, one-on-one attention from exceptional faculty, a culture of creative experimentation, and cutting-edge interdisciplinary learning opportunities which empower students to make a statement in their careers and communities. As one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country, we have a strong record of academic success with first-generation students, students of color, Latinx students, LGBTQ students, and other underrepresented students. Mills College has recently become a Hispanic Serving Institution. Applicants with expertise and experience in supporting and promoting success for Latina/o students are encouraged to apply.

Mills College encourages diversity in hiring and particularly welcomes applications and nominations from women, gender non-binary individuals, and minorities. Mills College seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to equity, inclusion, and social justice and our desire to maintain the excellence of our faculty. In so doing, we offer our students not only the opportunity to learn about varied disciplines but to engage with diverse perspectives and ways of knowing and learning. For more information, please visit www.mills.edu.

Job Description:

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS:
Reports to: Chief Human Resources, EEO and Compliance Officer
Supervises: Benefits Coordinator

Summary of Position:
Develops, implements, administers, and maintains benefits programs, policies, and procedures. Ensures programs meet employee needs, comply with legal requirements, and are cost effective. Develops benefits communications and counsels employees on benefits-related issues. Evaluates existing benefits programs against peer organizations to determine competitiveness, trends and developments. Ensures that project/department milestones/goals are met and adhering to approved budgets.

Essential Job Functions:
Benefits Management

• Areas of responsibility include medical, dental, vision, life, and AD&D insurance, long-term disability insurance, employee assistance program, flexible spending programs, retirement programs, COBRA vendor management, workers' compensation insurance and wellness initiatives.
• Evaluates and compares existing College benefits with those of other employers by analyzing other plans, surveys, and other sources of information.
• Installs approved new plans and changes by preparing announcement material, booklets, and other media for communicating new plans to employees. Revises and reissues all communications material on benefits from time to time.
• Handles benefit inquiries and complaints to ensure quick, equitable, courteous resolution. Maintains contact in person, and by phone or mail, with insurance companies, employees, and beneficiaries to facilitate proper and complete utilization of benefits for all employees.
• Maintain employee records related to Benefits including management of data in centralized computer system and data in Benefits files.
• Manage the College's Wellness Program with the responsibility to coordinate all wellness initiatives for the campus.
• Develops census data and solicits insurance companies for quotations. Evaluates quotations and makes recommendations to management.
• Supervises maintenance of enrollment, application, and claims records for all benefit plans.

Regulatory

• Oversee and monitor FMLA/CFRA, PDL, Workers Comp and other LOAs. Monitor and track FMLA/SDI/PFL salary integration.
• Monitor and track ADA accommodations. Serve as the centralized point of contact for disability issues.
• Handle coordination with COBRA administrator of COBRA eligibility and administration.
• Prepares and executes, with legal consultation, benefit documentation such as original and amended plan texts, benefit agreements and insurance policies. Instructs insurance carriers, trustees, and other administrative agencies outside the company to effect changes in benefit program.
• Ensures prompt and accurate compliance with all government filings such as the Department of Labor's Form 5500s; OSHA's Form 300a and surveys; and CMS' disclosure for creditable coverage.
• Reviews and analyzes changes to state and federal laws pertaining to benefits, and reports necessary or suggested changes to management.
• Manage and provide all data needed for plan testing and review.
• Assist in completion of annual audit for the retirement plan by coordinating with record keepers as directed by the plan auditors.
• Send all required annual notifications to employees such as Medicare Creditable Coverage and retirement Summary Annual Report.

Additional Duties and Responsibilities

• Hires, retains, trains, coaches, guides, directs, and develops direct reports using company-wide processes, tools and resources
• May delegate work of others and provide guidance, direction and mentoring to indirect reports
• Work with Employee Services team on projects and initiatives.

Requirements:

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
Knowledge of:

• Knowledge of benefit laws and regulations, including ERISA, HIPAA, FMLA/CFRA, PDL, COBRA, ACA, etc.
• Knowledge fully-insured health plan administration
• Short term and long-term disability programs.
• Experience with California workers compensation regulation and SDI claims.
• Knowledge of benefits software required (BeneTrac preferred)

Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent quantitative and analytical skills to perform, analyze and audit complex benefit calculations within deadlines.
• Heavy analytic abilities in making decisions and solving programs
• Ability to research and interpret large amounts of data of a highly technical nature.
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills to effectively compose correspondence and communicate ideas, policy and benefit program guidelines to a varied constituency across the UC community and to external third parties. Demonstrates a strong customer service orientation. Possesses strong group presentation skills.
• Strong ethics and discretion.
• Business acumen in managing budgets, preparing recommendations for benefits and fiscal responsibility.
• Excellent supervisory skills

Education and Training:

• Bachelor's degree and seven (7) years of experience in Benefits Administration, OR
• A master's degree in Human Resource Management and six (6) years of experience in Benefits Administration, OR
• Any appropriate combination of education and experience.

Physical, Mental and Environmental Demands:

• Standard office environment.
• Hear and speak to exchange information in person or on the telephone.
• Access, input, and retrieve information from a computer.
• While performing this job, noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• There are multiple competing deadlines and customer service interactions that can, at times, be stressful.

This position description is not intended to contain a comprehensive list of activities, duties, or responsibilities. Additional duties may be assigned based on business operational needs.

Additional Information:

This is a full-time, exempt position with an FTE of 1.0. Salary is commensurate with experience and includes an excellent benefits package including medical/dental/vision/life/LTD insurance, 403(b) retirement plan with college-matching after 6 month qualifying period, 22 days of vacation per year, 12 sick days and 17 paid holidays (subject to annual review). Staff members also receive free admission to campus events, use of the pool, fitness center, and tennis courts. Tuition remission is also available after an introductory period. Voluntary benefits include: pet insurance, long-term care insurance, legal-assistance insurance, cellular provider discounts and computer hardware discounts.

Mills College does not permit discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, race, religious creed, color, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, age, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. For more information on Mills' non-discrimination policy, please go to https://inside.mills.edu/administration/administrative_offices/policies/nondiscrimination.php.

All positions are subject to a background check. Prior to the first date of employment, an applicant's background check must be cleared.

Application Instructions:

To apply, please submit:

• Resume
• Cover Letter and
• Salary Requirements, and
• Contact information for three professional references

Review of applicants will begin immediately; applications will be accepted until the position is filled.