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§\ THE CITY OF NASHUA “The Cate City"

Administrative Services Division

To: Mayor Donchess

Finance Committee

From: Kim Kleiner, Director of Administrative Services
Date: January 24, 2021
Re: Alight — Benefit Administration Technology

Currently, the Benefits department consisting of three full-time employees, are
responsible for the enrollment of all employees and administration of all insurance
plans for the City of Nashua. In the past, enrollment has consisted of an inefficient
process with paper enrollment forms and manual data input of selections into the City’s

Lawson system and the carrier's online system.

In early December, 2021 the City authorized Workplace Benefits Solutions (WBS), the
City’s Benefits consultant, to solicit proposals for the purchase on a Benefit
Administration Technology system. Three vendors responded: Alight, Benefit Express,
and Workpartners. All three proposals were reviewed based on their references,
reliability, customer support, dependability, interoperability with Lawson, and ease of

use for employees.

Additionally, all three vendors presented an overview and demonstration of their
platform. The Alight platform was a leader in Communication, Enrollment and
Administration. Alight provides a virtual assistant feature who is programmed to
emulate human connection but can quickly shift users to other resources including a
web chat representative. We believe this function will greatly assist our employees with

transitioning to online enrollments.

Additionally Alight offers advanced decision-support tools that are driven by real-time
employee specific data. These tools will provide cost-savings to the both the employee
and the City by modeling claims scenarios and premiums while also educating

employees.

After negotiation with Alight, they agreed to waive their original implementation fees
and lower the per-employee-per-month cost from $5.23 to $4.68. Although Alight is
not the low cost bidder, we believe their product's features and solutions provide the

best value for the City and our employees.

We respectfully request the committee’s approval on the implementation of the Alight
Benefits Administration Solution.

Funding would be from the Benefits Self Insurance at a not to exceed cost of $160,000.

*Note - headcount does
not include pre-65 retirees
so we will want to pull
together actual benefit
eligible and pre 65 reitree
headcount to get closer to

actual numbers.

Vendor PEPM Headcount Monthly Yearly Implementation | 1st Year Total Additional Fees to Consider
$.50 PEPM for non-eligible employees for ACA
Alight $ 5.23 2,776 $ 14,518.48 | $ 174,221.76 | $ 14,518.48 | $ 188,740.24 |Delivery of notices & 1095-C $2.00 per mailing and postage
Benefitexpress $ 5.00 2,776 $ 13,880.00 | $ 166,560.00 | $ 25,000.00 | $ 191,560.00 |ACA Forms Print/Fulfillment $3.00 per statement
Workpartners $ 3.45 2,776 $ 9,577.20 | $ 114,926.40 | $ 15,000.00 | $ 129,926.40 |1095-C form fulfillment fee is $4.50 PEPM and 1094-C form transmittal fee is $5,000.00 annually
$.50 PEPM for non-eligible employees for ACA
Alight REVISED $4.68 2,776 $12,991.68 $155,900.16 $0.00 $155,900.16 | Delivery of notices & 1095-C $2.00 per mailing and postage

Proposal for

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December 21, 2021

Prepared by

Michael Jenkins
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Contents

Benefit Administration Technology

Integrated Mobile Experience

ACA Compliance Management System

Year-Round Customer Support

Premium Support Package

Smart-Choice Accounts

Alight Digital Navigation

Summary and Pricing - Benefits Administration Solution

Assumptions

alight

Benefit Administration Technology

Communication - within a few clicks of your mouse...

From your platform, HR users can customize a comprehensive HR communication
portal. Common postings include:

e Employee Manuals, SPDs, Claims Forms and Provider Links

e News Bulletins, Newsletters, Event Calendars and Announcements

e HR Manuals, Department Directories, HR Contacts, Carrier Contacts and Job
Postings

e Employee Surveys - specific to Job Class, Division or Location

Enrollment —- made easy for employees during active or passive enrollments

Our enrollment module supports all annual and ongoing enrollment events, including open enrollment, new
hire enrollment and qualified life events. Features include:

e =©Self-service enrotltment e Benefit plan descriptions

e Employee-specific login e Animated storyboards

e Summary of current elections e Animated tutorial help sections

e Visual enrotlment indicator status e Plan shopping/comparison tool
button per benefit e Paycheck illustration and modeling (based on

e SmartEnroll feature for passive employee-specific tax withholdings)
enrollments e Confirmation statements for online viewing

e Printable or electronic EOI applications or print

Administration - simplified for corporate Human Resources and Benefit teams
The benefits administration platform does the heavy lifting by customizing the site with your plans, rates and
eligibility rules, allowing the HR and Benefits teams to focus on strategy and planning and employee
interaction. Administrative features and services include:

e Electronic data upload of employee data e HR SmartCharts for one-click access to
into the platform - no manual key entry! frequently used reports (e.g., Pending

¢ Custom data exports to carriers and Items, Enrollment Status, etc.)
vendors e Customized and scheduled reports

e Complete data collection and tracking for (census, plan enrollment, monthly self-
employee, spouse, dependent and billing, etc.)
beneficiary e Adhoc reports and HR report writer

e Comprehensive enrollment history e Email notifications on all pending events
tracking - by employee, dependent, plan,
year, etc.

alight

Lisa, Your Personalized Intelligent Virtual Assistant

In addition to the portal channel, Alight developed and brought to market an
intelligent virtual assistant, Lisa. Additional information related to our IVA
approach and capabilities follow.

Za Lisa is augmented intelligence, programmed to emulate human connection and
traits. Lisa keeps users in their online channel of choice, and whether by design
or via its award-winning escalation flow, it can seamlessly shift users to other
channels, such as a web chat live representative—with a full transcript of the
conversation history—to always ensure the most satisfying experience for each
and every customer.

The unique architecture allows Lisa to respond with different responses, for the
same intent, depending on the users’ eligibilities within the organization. This allows for a personalized
experience that ensures users get their immediate questions answerd.

Advanced Decision-Support and Communication Tools

Using technology, psychology and the industry’s best decision-support tools to create benefit-smart
employees is ... well, a smart thing to do! We all know benefit choices have become more complicated and
also more expensive for both employees and employers. These tools are designed to improve employee
buying behavior while educating employees about the overall value of their benefit program.

e Work/Life Decision Modeling tools that are driven by
real-time employee-specific data.

e Healthcare Cost Calculators that are based on claims
scenarios, premium contributions, HSA/HRA/FSA rege)
contributions and tax savings. -

e Retirement plan modeling tools, including savings Cr
calculators and deferral recommendations.

e Online hidden paycheck and total compensation
statements and explanation.

o Printable benefit statements with multiple
layout options for single or batch printing.

alight

Integrated Mobile Experience

Personalized mobile app and benefits dashboard with custom alerts allows employees to access up-to-date
information about their emptoyer-provided benefits through a mobile application and centralized benefits
dashboard. Powered by the benefits administration system, the mobile experience also provides employers
with an easy way to send important messages and reminders to employees without getting lost in the daily
email clutter.

Connecting Employees with their Benefits

Our mobile app allows employees to access their employer-provided benefit information when and where
they need it, reducing the friction and complexity of the day-to-day benefit experience.

Os
—S

Employees need one place to
find important benefit
information

Centralized location for
balances and status updates
for current elections,
deductibles, out-of-pocket
maximums, 401(k), PTO, and
more.

EQ
iol

One login for all employer-
provided benefit portals

SSO integrations create one-
touch launch to telemedicine,
wellness, and many other
widely-used benefit
providers.

Ue

Sensitive personal
information stored
securely

Protecting personal data is
more important than ever
before. Employees can
take comfort knowing their
data is stored securely in
our cloud-based platform.

Employer reminders and
alerts when and where
you need them

Reminders and alerts in the
palm of their hands.

Quick access to ID cards
Reduce day-to-day HR
inquiries with quick
access to ID cards and
plan information.

ie)

Available on computers
and mobile devices
Access to benefit
information when your
employees need it, both
at their desk and on-the-

go.

ACA Compliance Management System

Tracking, Reporting and Filing

Our ACA compliance tool provides employers with a thorough recordkeeping and reporting solution at an
affordable cost. The automated solution tracks, determines and documents eligibility status for all employees
using client data from payroll or time-and-attendance platforms. The system also supports all associated
filing required by the IRS.

Hours and Eligibility Tracking

The ACA provides employers with complex rules regarding measuring hours and verifying full-time status. Our
module helps employers manage this process by tracking hours, determining eligibility, managing overlapping
timelines and documenting plan eligibility during the appropriate time periods.

Once customization is complete for the client, the platform provides reports on the eligibility determinations,
as well as dashboards of individual employee timelines. Our solution keeps an archive of employee
information for on-demand auditable recordkeeping.

Reporting and Filing Requirements

The ACA created new reporting requirements under Internal Revenue Code Sections 6055 and 6056. Under
these new reporting rules, certain employers must provide information to the IRS about the health plan
coverage they offer (or do not offer) to their employees.

Marketplace Notices

The ACA also created a requirement that employers distribute a Notice of Coverage Options to all employees,
regardless of plan eligibility, within 14 days of their date of hire. Our solution can generate and distribute
these notices within the allotted timeframe to ensure employer compliance. The notices can be customized all
the way down to the individual specific information on page 3 and include a custom cover letter with
employer messaging.

Year-Round Customer Support

Our year-round employee call center provides professional support for all benefit inquires and enrollment
activities (annual, new hire and life events) that employees may have during the year. This level of customer
support is easily accessible to all benefit-eligible employees via a dedicated, toll-free number, weekday live
answering services, and voice recording of all calls.

e Technicat Support: Password resets, navigational
assistance, screen-sharing option

e Benefits Q&A: Eligibility and coverage review, reprint of
confirmation statements, warm transfers to core carriers
for service, claim forms, etc., and employee lookups

e Enrollment Assistance: Dependent demographic updates,
beneficiary assignment changes, enrollment assistance
during new hire, life events and self-service annual
enrollments