Question

BENEFIT ENROLLMENT PERIOD

Background Information:

You work for Baxter Company and need to announce the benefit enrollment period.
Based on last year’s enrollment period, you are concerned about the attitude of employees. They don’t seem to realize that changes to health, dental, and life insurance programs can be made only once a year, during the month of May.

You’ll need to let your audience know that most of the benefit program is unchanged. However, dental coverage is a little different; two carriers (Quality Care and Health Alliance) now offer a dental coverage option. Employees can also increase coverage in life insurance for their family members, and health coverage will now include both a basic plan and a prudent buyer plan. You do not have to describe these changes; just encourage employees to read about them in an email to be sent in early April---see instructions for the exact date.

Your boss, Jonathon, asks you to schedule and announce a day early in April when representatives from Human Resources will be available to answer employee questions about the changes. He suggests these question-and-answer sessions be held in the East Lounge, and each session should be held at different times of the day: Dental insurance changes from 8:30 to10:30 a.m., Health insurance changes from 1 to 3 p.m., and Life insurance changes from 3 to 5 p.m.

Your Task:

Write an informational memo report to your employees announcing changes to their benefit coverage and the enrollment deadline. This is important because employees may make changes to their benefits only during this period. The deadline for changes is May 31.

First, read the attached file.

Second, prepare this message as an informational memo report, addressed to All Employees and sent from you, the Benefits Choice Manager. Date the informational report, and be sure to include a useful subject line; useful subject lines capture the essence of the report's content. Refer to the Guffey text for review.

Third, pick the meeting date (and use facts given regarding times ) in the case. You can refer to The Gregg Reference Manual for proper presentation of timeframes when using a.m. and p.m. in your message. Also, be sure to mention the location given in the case. When listing the times for each meeting, you will create a 3-item bulleted list; use bullets for each benefit to be discussed. You must figure out the best way to present this bulleted list.

Next, you must follow the Standard Memo Report Procedure document (and its supplement) for layout/format of your informational report. In this message, you will not use major or subsection breaks or continuation page headings. That is, it will be a maximum one page in length. Also, note that business reports contain no formal salutation and no complimentary close. Furthermore, your name and job title are typed as the content of the FROM: header near the top of the page; and your job title belongs on the same line as your typed name.

Finally, the opening paragraph [Introductory section] of your report will clarify for the reader exactly what content is coming in the discussion section of the report. The [Discussion section] will contain the facts you wish to present to your readers and will be from 1 - 4 paragraphs in length---in this case, shorter is better. Be sure to indicate the highlights of the coming changes that will be contained in an email to be sent on April 5. Your final paragraph [Closing section] will contain information about what the reader must do with the information. In this case, the action will be an invitation to attend one or more of the informational sessions at the times and in the location specified. Additionally, you will tell your employees what action to take if they cannot make it to the meetings they wish to attend.

Shown below is a model of how your finished report might look: [The model shows a one-paragraph introductory section, a two-paragraph discussion section, and a one-paragraph closing section; Your final report may vary based on the amount of information written in the discussion section.] You should be able to fit all of the necessary information on one page.

TO:          All Employees

FROM:      Your Name, Your Job Title

DATE:      March 27, 2013

SUBJECT: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (all uppercase)                  *****Make sure you create a useful subject line---one that captures the essence of the report's content*****

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Name this Word document Benefit Choice Your First Name Your Last Name. Submit.

Answer 1

TO: All Employees

FROM:  XYZ, The Benefits Choice Manager

DATE: March 27, 2013

Subject: Revised Insurance Programs

The benefits enrollment program is due for upgrading. We will like to inform you that these changes in the health, dental and life insurance programs can be made only once a year. The deadline to complete the changes is May 31, 2013.   

The health and life insurance programs are the same as last year. We have not initiated any changes from, our end. We will like you to understand the insurance cover and request the changes at the earliest. Any employee wanting to make changes can do so latest by May 31, 2013.

The changes additions in the insurance covers are as follows:

· The dental insurance coverage: Now we have the option to take dental coverage from either of the two carriers i.e. Quality Care or Health Alliance.

· The health insurance cover: The employees can increase the life insurance coverage for their family members. The health insurance cover will now include both a basic plan and a prudent buyer pan.

The details will be shared with you by email on April 1, 2013. You must read the email in detail to understand the insurance programs.

The Human Resource team will be available to answer your queries about the changes on April 10, 2013, at the East Lounge. The timing of the question-answer sessions are scheduled as follows:

Dental Insurance: 8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Health Insurance: 1p.m. - 3 p.m

Life Insurance: 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

We will discuss in detail :

· The benefits of opting for either of the two dental insurance cover providers.

· The advantage of life insurance covers for family members

· The benefits of the health insurance cover i.e. basic plan versus prudent buyer plan.

We request you to come prepared with all queries to finalize your annual insurance covers. We will not make any changes after May 31, 2013. We request all employees unable to attend the meeting to contact John on email id [email protected]. For further clarification contact XYZ, the benefit choice manager on phone number 123-4567.