by Amy Panzarella

Putting pen to paper to process the annual benefits open enrollment is a thing of the past!  Many companies, including American Public University System (APUS), have reverted to the more environmentally friendly and efficient method of processing benefits on-line.  This process affords employees the luxury of completing their benefits enrollment at their convenience.  Additionally, it affords the company a significant cost savings.  Take into consideration the following facts:

• 1 tree = 16 reams of printer paper.
• 1 ream of paper = 500 sheets.
• APUS = approximately 700 full-time employees and 400 part-time employees.
• Historically, open enrollment required that Human Resources distribute packets of information to all full-time employees.  Each packet contained approximately 100 pieces of paper.
• All enrollments were typed into the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) and vendor’s systems manually.  This process invited the opportunity for human error.  Additionally, it took an extraordinary amount of time to input information multiple times. 

Read the rest of this entry »