Approve and Manage Benefit Elections

This article provides a comprehensive guide for benefits administrators on the enrollment approval process for employee benefit elections. It outlines the steps to review and approve elections, emphasizing that approvals must be conducted individually. Administrators can access the Benefits tab to monitor election progress and utilize filtering options for efficient management. Key sections include reviewing employee elections, editing benefit plans, and handling coverage amounts. The article also details the process for editing approved elections and the importance of communicating changes to carriers. Additionally, it advises on managing dependent information and ensuring compliance with carrier requirements. This resource serves as a vital reference for effective benefits administration.

Jul 8, 2026
Knowledge

Title

Article Text

How do I approve my employees' enrollment elections?

Purpose: This guide will help benefits administrators learn the enrollment approval process after employees submit their benefit elections.

Table of Contents

Overview
Benefits tab
Reviewing benefit elections
Editing benefit elections
Editing benefit plans
Approving benefit elections
Editing approved benefit elections

Overview

Benefits tab

Once employees start submitting their benefit elections, benefits administrators can begin reviewing and approving enrollments from the Benefits tab in the left sidebar menu. This page shows you an overview of benefit information for a specific plan year, including benefit election progress, benefit notifications (not plan year-specific), benefit plans, carriers, and enrollment windows.

Select the applicable plan year and then click # of Elections are Incomplete to find the pending benefit elections you need to review.

Benefit elections must be approved one at a time. Auto-approval and bulk approval are not currently available.

You can also use the Plan Years tab to view the progress of employee elections (pending, approved, and incomplete) for a specific plan year.

By default, the Elections tab will show all benefit elections awaiting approval, and you can filter elections by plan year, enrollment window type, and status. Status options include: Approved, Awaiting Approval, EOI Pending, and Incomplete (not yet submitted). To begin reviewing an employee's benefit elections, hover your cursor over any employee row and click Review/Edit Elections.

Reviewing benefit elections

Clicking Review Elections will open a page showing all benefit plans the employee has selected to enroll in. If you need to review the plans they waived, select Show Waived Plans in the top right corner. The approval page also has the following information:

1	Employee edits	If your employees have access to their Benefits tab, they will be able to edit their pending benefit elections within an open enrollment window until elections are approved. (This banner and confirmation modal (see #6 and #7) do not appear when reviewing pending employee elections that were submitted before the enrollment window closed and the window has since then been reopened.)
2	*Dependents	The Dependents table will appear if an employee elected to enroll their dependents in at least one benefit plan. The Updated label will show next to a dependent's name if the employee added or updated their information during enrollment. If you need to edit dependent information, hover your cursor over the dependent and click on the pencil icon. Clicking on the trash can icon will delete the dependent, but the delete option will not be available if the dependent is enrolled or scheduled to enroll in a benefit plan.
3	Plans needing attention	Certain plans will require you to enter cost information (see 401k plan in the example above). In this case, a banner will appear within the Plans section, along with the number of plans that need attention (highlighted). When you add cost information, the number will be updated in real time. If you receive a banner stating that a plan is not active on the effective date (selected in the enrollment window setup), you can edit the effective date for that plan on the approval page.
4	Evidence of Insurability	Some benefit elections require Evidence of Insurability (EOI) when an employee requests coverage above the plan’s guaranteed issue amount. These elections are labeled EOI Pending. You can approve elections while EOI is pending. When the EOI review is complete (approved or denied), return to the admin approval page, confirm that the Approved For fields reflect the carrier-approved coverage, and then click EOI Complete. If EOI is no longer required, click Cancel, then select No EOI Required from the dropdown. If the employee withdraws their request, click Cancel, then select Employee Withdrawn from the dropdown.
5	Enrollment details	Each plan with the Enrolled status will show additional details, such as deductions/costs,** coverage level, coverage amounts (if applicable), and plan effective date. If you need to edit the effective date for a benefit plan, hover your cursor over the plan and select Edit from the right corner.
6	Edit enrollment details	Click here to learn more about editing a benefit election on the approval page.
7	Save your progress	This option allows you to save your progress and finish reviewing the employee's elections at another time. Saving your progress will close the employee's access to make edits.
8	Finalize approval	After all details are reviewed and entered, the Approve Elections button will become green and clickable for approving the employee's benefit elections. Confirming approval will finalize the employee's elections and prevent them from making further edits.

*When an employee updates information about their dependents in the first step of enrollment, the changes will not be tied to the information update approval workflow (if you require admin approval for these changes in BambooHR). Because of this, be sure to review dependent information on the approval page before approving the employee's benefit elections.

**Per paycheck amounts on the approval page are tied to the employee's Pay Schedule and Effective Date fields within their Compensation table.

If an employee does not have an active pay schedule assigned, the per paycheck amounts will default to the total monthly cost on the approval page. You can review the employee's Compensation table on their employee profile to make sure they are assigned to an active pay schedule (or scheduled to be active at a future date).
If an employee is a new hire completing benefits enrollment before their hire date and compensation (pay schedule) effective date. You do not need to worry about adjusting the per paycheck amounts as the system will automatically update the employee’s deductions to match their pay schedule once the pay schedule goes active on the compensation effective date.

Editing benefit elections

Please be aware the approval page will display only the most recent information if any edits or changes were made and saved. Original election information will not be available, ensuring you have the latest details.

Change a benefit election

If an employee requests a plan change before you approve their benefit elections, you can do so on the approval page. Find the applicable plan type and select Change Election. A new window will display other benefit plans for that plan type, specific to the employee's eligibility.

From here, you can make the necessary changes by either selecting a new plan or waiving coverage altogether. Click Save to apply adjustments to the employee's benefit election.

HSA and FSA plans: For HSA and FSA plans that require enrollment in specific medical plans, the system will prompt you to make a new HSA or FSA election if you change the employee's medical election to one that is compatible with a different HSA or FSA plan.

Edit a benefit election

To edit details of a current benefit election (labeled as "Enrolled"), you can either click into the benefit plan or hover your cursor over the benefit plan and click Edit. This will expand the view to show plan details. Once you make your changes, click Close.

Editing coverage amounts

Basic life insurance plans

To edit an employee's elected coverage amounts for a basic life insurance plan, click into the plan or hover your cursor over the basic life insurance plan and select the edit option. Enter the new coverage amounts and click Close.

Voluntary life insurance plans

When reviewing voluntary life insurance elections, you can override coverage amounts outside of the minimum/maximum/increment amounts determined in the benefit plan settings, if needed. Editing coverage amounts for a voluntary life insurance plans is common when an employee reaches a certain age (such as 65 or 70) or when coverage requires evidence of insurability (EOI).

When Evidence of Insurability is required for voluntary life and/or AD&D plans, the approval page shows a breakdown of the employee’s Requested, Guaranteed, Approved For, and Pending coverage amounts for each covered individual. You can approve elections while EOI is pending. Once EOI is completed, you can return to the approval page to edit the Approved For amounts and then click EOI Complete before saving the changes. Changes made to the Approved For fields will not affect amounts in the Requested fields.

The Approved For field must have an amount for all coverage levels.
Approved For amounts will show up in the Enrollment Window Election Summary report under the Coverage Amount column.
Approved For amounts will automatically recalculate the Employee Pays cost for age-banded voluntary life and standard rate voluntary AD&D plans. If the Approved For fields are empty, they will calculate based on the requested amounts. Variable rate plans will need to have that cost updated manually.

Editing benefit plans

The approval page serves as a historical record of what the employee selected at the time of their enrollment. If you are making changes to benefit plan settings before or after*approving benefit elections, please keep in mind the following results of those changes.

*Additional Note:If you are adding changes (in benefit plan settings or on an employee's Benefits tab) after approving benefit elections for an enrollment window, you will need to communicate any of your employees' updated benefit elections for that enrollment window with your carriers.

Premiums

If you change a premium (cost) after approving an employee's benefit elections, the premium on the approval page will notbeupdated to the new premium. Instead, the new premium will show up in the employee's saved enrollment, which is visible on their employee profile (Benefits tab Benefits Overview table).

Coverage options

If you remove (deselect) a coverage level from a benefit plan, we will alert you of any employees who are using that coverage level. You can edit the employee's enrollment details on the approval page (before approval) or their Benefits tab (after approval) and select a different coverage level.

Plan deletion or expiration

If you delete a benefit plan (or if the plan expires) after an enrollment window starts, the system will remove the deleted plan from any pending employee elections and unenroll the employees who elected to enroll in that plan.

The deleted plan will still appear in the employee's enrollment experience if the employee has not submitted their benefit elections yet. To remove the plan in full, go to the enrollment window setup in Settings Benefits Enrollment Windows. Within the setup, uncheck the deleted plan and click Save.

Approving benefit elections

Once all elections are reviewed and have the required information, the Approve Elections button will become available. To finalize approval, click Approve Elections.Another modal will appear for you to confirm your approval. If you need to make any other changes, click Cancelto return to the approval screen.

After completing approvals for your employees, you can run the Enrollment Window Election Summary report, utilize the PDF Form Builder, or activate carrier connections to submit the data to your carriers. Additionally, your employees will receive an email notification letting them know that you have approved their benefit elections.

Once you approve an employee's enrollment in a plan that includes a beneficiary or multiple beneficiaries, you can review beneficiary information on the employee's Benefits tab.Click here to learn more about how employees can add and designate beneficiaries for the life insurance plans they choose to enroll in.

Editing approved benefit elections

If you find that you need to edit or correct an employee's approved benefit elections, navigate to the Benefits tab in the left sidebar menu and select # of Elections Completed. This will bring you to a list of approved benefit elections in Settings.

Hover your cursor over the employee's row and click Review/Edit Elections. Ensure that you are selecting the right enrollment window (whether active or closed) if the employee has elected benefits within multiple enrollment windows.

HR admins can edit approved benefit elections within 30 days of the coverage effective date. Carriers allow up to 60 days for changes. After 30 days, the customer may need to contact their carriers to communicate any further changes.

On the approval page, the following items are available to edit.

Effective dates
Dependent information
Coverage levels*
Benefit plan changes
Coverage amounts

Once you complete your edits, click Approve With Changes. The Benefits Admin reports, PDF forms (upon download), and carrier connections (on a weekly basis) will reflect the updated enrollment information.

*When updating coverage levels for an employee's benefit election, you can add existing dependents or remove current dependents. If the employee needs to add a new dependent, create a qualifying life event window for that employee and have the employee resubmit their benefit elections.

Important: If you make changes to approved benefit elections outside of an enrollment window for an employee (using the bulk enrollment feature, the employee profile, and/or the importer), you will need to communicate the new enrollment details with your carriers. The exception to this is if you have carrier connections; in that case, any changes made will reliably send all the required data to your carriers.

URL Name

1642008