Benefits Enrollment, Administration, and Compliance Made Simple

Benefits Administration FAQ's

Why should my business outsource benefits administration?

Outsourcing benefits administration helps small and mid-sized businesses save significant time while avoiding costly mistakes. Instead of manually tracking eligibility, filing compliance forms, or chasing down carrier updates, a dedicated system and local experts handle the details for you. This ensures your plans are set up correctly, employees enroll smoothly, and compliance requirements like ACA reporting or COBRA notices are never overlooked. For many businesses, outsourcing costs far less than hiring a full-time benefits specialist.

How does online open enrollment work?

Online open enrollment replaces stacks of paper forms with a digital process that is easy for both employees and administrators. Employees log in to view only the benefit options they are eligible for based on factors like role, hours worked, or tenure. They can compare plans side by side, review costs, and make selections directly in the system—even from a mobile device. Once they submit their elections, HR can review and approve them, and the data flows directly to carriers and payroll for processing, eliminating delays and errors.

Do benefits integrate with payroll?

Yes—this is one of the biggest advantages of using the benefits tool within isolved. When an employee selects a new plan or changes contribution amounts, payroll deductions update automatically. This prevents miscalculations, underpayments, or late adjustments that often happen when payroll and benefits are managed separately. Integration also makes it easier to run accurate reports and ensures that contributions and deductions remain consistent across every pay cycle.

Who does Paper Trails integrate with?

Paper Trails integrates directly with a wide range of benefits carriers, retirement providers, and third-party systems to simplify your entire benefits process. Through our isolved platform, we support both 180° and 360° integrations, which means benefit enrollments and contribution changes flow automatically between your business, insurance carriers, and payroll—no manual entry required.

We also connect with Employee Navigator, allowing real-time sharing of employee demographics and deduction data. Beyond carriers and Navigator, our system is custom-built for your unique benefit plans, with direct carrier feeds that eliminate the need for manual reconciliation.

This integration doesn’t just streamline enrollment—it ensures accurate deductions, automates compliance reporting (including ACA and COBRA), and provides access to detailed reports and employee census data whenever you need it. Whether employees are enrolling during open enrollment, onboarding, or after a life event, our mobile-friendly system ensures everything stays synced and compliant.

What compliance support is included?

Compliance is a top concern for employers, and benefits administration is filled with regulations. With Paper Trails, you have tools for ACA tracking and reporting, COBRA and state continuation coverage, ERISA wrap documents, Form 5500 preparation, and non-discrimination testing. The system helps you stay audit-ready and ensures deadlines aren’t missed. Beyond the software, our team provides local expertise and education on new regulations—such as Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program—so you’re always prepared.

Can employees access their benefit information on mobile?

Absolutely. Today’s workforce expects information at their fingertips, and our platform delivers. Employees can log in from their phone to review current benefits, see plan details, make open enrollment elections, and even adjust contribution levels if their plan allows. This level of transparency empowers employees to manage their own choices while reducing the number of routine questions HR needs to answer.

Is it difficult to set up benefits administration tools?

No—the Paper Trails team handles implementation for you. We’ll build out all of your plans in the platform, set eligibility rules, and ensure payroll deductions and contributions are configured correctly. We also train your management team, so when enrollment opens, everyone knows exactly how to use the system.