Setting up forms to send to your employees automatically will always be done under the form's "Settings." To get there from the Admin view, click Tools > Forms > Manage Forms > Settings on the drop-down menu of the individual form.
There are some differences between setting up carrier forms and HR forms to send automatically. We'll cover the following in this article:
- Turn "Auto-Sending" off and on
- Set up carrier forms to send automatically
- Set up HR forms to send automatically
Turn "Auto-Sending" off and on
To turn "Auto-Sending" off and on, simply click the toggle. Notice you can decide to leave it on for one action, but turn it off for another.
This can come in handy for a few situations:
- Say you want an Enrollment/Waiver Form to send to an employee automatically only when an employee enrolls, and not when they waive? You can turn “auto-sending” off just for the “waive” action.
- Similarly, you may have two forms: an Enrollment/Change Form and a Change Form. You only want to use the Enrollment/Change Form for enrollments. On the Enrollment/Change Form, you can turn "auto-sending" off for the "change" action
Set up carrier forms to send automatically
For carrier forms, Maxwell has done the work upfront to match the form to related benefits in your portal. This means "Auto-Sending" will be turned on by default most of the time, for conditions that apply to that particular form. While we recommend that you leave it on so that your forms are sent automatically, you can turn it off.
"Auto-Sending" will be turned off if at least one or more of the related benefits has an EDI connection.
If "Auto-Sending" is on, you'll see different actions an employee can take for the form to be sent to them automatically, with defaults to what we believe makes the most sense for the form. It also shows which related benefits those actions must be taken on for the form to send. You can customize which benefits the form will send for, but all will be on my default.
In the above example, the Sample Enrollment Form will automatically send to any employee who enrolls in the HDHP or the HMO. However, it will not send to employees who enroll in the PPO.
For any actions turned "on," the form will send to the employee when they click Submit Enrollment in the shopping experience, where they will also be prompted to sign forms.
Carrier form send actions
There are different actions that employees can take to trigger a carrier form to automatically send to them. Typically, carrier forms are created with one or two actions in mind. It's rare for a form to include all actions (i.e. "Enrollment Forms" or "Enrollment/Waiver Forms").
Below is a list of the standard send actions you can turn on for auto-sending:
- ENROLL
- WAIVE
- ADD a dependent to their existing coverage
- REMOVE a dependent from their coverage
- CHANGE coverage amount or contribution amount
- CHANGE selection from one plan to another
ENROLL: An employee will be sent a form automatically when this action is turned "on" if:
1) They confirm to enroll in one of the related benefits for the first time.
Please note: If the employee was enrolled in this benefit type with the carrier previously and at open enrollment elects to remain enrolled in one of the related benefits, they will not receive a form automatically unless this is set up specifically as a Section 125 form, or it is for a financial benefit that requires active enrollment every year (HSA, FSA, DCA, etc.).
2) The form is set up in Maxwell as a Section 125 form and the employee elects to enroll in any Section 125 benefits at open enrollment.
Please note: When this type of form has the enroll setting turned “on”, it will send to anyone who enrolls in any Section 125 benefits during Open Enrollment, even if they were previously enrolled.
Example Enroll Scenarios:
A) An employee has no previous medical coverage election, but during open enrollment they elect to enroll in the 2020 PPO medical plan. A form will be sent automatically.
B) An employee is enrolled in a 2019 HMO medical plan, and they elect to enroll in a 2020 PPO medical plan. In this case, because this is not a first-time medical enrollment, no form will be sent.
Note: In scenario "B" above, if you want a form to send for the plan change, you should turn the “Change selection from one plan to another” on (see below).
C) An employee is enrolled in a 2019 HSA plan, and they elect to enroll in the 2020 HSA plan. A form will be sent automatically because this is a financial benefit.
WAIVE: An employee will be sent a form automatically when this action is turned "on" if they:
1) Actively waive a related benefit. (This means the employee clicked waive on the individual benefit or clicked "I don't want this ___ insurance," waiving all benefits under that benefit type (example: medical).
2) Choose not to enroll in a related benefit during an open enrollment or new hire event.
3) For life events, the form will also send as long as the employee did not enroll in another benefit from any vendor on the form, and they are not terminating coverage for any benefit on the form.
ADD a dependent to their existing coverage: An employee will be sent a form automatically if they add a dependent to a related benefit they’re already enrolled in. Example: an employee gets married and adds a spouse to their coverage.
REMOVE a dependent from their coverage: An employee will be sent a form automatically if they remove a dependent from a related benefit they’re already enrolled in. Example: an employee gets divorced and removes spouse from their coverage.
CHANGE coverage amount or contribution amount: An employee will be sent a form automatically if they change their coverage or contribution amount of a related benefit they’re already enrolled in. This includes: changes to life insurance volumes, voluntary disability benefit amounts, and mid-year changes to any financial benefit contributions.
CHANGE selection from one plan to another (ex: HMO to PPO): An employee will be sent a change form automatically if they're enrolled in a plan and switch to another plan under the same vendor. This action will only display for medical, dental, and vision forms that are change forms or an enrollment or waive form with one of the following reasons: “plan change”, “change of coverage.”
EOI Form Actions
For all Evidence of Insurability (EOI) forms, there are different auto-send actions that will be defaulted, which are a bit different from the above:
Enroll in a voluntary benefit in a way that requires EOI: This replaces the "Enroll" condition listed above. If an employee or their spouse has enrolled in a voluntary benefit and has requested a coverage amount over the Guaranteed Issue (GI), the EOI form will send to the employee.
Change coverage amount or contribution amount in a way that requires EOI: This replaces the "Change coverage amount or contribution amount" condition listed above. If an employee or their spouse changes their coverage amount on the voluntary product from at or below the GI, to above the GI, the EOI form will send to the employee.
Master Administrators have the ability to set up forms to send to new hires, rehires, and employees in open enrollment automatically in the new forms system. All you have to do is head to the "Settings" of your HR form and turn "Auto-Sending" on. Unlike carrier forms, this is not turned on by default, so you'll need to make sure to do this one step to get started.
You'll want this turned on for forms that are common to onboarding such as W-4s and I-9s. Once this setting is turned on, employees either added to Maxwell as new hires for the first time or rehired in Maxwell, will be sent the form after they log in and complete their personal information. This ensures the information they entered into Maxwell is automatically populated on the form, so they don’t have to do it twice.
Open Enrollment:
You'll want to turn this setting on for notices that need to be signed off on each year that aren't related to a particular carrier or enrollment. You should turn this setting on before you complete setting up the open enrollment event. Once this setting is turned on, employees will be sent the form after they log in and finish updating or confirming their personal information during Open Enrollment.
For forms related to both new hire/rehire and open enrollment, employees will also be sent an email notification letting them know they have forms to sign. (This email is designed by Maxwell and cannot be customized, but you can see a copy of it here.)
They’ll find their form waiting for them in the “Forms” tab, where they’ll sign it electronically using an intuitive DocuSign interface ( learn more about the employee form signing experience here).
Note on Standard Administrators
For Standard Administrators, the auto-send conditions will be view only.
