Automotive Parts Distributor with 10,000 Employees and 3,400 Auto Parts Stores Nationwide

General Parts - a privately-owned distributor of automotive parts dedicated to providing unparalleled customer service, innovation and industry leadership - has been a front-runner in the automobile components industry since 1961. With headquarters in Raleigh, N.C. and Newark, Calif., General Parts desired a solution that would allow it to better deliver benefit solutions to its many employees located in over 3,400 auto parts stores and 40 distribution centers across the country.

Manual Entry of Benefits Changes Creates Inaccuracies

Under its previous insurance carrier, General Parts was subjected to a lengthy process of manual, paper-based enrollment for employee benefits. With over 10,000 eligible employees, this made for an unnecessarily large workload. Manually sending files via paper created numerous errors for the Human Resources team, and they had to allocate much of their time to fix these errors. Additionally, any changes to the system were manually entered weekly, involving a two- to three-hour-long process.

General Parts acknowledged the need to find a more error-proof system, as its method was neither cost-efficient nor timely. The company wanted an all-encompassing solution with a single point of access to enrollment and benefits management, payroll information and links to all of General Parts’ insurance carriers.

The Benefitfocus Platform™ Implemented Simultaneously with Open Enrollment

The Benefitfocus Platform, privately labeled eBenefitsNow, was proposed as an easy-to-use solution delivered via the Internet. The Platform is a powerful online portal that supports benefit enrollment, employee communication, HR efficiency, and health and wellness initiatives.

“Benefitfocus eliminated the stress that generally accompanies this process, and the transition to eBenefitsNow made for our best Open Enrollment ever,” said Lisa Elder, benefits specialist for General Parts. The system serves as a single source for all General Parts’ needs. The Platform provided streamlined access to all HR-related benefits. “At the beginning we truly were only interested in data exchange, but we found so many other options with Benefitfocus,” said Elder.

User-Friendly Experience for All Employees

The Benefitfocus Platform™ has had a tremendous impact on the enrollment process at General Parts. Previously, HR was spending a large amount of time on enrollment issues and adjustments for their employees. “eBenefitsNow is easy-to-use and extremely intuitive, and the time it has saved us is now used to address more important issues to the company,” stated Elder.

General Parts’ employees have been positively affected by the Platform. The new technology is easy to understand and user-friendly, which has been especially helpful for the large number of General Parts’ employees who do not use computers as part of their daily tasks. In addition, employees received their insurance cards much sooner than before, an extremely positive change.

Another application available within the Benefitfocus Platform that General Parts took advantage of was Video as a Service™ (VaaS). General Parts uses VaaS as a benefits communication service to educate and empower its employees through easy-to-understand video content. General Parts knew a visual communication offering would help employees understand their options and make more educated decisions.

General Parts credited Benefitfocus for improving the flow of business and for “constantly improving system capabilities ahead of time,” expressed Elder.