This article is for brokers who need to complete enrollment tasks for individual members in Gusto.
We email you when you need to complete member-level benefits tasks for an employee. This happens when an employee enrolls in benefits, is dismissed, submits a qualifying life event, or updates their personal information.
When you mark a task as complete, we update the employee’s payroll deductions on the next payroll run.
Here’s how to enroll a new hire in their benefits.
Note: The employee has a 48-hour grace period to make any changes. We may notify you of the task up to one week after the employee enrolls.
To enroll a new hire:
Go to Benefits.
If any member-level events need your attention, you’ll see a yellow tile called New employee benefits tasks at the top of the Benefits page. Click View details.
Choose a task to work on and click Start.
Review the task details and click Download enrollment form if you need a form.
We fill out as much of the enrollment form as possible, but you should review it for accuracy before submitting it to the carriers.
Submit the change to the carrier.
Click Update Status.
Select In progress to show the change is pending. Follow up with the carrier until they confirm the change.
Note: The employee’s payroll deductions will not begin until you mark the task as complete.
Once the carrier confirms the enrollment and effective date, update the task status in Gusto to Complete. We’ll update the employee’s payroll deductions on the next payroll run.
If you complete the task after the enrollment effective date, we’ll apply catch-up deductions.
If the carrier gives a different effective date than the one listed in Gusto, click here for the next steps to correct it.
You can view all finished tasks in the Completed tab.
Here’s how to process a qualifying life event task.
Note: After an employee submits a qualifying life event in Gusto, they have 48 hours to make any changes. You’ll receive this task within 5 business days after that 48-hour period ends.
To submit a qualifying life event.
Go to Benefits.
If any member-level events need your attention, you’ll see a yellow tile called New employee benefits tasks at the top of the Benefits page. Click View details.
Choose a task to work on and click Start.
Review the task details and click Download enrollment form if you need a form.
We fill out as much of the enrollment form as possible, but you should review it for accuracy before submitting it to the carriers.
Click Download proof of qualifying life event. Make sure the proof includes the date of the event and the affected member’s name. If not, contact the employee directly to request more documentation.
Submit the change to the carrier.
Click Update Status.
Select In progress to show the change is pending. Follow up with the carrier until they confirm the change.
Note: The employee’s payroll deductions will not begin until you mark the task as complete.
Once the carrier confirms the benefits change and the effective date, update the task status in Gusto to Complete. We’ll update the employee’s payroll deductions on the next payroll run.
If you complete the task after the effective date of the benefits change, we’ll apply deduction corrections on payroll.
If the carrier gives a different effective date than the one listed in Gusto, click here to troubleshoot.
If you do not mark the task as complete, we’ll email you to confirm the effective date from the insurance carriers. We default to the date the employee entered, but you need to confirm proper payroll deductions by verifying that the date in Gusto matches the date from the carriers.
You can view all finished tasks in the Completed tab.
Here’s how to terminate benefits for a dismissed employee.
To terminate benefits for a dismissed employee:
Go to Benefits.
If any member-level events require your attention, you’ll see a yellow tile called New employee benefits tasks at the top of the Benefits page. Click View details.
Choose a task to work on and click Start.
Review the task details and click Download enrollment form if you need a form. We fill out as much of the form as possible, but you should review it for accuracy before submitting it to the carriers.
Submit the change to the carrier.
Click Update Status.
Select In progress to show the change is pending. Follow up with the carrier until they confirm the change.
Once the carrier confirms the termination and effective date, update the task status in Gusto to Complete. We’ll update the employee’s payroll deductions on the next payroll run.
You can view all finished tasks in the Completed tab.
We notify you when an employee updates personal information that insurance carriers keep on file.
To update member information:
Go to Benefits.
If any member-level events require your attention, you’ll see a yellow tile called New employee benefits tasks at the top of the Benefits page. Click View details.
Choose a task to work on and click Start.
Review the task details and click Download enrollment form if you need a form.
We fill out as much of the form as possible, but you should review it for accuracy before submitting it to the carriers.
Submit the change to the carrier.
Click Update Status.
Select In progress to show the change is pending. Follow up with the carrier until they confirm the change.
Once the carrier confirms the update, click Mark complete.
You can view all finished tasks in the Completed tab.
With the broker integration, you can now automate some member-level tasks with Guardian and Principal.
We provide this service at no additional cost.
API automation handles these tasks almost instantly:
New hire enrollments
Employee terminations
Individual member updates (like name and address changes)
When you make one of these changes in Gusto, the system automatically sends it to Guardian or Principal. The carrier typically completes it within minutes.
You can find tasks that still need your action by clicking View details in the New employee benefits tasks banner on the Benefits page. You need to manually process any tasks there.
API automation does not support these situations. You need to manage these tasks manually from the Benefits page in Gusto.
Open enrollment
Qualifying life events
When more than one plan is offered per line of coverage (Example: Multiple dental plans)
When the company has multiple employee classes
Who can manage this: Any admin with the Manage all Benefits permission
To see if automation is available and turn it on:
Go to Benefits.
Click into any integrated line of health benefits, like your medical or dental coverage.
Near the top of the page, click Settings.
Under Automation, find the carrier you’d like to automate and click Turn on automation.
Guardian or Principal typically activates automation within a week. Continue to manually process pending tasks as usual. Once the carrier activates automation, automatically processed tasks will appear under the Completed tasks tab with the note “Completed by carrier automation.”
To cancel automation, email [email protected].
Guardian or Principal automatically completes most tasks within a few minutes after you create them in Gusto.
We list any tasks that need your action in a yellow banner on the Benefits page.
To check the Completed tasks tab for a list of changes that have been made:
Go to Benefits.
Select the Completed tasks tab.
If the API made a change, you’ll see Completed by carrier automation.
Click on any task to see more details.
If a change fails to sync to the carrier for any reason, we’ll add it to the Benefits page as a pending task. You need to process the task manually.
Q: How long does it take for the carrier to complete an enrollment change?
A: The carrier typically completes automated changes within minutes after you submit them in Gusto. To see a task’s current status, refresh the Completed tasks page in Gusto.
Q: Can the automation connect directly with a broker or customer rather than the carrier?
A: No, the automation only connects directly to the carrier.
Q: Can I customize what data Gusto sends via the automation?
A: No, you cannot customize the data we send.
Q: What happens if I do not provide my authorization?
A: If you do not authorize the automation, you’ll continue to complete tasks manually.
To change or correct an enrollment:
Work directly with the insurance carrier to make the change.
Once the carrier confirms the change, email [email protected] with the details that need to be updated in Gusto.
Email [email protected] to deactivate the automation.
Once we confirm the automation is turned off, you’ll manage all tasks from the Benefits page in your Gusto admin account.
For questions about the automation, reach out to [email protected].
Here’s how to check if an employee is enrolled and view the plans they selected.
To view an employee’s enrollment status and plan selections:
Go to People.
Select the employee.
On the employee’s page, go to Benefits.
Here you can verify whether the employee has completed enrollment and view the plans they selected.
If the employee recently submitted their enrollment and you do not see a task yet, we’re processing the form and task. Your member-level implementation contact will receive an email notification once the task is ready for you to complete.
Voluntary life and disability plans have a Guaranteed Issue (GI) limit. If an employee picks a benefit amount above the limit, the carrier requires Evidence of Insurability (EOI). EOI is a health questionnaire. The carrier uses it to assess risk before approving the full amount.
Because your plan is managed through your own broker, the carrier communicates their EOI decision outside Gusto. You need to manually update the EOI status in Gusto once you get the carrier’s decision.
Gusto creates a to-do prompting you to update the EOI status.
While EOI is pending, your employee’s coverage is set to the GI amount.
If the GI amount is $0, the employee has no active coverage until a decision is made.
The carrier handles EOI collection outside Gusto — through their portal, email, or paper forms.
Your broker or the carrier will notify you of the decision.
To update the EOI status:
Go to Benefits.
Click Voluntary Life Insurance, or open the to-do from your task list.
Under the enrollment summary, click View dashboard.
Find the employee whose status needs updating.
Select the carrier’s decision.
Approved — The carrier approved the full requested coverage amount.
Partially Approved — The carrier approved coverage at a lower amount. Enter the approved amount and effective date.
Declined — The carrier rejected the request. The employee keeps GI-level coverage only. If GI is $0, the employee has no coverage.
Closed — The EOI request expired. This happens when the employee did not submit paperwork in time. It also happens when the carrier determined EOI was not required.
Enter the approved coverage amount and effective date, if applicable.
Click Save.
Once you click save, we automatically update the employee’s coverage and premium deductions. If coverage was approved with a retroactive effective date, we apply deduction corrections starting on the next payroll.
Note: If you entered incorrect information, contact us and we'll correct it.
If the insurance carrier gives an employee a different effective date or termination date than the one in Gusto, here’s how to correct it.
The benefits effective date or termination date affects the employee’s payroll deductions. You need to make sure the effective date in Gusto matches the carrier’s records.
First, check the company’s waiting period or termination policy in Gusto:
Go to Benefits.
Click on the line of coverage.
Review the New hire waiting period or Termination policy for dismissed employees.
Contact the carrier: Have them confirm the company’s waiting period or termination policy and clarify why they gave the employee a different effective date than expected.
If you do not need to make any changes after contacting the carrier: Mark the task as complete in Gusto.
If you need to update an effective date or waiting period/termination policy in Gusto, follow these steps:
Have the carrier send confirmation of the exact date or policy they have on file.
Email [email protected] and attach the carrier’s proof of the correct effective date or policy. Let us know if you need to update the employee’s effective date, the waiting period/termination policy, or both.
Once we update the date or policy, notify the employee of their new effective date. We will not notify the employee or the company of the change.
Here’s how to check and update who gets notified when we create new member-level tasks.
View your broker contacts
To view your broker contacts:
Go to Benefits.
Click into any integrated line of health benefits, like your medical or dental coverage.
Near the top of the page, click Settings.
Click the Contacts tab.
View your member-level implementation contact
We email your member-level implementation contact when a new task is created.
To check who that is:
Go to Benefits.
Click on a line of coverage.
In the Broker information tile, click View responsibilities and contacts.
Look under Member-level carrier implementation contact(s). We email everyone listed here when a task is created.
Change broker contacts
To add or remove contacts, email [email protected]. Include the contact’s name, email, and phone number. You can list more than one person for each role, except the primary broker. You can also list one person for multiple roles.
The table below lists each contact role, their responsibilities, and the notifications we send them.
Broker contact roles and responsibilities
Broker contact role
Responsibilities
What they'll receive notifications about
Primary broker contact
Managing the company's benefits in coordination with the company admin. They’ll work with your Gusto benefits specialist on initial implementation.
Group onboarding
Pre-open enrollment request for documents
Pre-open enrollment plan review and testing
Plan implementation
Renewals
Escalations
Group-level implementation contact(s)
Submitting the company’s annual open enrollment to carriers
Post-open enrollment census and fulfillment
Member-level implementation contact(s)
Submitting the company’s member-level events to the carrier
New hire enrollment
Member demographic changes
Qualifying life events
Terminations
Employee support contact(s)
Providing benefits support to employees, like answering questions about their plans or coverage status. This contact's info is listed in Gusto for employees.
No notifications (unless they're also named for another role)
Email [email protected] if you need additional support.