New Employee Benefits Enrollment

Getting Started

You are invited to attend the New Employee Welcome and Orientation (NEWO) to learn about your benefits. Your eligibility for benefits will not be determined until you have completed the following onboarding tasks in Workday (please note some of these tasks cannot be completed until your first day of work):

• Edit Government IDs, if the SSN was not updated by the HR Partner during the Hire process
• Enter Personal Information
• Contact Change
• Benefits Questionnaire

If you complete all of these tasks, and your department final approves them prior to 4 pm on any day, then you will receive an enrollment invitation that night via email. If these tasks are completed, and final approved after 4 pm, then you will not receive the enrollment invitation until the following night. To ensure that you receive the enrollment invitation, please add benefits@utsystem.edu and hrsc@austin.utexas.edu to your email safe list.

Insurance Enrollment

All insurance elections are completed in the My UT Benefits online enrollment system.

• You must make your insurance elections within 31 calendar days from your employment start date.
• If adding dependents, you must first upload proof of relationship documents for review by the HR Service Center (HRSC). The HRSC will review and approve or deny the document and send you notice of the decision via email within 72 hours. If approved, you must log back into My UT Benefits and elect dependent coverage. If you need to add dependents that do not have Social Security Numbers, please contact the HRSC for assistance.
• If you are selecting certain higher levels of life insurance for yourself or your spouse, you must complete an Evidence of Insurability (EOI). An EOI is a health questionnaire used by the insurance company to make a determination on your request for coverage. You have 15 days beyond your first 31 days in which to complete the online EOI questionnaire, but the election must still be made during your first 31 days. 
• Review your “Confirmation of Your Initial Benefits Enrollment” email, sent in 1-3 business days after you make elections.
• Insurance premiums are displayed on your monthly earnings statement. All employees are encouraged to thoroughly review their earnings statement for accuracy and immediately contact the HRSC of any discrepancies.

Retirement Program Enrollment

• All UT Austin employees employed in a benefits-eligible position for at least 20 hours per week for 4 1/2 months are automatically enrolled in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS).
  • Students employed in positions that require student status as a condition of employment are not eligible to contribute. This includes graduate student academic employees.  Please see the TRS website for additional resources and information.
• Employees appointed to certain positions may be eligible to enroll in the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) in lieu of TRS.
  • Eligible employees are notified of their eligibility by the Benefits and Leave Management division of Human Resources via DocuSign. The DocuSign packet provides all of the necessary information needed to successfully enroll in the ORP, including instructions for logging into myretirementmanager.com (UTRM) and establishing payroll deductions.
  • Eligibility notices can only be sent after Benefits and Leave Management has reviewed the employees position and made a determination on eligibility. Benefits and Leave Management makes every effort to review and send notices within the employees first two weeks of employment.
  • Eligible employees must complete enrollment within 90 calendar days of their start date.
  • Please see the ORP webpage for additional resources and information.
• Eligible UT Austin employees may choose to contribute to UTSaver Voluntary Retirement Programs such the Tax Sheltered Annuity (TSA) 403(b) or Deferred Compensation Program (DCP) 457(b).
  • UTRM is the system that employees use to establish payroll deductions with their chosen vendor(s). Changed made in UTRM by the 14^th of the month are effective the first of the following month.