Jimmy Buffett Shops and Cafes Employ 1,200 in Seven U.S. Locations
Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville shops and cafes offer food and merchandise in numerous locations throughout the country. Founded in 1998, Margaritaville is headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and employs 1,200 people across the United States. The company prides itself on delivering a distinctive dining, entertainment and shopping experience with exceptional service.
Laborious Mailing and Faxing Left Room for Errors in Enrollment
Under its previous benefits management system, Margaritaville was subject to manual, paper-based enrollment for employee benefits. With 1,200 employees throughout the country, this generated a large workload for the company’s Human Resources department. Manual file creation and sending material via mail or fax provided opportunities for errors to occur. Changes were handled with a new form, more mailing and faxing. These factors proved to be laborious for Human Resources staff and employees alike.
Through a partnership between its insurance provider, BlueChoice HealthPlan of South Carolina, and Benefitfocus, Margaritaville had the option to switch to a more consolidated and simplified enrollment system.
Human Resources Functions Run Smoothly with the Internet-based Platform
The Benefitfocus Platform, privately labeled QuickEnroll, was proposed as an easy-to-use solution delivered via the Internet. The Platform is a powerful online tool that supports benefit enrollment, employee communication, HR Efficiency and health and wellness initiatives.
The Benefitfocus Platform is a comprehensive solution that easily integrates with existing payroll and HR systems, and can handle all electronic benefit interface files. By eliminating paper, the data is more accurately captured and submitted, thereby saving time and money for Margaritaville. In addition, the implementation of the Platform allowed the HR department to perform day-to-day functions without interruption.
HR Staff Shifts Attention to More Strategic Business Initiatives
Integrating with existing systems ensured a smooth and streamlined implementation. “With QuickEnroll, it takes just minutes to enroll one person,” said Brenda Galarza, benefits generalist for Margaritaville. “Before, our HR was bogged down with enrollment forms. QuickEnroll eliminated a lot of the hassle that comes with managing this information.”
HR administrators can easily enroll, make necessary changes and add or terminate employees online. “With QuickEnroll, additions, terminations and changes are made accurately, on time and without pause,” said Galarza. HR personnel are pleased with the simplicity of the online process and cite the advantage of the software’s One-Thought-Per-Screen design.
In addition, the Platform makes it easier for Margaritaville to manage its employees’ benefits across the seven locations. Each office can view reports about elections, as well as review and print their own bill. Galarza is still available to each location to answer any questions, but has been able to focus more of her time on strategic business initiatives.