Payroll Onboarding
How do I complete the Payroll onboarding process?
Purpose: We understand you may need more direction when completing Payroll onboarding. This guide will walk you through each module and step within Payroll onboarding and direct you to where you can find more information for each task. Work through your entire checklist completely to lock in your implementation start date and to ensure your readiness to work with your payroll project manager.
If you have questions at any point during this process, please reach out to [email protected].
Table of Contents
Payroll Onboarding Overview
Whether you are a new customer starting onboarding from the beginning, or you have already onboarded with BambooHR and are adding Payroll, you will access your payroll modules from the Home tab after logging in. Click Start Implementation or Continue Implementation to begin. If you are a new customer, please click here to get familiar with the complete onboarding experience.
Every onboarding experience is tailored to the unique customer so what appears in your account may look different then what is outlined. If you have already onboarded with BambooHR, you will complete the Payroll module. If it is your first time onboarding with BambooHR, there are important Payroll tasks throughout the Company Setup, Employee Data, and Benefits modules you will need to complete in addition to the Payroll module. If you have multiple EINs, you will see a Payroll Settings module for you to set up your additional EINs. Any additional data information that is required for a complete account setup can be found in the HR Implementation and Payroll Registration modules. This guide will explain the Payroll-specific modules of onboarding including:
- Payroll
- Payroll Registration
The other modules will have important payroll-related tasks as well. Click the links below to learn more:
Payroll
Welcome to payroll in BambooHR! Before you get started on the Payroll onboarding module, feel free to watch this quick introduction video.
Heads up! BambooHR launched a newly refreshed UI, which means the product may appear differently in your account than what is shown in the video below. However, functionality will remain the same. Thank you for your patience as we continue to update our help content.
If you have multiple EINs (companies) that you are onboarding within a single BambooHR account, you can toggle between the EINs in the dropdown menu. You will need to complete the following steps for each EIN. Click Let's Go to move on to the next step.
You will receive email notifications throughout the process for tasks that are due and not yet complete or for tasks that are past due to help keep you on track. Click here for more information!
The first task within the Company Taxes step is to complete a questionnaire. This survey helps us understand your company's unique payroll situation, such as the number of states your employees live in, additional pay types, 2% shareholders, and other details. This will help your future payroll project manager tailor your implementation to the specifics of your company as it currently stands, so answer the survey as best you can. Click Open Questionnaire to begin and click Done to mark the step task as complete.
After you have completed the questionnaire, you will begin working on entering your company tax information in Settings > Payroll. This help guide will be linked for your reference. Keep in mind the following:
Before we can begin to process and sync taxes in BambooHR Payroll, you will need to verify all of your tax information with your previous payroll provider by requesting a tax packet. The tax packet should include all tax IDs, rates, and frequencies (where applicable) for the states you are registered in. Once you have received the tax packet, you will need to upload the file to the Payroll Implementation folder on the Files tab in BambooHR. If you have not yet run payroll with any payroll provider, please request this information from your tax advisor.
Setting up company tax information in BambooHR
This information is vital in order to proceed with BambooHR Payroll. If you do not provide tax information (including state tax IDs) in a timely manner, it may result in the termination of services with BambooHR Payroll. This help guide may also assist you in finding your company tax information.
Click Set Up Taxes to navigate to the Taxes section of Settings > Payroll and complete the following:
- Confirm all demographic and payroll data is complete in BambooHR. All previous steps in your onboarding modules must be completed in order to proceed with syncing taxes in BambooHR Payroll. The best way to confirm that all employee data is complete is by using a few of our Missing Data reports in BambooHR.
- The Pay Info Tab Missing Data Report will show you any holes in your tax withholding and direct deposit information. This visual report shows red circles for missing data and green circles for completed data. If your report is empty, all employees have complete information for tax withholding and direct deposit!
- The Payroll Info Checkup Report will show you any Payroll-required fields that are missing for your employees. Simply select the syncing pay schedule to get started. This report will allow you to make updates directly from the report. If your report is empty, all employees have complete Payroll-related information!
- Verify data with your payroll project manager.
- Please allow 2-3 business days after you begin working directly with your payroll project manager to review your account and sync the remaining taxes.
- Once you have received confirmation from your payroll project manager that taxes have been synced, you can verify that all the taxes are correct in BambooHR by using the tax packet provided by your previous payroll provider.
For more information on how to manually add and set up your company tax information, click here.
After you submit your company bank documents (Form 8655, Beneficial Owner Addendum, and ACH Authorization) within the Company Setup module, our team will begin to process your application with the IRS and NPC. This process can take up to 10-15 business days from the time you submit your documents. Our team will notify you by email once the application process is complete and the penny test has been sent. After you view the email from our team, you can expect to see a small deposit and withdrawal—within two business days—in the bank account you have set up within this step. Enter that deposit amount in this step and click Verify to complete your penny verification task. Here is a helpful guide on the penny verification process.
If you have not completed you bank authorization forms in the Company Setup module, or we are waiting for NPC to process your application, the screen above will display.
Within the Training step, you will complete two BambooHR Learning courses to ensure you understand how to run payroll like a pro with BambooHR Payroll:
- Payroll 101 - Preparing Your Account for Payroll
- Running a Payroll in BambooHR® - A Step-by-Step Guide
Click Done to complete the tasks and move to the next step.
There are four additional features included in BambooHR Payroll that may help you get the most out of your payroll experience: Time Tracking, Extra Pay, Payroll Reports, and Workers Comp. Not all of these features may apply to your unique company, but work through these tasks and see what else you can do to set yourself up for payroll success.
If you have hourly employees and Time Tracking enabled in BambooHR, this step will guide you to Time Tracking in Settings, where you can set up this feature. Remember, you can also add hours manually during the Run Payroll experience or import hours.
Extra pay can be handled differently across many companies, and BambooHR Payroll has made sure to cover all the bases. Click through the videos to learn about the different ways to add extra pay whether it is one-time extra pay or recurring.
Payroll reporting can be a powerful tool to help set you free to do other amazing things once you understand what data is available and how to use them. You will complete the Payroll Reporting in BambooHR learning course within this task.
Lastly, if your company operates in a state with workers' comp, this task will educate you on how to set that up in BambooHR and for your employees. Click the help guide within the task to learn more.
Within the Final Steps step, you will complete the following tasks:
- Account Validation Review
- Approve Payroll
- Notify Your Previous Payroll Provider
- Feedback Survey
Completing the account validation review will give you and our team peace of mind knowing your account is set up to process an accurate payroll. Review the checklist and confirm that your account setup looks ready to go. This part should be easy as our onboarding process has already led you to complete these items.
Drumroll please...the time has come! You are ready to approve your first payroll with BambooHR. Thank you for taking the time to clean your BambooHR account and running your first payroll! No one appreciates it more than your own employees, as it ensures they will be paid correctly and on time. If you have questions about what data is required for payroll, click here!
There is one more housekeeping item to ensure we cross our t's and dot our i's. You will need to notify your previous payroll provider that you are switching services so that they know not to process payroll. If two companies file on the same quarter or year-end, you can incur extra costs from the IRS. To avoid that, use the outlined email template to notify your previous payroll provider of the switch if you have not already done so.
Lastly, your feedback is of the utmost importance to us (behind helping you run an accurate and smooth payroll, of course). Click Open Feedback Survey to let us know how we did! Then click Done to complete the Payroll module!
Payroll Registration
Any miscellaneous items that are necessary for a complete and accurate payroll will live within the Payroll Registration Checklist. This checklist includes the following steps:
In this step of Payroll onboarding, we will take you through the most important parts of your BambooHR account when it comes to running payroll so that you can double-check everything is set up completely and correctly. As you review each task in Account Settings, you will use the toggle in the checklist task to mark it as complete. When you navigate away from the onboarding checklist to set up a specific section of your account, we have added a banner with the Back to Payroll Registration button at the top to make it easier for you to return to the previous section.
Would you like to watch a video about this topic?
Department and Division are required fields in order to run payroll, and they are necessary for filtering and reporting. Don’t have departments or divisions? Just put “N/A” or “None."
- Check out this guide to learn more about adding and updating departments and divisions in BambooHR.
- For more information on how to assign departments and divisions to your employees in BambooHR, click here!
Would you like to enroll in the Beginner's Guide to Time Off learning course?
To ensure your employees are automatically paid for their paid time off (PTO), you will need to set up and sync your time off categories in BambooHR with Payroll.
Here are some guides to help set up your time off:
To edit existing time off categories, go to Time Off in Settings, click Overview, hover your cursor over the name of the time off category card, click on the gear icon that appears, and then select Edit Category.
There are three items to check to make sure a time off category syncs to Payroll:
- Time off policies in this Category are paid policies: If this time off category will include policies that should be paid, check this box. Note that any time off category with this box unchecked will not sync data to Payroll.
- Include this Category in Payroll: Check this box to include this category in Payroll. Once you check this box, it will require the category to be tracked in hours.
- Track time in...: All time off categories will need to be tracked in hours to sync over to Payroll. You will not have the option to select days from the list if the time off category is synced. If you need to switch from days to hours, you will need to enter the standard number of hours worked per day at your organization. Once you click Save, all policies, requests, and historical data associated with that time off category will convert to hours using the number of work hours you entered.
For employees to view their pay stubs, they will need access to BambooHR. Employees will need View access to the Pay Info tab to see their own direct deposit and tax withholding information, and pay stubs.
Enable employee access to the Pay Info tab from Settings. Click Access Levels, and then choose the appropriate employee access level. From here, click Access Level Settings. Find the Pay Info tab in the See About Themselves section and choose View or Edit access.
Here are some helpful guides on employee access:
- Create an Employee Access Level
- Enable Employee Access
- Pay Info Tab Overview (This is where employees can view their pay stubs, direct deposit, and tax withholding information.)
We understand Payroll is not always a one-person show and requires multiple users or admins. You can also set up access levels for these specific users. Click here to learn more!
Now that you have all of your settings and employee data complete, it is time to provide some important payroll data from your previous payroll provider. We will need to obtain a year-to-date (YTD) file with all wages, taxes, and deduction information from all active and terminated employees within the current year so that we can create your end-of-year tax documents. Watch this short video to understand which YTD files are the most helpful.
You will then need to select the name of your previous payroll provider and use this help guide to help you identify which report we need from you.
- This is not applicable to new companies (never paid employees before) or if it's your company's first pay date in the new year.
- We will need a year-to-date report (YTD) of all the payroll runs made by your previous payroll provider from the beginning of the year (including any off-cycle checks). If you are unsure of which dates we will need for your reports, refer to the date range we provided below the Previous Provider Name field. This date range is based on your first pay date, so make sure it is accurate. It is very important that your report reflects the accurate dates so that we can ensure every wage, tax, and deduction is accounted for when creating your employees’ W-2s at the end of the year. Your report(s) should show the totals of all wage, deduction, and tax information for every employee paid during the year. Once the correct YTD information has been identified and the reports have been run, you can then upload this report within this step by clicking Choose Files.
Upload Quarter-to-Date Data
If you are starting with BambooHR Payroll mid-quarter, you must upload a quarter-to-date (QTD) report in addition to the YTD report you previously uploaded within the Previous Provider Data step. Click the Previous Provider Name dropdown and choose + Add Provider to select your previous payroll provider. If you are unsure which dates we will need for this report, refer to the date range we provide. You can also reach out to your PPM for confirmation. It is very important that your reports reflect the accurate dates so that we can ensure every wage, tax, and deduction is accounted for when creating your employees’ W-2s at the end of the year. Your report(s) should show the totals of all wage, deduction, and tax information for every employee paid during the quarter. Once the correct QTD information has been identified and the reports have been run, you can upload this report by clicking Choose Files. The system will automatically mark this step as complete once you upload your file.