HELP CENTER

FAQs about Implementation

Timeline

The setup process will depend on how long it takes you and your implementation team to import your company's information and policies into Zenefits. For smaller companies, this can take as little as a couple hours. For larger companies, this takes on average, a couple of weeks.

Documents & Information

  1. HR Information
  2. Worker Information
  3. Payroll Information
  4. Benefits Information

For an overview of the implementation process, please refer to the Zenefits Customer Onboarding Guide .pdf

Training

Also check out the Getting Started Help Center series, which explores the setup process in more detail.

Overview

This article describes the demographic information required to set up your Zenefits account. If you are setting up Zenefits Payroll, you will need to provide additional banking and tax information for each worker

Providing Your Demographic Information

Start by downloading our Zenefits worker demographics template. You will provide worker details using one row per individual.

Tip: Mouse over the column headers within the template to see whether a certain format is required for that piece of information. E.g., each Social Security Number needs to be a whole number with exactly 9 digits (including any leading zeroes).

Demographic Information for HR or Benefits Setup

To set up HR or Benefits, you'll need to provide all the following information for each of your workers.

These requirements apply to all active workers and any workers your company has been terminated during this calendar year.

  • Full Name
  • Date of Birth
  • Gender
  • Email Address
  • Hire Date
  • Personal Address (City, State, Zip)
  • Work Location
  • Compensation (Annual Salary or Hourly Rate)
  • Compensation Type
  • Social Security Number
  • Employment type (Full Time or Part Time)
  • Job Title
  • Department

Demographic Information for Payroll Setup

To set up Zenefits Payroll, you will need to provide all of the HR/Benefits information (see above), as well as the additional information listed below.

These requirements apply to all active workers and any workers your company has been terminated during this calendar year.

  • Payment Method (Check or Direct Deposit) 
  • Bank Account Type (Checking or Savings)
  • Bank Account Number and Routing Number
The implementation process timing depends on a few things:
  1. How quickly you upload your data into Zenefits and the quality/readiness of that data.
  2. Your timeliness in responding to any questions like these:
  • Which Zenefits features are you looking to set up during implementation?
  • Is all of your company and worker information either (a) already uploaded to Zenefits, or (b) readily available for upload?
As your system of record, Zenefits is your source of truth for all worker administration data, payroll, benefits, and any other features that you choose to set up.

Old System or Zenefits?

From the time you sign up with Zenefits, we recommend making all changes to worker records (hiring, terminating, address changes, and the like) within our system. If you are transitioning from an old system where updates affect payroll or other features not yet set up in Zenefits, there may be a point where individual changes will need to be entered in both systems. Don’t worry - we've made it easy so once you’re set up, you only have to enter data into Zenefits. 

What Stays Active While Setting Up Zenefits?

If you will be using Zenefits Payroll, we strongly recommend keeping your previous payroll active until you successfully complete your first pay run with Zenefits Payroll. 

Various teams dedicated to your company account will walk you through benefits and HR expectations depending on the products you choose and your company’s specific situation. 

To ensure there are no gaps in service, we recommend as a general rule that you do not cancel your old services until you are fully up and running with Zenefits.

When Is Implementation Complete?

This depends on your chosen features and company needs. Generally speaking, your company will have the onboarding process configured, and depending on your company’s features, Zenefits Payroll will be active, and you will have your company health insurance ready to go within your Zenefits dashboard. As mentioned in Basics of Setting Up Zenefits, your  timeline is dependent on many factors: the features being setup, having tax info and documents ready to go, and more. Our goal is to get you up and running as soon as possible.
Any current workers must be invited by the admin during the implementation process. New hires should also be invited into Zenefits, although their workflow differs. They will sign onboarding  documentation, whereas current workers will not have to redo any company documents unless specifically requested by the company administrator

Your current workers will not be contacted until:
  • You complete the Time Off app setup
  • You complete Zenefits Payroll setup
  • You do a bulk request from the Directory app after uploading the census
The individual worker experience differs depending on the apps being used. Generally, those invited will receive a registration email asking them to verify information that the admin entered and to fill in the blanks for any missing basic information (e.g., home address, personal email, banking info) and any other information specific to the apps that you have set up.
Immediately following your purchase of Zenefits, you will be directed to an online setup flow that will walk you through setting up your company information and uploading some basic demographic information. 

If you wish to add additional information beyond these fields, you will have the option to edit or add information after the initial upload. You can also provide Zenefits with a .csv or .xls file with all of the required demographic information using one of our templates and we will upload this directly into your Zenefits account on your behalf.

Where can I find additional information on setting up my account?

Training

Zenefits has a specialized section with Training videos and courses. These courses will help you quickly acclimate to the Zenefits system. You can access them at any time by clicking Training under the Quick Links section on the right side of your Zenefits dashboard.

Help Center

Our Help Center features instructional pages and articles that answer all your questions on payroll, benefits, HR compliance and more 

Customer Care

If you'd prefer to speak to someone over the phone, via email, or on a live chat, you may reach out to our Customer Care team by clicking the question mark (?) in the bottom righthand corner of your Zenefits account. 
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