Connect several payroll companies to one Employee Navigator account
A subscriber group is simply Employee Navigator's name for one company (or database) in payroll. If your organization has more than one company ID in payroll, you create one subscriber group per company and request the integration for each. That's the whole idea.
Only if payroll treats you as more than one company
Start with your payroll partner. The answer depends on how your companies are built in payroll, not on how many EINs you have on paper.
No — skip subscriber groups
If your customer is with UKG Ready, you do not need to create subscriber groups. Make a single request.
Probably not
ADP Workforce Now typically combines all of a customer's companies into a single database , which allows a 1:1 connection with Employee Navigator — so a single "All Employees" request is safe.
Only if the customer truly has multiple databases in ADP WFN would you need subscriber groups. That's rare, mainly because of the cost of more than one database in ADP.
Yes — one per payroll company
If your customer is with any other partner and has more than one company in payroll, create a subscriber group for each company that exists in payroll , then request the integration for each.
Not sure how many companies you have in payroll? Ask your partner.
If you think you or your client might have multiple company IDs or are part of a parent–child company with multiple companies in payroll, send the partner this note to confirm if you need Subscriber Groups.
Hi!
I am working with [insert the company name], and we are planning to request a payroll integration through Employee Navigator. Before we do this, we believe there may be multiple company IDs in payroll that would be a part of this connection, where we'd need to create Subscriber Groups in Employee Navigator to make multiple integration requests for each company instance we have in payroll. Are you able to confirm how many unique companies exist in payroll for this group and the names of each company ID? If you need any other company data to confirm "who they are" on your side, please let me know.
One subscriber group = one company in payroll
Subscriber groups let you connect multiple payroll companies to a single Employee Navigator account where all of those employees are housed. Each unique Company ID in payroll maps to a subscriber group you create in EN.
That mapping is how Employee Navigator knows which company an employee's demographic data is coming from , and which company their deductions need to be sent to .
Example: a hotel group with locations built as separate companies in payroll. Subscriber group A holds the employees from the Charleston location, subscriber group B the employees from Tampa — each connected to its own payroll company, all under one Employee Navigator umbrella.
Subscriber group
A unique company in payroll that only a certain grouping of EN employees belongs to.
Primary subscriber group
When an employee is in several groups, the one that owns their compensation, hire/term dates and deductions. The first group assigned becomes primary.
Exchanged hire date
If a user chose to preserve the hire date of a previous primary, EN creates an exchanged hire date on the new primary. It's used for transmissions, not for eligibility.
Preserved hire date
When checked, a user elected to keep the Employee Navigator hire date from the previous primary for eligibility purposes.
Two steps, repeated once per company
Create the groups first, then make one integration request per group.
Create a subscriber group
In the company, go to Settings → Subscriber Groups .
Click Add Subscriber Group + .
Name it "Company name – Company ID" so it's obvious which payroll company it represents. Save.
Repeat for every company that exists in payroll.
Request the integration for each group
First request: go to the Payroll tab → Connect your payroll platform . Select your payroll partner and the first subscriber group , then Save .
Every request after that: go to Payroll → Add subscription , select the next subscriber group, then Save .
Repeat until every subscriber group has a request.
Add another company without disabling anything
If you have a single-EIN integration and now need a multi-EIN connection, Employee Navigator converts your existing connection to a subscriber group automatically. No disconnecting, no re-doing the first company.
Your steps, in order
Go to Settings → Subscriber Groups and create a subscriber group for the additional company you're about to request.
Go to the Payroll tab → Add Subscription . When pressed, we automatically convert the original integration to a subscriber group for you — no action required.
The request defaults to the newly created subscriber group for the new company.
Click Save & Continue to complete the new request.
Single-EIN integration
Company A connected directly, no subscriber groups.
Company A becomes a subscriber group automatically
Company B is requested as a second subscriber group. Both sync under one Employee Navigator account.
When an employee is in more than one group, one of them is Primary
The primary group decides where the money and the dates come from.
How primary is set
The first subscriber group assigned to an employee is marked as their primary.
You can change it manually from the employee's Profile → Employment .
The employee's Profile → Apps page shows the primary group with a green check mark.
What the primary group controls
Payroll deductions are sent from EN only to the primary subscriber group.
Compensation updates and hire/term dates are accepted only from the primary subscriber group.
All other demographic updates are sent to every subscriber group the employee belongs to, so their record stays in sync across companies.
Import per group, and watch for the hire-date prompt
Example
An employee has a hire date discrepancy during the audit for their primary subscriber group, and they're assigned to multiple groups in EN.
Hire date in EN: 5/1/2027 · hire date in payroll: 5/15/2027
You select the payroll hire date and click Sync . EN prompts you:
Preserve the hire date in EN for eligibility purposes and leave the payroll hire date in the payroll system.
Let the payroll hire date overwrite what is in EN.
The Preserve Hire Date prompt appears when you Sync a hire date for an employee who sits in more than one subscriber group.
Common questions
1 If I hire an employee in payroll, are they assigned to a subscriber group automatically?
Yes. When a new hire comes through the integration and subscriber groups are in use, the employee is auto-assigned to the group the new hire is coming from.
2 Can I unassign an employee from a subscriber group?
Yes — on the employee's Profile → Apps , deselect the prior subscriber group and save. When this happens no information is transmitted to the partner; the subscriber employee records for that group (the employee's identifier in the partner company and the blocked flags) are marked Disconnected ; EN stops transmitting changes for the employee to the partner companies in that group, and incoming transmissions from those partners for the employee are blocked.
3 I disconnected an employee from a group. Can I see if transmissions are still coming from it?
Yes. An inbound transmission from the payroll vendor for an employee who has been disconnected from that subscriber group fails with the reason "Employee has been disconnected from subscriber group" .
4 Can I use subscriber groups to request multiple payroll vendors?
Yes. After you've created your subscriber groups in EN, you can make a request for each payroll vendor.
5 Do I still need the Bulk Assign tool?
No. Since August 4th, 2025, employees are assigned and connected to their subscriber groups automatically once the Demographic Audit is started. Make your integration requests as soon as the groups exist.
6 How do I move an employee from one subscriber group to another?
That's a transfer — see Transferring an employee between companies for the step-by-step with a demo.
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