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Payroll: Paychex Flex integration overview

  • Updated

This article is subject to change as we continue to enhance this product and must be read before requesting an integration with Paychex.

 

Newly added:

 

So you're looking to learn more about Employee Navigator's payroll integration with Paychex Flex? Well, you've come to the right spot! Let's take a holistic look at the integration in the following areas:

  1. How much does it cost?
  2. Welcome video
    1. This is the video that a broker & HR would ultimately be sent once they started the integration with our EN Payroll team - but there's no sense in hiding it from you until then! Take an insider's glance at what this integration will look like for you.
  3. What is the lifecycle of a payroll integration?
  4. What's in it for me?
    1. We've tracked data over the last 5 years to show where this integration is providing value you can feel
  5. How do I get started?
  6. What do I generally need to be aware of with Paychex?
  7. What does this integration exchange?
  8. What does this integration not exchange?
  9. One-pager overviews for brokers & HR
  10. Who can I contact?

How much does it cost?

Paychex's fee will be $50 per month to the client directly.  There are no PEPM fees charged by Paychex; just the static monthly fee.

If your group has multi-EINs, it is still a flat $50 for the entire company set - not $50 per EIN.

 

Welcome video

 

What is the lifecycle of a payroll integration?

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  1. Talk with HR

    • Have a conversation with HR to be sure this Paychex integration is the right fit.  Our integration one-pagers are commonly helpful, and EN is happy to join a call between you and your customer to discuss the integration together.
  2. Request the integration with Paychex
    • Follow the steps on our How do I get started section to kick off your request to Paychex to notify them of your interest to integrate.  They will contact HR to have them sign & return an addendum before approving their request.
  3. Setup
    • Complete some minor setup in EN for payroll groups, calendars, and deduction codes. Don't worry! Our EN Payroll team is here to help.
  4. Audits
    • Complete both one-time reconciliations of your employee data: The Demographic Audit and the Deduction Audit. Don't worry! Our EN Payroll team is here to help.
  5. Live

What's in it for me?

This payroll integration has three major values to both an agency and HR:

    • We're on pace to save agencies and customers using the payroll integration a total of 1,800,000 hours of work in 2024

      • You get accurate census data for quoting & no more dual entry into two systems

    • We've caught over $10,000,000 and counting in missing or incorrect deductions

      • No more remembering to key in deductions manually for new hires, Open Enrollment, or mid-year changes.

    • Allowing HR and agency employees to step away from data entry tasks and grow to let their truly valuable skills shine - the ones that cannot be automated like employee relations management, recruiting, and person-to-person support at the agency or company level.

How do I get started?

Before requesting an integration, do you have more than one Client Id in payroll for this company? If not, proceed with the steps below. If yes, navigate to our Subscriber Group help article to complete the necessary steps before submitting an integration request.

In order to request an integration with a payroll partner of ours and a single Client Id, you will do the following:

1. Go to the Payroll tab within your company in Employee Navigator.

2. Click on 'Add Integration +'

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3. Click on 'Add Integration +', and choose Paychex from the dropdown --> Save and Continue.

Add the contacts you would like to be involved in the integration setup process --> Save and continue.

 

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4. This will send a request to the Paychex, and you will receive an email confirmation of this as well.

5. The partner controls the Approval step of your new request, and they can be reached at EE_Nav_Setup@Paychex.com

5. Once your integration request is approved by Paychex, you and your client will receive a 'Getting Started' email from the payroll partner with the EN Payroll team copied in.

6. An analyst from our team will reach out within 3 business days to provide our Welcome Video and your link to schedule your review call where your analyst will outline your responsibilities within the integration setup process.

 

What do I generally need to be aware of? 

  • Deduction start dates
    • Paychex's system goes off of a 'Check Date'. If a deduction is inserted into Paychex, then it will appear on the very next upcoming Pay Date in payroll.
  • Paychex will send compensation changes on the exact day of the change
    • If an employee receives a salary increase effective on 11/1/2024, then that change will send to EN on 11/1/2024 - regardless of if it is updated by HR in advance of the 11/1 date.
  • Paychex does not accept changes from EN when a Paychex Account Manager is logged into the client's account to assist them
    • If they are, then Paychex will respond with an 'Account Locked' error message and prevent the change from being inserted.
  • Paychex does not accept prior benefit effective dates from the EN system
    • If the effective date of the benefit is prior to the date the transmission is being sent to payroll, then the Start Date of the deduction in Paychex = Date the transmission is sent.
      • Ex. If Medical enrollment, effective 10/1/2024, is sent to Payroll on 10/7/2024, then the Start Date of that deduction will be 10/7/2024.
    • If the effective date of the benefit is ‘today’s date’ or a future date, then the Start Date of that deduction in Paychex = the effective date of the benefit
      • Ex. If Medical enrollment, effective 10/1/2024, is sent on 9/15/2024, then the start date will equal the effective date of the enrollment, 10/1/2024.
  • Paychex does not accept solely effective date changes
    • If you are using our enrollment editor to change a deduction's start date and the cost remains the same, then Paychex will not update the deduction in their system as they do not accept just effective date changes. You will need to manually update Paychex to adjust the start date of the deduction record.

 

What does this integration exchange?

Bi-directional Demographics

With our payroll providers, we are able to exchange bi-directional demographics in real-time on a change-only basis. This means that address, email, and other demographic updates can be made in either system and as soon as the update is made it is pulled into the alternate system within 45-60 seconds.

  • New hires can be added in Paychex only
  • Terminations can be completed in Employee Navigator or Paychex

Base Compensation: 1-Way (Payroll to EN only)

Compensation is “owned” by payroll. This means that compensation will always come from Payroll to Employee Navigator and is required within our integrations.

An employee's record must include:

  • Compensation basis: must be Hourly or Salary
    • Cannot be 'Daily' in the Paychex Flex system. If so, we are unable to accept the employee's record via the integration.
  • Compensation effective date
  • Salary value and/or Hourly Rate

*Employee Navigator will auto-calculate a Base Salary on the fly for Hourly employees who are sent to us with a $0 annual salary or a blank value.

Payroll Deductions: 1-Way (EN to Payroll only)

Payroll deductions are “owned” by Employee Navigator. This means that payroll deductions will always be sent from Employee Navigator to Payroll in real time.  

We will send:

  • Deduction code mapped into the employee's Payroll Group
  • Employee's recurring per pay cost.
    • We do not send catch-up contributions to payroll for missed pay periods. Any adjustments need to be manually added to Payroll. Retroactive deductions can be found by running the Retroactive Deduction report under Payroll > Reports > Retroactive Deductions.
  • The effective date of the deduction
    • EN cannot send deductions with start dates that fall prior to the actual start date of the coverage.
  • End-date of the benefit (if applicable when an employee drops coverage or is terminated).

We only send employee recurring deductions to payroll one time when an enrollment occurs to insert them initially.  We will not send another deduction transmission to payroll for the same benefit unless the employee's cost changes due to:

  1. The employee going through an Open Enrollment
  2. Plan rates are recalculated due to a Class or Payroll Group change
  3. Employee experiences a qualifying Life Event
  4. Employee is terminated and their coverage is dropped
  5. Enrollment editor is used to adjust a enrollment cost
  6. Deduction code(s) are updated for a Live group

What does this integration not exchange?

Demographic fields not currently exchanged

  • Class structures: Class, Department, Division, Office Location, Business Units
  • 1099 employees
  • Termination Reason
    • All terminated employees will be given the Termination reason: Voluntary Termination.
      • This automatically triggers a COBRA event and communicates with providers if they have a COBRA integration.
      • To change this if need be, please use the Termination Editor.
        • This tool is located on an employee's Employee Management tab > Actions section (right side of the page) > Terminate Editor.

Employee Navigator will flag all new hires on your Homepage --> 'Complete Employees Missing HR Required Fields' status --> 'Complete Hire' link.

Note: Refer to your Payroll partner's user guide for additional details.

 

Deduction types not currently exchanged

The following are current product limitations and must be managed manually in the payroll system.

  • Earnings or Employer Contributions (ER amounts)
    • Employer deduction codes entered into the 'ER Code' column of a payroll group will not transmit through our API but can be used for reporting purposes on our Payroll Deductions Report
  • Deductions for employees with a Domestic Partner
    • Employee Navigator cannot currently send a portion of an employee's deduction pre-tax and another, separate portion as post-tax. Exchanging deduction data for those with Domestic Partners will result in incorrect deductions in payroll.
    • Action to take: Employees in this scenario must have their deductions blocked from their Profile --> Apps --> Manage link --> Block Deductions.
  • Commuter Benefits - (Parking & Transit)
    • Employee Navigator cannot currently send a portion of an employee's deduction pre-tax and another, separate portion as post-tax.
    • Action to take: None. Our system auto-sets these plan types to 'Never Send'
  • 401K
  • Universal plans

 

Items to confirm before requesting an integration

  • Does your group have an Active open enrollment currently in session?
    • If a company in our system has an Active OE, we will grey out the ability to add an integration. You must wait until after the OE has been closed and deductions have been manually updated in payroll before you can request the integration process.

  • Your group cannot be within 30 days of their new plan year.  If they are, you must wait until after the OE has been closed and deductions have been manually updated in payroll before you can request the integration process.

  • If your group is new to the payroll provider, they must have run at least one payroll before they can begin the integration process.

  • Is your group a multi-EIN group with multiple companies built-in Payroll?

    • If so, you will need to create Subscriber groups to account for each company on the payroll side.  This will allow you to make multiple integration requests to connect each unique company from Payroll.

 

Who can I contact to discuss if this integration is a fit for my customer?

You may reach out to employeenavigator@paychex.com

 

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