Betterment 401(k) – Bulk Upload Tutorial for Plan Sponsors

Betterment 401(k) – Bulk Upload Tutorial for Plan Sponsors Oct 4, 2022 1:47:00 PM Betterment’s bulk upload tool allows you to add multiple employees to your plan quickly. This tutorial outlines best practices and shares helpful tips for using our bulk upload tool effectively. Step-by-step Tutorial Log in to the employer dashboard   Navigate to: employees → add employees → add multiple employees   Download the CSV template   Open the CSV template using a program like Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, or Google Sheets   Fill out one row for each employee you want to upload.   Use the table below to understand the columns in the template: Column Description First Name The employee’s legal first name No special characters accepted Last Name The employee’s legal last name No special characters accepted Middle Initial Leave blank if the employee doesn’t have a legal middle name Social Security Number The employee’s government-issued Social Security Number If the employee is not a US Citizen, a Social Security Number still needs to be provided Social Security Numbers should be formatted with hyphens, e.g.: 123-45-6789 Email Betterment uses email to complete the employee sign-up process and to send employees important plan notifications and updates Date of Birth Date should be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY Employment Status This field accepts the following inputs: active   (currently employed) terminated   (formerly employed) deceased   (deceased) disabled   (on disability leave) unpaid_leave   (unpaid leave) retired   (retired former employee) Date of Hire Date of hire can be up to one year in the future Date should be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY Date of Termination This field is required if Employment Status is terminated, deceased, disabled or retired This field can be left blank for employees who are active or who are on unpaid leave Date of termination can be up to one year in the future Date should be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY Date of Rehire This field is required if Employment Status is active and Date of Termination is set Address Line 1 This field is required for all employees The employee’s residential address cannot be a PO Box If the employee’s address includes a comma, you must put that address within quotation marks Address Line 2 This field can be left blank if the employee’s residential address is only one line City Part of the employee’s residential address State Part of the employee’s residential address State should be written using the official two-letter postal abbreviation Examples: NY, FL, CA, TX 5 Digit ZIP Code Part of the employee’s residential address Eligible This field accepts an input of Y or N If an employee will be hired in the future, you must enter N for Eligible, and enter a date in the Entry on column. This indicates that the employee will become eligible for the plan on the future date you’ve specified. Entry on This field defines the date on which an employee will become eligible for the 401(k) plan This date can be in the past or the future Date should be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY Electronic Access This field accepts an input of Y or N Can this employee receive emails and access Betterment’s website at a computer they use regularly as part of their job? Union Member This field accepts an input of Y or N Is this employee a member of a union? Date Joined Union Required if the employee is a member of a union Date should be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY Can be left blank for non-union employees Participant Type This field accepts the following inputs: primary   (all participants who are currently in the plan, whether active, terminated, deceased, disabled, retired, or on leave) beneficiary   (beneficiary of a deceased participant) alternate_payee   (a person who will be the payee of a divorce or other legal settlement) Deferral Rate If an employee was participating in a 401(k) plan you had with a previous provider, please indicate their contribution rate from that provider. This will be used as their new default rate at Betterment. The employee will be able to log into their account to change this prior to their first contribution with Betterment. Traditional deferral amount and percent cannot both be present. Roth deferral amount and percent cannot both be present. If you’re not switching to Betterment from a previous provider, you can leave this field blank.   After you’re done filling out the document, export the file as a CSV.   Upload your CSV file to Betterment.   If you receive any errors after uploading your file, review the errors and make changes to your CSV file. Re-upload the file to Betterment after making changes.   Once your file is accepted without any errors, you’ll be asked to review the names of the newly created employees. This helps ensure that you’re uploading the correct file to your plan. When you’re done reviewing, click the ‘add employees’ button.   Next, the upload process will begin. Once your employees have been uploaded, they’ll receive an email inviting them to complete the sign-up process.   Finally, check the employees page to make sure there are no outstanding errors that occurred during the employee creation process. Address any errors that may have occurred.   You’re all set! All new participant profiles will be visible on the employees page. You can return to the employees page to make changes to an employee’s profile at any time.   Frequently Asked Questions Do I have to do anything else? Nope! You’re all set. Betterment will email all required disclosures to your new plan participants. Do I have to send any notices to my employees? No, Betterment will send all notices to your employees automatically via email. When will my employees be alerted? Employees will be notified by email as soon as their account is created. How can my employees join the plan after I upload their information to Betterment? Employees can check their email for an invite from Betterment to complete the sign-up process. My employee has a P.O. Box as their address. Can I use that address with Betterment? No. To comply with regulations for opening accounts, we require a physical address to verify an employee's identity. Betterment will not send physical mail to an employee’s address (unless they opt into paper statements, which is rare); we will otherwise only use their physical address for account verification. Questions? Contact us.