Understanding 360° Payroll Integration: A Financial Advisor's Guide
Enhance your advisory practice by helping clients simplify retirement plan administration through payroll integration. By automating the exchange of payroll and retirement plan data, a payroll integrated 401(k) can reduce manual processes, improve operational efficiency, and minimize errors. Employers can spend less time on administration and more time on their business, while positioning you as a more complete retirement plan resource.
- Streamlined Processes: Help clients simplify retirement plan management by automating the exchange of payroll and 401(k) data, reducing manual processes, improving accuracy, and minimizing risk.
- Strengthen Retention, Referrals, and Relationships: Expanding your services with 401(k) payroll integration solutions can attract new clients, retain existing ones, and support long-term growth.
- Added Value as a More Complete Resource: Position yourself as a trusted, single source provider by helping clients connect payroll and retirement administration through a more efficient and coordinated solution.
Why payroll integration matters
Business owners are looking for ways to streamline administration, reduce effort, and create a more efficient retirement experience. A payroll integrated 401(k) helps automate the exchange of payroll and retirement plan data, reducing administrative complexity while improving coordination between providers.
How employers benefit from payroll integration
With payroll integration, employers can:
- Save time through automation and streamlined workflows.
- Reduce manual data entry and administrative workload.
- Simplify contribution processing and payroll data exchanges between providers.
- Automate eligibility tracking and participant deferral changes.
- Improve accuracy and reduce operational risk.
- Facilitate the timely investment of employee contributions.
- Spend less time managing plan administration and more time focusing on business priorities.
- Deliver retirement benefits through a more connected and efficient experience.
Learn how payroll integration can optimize plan performance
Why advisors offer payroll integration
Offering a payroll integrated 401(k) can help you expand the value you provide while creating new opportunities for your practice.
Payroll integrated 401(k) advisor benefits include:
- Become a single source of expertise for clients.
- Expand your service offerings.
- Generate another revenue stream.
- Create referral opportunities.
- Strengthen client relationships.
Increase customer retention
Expanding your services with a payroll integrated 401(k) can help retain existing clients and create additional referral opportunities. Stronger client relationships can also contribute to increased plan participation and retirement plan assets.
Add value to your clients
Offer clients an easy-to-administer 401(k) that can help employers save time and money while providing an important employee benefit. This added value can strengthen client relationships and reinforce your role as a trusted retirement plan resource.
How does payroll integration work?
Payroll integration creates a connection between the client’s payroll and retirement plan administration systems, allowing information to move more seamlessly between providers. As employee elections, eligibility status, and contribution information change, the integration helps keep systems aligned while reducing the need for manual coordination.
- Data is exchanged between payroll and retirement plan providers.
- Employee updates can flow through the integration process.
- Eligibility tracking becomes more streamlined.
- Contribution information is communicated more efficiently.
- Employers have fewer administrative touchpoints to manage.
What is 360° payroll integration?
With 360° payroll integration, payroll data is exchanged between the payroll provider, Ascensus, and the employer, creating a more connected and automated experience. When employees make eligible changes to their retirement plan elections, those updates are transmitted through the integration process to help keep payroll and retirement plan data aligned.
Under the 360° model:
- Employee updates are transmitted automatically.
- Participant eligibility can be tracked through the integrated process.
- Payroll and retirement plan data remain synchronized.
- Employer involvement is largely limited to processing payroll.
Payroll integration is simple
Start by identifying a participating payroll provider1. Once a provider is selected, Ascensus works directly with the provider's integration specialist to help coordinate implementation and establish the payroll integration connection.
Frequently asked questions
Does my involvement change with an integrated 401(k)?
No. You remain the face of the plan and continue serving as the primary retirement plan resource for your clients. Payroll integration streamlines administration, but your role as the financial advisor does not change.
How do advisors get paid?
As the financial advisor on the plan, you continue to receive applicable advisory fees. Ascensus can accommodate both fee-based and commission compensation structures.
Who does Ascensus partner with for payroll integrations?
Ascensus partners with multiple national and local payroll providers to support payroll integration.
Is payroll integration right for your client?
While payroll integration can benefit a wide range of businesses, it may be especially valuable for employers seeking a more connected approach to managing payroll and retirement plan responsibilities.
Consider discussing payroll integration with clients that:
- Want to modernize retirement plan administration.
- Have a growing workforce or evolving administration needs.
- Seek greater coordination between payroll and retirement plan providers.
- Value consistency across payroll and retirement plan processes.
- Want a more integrated experience for managing retirement benefits.
Questions to ask prospective clients
The right questions can help uncover whether payroll integration could improve a client's retirement plan experience.
- How do your payroll and retirement plan providers currently work together?
- What parts of retirement plan administration require the most attention from your team?
- How are employee contribution changes communicated and processed today?
- What challenges have you experienced when managing payroll and retirement plan data across multiple systems?
- Have manual processes created delays or administrative challenges?
- What would a more efficient retirement plan administration experience look like for your organization?
Ready to start the conversation about payroll integration?
As your retirement clients evaluate ways to better connect their payroll and retirement plan systems, payroll integration can offer an opportunity to simplify processes and enhance the overall experience. For your advisory practice, it can also open the door to deeper conversations, additional referral opportunities, and new ways to deliver value.
Contact Ascensus to learn more about payroll integration and available provider partnerships.
1The Ascensus list of payroll providers we work with is provided solely as a convenience to plan sponsors. Ascensus does not endorse the payroll providers listed or the products and services they provide. Plan sponsors are not obligated to use them. Ascensus suggests that plan sponsors perform their own due diligence – including technical and financial reviews – before making any decision regarding a payroll provider.