Employee Data - Payroll Onboarding

This guide outlines the necessary steps for completing the Employee Data module during payroll onboarding. It emphasizes the importance of verifying employee data to ensure successful payroll processing. Key sections include an introduction to the module, employee review tasks, and setting up federal and state tax withholding for both active and terminated employees. Users are instructed on managing direct deposit information, with options for bulk importing data for larger employee groups. The document also provides links to helpful resources and templates for tax and direct deposit data management. It is essential to follow the prompts to ensure all required information is accurately entered and verified.

Jul 8, 2026
Knowledge

Title

Article Text

How do I complete the Employee Data module in payroll onboarding?

Purpose: The purpose of this guide is to explain the required payroll steps and tasks you will need to complete within the Employee Data module of onboarding.

For more information about general onboarding/implementation, click here. For more information about Payroll-specific modules of onboarding, click here.

Table of Contents:

Intro
Employee Review
Taxes
Direct Deposit
- Direct Deposit Data Template

Data, data, data! After you have taken care of all your account settings, you will now need to add and verify that all of your employees have the necessary data added to their record to run payroll successfully.

Intro

Click Start to kick of the Employee Data module. If you are an existing customer, you will be sent to an Employee Review step. If this is your first time onboarding with BambooHR, you will work through the Employee Profiles and Job Data steps to add your employees, and if applicable, set up project tracking and multiple pay rates. Follow the prompts to quickly add this information.

Employee Review

After verifying that you have accurately set up multiple pay rates, you will be prompted with a series of tasks to review your missing payroll data.

Click Review Missing Payroll Data to begin adding your employee's missing payroll data. BambooHR has created an amazing tool to help ensure every active employee’s data is complete and ready for payroll. Clicking Done will mark the step complete.

To show up in the list of active employees, the employee must be missing at least one of the required payroll fields (see below) AND have a home or work location that meets at least one of the following criteria:

Have a US home address and US work location
Have a US home address and no work location
Have no home address and a US work location
Have no home address or work location filled out

Taxes

You will need to set up your employee's federal and state tax withholding data. There are two separate tasks for active and terminated employees because terminated employees are not required in all situations, and when required, terminated employees do not need as many tax fields entered.

Taxes for active employees

For employees to show within the active employee task, they should have all of the following:

Be in a syncing pay schedule
Employment status is not Terminated
- OR if employment status is Terminated, final pay date or termination effective date is in the future

If employees are missing tax fields, they will be at the top of the list, sorted alphabetically by last name, and show "Has missing fields" next to their name. If employees have all tax fields filled in, they will be at the bottom of the list, sorted alphabetically by last name, and show “Good to go!” Clicking on the employee’s name will open that employee’s Pay Info tab. There is a pencil icon next to all employees to make edits. The Done button is disabled until all employees show “Good to go!”

In the tax modal, clicking Save and Next will save any changes and move to the next employee in the list. Clicking Save and Close will save any changes and return the user to the Taxes step. Clicking Cancel will not save changes and return the user to the Taxes step.

Taxes for terminated employees

If you are processing your first payroll at the start of a new year or are a new company, this task will not appear. For employees to show within the terminated employee task, they should have all of the following:

Be in a syncing pay schedule
Have a termination date within the current calendar year, or a termination date in December of the previous year, or a final pay date in the current calendar year

Employee Tax template

If you have not completed this in the previous steps, and you have 26 or more employees, you also have the option to fill out the tax template. Click Upload Spreadsheets (blue hyperlink) at the top of the table within the Taxes step. You can also find the downloadable template in the Payroll Implementation folder on the main Files tab. For quick access, you can also download the template below.

The Employee Tax template houses both federal and state tax withholding data for your employees. Filling out this template ensures your employees' correct withholdings and exemptions are included in BambooHR. Once the Employee Tax template is complete, please upload it to your Payroll Implementation folder on the Files tab in BambooHR.

Here is a helpful guide on filling out the Employee Tax template.
Here is a helpful guide on state tax withholding and state unemployment insurance in BambooHR.
Here is a helpful guide on federal tax withholding in BambooHR.

BambooHR®+BambooHR Payroll Tax Data Template.xlsx

A couple of helpful tips:

There is a required column hidden under the Employee W-4 State & UI tab on the tax template. Do not forget to fill out column AC–Unemployment Insurance Location.
For federal withholdings, only employees using the post-2020 W-4 may have their tax information manually entered directly into BambooHR.

Direct Deposit

Let's add your employee's direct deposit information! For employees to show within the direct deposit task, they should have all of the following:

Be in a syncing pay schedule
Employment status is not terminated
- OR if employment status is terminated, final pay date or termination effective date is in the future

If the employee is missing direct deposit information or has not been set to the paper check option, they will be at the top of the list,sorted alphabetically by last name, and show “Incomplete” next to their name. If employees have been set to the paper check option, the system will show “Paper Check" next to the employee's name. If employees have direct deposit set up, the system will show “Good to go!" Clicking on the employee’s name will open that employee’s Pay Info tab.

There is a pencil icon next to all employees to make edits. Clicking the pencil icon opens the direct deposit modal where you can enter or edit the information. In the direct deposit modal, clicking Save and Next will save any changes and move to the next employee in the list. Clicking Save and Close will save any changes and return the user to the direct deposit step. Clicking Cancel will not save changes and return the user to the direct deposit step.

Click Review Direct Deposit to verify that all employees have their accurate direct deposit data on the Payroll Direct Deposit report. If an employee is missing their direct deposit information, you can manually add it on their Pay Info tab, or you can download a template by clicking Bulk Import Direct DepositInfo to fill out and have the data imported into your employee's records. You can find the downloaded template within the Payroll Implementation folder on the main Files tab.

Direct Deposit Data Template

If you have 26 or more employees, you will have the option to bulk import your employees' direct deposit data. Click Upload Spreadsheet to download the template and watch an instructional video. The Direct Deposit template holds all employee bank information. This template will help you ensure your employees are getting their paychecks deposited into the right bank accounts. Once the template is complete, choose the file and select Upload. You can then mark the step as complete.

You can locate and download the template from this task, or you can click the link below.

BambooHR®+BambooHR Payroll Direct Deposit Data Template.xlsx

For Columns G, H, and I, when an employee lists multiple direct deposit accounts without designating a balance account, the system selects the last one listed as the balance account. It then deposits any unaccounted-for funds into this account.

URL Name

1892854