On Monday, June 17th, 2024, Vestwell updated the onboarding process for employers launching a new retirement plan. The update is aimed to optimize, streamline, and simplify the onboarding process for your clients by consolidating most onboarding activities onto Vestwell’s digital portal. This article aims to answer some frequently asked questions about the new Digital Onboarding experience.
- Which plans will experience the new Digital Onboarding experience?
- Which plans will still see the old Digital Onboarding experience?
- What are the steps of Digital Onboarding?
- How can my client’s Digital Onboarding experience be accessed from the advisor portal?
- Why will some of my clients see a “Plan Design” step in the portal, while others do not?
- During the “Plan Design” step, which of my plans will see the digital plan design form, and which will be required to schedule a plan design call?
1. Which plans will experience the new Digital Onboarding experience?
All new employers will receive a welcome email invitation to begin registration and onboarding for their plan. Any of your plans that receive this welcome invitation to register and begin onboarding on or after June 17, 2024, will see the new Digital Onboarding experience.
2. Which plans will still see the old Digital Onboarding experience?
All employers receive a welcome email invitation to register and begin onboarding on our portal. Plans that have successfully registered before June 17, 2024, and are currently completing onboarding will continue with the old onboarding experience.
3. What are the steps of Digital Onboarding?
Digital Onboarding consists of the following steps. Please click on the hyperlinks for more detailed information on each step. It’s best to participate in your clients’ Digital Onboarding experience to assist if needed and review the information they enter into the portal for their plan.
1. Company Questionnaire
In this first step, clients will share information regarding their company, its ownership, physical location, and its formation.
2. Plan Design (for certain plans only)
Note: This second step will not be visible to “unbundled” plan types such as “Vestwell Recordkeeping Only” or “Vestwell Flex” plans. For these “unbundled” plan types, plan design will be discussed with a client’s external Third Party Administrator (TPA). Instead of completing this step in the portal, clients will automatically be brought to the next section of Digital Onboarding, titled “Payroll and Payment.” Select partner products may also not populate the “Plan Design” step.
For all bundled plans, the plan design step will either allow you, in partnership with your Vestwell representative, to help clients complete their plan design selections directly within the portal via a digital form. Or, clients will be prompted to schedule a plan design call with Vestwell’s plan design consultants from their portal if required for their plan type.
It’s strongly encouraged to connect with your clients during this step to complete the plan design together. This way, you can assist and review your clients' plan design choices before they’re finalized.
3. Plan Launch Call
This third “Plan Launch Call” step will not be visible to certain plans during Digital Onboarding. This includes:
- “Unbundled” plan types such as “Vestwell Recordkeeping Only” or “Vestwell Flex” plans
- "Full Consult" plans
- Starter 401(k) plans
The scheduling of the Plan Launch Call will be conducted outside of Digital Onboarding for plans electing for a full plan design consultation and unbundled plans with a TPA. Starter 401(k) plans will not have a Plan Launch Call. Instead of completing this step in the portal, clients will automatically be brought to the next section of Digital Onboarding, titled “Payroll and Payment.”
During this step, your clients can schedule their “Plan Launch Call” with one of Vestwell’s Implementation Specialists. During the call, we will review the information requested in the Digital Onboarding experience and discuss the plan's onboarding process in detail.
4. Payroll and Payment
During the “Payroll and Payment” step, we will collect information to connect your client’s payroll provider with Vestwell, configure any payroll integration, and set up pay groups and pay schedules if these items are applicable. In addition, clients will provide the banking information that will be used to fund their plan’s contributions and fees.
5. Census
The final step of the Digital Onboarding process is the “Census” section, where clients will submit a full company census with information about each employee.
4. How can my client’s Digital Onboarding experience be accessed from the advisor portal?
Once your client receives an invitation to register and begin onboarding, you’ll be able to access their Digital Onboarding experience. This means you can see exactly what your clients see throughout each step of Digital Onboarding on the portal and fill in the information on your client's behalf if needed. You can access your client’s Digital Onboarding on your advisor portal by following the below steps.
Note: You will not see the new Digital Onboarding experience for clients who have successfully registered and begun onboarding on the portal prior to June 17th, 2024.
- Log in to your advisor portal.
- Navigate to the “Onboarding” page by clicking on the cart icon
on the left-hand side of your screen.
- From here, you can view all of your plans that have begun onboarding, as well as status updates on various onboarding activities. To continue navigating to a client’s Digital Onboarding experience, select the arrow icon
within the “Employer Questionnaire” column for the respective plan.
- You will now be redirected to your client’s Digital Onboarding experience within their employer portal, allowing you to see exactly what your client sees. You can help fill out the information across the various steps of the Digital Onboarding experience on your client’s behalf.
5. Why will some of my clients see a “Plan Design” step in the portal, while others do not?
Unbundled plans, plans that work with an external Third Party Administration (TPA), will not see the “Plan Design” step in the Digital Onboarding process. An example of these unbundled plan types include:
- “Recordkeeping Only” plans
- “Vestwell Flex” plans
Instead, plan design will be discussed with the client’s external Third Party Administrator (TPA). Your clients will skip this section of Digital Onboarding and will automatically be brought to the next section titled “Payroll and Payment.”
Select partner products may also not populate the “Plan Design” step.
All other plans will have a “Plan Design” step during the Digital Onboarding experience.
6. During the “Plan Design” step, which of my plans will see the digital plan design form, and which will be required to schedule a plan design call?
All Vestwell “bundled” plans will see a “Plan Design” step during Digital Onboarding. Depending on your client’s plan type, they will be prompted with one of the following experiences:
- A digital form within the portal that allows you and your client to fill out the plan design selections, or,
- A calendar link for your client to schedule a required plan design call where they will meet with a Vestwell plan design consultant to walk through their plan design options
Plans that can see the digital form:
- Most startup 401(k) plans—for companies that are starting a net new 401(k) plan with Vestwell with no prior assets from a previous retirement plan provider—can see the digital plan design form in their portal. Even if a plan is a startup 401(k), you can always elect for your client’s plans to have a plan design call led by Vestwell’s plan design consultants.
Plans that will be prompted to schedule a plan design consultation:
- All conversion plans—plans that are transferred from a prior retirement plan provider to Vestwell—will be required to schedule a plan design call. In addition, all 403(b) plans, both startup and conversion plans, must schedule a plan design call. Some startup 401(k)s with complex plan design features may also be prompted to schedule a plan design call.
For more information about each step in the plan design process, please see our “Plan Design” article. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to clientsuccess@vestwell.com.