COLUMN A) Employee Number – The employee number can be any alphanumeric combination you choose. Zeros can be added to the beginning of an Employee Number to create a uniform number of characters across all employees. This creates a uniform look and keeps the order consecutive. If you are using our HR solution, a new employee number will be created by that module once your information has been imported.

COLUMNS B-E ) Name and address – There are no specific formatting requirements in these fields.

COLUMN F) Zip Code – This should be imported as a .txt file to avoid issues with zip codes starting with a zero (0). Excel will not import a leading zero and will end up giving you a four-digit code. Using a .txt file will avoid these errors. Nine-digit zip codes are also acceptable.

COLUMN G) City – No specific formatting requirements for this field.

COLUMN H) State – This must be the two-letter abbreviation for the state in capital letters. For example, Washington should be WA, not Wash., Washington, or washington.

COLUMN I) Social Security Number – The social security numbers should be formatted with dashes after the third and fifth digits (i.e.: 123-45-6789). The column can be formatted for this by right clicking the column header displaying the letter I. Select “Format Cells” from the dropdown menu. Select “Special.” In the “Type” box, click on “Social Security Number.” Now the column will use the correct formatting for the way the SSNs will need to be entered on employees’ W4s.

COLUMN J) Phone Number – This field can be entered in any 10-digit format.

COLUMN K) Birth Date – No specific formatting requirements for this field.

COLUMN L) Hire Date – No specific formatting requirements for this field. The Hire Date is their first day worked / the starting date. There will be a field for Adjusted Hire Dates later in this template. If an employee goes on extended leave or is terminated and rehired, the day they come back will be listed in the Adjusted Hire Date column.

COLUMN M) Marital Status – This field is optional depending on if your organization tracks this metric or not. The options are Single, Married, or Filing Separately. This is not related to tax filing.

COLUMN N) Gender –The options are Male, Female, Not Specified, and Non-Binary. If you do not track Gender in your organization, simply enter Not Specified for all employees. Be sure to spell and capitalize your entries as shown.

COLUMN O) Statutory Employee – This needs to be filled in with as True or False depending on the employee’s status. If the employee is an independent contractor who is considered an employee for tax withholding purposes, enter True. This will trigger the system to mark that box on the employee’s W2. All other employees should be entered as False.

COLUMN P) Email – If you will be a.) contacting your employees by email, b.) using our HR solution, or c.) using Employee Self Service, every employee will need to have a unique email address. For example, if there are spouses who share an email address and both are employed by your organization, they will need to create a second email address for one of them to use.