Employers: Register Today

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Employers

Facilitating Secure Choice Resources Employer Support Payroll Providers

Savers

Waiting for Employee Enrollment

After employee information is added, your employees will be sent an invitation to join the program and set up their account - or opt out if they prefer not to participate. Each employee will have 30 days to customize their account or opt out before payroll contributions are expected to begin. If your employee does not act within 30 days, they will be automatically enrolled in Illinois Secure Choice with the standard contribution rate and investment funds.

This 30-day period is important as it gives you an opportunity to complete a few tasks in preparation for submitting employee contributions.

What can you do while you wait for employees to take action?

While there are no required actions for you during this period, we recommend you take a few proactive steps to be ready for when it’s time to submit contributions.

  1. Send a communication to your employees to alert them that your company is facilitating Illinois Secure Choice. This is optional but most employers say that it helps employees understand and prepare for Illinois Secure Choice.
  2. If your employee says they did not receive a welcome packet within seven days of you adding their information, log into the Employer Portal and open the employee’s profile to resend the information.
  3. Get a head start and add the Illinois Secure Choice deduction within your bookkeeping or payroll software/file. The new payroll deduction should be built with the following characteristics:
    • Roth IRA (post-tax).
    • 5% default deferral rate (no dollar amounts). (Note: Based on your employees’ decision, you may need to change this percentage after the 30-day decision period is over. For more information, visit Set up Deductions.
    • Contributions are calculated from the gross income with the amount deducted after taxes (i.e. deducted from net pay).
    • These amounts are not reportable on Form W-2.
    • Remember that there is no employer matching.
  4. If you use a payroll solution such as a payroll company or software to manage employee payroll, now is a good time to make this connection.

Frequently asked questions

What does it mean that employees are automatically enrolled?

Automatic enrollment means that following notification, employers will enroll eligible employees in Illinois Secure Choice unless employees have elected to opt out of the program.

What should I do if an employee asks me for advice about the program or investment options?

You should refer the employee to the program website or call center for questions about the program or their Illinois Secure Choice account. Employees should contact their financial advisors for investment advice.

How long will the enrollment process for employers take to complete online?

The amount of time to complete the employee enrollment process will vary, depending on how many employees you have and whether you enter them in one at a time or by bulk upload using an electronic format provided by the program. Initial enrollment may take as little as a few minutes but can take longer if you are entering large numbers of employees one at a time.

If an employee already has an account with the program through another employer, do I need to find the employee's account in the system?

No, you do not need to worry about identifying an existing account for an employee who tells you they already have one. You will simply provide basic information about the employee, and Illinois Secure Choice will use an employee's information to ensure new contributions go into the employee’s existing account.