New Employee Onboarding Paperwork Checklist

You made a new hire. Congratulations.

Time to onboard them. One crucial yet bothersome part of every onboarding is the new hire onboarding paperwork.

Every new employee at your company has to go through a series of documents before becoming an official employee. But the new hire documentation process can be tiresome for both you and your new team member.

For example, you have to make sure that new hires receive all relevant documents. Ideally, you also check their progress to ensure they complete everything in time. 

While facilitating onboarding paperwork for new team members may not sound exciting, it has a significant impact. Research from Glassdoor shows that a good onboarding experience can improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by 70%.

Read on to understand the different categories of new hire paperwork you need and how you can automate the entire process to reduce repetitive manual work.

📝 What is onboarding paperwork? 

Simply put, onboarding paperwork ensures your new employees receive, read, and sign the documents they need for a smooth start at your company.

New employee paperwork includes documents that cover various aspects of employment and onboarding, such as:

• Specific job forms like formal offer letters and employment contracts
• Internal company documents such as employee handbooks
• New hire compensation and benefits forms

Having these documents in place is not only a contractual and legal requirement. It also allows all people involved, including new employees and their managers, to understand how they are supposed to work together.

✅ A 4-point checklist of essential documents you need

Before we look at the documents you need, please keep in mind that they are necessary, no matter if you find them tedious or messy.

Through these documents, your new employees will learn about your expectations of them, your company policies, and the benefits they are to get.

It also pays off to make the onboarding paperwork process easy for your new hires because most new employees consider it tiresome, as you can see here and here.

To simplify the signing process for new team members, try to:

• Digitize the signing method by using tools such as DocuSign or PandaDoc. Avoid PDFs attached to spreadsheets because they're typically difficult to understand.
• Use short explanation videos recorded with tools like Loom to give an overview of the documents and signing process. 

"Regardless of whether this new employee is a freelancer on a contract, part-time or a full-time employee, they have to fill some documents during the onboarding process."

An easy way to structure and document your onboarding paperwork process is to arrange all forms in the four categories we'll show you below:

1. 🗺️ Country-specific legal employment documents

Employment laws differ based on your country. Therefore, the first step is to understand your country's local labor laws to maintain compliance. 

Ensure you comply with:

• Working hours
• Salary and bonuses
• Health insurance
• Maternity/paternity leaves
• Any other types of leaves

New employee tax requirements

After you've familiarized yourself with your local laws, the next step is understanding the tax requirement forms that a new employee should complete in your country. 

This form will help your company to:

• Determine accurate tax information.
• Let the new employee know that you'll be withholding a certain amount from their paycheck for taxes.
• Do proper recording to be prepared for audits.

Ensure you get to know the name of the tax form in your country that new hires should fill out. For example, in the United States, it's called the W-4 form.

While complying with the tax requirements, you also want to make certain that the new hire has a work permit for your country. Official government websites can provide you with the necessary information. 

Legal forms for contractors

It's also vital that you know the forms for non-permanent staff in your country. In some countries, it's illegal for contractors to start work without completing certain documents.

For instance, in the United States, one contractor's form is called the W-9 form. It will help you to

• Know that your non-permanent staff complies with your organization's policies
• Easily pay your contractors
• Onboard freelancers efficiently.

To help you get started, we have some tips on how to fill out W9.

2. 💼 Employment documents

Job offer letter

A job offer letter summarizes the position in the company. It hence ensures that both you and the new hire agree on basic job details. Additionally, an official employment offer letter contains essential information such as:

• Job title
• Employment types, such as full time or part-time
• Start date
• Reporting structure
• Salary, bonuses, and benefits information
• Conditions and agreements, such as background checks

If it's a good fit, the candidate will accept the job offer, sign, and send the document back to you.

Employment contract form

After accepting your job offer, new employees may need to review and sign a contract that explains their obligations and responsibilities.

The employment contract typically contains information such as

• Work hours
• Holidays
• Salary
• Responsibilities
• Contract renewal and termination procedures
• Company policies

Should there ever be a disagreement or dispute concerning the terms of employment, you and your employee can refer to the contract.

Role-specific goals and expectations form

Any extra information about your new hires' expectations or responsibilities other than what you provided in the job offer letter should also be in a written document.

For example, this can include the manager's specific expectations of the new employee, how they should complete particular tasks, when there are performance reviews, etc. 

Clear expectations remove the confusion of your new team members on what you expect of them, like the worried employee below.

Non-permanent staff job documents

Organizations often don't provide specific job documents to their contractors, such as freelancers, during the onboarding process. But, depending on your country's legislation, you may be legally obliged to do so. 

A lousy onboarding process may also give your new freelancers the impression that you don't value them.

To build a good relationship with your contractors, do this:

1. Get comprehensive information about them, including email address, phone number, location, and full names.
2. Send them the needed legal documents like an NDA following your company's policies.
3. Collect their payment information and set them up with your payroll system.
4. Give them access to the working tools they need.
5. Be clear on your expectations.

Establishing a good relationship with non-permanent workers, for example, through excellent contractor onboarding, ensures that you'll always have access to talented freelancers.

3. 📄 Internal company documents 

Internal company documents help new employees understand your organization well and how they should conduct themselves. They hence use the documents as references to get work done.

Depending on your business, here are some common internal documents your new hires should receive:

Business Playbook (SOP)

A business playbook houses all your company's processes, policies, and procedures. This document can help your new hires have independence and save time while working by:

• Using it to learn their roles and responsibilities
• Referring to it instead of constantly asking for help from their managers
• Identifying areas where they should improve

Your business playbook can have as many policies as you want, such as hybrid work policies, ethics policies, and environmental policies.

Hybrid work policies

Establishing hybrid work policies lets you set guidelines, eliminate confusion, and empower your employees to set their own work schedules.

Pro tip: Use our ready-to-use template to create a flexible work policy in minutes.

Ethics policies

Business ethics guide all employees on how to act with customers, government agencies, and vendors.

Environmental policies

It is beneficial to have policies that show how your company complies with protecting the environment. You can, for example, include strategies that your company will implement in the next five years.

Employee handbook

Depending on your company's size and operating procedures, you can decide to have both a business playbook and an employee handbook or just one of the two.

An employee handbook is specifically made to guide your employees. Ideally, the document should contain all the information your employees need to know, such as dress code, behavioral policies, and emergency procedures. 

Note: You can add the rest of the topics from this section into your employee handbook, but we'll nonetheless cover each document individually.

Company culture, mission, and values

The mission of your company is the reason your company exists. In addition, according to LinkedIn research, 53% of new hires cite an introduction to company culture and values during their onboarding journey as important. 

Moreover, research from Gallup concluded that an increased connection between employees and their workplace mission leads to an increase in profitability.

Non-disclosure and non-compete agreement

These two documents are essential in preventing the leakage of important company information, processes, and intellectual property.

Non-disclosure agreement

This agreement prevents your employees or independent contractors from disclosing any sensitive information acquired while working for your organization.

However, be careful not to create NDAs that encourage a toxic workplace culture. A toxic culture can even make people resign. 

Non-compete agreement

The non-compete agreement should prevent employees from starting or investing in a competitive business while or after working with you. Post contractual non-compete agreements are typically limited to a specific duration.

For example, an organization could prevent an employee from starting a business within 24 miles of its location for two years.

Organizational chart

An organizational chart is a diagram that shows the structure of an organization. It includes the leadership levels in a company and the relationships between different positions. Your new employees should, for example, know the person they are supposed to report to for specific tasks.

Performance appraisal forms

Performance management processes differ from company to company. To set new hires up for success, they should get familiar with your specific setup. 

Some performance appraisal documents you could give to new employees are:

• Performance review forms
• Performance management process paper
• Performance appraisal letter
• Performance improvement plan
• Performance warning letter

Moreover, if you have a set procedure for career advancement in your organization, this is a fitting place to add some information on that as well. 

For example, if a promotion in your sales team is based on the number of sales an employee has made per year, communicating it upfront lets your new hires know what they need to do to advance.

Ethical and legal treatment of employees

New team members need to understand the code of conduct. It not only prevents drastic occurrences such as wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment. It also helps new team members to settle in and connect to the rest of the team.

Ensure to mention how your leaders take action against unethical behavior because, according to a new 2022 research report by Gallup, only 4 in 10 employees report unethical behavior.

Employees' personal data

While onboarding new employees, you'll need to ask for their personal data, such as personal contacts, financial and medical information. New employees need to know how you'll store and use their personal information.

Depending on your location, laws on collecting, storing, and using your workers' personal information differ.

For example, GDPR laws in the European Union have strict measures on how employers must handle employee data.

Dress code

Depending on your company culture and industry, there might be a particular dress code. Clearly document the dress code to reduce the uncertainty of new hires.

Drawings and photos can be beneficial, as well as detailed lists of suitable clothing.

Lastly, make sure new employees sign the employee handbook to show that they acknowledge and accept your internal policies and procedures.

4. 💰 Employee compensation and pay documents

It goes without saying that new hires should be aware of their compensation and benefits. The following forms can be helpful.

Detailed compensation document

According to a recent LinkedIn survey, 60% of employees want compensation benefits when picking a new job. 

So if your organization offers employee benefits, you may want to give new employees onboarding paperwork that explains the terms and conditions for receiving benefits.

New hires need to sign specific documents to formally accept the benefits in many cases. The most common employee benefits are health and life insurance, stock options, a retirement plan, and paid time off.

Health and life insurance

All new employees should know their insurance and health benefits — they should know whether you'll offer a comprehensive insurance package or if you'll pay a portion of it.

Stock options

Suppose your company offers stock options as compensation. In that case, it's vital to explain how they work in plain English to ensure that even new team members who have no existing knowledge of stock options fully understand what they receive.

Retirement plan

In many cases, your new employees will also want to know the retirement planning options you offer them. Ideally, provide all the information and resources they need to make the right choices.

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Vacation and paid time off policies (including paid holidays)

There might already be some information in your employee handbook concerning paid time off. It's crucial to clarify how new employees should track PTO, days off, and sick days.

There is usually much confusion about how PTO policies work.

Especially when paid time off increases over time or if there are restrictions regarding when paid time off can be taken.

Extra benefits

It's best practice to outline any extra employee benefits and non-cash perks in writing. 

They can include benefits like:

• Company car
• Phone plans
• Gym membership
• Education reimbursement

Providing precise information on these additional benefits removes future misunderstandings.

Direct deposit form (payroll system)

Direct deposit allows employers to transfer employee paychecks directly to their bank accounts, eliminating the need for paper checks.

Most importantly, you may want to provide detailed information on how employees can set up those accounts and be clear on the day of the week they'll receive their payment.

📈 How to document and automate completion/compliance?

Giving new hires all documents they need is often followed by a back and forth with multiple emails and calls to know if they have signed and understood everything.

This back and forth quickly becomes overwhelming for both you and your new team members.

You can automate task tracking, schedule automated reminders, and track your new employees' progress using our employee onboarding tool to simplify this process.

Also, make sure everything is taken care of and communicated by the starting date using our Zavvy Workflow Builder, which will give you an easy-to-follow process to ensure you onboard and communicate effectively with your new hires.

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