Add collaborators and manage people's permissions (for Primary admins)
A person’s roles and permissions control what they can see and do in Gusto, as well as the emails they'll get. You can manage access for paid team members, and outside collaborators (accountants, brokers, etc).
Reminders
- You can set up as many admins (Global, or Limited) as you'd like in Gusto.
- Admins can be paid team members, or outside collaborators (e.g., accountants, brokers, etc).
- Plus and Premium plan customers can assign as many managers as needed with Gusto's standard permissions.
- If you want to change the roles and access your managers have, try customizing a “Basic” role using the instructions in this article.
Other helpful articles
- Learn how to update company details (like your Signatory, addresses, etc).
- Gusto Pro accountants can learn how to manage the firm’s clients.
Use CMD + F (or CTRL + F) to search for words in the article.
You can add all of your contributors to Gusto. In general, we'll refer to types of users as:
-
Team members
- Employees (US and non-US)
- Add from template
- Add former employee
- Add multiples employees
- Individual contractors (US and non-US)
- Business contractors (US and non-US)
- Employees (US and non-US)
-
Collaborators
- Accountants
- Bookkeepers
- Broker
- Other collaborator
The people you add to Gusto can have different types of access:
-
Signatory — only one per company, designated during onboarding
- The signatory has permission over signing documents.
- If you need to change the signatory, there’s a few extra steps (in a different location in Gusto).
-
Account owner (aka Primary admin) — only one per company, has Global admin access.
- The only global admin with the ability to add, remove, or edit permissions for other users.
- This type of access can be assigned to a team member, or a collaborator.
-
Global admin — use sparingly
- Usually given to very few people because they'll have access to all of your company information.
- This type of access can be assigned to a team member, or a collaborator.
- When you give an existing team member admin-access (Limited, or Global), it creates a secondary admin profile for them—they'll need to switch between their employee and admin accounts based on what they're trying to do.
- There’s no limit to how many Global admins you can have.
-
Limited admin — recommended
- Choose access levels for each of the functions in Gusto.
- This type of access can be assigned to a team member, or a collaborator.
- When you give an existing team member admin-access (Limited, or Global), it creates a secondary admin profile for them—they'll need to switch between their employee and admin accounts based on what they're trying to do.
- There’s no limit to how many Limited admins you can have.
-
Basic roles you can customize for one, or many — availability based on plan type
- Delegate limited workflows and tasks to team members.
- Other collaborators who are not team members must set up with admin-access (Limited or Global).
- Most common for team members like managers who have roles outside of the standard manager access and permissions.
- The amount of custom Basic roles you can create is based on what Gusto plan you have.
- Delegate limited workflows and tasks to team members.
-
Basic individual permissions (for US employees) — no limit
- Delegate limited workflows and tasks to team members.
Additional detail about Global, Limited, and Basic access can be found below.
Give Global access to company owners and administrators. This level of access is usually given to very few people because they'll have access to all of your company information.
If you do not want to give this level of access, choose Limited admin instead.
- Reminder: If you choose Limited admin instead and select every role type, and all permissions, it's still not the same thing as giving Global access to Gusto.
Global admins have access to:
- Hire and dismiss people
- Run payroll and pay contractors
- Create reports
- Manage taxes
- Manage benefits
- Manage company bank accounts
- Manage and pay bills
- Manage company data
- Manage company signatory
- View and edit compensation
Global admins cannot add, remove, or edit other user’s roles and permissions. Only the account owner (aka Primary admin) can do that.
Account owners (aka Primary admins) can choose access levels for various functions. Limited admin roles restrict access and can be applied to specific people or groups.
-
Pay
- Run payroll
- Pay employees, view pay reports, manage expenses, edit pay schedules, and tax information. Manage Payroll on Autopilot.
- If you're using payroll approvals, limited admins can request payroll approval on regular payrolls. Approvals are not supported on other payroll types (e.g., off-cycle, bonus, etc).
- Pay contractors
- Pay contractors and view contractor payment reports.
- Run payroll
-
Team members
- Hire and onboard team members
- Add team members and contractors, create and manage job posts, send offer letters, send and review background checks, create and manage onboarding checklists, manage documents, manage provisioning app integrations and hiring integrations.
- Manage and offboard team members
- Dismiss team members, view and manage offboarding checklists, view and edit personal info and manage expenses.
- Team member documents and compensation
- View and edit a team member's documents and compensation information.
- Hire and onboard team members
-
Reports
- Payroll reports and tax filings
- View financial reports, payroll history, employee compensation history, contractor payment history, and tax and compliance documents.
- Accounting integrations
- Set up and manage accounting integrations like QuickBooks and Xero.
- Payroll reports and tax filings
-
Time & Attendance
- Time tracking, scheduling, time off, and project tracking
- Set up and manage time tracking, schedules, and time off policies. Create and publish scheduled shifts, review and approve worker hours and time off requests, and sync hours to payroll.
- Time tracking, scheduling, time off, and project tracking
-
Performance
- Team insights
- Setup employee surveys and view results.
- Performance reviews
- Create review cycles, manage employee performance reviews, view submitted reviews, and share completed reviews with employees.
- Team insights
-
Learning
- Learning courses
- Enroll people in courses from the catalog.
- Learning courses
-
HR resources
- HR resource center
- Access all HR Resources and certified HR pros.
- HR resource center
-
Benefits
- All benefits
- Set up and manage all company benefits including health insurance, 401k, and others.
- View Gusto's Employee Benefits Election report
- Important: The report contains sensitive info that people given this permission will be able to see, regardless of other permission limitations (e.g., social security numbers, date of birth, annual wages, etc).
- All benefits
-
Integrations
- Third-party
- Manage third party integrations
- Third-party
Basic individual permissions are available for all US employees. You can also customize roles (with fixed permissions) and assign them to groups.
- Custom roles are available on the Simple, Plus, and Premiums plans—admins can upgrade their plan at any time.
Users with Basic roles will never see sensitive information like social security numbers (SSNs), bank account info, or tax elections.
Account owners (aka Primary admins) can choose Basic access levels for less-sensitive functions:
-
Team members
- Basic information
- Control access to team members’ information like email, phone number, emergency contact, reporting details, and birthday.
- Pay and work
- Control access to team members’ compensation and work history.
- Documents
- Control access to team members’ documents including I-9s and other onboarding documents.
- Basic information
-
Time & Attendance
- Team time off
- Control access to team members’ time off including balances, accruals, and requests.
- Time tracking
- Control access to viewing and approving team members’ timesheets.
- Scheduling
- Control access to team members’ schedules.
- Team time off
-
Expenses
- Team expenses
- Control access to team members’ expenses
- Team expenses
Custom role availability based on the Gusto plan you have
- Simple: 1 custom role
- Plus: 5 custom roles
- Premium: Unlimited custom roles
Account owners (aka Primary admins) can assign individual permissions by going to the team member's profile, or by adding a new custom role and assigning it to them.
Users with individual basic roles will never see sensitive information like social security numbers (SSNs), bank account info, or tax elections.
- Go to People.
- Click the name of a US employee.
- Under "Additional", click Permissions.
- Click Grant permissions to set up new permissions.
- To edit existing roles or permissions, click it's name, and then click Edit role.
Account owners (aka Primary admins) can choose Basic access levels for less-sensitive functions:
-
Team members
- Basic information
- Control access to team members’ information like email, phone number, emergency contact, reporting details, and birthday.
- Pay and work
- Control access to team members’ compensation and work history.
- Documents
- Control access to team members’ documents including I-9s and other onboarding documents.
- Basic information
-
Time & Attendance
- Team time off
- Control access to team members’ time off including balances, accruals, and requests.
- Time tracking
- Control access to viewing and approving team members’ timesheets.
- Scheduling
- Control access to team members’ schedules.
- Team time off
-
Expenses
- Team expenses
- Control access to team members’ expenses
- Team expenses
Only the Account owner (Primary admin) can add collaborators to Gusto.
- Sign in to your Account owner (aka Primary admin) profile in Gusto.
- Go to People.
- Next to “Add team member”, click the Caret, and choose Add collaborator.
- Let us know what their relationship to the organization is:
- Accountants
- Bookkeepers
- Broker
- Other collaborator
- Enter some personal details, like:
- First name
- Last name
- Email
- This will invite them to your organization—make sure this information is correct.
- Personal note (optional)
- Select the type of role you want them to have—learn more about each here:
- Limited admin
- Choose the access levels for each of the functions available.
- Collaborators will only be able to view the parts of Gusto that correspond to their permissions.
- Ex. If they don’t have the “Benefits” permissions, they will not be able to access the Benefits section in Gusto.
- Global admin
- Global admins have predetermined access.
- Limited admin
- When you’re ready, click Save.
We’ll email collaborators about their new access and roles—if they do not see the email, have them:
- Check their spam folder and/or;
- Make sure the email they’re checking is the one associated with the admin role.
Only the Account owner (Primary admin) can manage other collaborators in Gusto.
- Sign in to your Account owner (aka Primary admin) profile in Gusto.
- Go to People.
- Click the Collaborator tab.
- Click their name.
- Next to their access, click Edit or Remove.
- Edit: Next to each permission, click Edit to change. When you’re ready, save the new permissions.
- Remove: Removing them will revoke access and remove their role.
How you update personal details for admins depends on how they were set up in Gusto:
-
The person was already a team member in Gusto when you made them an admin
- Their admin-account was set up using the personal email in their Gusto profile. Learn how to change the email in their member profile.
-
The person was set up as a Collaborator, or "not a team member"
- Remove their current admin-access, and then add access again with the new info (name, email, etc).
The Account owner (aka Primary admin) is the only Global admin with the ability to add, remove, or edit permissions for other users. If you’re not the Account owner, reach out to them for help.
- Sign in to your Account owner (aka Primary admin) profile in Gusto.
- Go to Settings.
- Click Permissions.
- The table shows all current admins, managers, and other team members’ access, roles, and relationship.
- Toggle to the Roles tab.
- This table shows users with Basic roles that have been customized—view the members involved, the scope of the role, the role type, and who the role was created by.
- Click Add a role.
- Select a role type—learn more about each here. Choose from:
- Basic
- Limited admin
- Global admin
- If not a global admin, choose the access levels for each of the functions available.
- Global admins have predetermined access.
- When you’re ready, click Continue.
- [For Basic roles only] Tell us who the person has this access for (the scope the of role):
- Everyone
-
Direct and indirect reports
- Indirect reports includes everyone your direct reports manage.
- Select people or groups, like:
- Departments
- Job titles
- Worker status (active)
- Individuals
- Let us know if the person you’re giving access to is:
- A team member—someone who’s already an employee in Gusto. You cannot choose contractors here.
- Their admin account will be set up using the personal email in their Gusto profile.
- Not a team member (collaborator)—someone who’s not an employee in Gusto (accountant, bookkeeper, broker, etc).
- We’ll ask for some additional information about the person. Once they're added, go to People > Collaborators to view their profile.
- Not available when assigning Basic roles.
- A team member—someone who’s already an employee in Gusto. You cannot choose contractors here.
- Choose the preexisting team member, or if they’re not a team member, enter details about the person.
- Click Continue.
- Review the Summary of the access and roles you’re giving.
- If you need to change anything, click Edit next to the applicable section.
- Click Create role.
We’ll email users about their new access and roles—if they do not see the email, have them:
- Check their spam folder and/or;
- Make sure the email they’re checking is the one associated with the role.
Users will only be able to view the parts of Gusto that correspond to their permissions.
- Ex. If they don’t have the “Benefits” permissions, they will not be able to access the Benefits section in Gusto.
Only the current Account owner can assign a new Account owner.
Important reminders
- Once changed, you cannot update user permissions anymore. The new Account owner gets full access to everything Gusto.
- If the Account owner is no longer with the company, the Signatory listed in Gusto must request a call from the
section of their account so we can help get a new Account owner set up. - No Gusto account? Email [email protected] with proof (documentation) you have the authority to “transact on behalf of the business".
Change the Account owner (aka Primary admin)
Only the current Account owner can make this change.
- Sign in to your Account owner (aka Primary admin) profile in Gusto.
- Go to Settings.
- Click Permissions.
- Click your name. It should have the "Account owner" tag next to it.
- Next to Individual access, click Edit.
- Click Change Account owner.
- Choose the new Account owner from the dropdown.
- Important: After making this change, you’ll no longer be able to add or remove admins. Only the new account owner can undo this action.
- Click Save.
The Account owner (aka Primary admin) is the only Global admin with the ability to add, remove, or edit permissions for other users. If you’re not the Account owner, reach out to them for help.
If the owner is no longer with the company, contact us through the 
section of your profile to let us know. If you do not have a Gusto account, email [email protected] with proof (documentation) you have authority to “transact on behalf of the business".
- Sign in to your Account owner (aka Primary admin) profile in Gusto.
- Go to Settings.
- Click Permissions.
- Toggle to the most applicable tab based on what you need to do:
- Users—manage individual access
- Click the User tab
- Click the users name
- Choose to Edit or Remove each type of permission they've been given.
- Roles—manage roles
- Click the Roles tab.
- To edit or remove a role, click the role title.
- Users—manage individual access
- Click Edit next to the permissions you want to change.
- To remove the role entirely: Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Remove role. This will revoke access for people who currently have this role, and an email will be sent to the person, or people, letting them know of the role change.
- Select the access you want to give, and click Save.
Users will get an email letting them know they're access or roles changed.
Q: Does Gusto send notifications about permission or role changes?
A: We email the impacted party when a role is added, or removed. We do not send notifications about changes to existing access.
Q: Can individuals see what access they have in their Gusto account?
A: No.
Q: Can a Basic role be assigned to someone who is "not a team member"?
A: No. For now, Basic roles must be assigned to existing team members in Gusto.
Q: Can I change a Limited or Global admin to have a Basic role?
A: To limit an admins acccess more, you can edit their individual types of access at the Limited or Global level, or remove the existing role entirely and set up a new Basic role for them.
Q: Can I see who changed permissions or roles (e.g., audit log, change log, or similar)?
A: At this time, no.
Q: Can I assign managers and direct reports like I always have?
A: Yes, assign managers the same way you always have. Custom Basic roles are offered in addition to the preexisting functionality.
Q: If I add a Gusto Pro accounting firm to my account, will they have full access?
A: Yes. The firm-admin has full access in Gusto (and the ability to grant it). They're responsible for assigning other firm members' permissions.
Q: (From accountants) We have multiple accountants working for one client—what does that set up look like?
A: An Accountant can have a full, or limited view of their client's account, based on the access their firm-admin gave them.