Manage administrator permissions

1. Primary admin—only one per company
   • This is the only Full Access admin that has the ability to add, remove, or edit permissions for other admins.
2. Full Access admin—no restrictions on the number of Full Access admins you can have.
3. Specific role (recommended)—no restrictions on the number of Specific role admins you can have.
   • Abilities depend on the roles and permissions given.
4. Signatory—only one per company.
   • Signatories have permission over signing documents—a signatory should have been designated when you onboarded with Gusto. 
   • Learn how to change your signatory in this article.

Additional detail about access for each admin type can be found below.

Primary admin—only one per company

This is the only Full Access admin that has the ability to add, remove, or edit permissions for other admins. 

Full Access admin—no restrictions on the number of Full Access admins you can have.

Full access admins typically manage sensitive company-level settings and tasks.

• Heads up: Selecting every specific role type, and all permissions, is not the same thing as granting an admin full access to Gusto. 

Here’s what Full Access admins have access to:

• Hire and onboard people
• Manage payroll and time
• Dismiss people
• Create and view reports
• View and edit compensation
• Performance reviews
• Apps and device access
• Pay contractors
• Manage benefits
• Access to HR Resources
  • The HR resource center and certified HR Experts (with Priority Support Add-on and Premium tiers).
  • HR admins will have access to the Resource center and everything in the list above.

Specific role (recommended)—no restrictions on the number of Specific role admins you can have.

Primary administrators can select or unselect one or more of the below roles and related permissions. 

• Payroll
  
  • Pay people, view pay reports, manage expenses, edit pay schedules and tax information, and turn on/off Payroll on Autopilot©. Can view some compensation details.
    
    • Run payroll
      • Pay employees, view pay reports, edit pay schedules and tax information, turn on/off Payroll on Autopilot©.
    • Pay contractors
      • Pay contractors and view contractor payment reports.
• Finance & accounting
  • View reports, information and documents about payroll and payments, and manage third-party accounting integrations. Can view some compensation details.
    
    • View payroll reports and tax filings.
      • View financial reports, payroll history, employee compensation history, contractor payment history, and tax and compliance documents.
    • Manage accounting integrations
      • Set up and manage accounting integrations like QuickBooks and Xero.
• HR & onboarding
  • Optional access to compensation details.
    • People & compensation. 
      • Hire & onboard people.
        • 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.
        • Can see compensation details made in offer letters.
      • Manage and offboard people
        • Dismiss team members, view and manage offboarding checklists, view and edit personal info and documents
        • View and edit compensation (optional)
    • Time and performance
      • Team insights (employee surveys).
        • Set up employee surveys and view the results.
      • Time tracking and PTO
        • Set up and manage Time Tracking and paid time off policies, review and approve employee hours and time off requests, and sync hours to payroll.
    • Manage performance reviews
      • Create review cycles, manage employee performance reviews, view submitted reviews, and share completed reviews with employees. 
    • HR Resource Center
      • Access to HR Resources: The HR resource center and certified HR Experts (with Priority Support Add-on and Premium tiers)
• Benefits
  • Set up and manage company benefits.
    • Manage all benefits.
      • Set up and manage all company benefits including health insurance, 401(k), and others.
• Apps and devices
  • Manage third party app integrations and company devices.
    • Manage access to a 3rd party apps connected to Gusto.

Signatory—only one per company.

Companies can have one designated signatory in Gusto, and that's the person who has permission to sign tax documents on the company’s behalf. A signatory should have been designated when you onboarded with Gusto—if needed, you can change your signatory.

You must be the primary administrator on the account to add additional admins or managers with specific permissions. If you’re not the primary administrator, you’ll need to reach out to them so they can complete the steps below.

Add an administrator

1. Sign in to Gusto as the Primary administrator.
2. Head to the Settings section.
3. Click the Gusto admins or Permissions tab—the tab title may vary by account.
4. Click Add or edit admins in the “Gusto admins” tile.
   • On this page you should see the names, current admin roles, and from the “Actions” column, the ability to Edit admin roles or Remove admin access.
5. Click Add new admin toward the top-right of the page.
6. Let us know if the person is an employee of your company or not.
   • Select “employee of your company” if the new admin already has an employee-profile in Gusto. If you choose this option, their admin account will be set up under the "personal" email listed in their profile. 
7. Select the employee name, or enter the new admin’s details if they’re not an employee at your company.
8. Select if you’d like them to be a Full Access admin, or if you’d like to give them permissions based on their Specific role with the company—roles include:
   • Payroll
   • Finance & accounting
   • HR & onboarding
   • Benefits
   • Apps and devices
9. Click Show all permissions below each role to view the available permissions that can be selected or unselected—you can select more than one role for each admin.
   • Learn more about all permissions in the Types of administrators and permissions dropdown above.
10. When you’ve selected the role(s) and permissions, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Add admin.

Your new admin get an email welcoming them to their admin account—if they don't see the email, have them:

• Check their spam folder and/or;
• Make sure the email they’re checking is the one entered with admin-access in Gusto. 

Admins will be able to view only the parts of Gusto that correspond to their permissions.

• Ex. if they don’t have “Benefits” permissions, they will not be able to access the Benefits section in Gusto.

If you're currently the primary payroll administrator, you can assign another admin to be the primary admin if needed.

Reminder(s)

• Once you change the primary administrator to someone new, you will not be able to add, remove, or change admin permissions anymore. The new primary payroll administrator will have Full Access permissions in Gusto.
• If you’re working with a Gusto Accountant partner, firm admins can also update the primary admin on behalf of their clients.
• If the primary administrator is no longer with the company, and you need to remove them from your account, contact us from the Help section of your account. 
  • If you do not have a Gusto account, reach out to [email protected]—you should be prepared to submit documentation proving that you have authority to “transact on behalf of the business.”

Change the primary admin

Only the current primary admin can make this change.

1. Sign in to Gusto as the Primary administrator.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Click the Gusto admins or Permissions tab—the tab title may vary by account.
4. Click into the Gusto admins tile.
5. Next to Primary Payroll Admin, in the “Actions” column, click Change primary admin.
6. Select the new primary payroll admin from the list of admins.
   • Reminder: After making this change, you’ll no longer be able to add or remove admins. Only the new primary admin can undo this action.
7. Click Save.

The primary administrator of the account—the only type of admin who can make changes to other admin permissions—can edit an administrator’s permissions or name at any time.

1. Sign in to Gusto as the primary administrator.
2. Click the Settings section.
3. Click the Gusto admins or Permissions tab—the tab title may vary by account.
4. Select the Gusto admins tile
5. Under the “Actions” column, click the three-dot menu next to the admin's name. 
6. Click Edit admin roles—a few reminders:
   • Only the primary administrator can edit another administrator's permissions. 
   • You'll only be able to edit a name in this location if the admin was originally added as “not an employee.” If you added the admin using details from a pre-existing employee profile, update their name in their employee profile.
7. Select to give them full access, or select permissions individually—learn more about those permissions in the Types of administrators dropdown above.
   • An admin’s permissions determine what they're able to see and do in Gusto, and which emails they'll receive.
8. Click Save Changes.

Your admin will receive an email detailing their updated permission settings.

To update an admin's email, you first have to remove them as a payroll admin and then add them as a new administrator with the new email address.

You can find instructions for how to remove an administrator and add a new administrator in this article by clicking the applicable dropdowns. 

Only the primary payroll administrator can remove other admins.

• If the primary payroll administrator is no longer with the company, or the accountant you’re trying to remove is the primary admin, contact our team from the Help section of your account. If you do not have a Gusto account, reach out to [email protected]—you should be prepared to submit documentation proving that you have authority to “transact on behalf of the business.”

Remove an administrator

1. Click the Settings section.
2. Click the Gusto admins or Permissions tab—the tab title may vary by account.
3. Select the Gusto admins tile. 
4. Next to the admin, under the "Actions" column, click the three-dot menu.
5. Click Remove Admin Access.
   • Reminder: Only the primary payroll administrator can remove other admins. If the primary payroll administrator is no longer with the company, contact our team from the Help section of your account for further assistance.
6. Click Remove Admin.

An email will be sent to your former admin notifying them of the role change. 

By making an employee an admin, it creates a new admin profile separate from their employee profile—individuals will need to toggle between these two account types based on their needs. 

Q: What is the benefit of setting up Admin Permissions? 

A: With Admin Permissions, you’ll be able to limit access to various parts of Gusto for additional admins and be confident sensitive information is not being compromised. As your business grows, this becomes more and more important as you bring on more people to help with HR-related tasks.

Q: Do newly added admins receive an email when they are added?

A: Yes. Admins will receive an email with their permissions. Additionally, Full Access admins will be notified when a Primary Admin adds a new admin.

Q: Will admins be notified when permissions are changed?

A: Yes, the impacted admin including Full Access admins will receive an email notification of all changes to permissions.

Q: Can I create permissions for managers or employees?

A: At this time we are not supporting permissions that give admins access to specific employees, teams, or departments—the permissions apply to everyone in the company. 

Q: If I add an accounting firm on Gusto Pro to my Gusto account, will they have full access?

A: Admins at the firm will have full access (and the ability to grant it)—the admin is responsible for assigning their firm member's permissions. 

Q: For accountants: We have multiple accountants at our firm working for one client—what does the set up look like?

A: An Accountant can have a full, or limited view of their client's account.