Admins can easily create, manage, and send offer letters to candidates after adding them to Gusto. You can also send contractor agreements to new independent contractors.
Templates let you reuse and personalize letters for each candidate you’re sending an offer to.
To create an offer letter template:
Go to Documents.
Under Team, click Templates.
Click Add template.
Click Build your template.
Name your template.
Choose how you want to create your template:
Use your own template and paste in the content, or
Use Gusto’s template (you can edit it later)
Click Create template.
Customize the template's text. If you have your own template, copy and paste it into the text field.
To create fields that auto-fill with each candidate’s information, insert a smart text field:
Highlight a section that changes for each candidate. Click Insert Smart Text and choose a field like name, title, or compensation.
Include a smart text field for both the employer's and employee's signatures.
If you add “Manager” as smart text, you need to select a manager when you onboard the team member later.
If you cannot find the smart text field you want, you can add placeholder text like, "[INSERT RELOCATION PACKAGE]”. You’ll fill in these details yourself each time you send a new offer.
Click Save & continue.
For the document's signature, enter the name and title of the person in charge of hiring.
This is typically your CEO, owner, or head of HR.
In previews of the offer letter, this field may show up as “Steven Smith”.
Click Save & continue.
If you’d like to use this template now, click Use this offer template now.
To edit a template’s text, smart text fields, or company signatory:
Go to Documents.
Under Offer templates, click the name of the template you’d like to edit.
Click Edit Template.
Edit the template.
Edit the text: Click the text field and start typing.
Remove smart text: Highlight the field and press backspace or delete.
Add smart text: Highlight a section that changes for each candidate. Click Insert Smart Text and choose a field like name, title, or compensation.
Add custom text: If you cannot find the smart text field you want, you can add placeholder text like, "[INSERT RELOCATION PACKAGE]”. You’ll fill in these details yourself each time you send a new offer.
Click Save & continue.
Review or edit the name of the person whose signature should appear on this template.
This is typically your CEO, owner, or head of HR.
In previews of the offer letter, this field may show up as “Steven Smith”.
Click Save & continue.
Note: If the offer letter has already been signed by the candidate, you cannot edit or delete it from their employee account. If you need to update the offer, you need to have the employee sign a letter outside of Gusto. You can then upload this to the Documents tab of the employee’s profile.
To edit an offer letter that has not been sent:
Go to Hiring.
Next to Offers and agreements, click See details.
To the right of the employee’s name, click the three-dot Actions menu.
Select Update & finish.
Edit the letter and submit it.
To edit an offer letter that has already been sent:
Go to Hiring.
Next to Offers and agreements, click See details.
To the right of the employee’s name, click the three-dot Actions menu.
Select Update offer. This will void the original offer letter link sent to the employee.
Click Yes, I need to update this offer. This will move the employee’s name under the "Not Sent" status.
To the right of the employee’s name, click the three-dot Actions menu.
Click Update & finish.
Edit the letter and submit it.
To rescind an offer that has already been sent:
Go to Hiring.
Next to Offers and agreements, click See details.
To the right of the employee’s name, click the three-dot Actions menu.
Select Rescind offer.
Click Yes, I need to rescind this offer. This will move the employee’s name under the "Expired/Rescinded" status. We will not notify the candidate that you rescinded the offer, but they will not be able to read or sign the letter.
Once you’ve sent an offer to a candidate, we’ll keep track of its status.
To view the status of an offer—past and pending:
Go to Hiring.
Next to Offers and agreements, click See details.
There are four different statuses you may see:
Not sent: Offers that you’ve started but not yet completed. You can update and send or delete these offers.
Sent: Offers that you sent and are pending a decision. You may view, update, or rescind these offers.
Accepted: Offers that you sent that have been accepted and signed. You may view or download these offers.
Expired/Rescinded: Offers that you sent but were not accepted, either because you rescinded them or they expired before the candidate signed them.
Note: At this time, you cannot resend an offer letter. If you need to resend or edit an offer letter that you already sent, you need to send a new offer letter.