This article helps admins view and complete onboarding checklists for new employees and contractors. Before you start, you need Gusto admin permissions.
After you hire a new employee, US-based contractor, or international contractor, you can view and complete their onboarding checklist in People in your admin account.
Note: If you sent a new hire an offer letter through Gusto, their onboarding checklist does not appear until they sign the offer. If needed, you can resend the welcome email.
Employees
Invite employee to Gusto (This is when you can send the new hire tax forms to fill out, like the W-4 and I-9.)
Fill out the I-9
Assign an onboarding buddy
Add their work email
Create their software accounts (app provisioning)
Order business cards
Give a workplace tour
To see more options, scroll down and click the caret next to Suggested tasks.
US-based contractors and international contractors
Invite contractor to Gusto
The Onboarding tab shows team members who are not yet on payroll.
To view and complete onboarding checklists:
Click People.
Choose Onboarding. This page shows team members who are not yet on payroll.
Click the name of the team member whose checklist you want to view.
If the team member is self-onboarding, hover over Invitation sent to check the status.
From here, you can view and manage tasks. Some tasks (like filling out the I-9) cannot be deleted because they’re required by law. If a task becomes overdue, it's labeled on the checklist and primary admins receive an email.
Once all tasks on a new hire's checklist are done, mark the checklist as complete. This will move the new hire from Onboarding to Active.
If you do not mark the checklist as complete, we automatically move the new hire to Active 30 days after their start date, as long as you’ve added them to payroll or set them up for contractor payments.
If you invited an employee to Gusto and need to cancel their self-onboarding so you can onboard them yourself, follow these steps.
Go to People.
Choose the Onboarding tab.
Find the new hire’s name and click the actions ⋮ menu.
Click View checklist.
Under Tasks, find the task called Invite [Name] to Gusto. Click the actions ⋮ icon.
Click Cancel self-onboarding.
You’ll be taken back to the beginning of the Invite [Name] to Gusto task. To onboard the new hire yourself, click Start in the Onboard [Name] on their behalf tile.
Adding tasks is only available to Plus and Premium customers—upgrade your plan at any time. Full access administrators and admins with “manage people” permissions can see all tasks.
We recommend that you customize your onboarding checklist before you hire new people so it’s ready to go before they start.
For employee checklists, you can choose which types of employees get each task. For example, you can add a time tracking task only for hourly new hires.
To add a task:
Go to People and choose Hiring.
Next to Onboarding checklists, click Customize templates.
Next to the checklist you want to update, click Edit.
Click Add a task.
Fill out the task details:
Task title
Description (optional)
Assign the task (optional)
Tasks can be assigned to full access administrators, administrators with “manage people” permissions, and employees.
When an employee is assigned a task, they'll get an email and a dashboard notification.
When an administrator is assigned a task, they'll get an email. To review, go to Hiring. Next to Onboarding checklists, click Customize templates.
If new hires are assigned tasks, they will not get an email, but they will see a dashboard notification after you add them to payroll.
Choose a due date:
Before Day 1: Any task that needs to be completed before the new team member starts.
On Day 1: Any task that needs to be completed by the end of the team member's first day.
After Day 1: Any task that can be completed after the team member starts.
If this is for an employee checklist, choose who should have this task included on their new hire checklist. It could be for All new employees or Specific types of employees.
If you choose Specific types of employees, you can select as many fields as you want. You can specify by employment type, department, work state, and more.
Click Add task or Add & create another.
Track the status of a team member's checklist in Onboarding. Gusto does not email notifications when tasks are completed.
To delete a task:
Go to People and choose Hiring.
Next to Onboarding checklists, click Customize templates.
Find the checklist you want to update. Then click Edit.
Find the task you want to delete. Click the actions ⋮ icon.
Click Delete task.
Some tasks, like filling out the I-9, cannot be deleted because they’re required by law.
Complete the onboarding checklist to move a team member from Onboarding to Active.
If you do not mark the checklist as complete, we automatically move the new hire to Active 30 days after their start date. This happens only if they’ve been added to payroll or set up for contractor payments.
To mark a new hire’s onboarding checklist as complete:
Go to People.
Click Onboarding.
Scroll to the team member's name. Click the actions ⋮ icon.
Click Complete onboarding.
If the new hire's start is in the future: In their employee profile, their status is shown as Pending until their start date.
Going forward, you can view and manage the new hire's info under Active or from their employee or contractor profile.
Note: If an employee did not receive their welcome email after you added their email during onboarding, you can resend it. If an employee already started self-onboarding but cannot access their account, view troubleshooting steps.