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Employee Onboarding Checklist

34 items covering everything that has to happen between deciding to hire and the end of the first day. Built for cleaning, landscaping, handyman, HVAC, and similar U.S. service businesses taking on employee number one.

Tick items as you go. Your progress saves in this browser only. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no signup.

Before you make the offer

Getting these wrong is expensive to unwind later.

Confirm this role is W-2, not 1099 If you control when, where, and how the work is done, they are almost certainly an employee. Misclassification is the most common and costly mistake at this stage.
Apply for an EIN with the IRS Free, online, issued immediately. You cannot run payroll without it.
Register with your state for withholding and unemployment tax Separate from the EIN, and separate from each other in most states.
Get a workers’ compensation quote Required in nearly every state once you have an employee. Rates vary widely by trade.
Check your general liability policy covers employees A solo-operator policy often does not.
Decide the pay rate, pay period, and payday Some states set minimum pay frequency. Pick a schedule you can sustain.
Write down the job in one page Duties, hours, reporting, and what "good" looks like. Prevents most first-90-day friction.

Paperwork on or before day one

Federal and state requirements. Keep copies; some have retention rules.

Signed offer letter States pay, schedule, and at-will status. Heads off most disputes, and takes ten minutes to write.
Form I-9 completed Section 1 by the employee on day one; Section 2 by you within three business days of their start.
Form W-4 collected Determines federal withholding. Use the current year’s form.
State withholding certificate collected Many states have their own equivalent of the W-4.
New hire reported to your state directory Usually due within 20 days of the start date. Easy to forget, and states do notice.
Direct deposit authorisation and voided check
Emergency contact and medical notes on file Field work means this actually gets used.
Required labor law posters displayed or provided Federal and state. If there is no physical worksite, provide them digitally.

Payroll setup

Do this before the first payday, not on it.

Employee added to payroll with correct rate and status
Overtime rule confirmed Non-exempt employees get 1.5× over 40 hours in a workweek. Some states add daily overtime.
Federal deposit schedule confirmed Monthly or semi-weekly, based on your lookback period. Late deposits carry penalties.
Quarterly Form 941 reminder set Due the last day of the month after each quarter ends.
Annual Form 940 and W-2 reminders set W-2s are due to employees and the SSA by 31 January.
Time tracking method chosen and explained You must keep accurate hours records for non-exempt employees. A paper sheet is fine on day one.

Equipment and access

Write down what you hand over. You will want this list when someone leaves.

Uniform or branded shirts issued
PPE issued and fitted Gloves, eye protection, boots, hearing protection as the trade requires.
Tools and equipment issued, with serial numbers logged
Keys, fobs, gate codes, or lockbox codes issued Log every one. This is the list you need the day someone quits.
Vehicle assigned, insurance updated, license checked Your commercial auto policy needs the driver listed.
Phone, or an app installed on their own phone If you require their personal phone, some states require reimbursement.
Added to the schedule and to any group chat

First day

The stuff that decides whether they are still here in six months.

Walk the actual work with them Do a full job together before sending them alone.
Safety briefing for the real hazards of your trade Chemicals, ladders, blades, heat, traffic, dogs.
Show how to log hours and report a completed job
Explain what to do when something goes wrong Damage, injury, an unhappy customer, a locked gate. Give them one number to call.
Introduce them to a customer, if the route allows
Set a 30-day check-in date Put it in the calendar now or it will not happen.

Check your own state

This checklist covers the federal items every U.S. employer faces plus the state items that exist almost everywhere. Individual states add their own, like paid sick leave accrual, mandatory harassment training, and specific notice-at-hire forms. Your state labor department website is the authority here, and this page is not legal advice.

What comes next

The two items on this list that most often go wrong are the payroll tax registrations and the deposit schedule, because both have deadlines that arrive before you are thinking about them.

Payroll guide for your first employee What will this hire cost?