This is a guest blog by Alex Hattingh, Chief People Officer at Employment Hero.
Casual staff hired for the holiday season are not exempt from onboarding paperwork.
Whether you are hiring a full-time employee or Christmas casual, all new starters have to fill out a tax file declaration, receive a superannuation choice form, sign their letter of engagement and so on.
You can save precious time on these essential tasks by pre-organising an onboarding pack for your new starters.
Here is our list of what you should include in your new starter onboarding pack.
11 HR Documents You Need To Onboard Staff This Christmas
1. Welcome letter
Provide a warm welcome to your new employee and give them a brief introduction to the company and let them know how happy you are that they have joined your team.
Make sure to include:
- your company’s mission and values
- the new hire’s job description and responsibilities
- contact details of a person the new starter can approach with questions or concerns
2. Written employment contract
While an employment contract can be verbal, it’s important to record the exact terms and conditions of employment when you hire someone. Failing to set out the job requirements in writing makes it difficult to manage your employees, particularly when there’s a problem.
In addition, without a written contract, you’re probably not protecting your business assets like your IP and other competitive information from falling into the wrong hands.
However, it’s important to remember that written employment contracts are only useful if they’re up-to-date with current laws. Simply reusing an old template can land you in all sorts of trouble because Australian employment laws are complex and tend to change frequently.
Sometimes an out-of-date template can cause more harm than good. Especially when you rely on it and simply don’t check whether new legal requirements and entitlements apply to your new employee.
3. Company’s workplace policies
To protect your business, it’s important you can demonstrate that you made new starters aware of all your workplace policies upon starting and that they accepted them. Include your workplace policies in your onboarding pack, along with a document that the new starter can sign that acknowledges they are aware of your policies and understand them completely. Workplace policies can include uniform policies, codes of conduct, harassment and bullying policies.
4. Employee information forms
New employees need to supply their personal information such as their full name, date of birth, home address, home telephone number and emergency contacts. Information about any special health or personal requirements should also be provided to ensure you can help your new employee is comfortable at work and that you are providing a safe workplace. Keep these details as part of your confidential employee files.
5. Tax forms
All new starters need to complete a tax file declaration form so that you can pay them and withhold the appropriate amount of tax.
6. Superannuation standard choice forms
You need to give your new hires the superannuation standard choice form advising them of your default super fund and allowing them to advise you of their alternative choice of fund.
7. Fair Work Information Statement
It’s a legal requirement to give every new employee a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement when they start their new job. The Statement provides new employees with information about their conditions of employment.
8. Benefits package
If your company offers perks and benefits to your employees, make sure you include this information in this pack and detail any special options available to new hires such as discounted gym memberships.
9. Company Directory
To help new starters understand who is who in your organisation, provide access to your company directory listing the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of each department head, with a photo if possible.
10. Information about their first day
Give your new employee information about their first day! It seems like a no-brainer but many businesses can overlook this step. Make sure your employee knows when their first shift will be, what time they should arrive (for instance should they arrive 15 minutes prior on their first day?), who they will report to, what employees can expect on their first day and so on. Use this opportunity to reiterate uniform and grooming standards or anything else that is pertinent to an employee’s first shift.
11. A roster
If you already have a full roster planned for your new hire, include it in your starter pack. This will ensure your employee knows what to expect as soon as possible and you can flag any potential issues early. You don’t want to suddenly find out an employee can’t work on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day!
More tips and tricks
Give your new starter a call before their first day (or have the manager they will be reporting to do so). Use this opportunity to give your new starter a brief rundown of what to expect and ask if they have any questions. This will ensure your employee can start their first day with more confidence and leave less room for error.
It can also help to create a first-day checklist for new starters. Following a checklist helps to ensure your new employee gets a proper understanding of how your business runs. For instance, if you work in hospitality your list might read like this: a tour of shop outlining each station, cool room safety procedures, garbage disposal safety procedures, guidelines for serving food, learning daily specials and so on.
Overall, it all comes down to planning. With onboarding packs and checklists pre-organised, you will be able to more easily hire and train new staff in preparation for the busy holiday season.
Employment Hero is the easiest way for small to medium businesses to onboard employees, run payroll and provide employee benefits.