The problem
At a company of 40 people, HR is often one person, or part of someone's job. Every new hire means an offer letter, an employment agreement, a confidentiality agreement, payroll and tax forms, and a stack of policy acknowledgements. On paper, that means printing, chasing signatures, scanning, and hoping nothing is missing on the first day. Details get retyped from one form to the next, and a wrong start date or pay rate can slip through.
How they set it up
- 01Build an onboarding template
Upload the offer letter, employment agreement, confidentiality agreement and policy acknowledgements as one template with several files. Signers go through them in order in one sitting. Add the roles Hiring manager, New hire and HR copy.
- 02Add variables for the details
Create variables for first name, role title, start date, salary or hourly rate, manager and location. Place each one wherever it appears across the documents. Fill them once when you send and every document is filled in.
- 03Set the order and approvals
Put the hiring manager first with the Approves first role, so they confirm the details before the new hire sees anything. The new hire signs next. HR receives a copy of the finished package.
- 04Ask for what you need, once
Add fields for the new hire's address, emergency contact and banking details for payroll. Use validation for the postal code and phone number. Add an Attachment field for a void cheque or direct deposit form so the new hire can take a photo on their phone.
- 05Use conditional fields
Add an Employment type dropdown and use Show only if so part-time hours, benefits waiting periods or relocation details appear only for the people they apply to.
- 06Send and track
Send from the template, fill the variables and choose the identity check. Watch progress on the timeline. If the new hire has a question, they ask it from the signing page and you answer without a separate email thread.
- 07File the record
When the package completes, move it into a folder for employee records with a label for the start month, and apply a retention rule that matches your employment record obligations.
What changes
The new hire signs everything on their phone in one sitting, usually well before their first day. HR stops retyping details from one form to another, because each value is entered once. Managers confirm the terms before the candidate sees them, which catches mistakes early. On day one, the paperwork is already done and filed, and there is a sealed record of every acknowledgement if anyone needs it later.