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How to hire and onboard new employees in a small business

Hiring and onboarding means posting the role and tracking candidates to an offer, then getting the new hire's paperwork, payroll setup, accounts and training done before and during their first weeks. You can run it with HR software that holds employee records and onboarding checklists, plus an applicant tracking system if you recruit often. The paperwork required differs by country and state, so check what applies where you operate.

By Bill Belcamino · Page updated September 19, 2026 · Our methodologyResearched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team

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How to hire and onboard employees, step by step

Write the role, post it and collect every application in one place.
Assess candidates against the same criteria and keep interview notes together.
Send the offer, then collect the signed documents and the forms required where you operate.
Add the new hire to payroll and HR records before their first day.
Set up email, chat, file access, the tools for their role and their equipment in advance.
Follow a written first-week and first-month plan with a named buddy or manager.

Why it matters

The Fed SBCS 2026 ranks hiring/retaining qualified staff as the second most common operational challenge. Source

The software this job takes

Which categories a job needs is Editorial assessment; the tools, prices and dates are Verified data.

Prices are each vendor’s published entry plan, recorded from its own pricing page and dated. The example column prices a team of 10: only per-user prices are multiplied; flat and per-account prices are shown as published. Change the team size in the finder.

You need this

Payroll & HR Software

Payroll software pays people, files payroll taxes and keeps employee records.

Tool	Entry price (as published)	Billing unit	Example: team of 10	Free plan	Verified
Gusto	From $49/mo + $6/person	Per person	$109/mo$49 + $6 × 10 people	NoNo — free account setup, no contracts	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing
Rippling	Custom quote only	Quote only	Price not publishedQuote only	NoNo	Sep 17, 2026Vendor pricing

Compare all Payroll & HR pricing →Head to head:Gusto vs Rippling2 switching guides Build a decision brief for these →

Not covered on HelpCompare yet

This job usually also needs applicant tracking / recruiting and HR onboarding. We don’t track those categories yet, so we have no verified prices to show for them. We would rather say so than guess. The guidance on this page still covers what to look for.

What to look for

Editorial assessment

One employee record Hiring, payroll and HR details should end up in one record, so you do not retype a new hire's details into several systems.
Onboarding checklists and online signing Look for task lists that assign steps to the new hire, their manager and admin, with documents signed online.
Applicant tracking If you hire regularly, check for job posting, a candidate pipeline and shared interview notes, or whether that needs a separate recruiting tool.
Self-service for new hires New hires should enter their own personal and bank details, which cuts errors.
How the price scales Check whether the price is per employee, and whether candidates, contractors or former staff count toward it.
Offboarding The same system should help you remove access and close out records when someone leaves.

Common mistakes to avoid

Setting up accounts on day one If email, laptop and access are not ready, the first day is wasted. Set them up before the start date.
Keeping candidates in email Applications scattered across inboxes get lost, and you cannot show everyone was treated the same way. Use one pipeline.
Retyping details between systems Each retype is a chance for a payroll or tax error. Choose tools that pass the record along.
Treating onboarding as paperwork Forms are not onboarding. Plan who trains the hire and what they should be doing by the end of their first month.

What to settle before you buy

How many people do you expect to hire this year?
Who writes job posts, who interviews and who makes the final call?
Which documents must every new hire sign or submit where you operate?
Which payroll software do you use, and should HR records live in it?
Who sets up accounts and equipment for a new hire?
Who owns the first-month plan for each new hire?

Ready to take it to whoever signs off?Turn your shortlist into a one-page decision brief with verified prices, or price the whole job for your team size.

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Frequently asked questions

What should be on a new employee onboarding checklist?

Before day one: the signed offer, the forms required where you operate, payroll setup, accounts and equipment. In the first week: introductions, tool training and a named buddy. By the end of the first month: clear goals and a check-in with their manager.

What is the best HR software for a small business?

Look for one that keeps employee records, onboarding and payroll in step without retyping. Compare onboarding checklists, self-service and how the price scales with headcount. The table above shows each tool's verified entry price and billing unit.

Does a small business need an applicant tracking system?

If you hire now and then, a shared inbox and a simple pipeline can be enough. If you hire regularly or several people review candidates, an applicant tracking system keeps applications, notes and messages in one place and makes your process consistent.

What is an HRIS for a small business?

An HRIS is the system of record for your employees: personal details, job, pay, time off and documents. It is often bundled with payroll, so check what your payroll software already covers before you buy a separate one.

How we built this page

We start from the job, not the product. The phrasings people search for this job (for example “how to onboard new employees”) come from our research into how small and mid-size teams describe it. Which software categories the job takes is our editorial judgment. Every tool, entry price, billing unit and date comes from HelpCompare’s open dataset, recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page; nothing is estimated, and where a vendor publishes no price we say so. We take no affiliate commissions and publish no scores of our own. See our methodology or download the data from Open Data.

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Bill Belcamino

Founder and author, HelpCompare

Bill has worked in software and digital marketing for more than 20 years. He spent nine years as an engineer at HP, served as COO scaling a platform past 200,000 users, and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

“I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.

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How to hire and onboard new employees in a small business

How to hire and onboard employees, step by step

The software this job takes

Payroll & HR Software

Not covered on HelpCompare yet

What to look for

Common mistakes to avoid

What to settle before you buy

Frequently asked questions

What should be on a new employee onboarding checklist?

What is the best HR software for a small business?

Does a small business need an applicant tracking system?

What is an HRIS for a small business?

How we built this page

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Bill Belcamino