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New Employee Onboarding Checklist (Australia)

Every compliance step for hiring in Australia, in order, with the deadline and the source for each. Tick them off as you go.

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What does an employer legally need to do when hiring in Australia?

Confirm the person's right to work, get the tax file number declaration and superannuation choice sorted (requesting their stapled fund from the ATO if they do not choose one), give them the Fair Work Information Statement (plus the casual or fixed term statement where it applies), set them up in Single Touch Payroll, cover them for workers compensation, and pay against the right award classification with compliant pay slips and records. Each has its own deadline, which is what this checklist tracks.

Where Compono fits

Everything on this checklist is process risk: necessary, dated, checkable. None of it tells you whether the person you just hired will ramp, fit and stay, which is the risk that actually decides whether the hire pays off. Compono reads work personality and culture fit from the start, so the manager gets a practical guide to how their new person works in week one instead of month six. Lyre's used Compono Hire to scale from 4 to 70 people across five continents in two years without losing fit along the way.

See how it works

How this checklist works

The checklist covers the obligations that apply when an Australian employer hires an employee: the tax and super setup (TFN declaration, choice of fund, stapled super fund requests, Single Touch Payroll), the Fair Work information statements (including the casual and fixed term versions where they apply), right-to-work checks, workers compensation, pay slips and record-keeping. Each item states when it must be done, who it applies to and the authority behind it. Items marked best practice are not legal obligations, but skipping them is how the legal ones get missed. The rules change (super and information statement requirements have both changed recently), so the list is reviewed against primary sources and dated. This is general guidance, not legal advice.

New to the term? Read the plain-English definition of the Fair Work Information Statement in the HR Glossary.

Common questions

What is the Fair Work Information Statement and when is it given?

A short document published by the Fair Work Ombudsman that every new employee must receive before they start, or as soon as practicable after. Casual employees must also get the Casual Employment Information Statement, which now has repeat obligations during employment, and fixed term hires must get the Fixed Term Contract Information Statement.

When does super have to be paid for a new employee?

Superannuation is now payday super: from 1 July 2026, super guarantee contributions must reach the employee's fund within 7 business days of each payday rather than quarterly, with a 20-business-day window for a new employee's first contribution. The rate sits at 12% of qualifying earnings. New employees choose a fund, and if they do not, you must request their stapled fund from the ATO rather than defaulting them into yours.

Is a written employment contract legally required?

No statute forces a written contract for most employees, but the award classification, pay rate and employment type must still be right, and proving any of it without a written contract is painful. A written contract stating the classification, probation and key terms is the practical standard, and some entitlements (like offsetting casual loading) depend on clear written terms.

What are the penalties for getting onboarding compliance wrong?

Real money. Fair Work penalties apply per breach for missed information statements, pay slip and record failures, and underpayment now carries criminal exposure for intentional conduct under the wage theft provisions. The larger cost is usually remediation: back-pay, super catch-up and the audit that follows. This is general guidance, not legal advice.

This page is general information, not legal advice. We check figures annually and update them on a best-efforts basis, but employment rules change and we cannot promise everything here is current or complete. Before you act on it, confirm the detail with the Fair Work Ombudsman or your own adviser. Last reviewed July 2026.