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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.

Your onboarding progress
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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.

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.

Assumptions
  • Written for a national system employer hiring an employee in Australia. State public sector employers, and contractors rather than employees, sit under different rules.
  • Deadlines are as at the review date on the page. Superannuation and information statement rules have both changed recently, so check the source linked on each item before you rely on the date.
  • Covers compliance only. It does not cover the induction that decides whether the person stays: the written expectations, the manager's first conversation, a buddy, the check-in series. Ticking all 20 items keeps you compliant; it does not make anyone want to stay.
  • Tells you to set the award classification and pay rate; it does not set them. That is the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool or your award, and the mistake made there flows into every item that follows.
  • General guidance, not legal advice. Unusual cases (visa conditions, transfer of business, labour hire, apprentices) need someone who can read the whole file.
Sources

What to do about it

Onboarding compliance fails by assumption, not by ignorance. Everyone knew the information statement was needed; everyone thought someone else had sent it. These steps are for whoever runs the first fortnight, whether that sits with HR or payroll, or with a hiring manager doing both jobs.

1

Put a name and a date beside every item

Print the list, write who owns each line and when it is due for this hire, and keep it in the file. Most misses trace back to "HR" or "payroll" being assumed rather than named.

2

Get the award classification right before the offer letter is drafted

The pay rate, any loading, the super base and the leave accrual all inherit from it. Write down which award and which clause you relied on, so that when the rate is questioned in two years the answer is in the file rather than in someone's memory.

3

Sort super on day one, not first payday

Choice of fund at the start, and a stapled fund request the same week if they do not choose. Then get the first contribution inside the payday super window. The window is measured in business days now, not quarters, so the old habit of catching up later is the expensive one.

4

Keep the evidence behind every tick

A signed acknowledgement of the information statement, the lodged tax file number declaration, the super choice form, the induction record with a date. Records have to be kept for seven years and the tick on this page is not a record. The evidence is what a Fair Work inspector will ask for.

5
Where a tool helps

Add the people side the checklist cannot hold

In week one the manager writes down what good looks like at 30 and 90 days, books the check-ins, and has one conversation about how the new person prefers to work. Compliance decides whether the hire is lawful. That conversation decides whether it lasts.

Compliance is ticked.
Fit is not on the list.

Compono Hire is an applicant tracking system (ATS) that measures fit before you make the offer, and hands the manager a read on how their new person works from the first day. Most ATSs stop at the signed contract, so onboarding lands on a checklist like this one and the person stays a mystery until month three.

Step 5 is the part of onboarding no checklist can carry: the manager knowing how to work with this person before the probation clock has run out. Hire gives them that read in week one. The 20 items above keep the hire lawful; the fit read is what makes it stick.

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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.

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