With our new Onboarding and Document Storage features, you can create an onboarding packet for new hires and send it to them to complete to be ready to work on their first day. You also have the ability to upload employee documents directly into their profiles for easy storage and better tracking.
In this article you will learn:
How we keep you and your employee information secure
How to set up new hire onboarding
How your employees will receive and sign/acknowledge the packet
How to access and manually upload the signed documents/packet in Homebase
How to send the packet/documents to existing members on your team
How to add an employee certification
How we keep you and your employee information secure
- These features are currently only available to customers in the United States.
- To protect sensitive employee information and keep documents secure, only the owner of the Homebase account is able to create the onboarding packet and view employee documents.
- For added security measures, Managers and General Managers are able to send the new hire onboarding packet, but are not able to view them.
How to set up new hire onboarding
Follow the steps below to set up your new hire onboarding packet:
- Select Team on the top navigation bar
- Select New Hire Onboarding from the sub navigation
- Click Activate New Hire Onboarding
- Check on "Enable New Hire Packet” and “Send the New Hire Packet to all new team members going forward” to keep onboarding efficient for all new hires.
- Here you will see the federally required W-4 and I-9 forms already included, as well as the option to add a direct deposit form or upload additional company or industry specific documents.
- When uploading your own documents, you have the option to require an employee signature or simply acknowledge they’ve viewed it.
- Last, we ask for business-specific information, such as your EIN and address, in order to create your onboarding packet. By default, only the owner of the account is able to view and modify the onboarding packet.
How your employees will sign/acknowledge the packet
Once you complete your new hire onboarding packet, you will be able to select which new hires/employees you’d like to send it to. From there, your employee will receive an email and/or text message asking them to sign in to Homebase and complete the onboarding packet.
Note: If you have not yet added your new employee to Homebase, please reference the support article: Managing your Team Roster, Team Profiles, and Team Permissions/Access Levels.
Your employees will be asked for the following information and can complete the packet from a phone or computer.:
- Basic information
- Legal name
- Date of birth
- Mobile phone
- Address
- Emergency contact
- Federal taxes W-4 information (requires employees signature)
- Employment eligibility I-9 information (requires employee signature)
- State tax withholding forms if applicable to your state and custom documents
- Direct deposit form (if included)
- Other custom documents that have been uploaded by you
Aside from tax forms, the I-9, and the direct deposit form, you can also upload other documents that you want your employees to sign or acknowledge.
To upload a new custom document,
- Click Team then Documents on the top navigation bar
- Click on Add Documents
- Upload a PDF file and specify if you would like your employees to sign or acknowledge the document
- After uploading the document, you can add the document as part of a New-Hire packet or send it individually to employees
To delete an uploaded custom document,
- Click Team then Documents on the top navigation bar
- Click on the "gear" icon to access Settings, then click on "Edit Custom Documents"
- Select the custom documents, and click on the "Archive Template" link
Note: When a custom document is archived, it can no longer to sent out to employees. Previously completed documents can still be access in the employee's profile.
How to access and manually upload the signed documents/packet in Homebase
Storing employee documents will help you stay compliant. The US government requires businesses to store I-9 forms for up to three years, regardless of whether employees are still under your employment.
Note: For security reasons, only the owner of the Homebase account is able to view the completed documents. To allow Managers or General Managers to access completed documents, navigate to the Team Permissions page to enable a change in the permissions settings. The account owner will receive an email when this permission is changed.
To view or manually upload an individual employees documents, please follow the steps here:
- Click Team on the top navigation bar.
- Select the employee you wish to view
- Select Documents
- Here you can upload or view any of the documents listed/added by you here.
To view multiple employees documents at once and to track their progress completing the documents, please follow the steps here:
- Click Team on the top navigation bar
- Select Documents from the sub navigation
- View the status of all new hires completion of the packet: here you can track whether they have viewed, acknowledged, or signed the individual documents.
How to send the packet/documents to existing members on your team
1. Hover over Team on the top navigation
2. Select Documents from the sub navigation
3. Hover over the Documents and click the blue + icon
4. Click Send
Note: Your employees will receive a link to the documents in their email and text messages (if their phone numbers are entered). Once they tap the link, they will prompted to complete the process described in the above section "How your employees will receive and sign/acknowledge the packet".
How to add an employee certification
Both employees and managers are able to add certifications to their profiles, so you are able to keep track of qualifications and accomplishments.
For admins
- Sign in to your Homebase account.
- Select the Team tab in the top navigation bar.
- Click on an employee’s name to access their full profile.
- Under the Information tab, select +Add a Certificate.
- You can add a name, expiration date, and image if you desire.
- Click Save Changes to add the certification to their profile.
- In the future, to edit a certification click the pencil icon. To delete a certification click the trash icon.
- Prior to expiration, all managers will receive notifications:
- 10 days before the certification expires for all locations where the employee works.
- On expiration day for all locations where the employee works.
Sending a new-hire packet to contractors (New!)
We've added the ability for you to onboard your contractors through our New-Hire Onboarding feature. Newly added contractors will receive a W-9 and a direct deposit form to fill out. The completed forms will be stored in Homebase Documents for owners (and managers, if given access) to view and download.
Here are the steps to enable this feature and send a contractor packet:
1. Enable the New-Hire Onboarding feature by navigating to Team > New-Hire Onboarding. If you've previously used the New-Hire Onboarding, you do not need to re-enable this feature.
2. Then, add a new contractor by goin to Team > Roster and click on the "Add Team" button.
3. Click on the "Classification" field and select the "Contractor" option
4. The "New-Hire Packet" field will display the Contractor packet that will be sent out.
5. Click on "Save and Finish" to add this new team member as a contractor. The packet will be automatically sent to the person's email or phone number on file.
To configure the types of documents included in the Contractor New Hire Packet, navigate to Team > New-Hire Onboarding. You will see an option to add or remove documents from the Contractor New Hire Packet.
You can also send a contractor packet to an existing team member. To do so, navigate to Documents page, click on the document icon next to a team member's name and select the "Contractor Packet" in the dropdown menu.
Note: Currently, there is not a way to change someone from a contractor to an employee within the Homebase app
