Once you’ve been through the interview process and picked the candidate that you’re going to hire, there will be a number of legal and technical steps you have to take to bring them on board.

Getting these steps wrong could cause administrative issues for your company down the line, so it’s important to get this right.

Whilst not the most exciting part of hiring a new employee, it’s useful to remind yourself of the legal and logistical boxes you need to tick before your new employee starts. If you or your HR team are unsure of what needs to be done, it’s worth speaking to an external HR consultant on what you need to cover off.

This article is part six of our ten-part series on hiring and onboarding. In the series, you'll learn how to prepare for the recruitment process, select the best candidate and successfully onboard your new starter. You can see other articles in the series at the bottom of the page.

Before you hire the employee, you’ll need to carry out certain checks. More detail can be found on the different kinds of checks on the government website, which can include criminal record, right to work, health and references from previous employers, amongst other things.

Once the checks have been passed, and a formal job offer has been accepted, you’re required to prepare a written statement of employment, with the company details, start date, work hours, pay, holiday and other benefits and terms of employment.

Beyond the written statement, there are other things you should share with your employee in writing, such as details on how they’ll be paid, and any standards or expectations of the employee in terms of behaviour.

When everything is signed, there will be some further actions you need to take to ensure they’re ready to start. The first steps will be to register the new employee with HMRC and set your new employee up on payroll software.

Then it’s looking at internal systems and making sure they’re ready to start from day one. You’ll likely need to set them up with an email address, and also create logins for any other software you use for expenses, timesheets or managing absences. Likewise, if they need any equipment or tech, such as a phone or laptop, have this prepped for their start as well.

As you think about bringing your new starter into the business, take a look at our onboarding checklist and see what else you can do to make the process a success.

• Talk to your HR team or external experts if you have any questions about bringing a new employee on
• Make sure to review the legal steps, checks and processes you’ll need to bring your new starter onboard
• Be on top of the logistics for your new starter, so that they can get going from day one

You can revisit the previous articles in our series below:

• How to work out it’s time to hire
• Preparing to hire new employees
• Three steps to creating the perfect job advert
• Selecting the best candidate
• Four quick wins to improve your hiring process