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Self-Onboarding

The Self-Onboarding feature is currently in beta; please feel free to provide feedback by clicking the BETA label.

Self-Onboarding lets you invite a new employee to fill in their own personal details, identification, and banking information – instead of you capturing everything yourself. You send an email invite, the employee completes a secure online form, and you review and approve their submission before their employee profile is created.

Before you start

You'll need:

  • The correct permission role to add employees, i.e. Admin or Account Owner.
  • The new employee's email address, first names, last name, and start date.

👉 How-To Guides

How to invite an employee to self-onboard

  1. Go to Employees > Self-Onboarding.
  2. Click Invite Employee.
  3. Complete the fields listed in the table below.
  4. Click Send Invite.

The employee receives an email with a secure link to their onboarding form, and the invite appears on the Self-Onboarding tab with a status of Invited.

You can filter, search, and sort the invite list to find a specific invite.

Fields on the Invite Employee pop-up

Field Notes
Email The employee's email address. This is where the onboarding link is sent, and it must be unique among your company's pending invites.
First Names Personalises the invite email, and pre-populates the employee's form.
Last Name As above.
Job Title Optional. Pre-populates the employee's form, but the employee can change it.
Date of Appointment The employee's start date.
Paid via AutoPay Ticked by default, which makes adding banking details mandatory on the employee's form. Untick if they won't be paid via AutoPay.

Blocked invites

You can't invite an email address that already belongs to an existing employee, or that already has a pending invite for your company. If a pending invite already exists for that email, you can resend or cancel it from the invite's details.

For information on how this feature works from the employee's side, see the Completing Your Self-Onboarding help page.

How to review and respond to a submission

Once an employee submits their form, the invite's status changes to Submitted, and you'll receive an email notification.

  1. Go to Employees > Self-Onboarding.

  2. Click the employee's name.

    The pop-up shows the employee's Submitted Details and Activity Log.

  3. Under Comments, explain what needs to be fixed if you're rejecting the submission. Comments are required when rejecting, but optional when approving.

  4. Click Approve Submission or Reject Submission.
  • If you approve the submission, you go through the usual two-step process for adding an employee, with Basic Info pre-populated from the employee's submission. Confirm the details and complete the remaining steps as usual – see the Add Employees help page for more information. The employee's profile is created only once you complete this process, and Self-Service is automatically enabled for the employee at that point (see the Enabling Self-Service help page).
  • If you reject the submission, its status changes to Rejected, and the employee receives an email with your comments and a new link. Their form is pre-populated with their previous answers, so they don't need to start again – they can correct what you flagged, and resubmit.

Pre-populated submission

When you approve a submission, a banner confirms that the employee's details were pre-populated from a self-onboarding submission.

How to resend or cancel an invite

  1. Go to Employees > Self-Onboarding.
  2. Click the employee's name.
  3. Click Resend Invite, or Cancel Invite > Confirm.
  • Resend Invite is available while the invite is Invited or Rejected. It sends the employee a new link, and resets the link's expiry.
  • Cancel Invite is available while the invite is Invited. It invalidates the employee's link, and they're notified by email.

Deleting cancelled invites

Once an invite is Cancelled, click the employee's name, and Delete > Confirm to remove it permanently.

📌 Quick References

Invite statuses

Status Meaning
Approved You've approved the submission, and the employee's profile has been created.
Cancelled You've cancelled the invite.
Invited Invite sent, waiting for the employee to complete their form.
Rejected You've sent the submission back to the employee for changes.
Submitted Employee has completed their form, awaiting your review.
  • Expires seven days after being sent or resent.
  • Single-use – no longer works once the employee submits their form.
  • Cancelled invite's link shows a message that the invite is no longer valid.
  • Expired link shows a message asking the employee to contact you for a new invite.

🔍 FAQs

Can I customise the fields on the employee's onboarding form?

Not yet. The employee's form uses the same personal details, identification, address, and banking fields as your company's Basic Info screen – except for these excluded fields:

  • Employee Number
  • Job Grade
  • Pay Point
Does the employee need to create a SimplePay account to fill in the form?

No. Their onboarding link takes them straight to the form – no login or account creation is required. If they already have a Self-Service account linked to that email address (for example, from another company), they can log in with their existing credentials once their profile is approved.

Can the employee save their progress and finish the form later?

No. The employee must complete the form in a single session, and all required fields must be filled in before they can submit it.

What happens if two admins try to approve the same submission?

The first admin to approve it wins. If a second admin opens the invite afterwards, they'll see that it has already been approved.

Can I invite several employees to self-onboard at once?

No, not yet. Invites are created one at a time using Invite Employee.