New employee payroll checklist for Australian employers

Before day one

Confirm the terms in writing

Issue a written employment agreement covering the role, employment type (full time, part time or casual), pay rate, hours and start date. Fair Work also requires new employees to receive the relevant information statement, usually the Fair Work Information Statement, with casuals needing the casual specific version too. Check the Fair Work Ombudsman site for whichever's current.

Identify the award and classification

Work out which modern award covers the role and which classification level fits the duties. This one decision drives the minimum pay rate, penalties, allowances and overtime treatment for the whole employment. Write your reasoning down; a classification decision made deliberately is much easier to defend than one made by default.

Check work rights

Confirm the person's right to work in Australia. For visa holders, verify their work rights and any hour restrictions through the Department of Home Affairs checking service, and keep a record of what you checked and when.

The paperwork to collect

• Tax file number declaration, completed by the employee so you withhold at the right rate
• Superannuation standard choice form, or their stapled super fund details from the ATO if they don't choose a fund
• Bank account details for pay, ideally confirmed in writing
• Emergency contact and personal details for your records
• Any licences, qualifications or registrations the role requires, with expiry dates noted somewhere you'll actually see them

That stapled fund step matters more than it sounds. If a new employee doesn't nominate a fund, you can't just default them into yours; you have to request their stapled fund details from the ATO first. Pay super into the wrong fund and you might end up paying it again into the right one.

Setting up payroll

Enter the employee correctly in your software

Create the employee record with the right employment type, award classification, pay rate, pay cycle and leave entitlements. Casual and permanent settings drive different treatment for leave accruals and loading, so that employment type field isn't a box you tick without thinking.

Connect to Single Touch Payroll

STP applies to employers of every size, so every pay run needs reporting to the ATO through STP enabled software. First employee? Confirm your software's STP enabled and connected before that first pay goes out, not after.

Set up super correctly

The super guarantee currently sits at 12 percent of ordinary time earnings. Enter the fund details, confirm the super rate applies to the right pay items, and schedule contributions to actually land on time. Payday super has been legislated to start from 1 July 2026, aligning super payments with each pay run, so confirm the current requirements while you're setting things up.

After the first pay

Confirm the STP report lodged successfully and the payment reached the employee's account. Diarise probation review dates, super payment deadlines and any award rate changes coming up. And if the employee's duties change later, revisit the classification; onboarding is a snapshot, not something you set and forget.

Also confirm workers compensation coverage. Every state and territory requires employers to hold a policy, and a new hire can change your premium or trigger a registration obligation if this is your first employee. Rules vary by state, so check with your local regulator or insurer before assuming you're covered.

Where NextEra fits

NextEra's managed payroll includes new employee setup: collecting the forms, requesting stapled fund details, entering the record correctly and checking the first pay against the award before it runs. It's part of the same monthly bookkeeping rhythm that keeps the rest of your file clean, and if your whole payroll setup has never had a proper once over, that's exactly the sort of thing a Strategic Finance Review picks up.