Classic Onboarding Getting Started Guide - Administrators

Onboarding in CareerPlug is designed to help you manage your employees' new hire documents without all the paperwork. You'll have the ability to assign checklists with tasks for new hires to complete, create new forms or utilize federal and state forms included in your account, and so much more.

In this article:

• Accessing Onboarding
• Onboarding setup and settings
  • Onboarding Status
  • Onboarding Defaults
  • Notification Settings
  • Forms
  • Checklists
  • Categories
  • Employee Custom Fields
  • Locations
• Documents and forms to provide for Onboarding
• Creating your own forms
• Adding forms to a checklist
• Creating your own checklists
• Testing the forms yourself
• Activating Onboarding

Accessing Onboarding

To access Onboarding for your account, click the CareerPlug logo in the upper left corner of your screen and select Onboarding in the drop-down menu.

Onboarding setup and settings

To configure your account's Onboarding settings, navigate to your Onboarding page and click the Onboarding Setup link to the left of the search bar.

On your Settings page, you can configure a number of key Onboarding features, including checklists, forms, and notification settings.

Onboarding Status

Don't worry about activating Onboarding for your account until you've finished setting up your Onboarding forms and checklists.

Onboarding Defaults

This section is where you can view and configure the Default Checklist for New Jobs, the Default Onboarding Coordinator, and the Default Document Signer.

To edit any of these, click the Change link to the right.

Notification Settings

In the Notification Settings section, Admin users can configure their notifications by clicking any of the following links:

• Customize the content of the Welcome Email that is sent to new hires instructing them to complete checklists
• Customize the content of the Hiring Manager instructions email that is sent to the direct manager of a new hire and provides instructions for the employee's Onboarding
• Manage Notifications for who is sent an email when an employee completes a task (disabled by default)
• Manage Notifications for who is sent an email when an employee completes their Onboarding checklists (disabled by default)

Forms

You can create Onboarding forms that you will assign to new employees to complete as part of your Onboarding process, and you can also take advantage of a selection of premade forms (such as the I-9, W-4, and state-specific tax forms) included in your account.

Clicking the links to the right of your form will allow you to edit the checklist the form is assigned to (by clicking the checklist's name), Edit the form itself, Test the form from the employee's view, and Delete the form.

You can create a new form by clicking the New Form button.

Checklists

A checklist is a series of tasks (usually forms) that you want an employee to complete. You can have an Onboarding checklist automatically sent to an applicant right after you click the Hire button in CareerPlug.

Clicking the links to the right of your checklist will allow you to Assign the checklist to employees, Edit the checklist itself, or to Clone the checklist.

You can create a new checklist by clicking the New Checklist button.

Categories

Categories are custom labels to help you organize your checklists. Many people use "Onboarding," but it's up to you to create your own.

Click the New Checklist Category button to add a new category.

When you create and edit checklists, you'll have the option to assign a category to your checklist using the Checklist Category drop-down menu.

Employee Custom Fields

Employee Custom Fields allow you to to easily capture employee information, which you can use for employee reporting and which you can export to payroll software like ADP.

Locations

Additional locations allow you to post jobs and attract applicants in a new city and/or zip code.

Adding new locations is done through the ATS, but in Onboarding, you can configure which users have access to the jobs and applicants at each location.

To add users to a location, click the Managers link to the right of the location.

Documents and forms to provide for Onboarding

CareerPlug provides important forms such as the Form I-9, W-4, and state-specific tax withholding forms.

Here are some examples of forms clients typically upload themselves:

• Employment Agreement
• Internet Policy Agreement
• Employee Handbook
• Direct Deposit Authorization
• Emergency Contact Form
• Policy Acknowledgements
• Insurance Forms/Information

Creating your own forms

CareerPlug automatically creates the Form I-9, W-4, and state-specific tax forms in your account.

If you need to upload or create your own form, you can do so by clicking Account in the top right corner of the page and selecting Settings from the drop-down menu.

Scroll down to the Forms section and click the New Form button.

A pop-up will appear for you to choose the type of form you want to create:

• Acknowledgment Form: This form is a brief statement that the employee must read and then confirm receipt with a signature. (Example: Acknowledgement that they have reviewed the employee handbook.)
• Document Form: This form is a document that an employee must download, print/scan/otherwise modify, and re-upload once completed.
• Employee Record Form: The form is tied to the employee’s record in Onboarding. The fields the employee updates on this form will also be updated in their employee record.
• PDF Form: This form adds fields to an existing PDF document to allow managers or employees to complete the form electronically. This is the most common type of form used in Onboarding.
• Question/Answer Form: This form allows you to customize a set of questions using our question editor.

Select the form type, then click the Continue button.

On the Editing Form page, complete each of the available fields to to finish creating your form:

• E-Signature: Select whether only the employee must sign the form, both the employee and manager must sign, or an e-signature is not required.
  • Only for Acknowledgement, Document, and Question/Answer Forms
• Employee fields: Select all Employee fields you want to include on your Employee Record Form.
  • Only for Employee Record Forms
• Upload a PDF: Upload the PDF that will be used as the basis for your form, and add custom fields to your form.
  • Only for PDF Forms
• Documents: Attach any supporting documents that you want included with the form. 
  • Only for Acknowledgement and Document Forms
• Questions: Create questions using custom form fields, and add comments or page breaks, if necessary.
  • Only for Question/Answer Forms
• Document Category: This is the category on the employee’s record where the completed document will appear.
• Document Visibility: Select which levels of users can view the completed document.
• Does not require manager review: Select this checkbox if employees can complete the form without a manager reviewing it. This means an employee will complete the form and it will immediately be stored on their Documents page rather than going to the manager's checklist for review.
• Exclude this form from the combined Onboarding document generated when all forms are completed: Select this checkbox if you want this form to remain separate from the employee's combined Onboarding document.
• Make this form optional: Select this checkbox to make this form optional.
• Add to Checklist: Select which, if any, checklists you'd like to add the form to at this time. You can also add a form to a checklist at any time by editing the checklist from your Settings page in Onboarding.
• Assignable as Single Form: Select this checkbox to be able to assign this form to an employee without it being tied to an Onboarding checklist.
• Notify on Complete: Enter any additional email addresses (besides the default signer/approver) for users that should be notified when the form is completed.

Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Adding forms to a checklist

When you create a new form, you can select which checklists (if any) you’d like to add the form to at the bottom of the page.

A Primary Onboarding Checklist is already created for you when you gain access to Onboarding, which includes the Form I-9, W-4, and state-specific tax forms. You can add your form to the Primary Onboarding Checklist by selecting the checkbox and clicking the Save button.

If you don't add your form to any checklist yet, you can create a new checklist and add the form to this new checklist at a later time (see below).

You can add forms to a checklist by editing the checklist. In Account > Settings, under the Checklists section, click the Edit link next to the checklist to which you would like to add forms.

Scroll to the bottom of the checklist and click the Add New Step button. Select the form you wish to add from the drop-down menu that appears for the new checklist step.

When you add a form, you can add a deadline by completing the Complete-By Days field. Add as many steps as you want by clicking the Add New Step button.

Click the Update Checklist button when you're done to save your changes.

Creating your own checklists

In the Checklist section, click the New Checklist button.

Choose whether you want to create an employee or a manager checklist, then click the Continue button.

When you create a new checklist, you'll most likely want to select the Part of the Onboarding Process checkbox to have the option to have the checklist assigned to new hires.

When you create the checklist, you have the option to add forms you've created or non-form steps. When you add a form, you can add a deadline by completing the Complete-By Days field. Non-form steps don't include a form but may be tasks that you would like an employee to complete as part of their Onboarding; for example, "take a tour of the office." Add as many steps as you need by clicking the Add New Step button.

Click Create Checklist at the bottom of the page when you're done, and you're ready to assign the checklist to an employee or new hire!

Testing the forms yourself

If you want to test your PDF Forms and fill them out yourself, simply click the Test link next to the form name on the Settings page.

You will see the Employee View of the PDF Form and can fill out the fields yourself.

If you want to test a complete checklist from the employee view, you should create a test employee and assign the checklist to the test employee.

Follow these steps to do so:

1. Add an Employee from the Employees page (click the Add Employee link and fill out the necessary information). Make sure to give the employee an email address that is not already in the system or this test will not work. (Tip: If you don't have an alternate email, try adding "+test" at the end of your work email. The system will recognize it as a separate email address but emails will still be sent to your inbox. For example, we would use hello+test@careerplug.com).
2. Assign the test employee the checklist you would like to test. You can do this from the Onboarding page. The employee will show up under Needs Assignment. Click the Assign Tasks link, select a checklist to assign (you will most likely want to list yourself as the Signer/Approver of forms), and click Update Checklist Assignments.
3. Log out completely of your Admin login (Account > Log Out) and close the browser.
4. Open your email and find the email from your account that your new test employee received. Click the link in the email to set a password and log in as the test employee. It’s best to log in from a different browser.
5. You can now complete forms and other checklists steps from the Tasks page.

You can also send your new form to current employees if you would like them to fill it out.

Activating Onboarding

Once you have finished setting up your Onboarding forms and checklists, it's time to activate Onboarding!

When you do this, your default checklist for new jobs (the Primary Onboarding Checklist, unless you change this default setting) will be added to all of your active jobs. What this means is that clicking Hire in the ATS will automatically email new hires a link to log in and complete your default checklist. If you only have one checklist created, that checklist will be the one all new hires will have to complete.

To activate Onboarding, navigate to Account > Settings and click the Activate Onboarding Process button.

You can always edit any individual checklist assignment for a job by editing the job itself and changing the checklists that should be assigned to new hires made for that job. When editing a job, scroll to the bottom of the page to modify the Employee Onboarding Checklists section.

You can also assign checklists to individual employees.