What's covered in this guide?
Send new starters or existing employees contracts to sign off when onboarding or changes are made to their employment conditions.
💡 Tip: In the US, contracts are called employment agreements, so some labels are different. For example, on the employee’s profile go to HR › Employment Docs and click Send Employment Agreements. The hub tab is Sent Employment Agreements, and in the app it’s My Employment Agreements.
To follow the steps in this guide, ensure contract templates have been created. Learn more in the Create a Contract Template guide.
Send contracts during onboarding
Contracts can be sent as part of onboarding so new starters can review and sign them before they start.
To select the contract being sent during onboarding:
Make sure contract templates have been created in your account.
Go to Workforce › Employee Onboarding › Onboard new staff.
On the Employee Details step, enter your new employee’s details.
In the Contracts field, select the contract(s) to send.
Click Continue to go to the Finalise Contracts step.
Review the pay conditions, then scroll down to the Contracts section to check each contract:
Confirm that all automatically filled information is correct.
Fill in any dynamic fields that weren’t filled automatically. The contract preview updates as you type.
A yellow message shows while fields are still missing. When every field is complete, a green message confirms “All dynamic fields for this contract have been filled in!”
Click Continue to go to Confirm & Onboard.
Check the details and click Invite to onboarding to send the invitation and contracts to your new employee.
View the status of an onboarding contract
Go to Workforce › Employee Onboarding and open the Onboarding history tab. Each employee shows one of these statuses:
Invitation sent: the invitation has been sent, but the employee hasn’t started onboarding yet.
In progress: the employee has started onboarding.
Contracts signed: the employee has signed their contracts but hasn’t finished onboarding.
In review: the employee has submitted their onboarding and it’s waiting for a manager to review it.
Completed: onboarding is complete.
Rejected: the onboarding submission was rejected.
You can also check the signing status in the Contracts & Documents hub under the Sent Contracts tab.
Send contracts when changing employment conditions
When an employee’s pay or working conditions change, you can send them a contract to sign that confirms the change.
A Default Pay Condition Change Agreement is available to send, or you can create your own contract. Learn how in the Create a Contract Template guide.
Note: All fields in the Default Pay Condition Change Agreement are filled automatically from the employee’s details and can’t be edited. You can still add extra wording in the Additional Amendments box.
Change current pay conditions and send a contract
Use this when the change applies now or from a past date.
Go to Workforce › Staff and open the employee’s profile.
Open the Pay Conditions tab.
Click Edit these conditions.
Make your changes.
Under Contracts & Documents, tick “Notify [employee name] of this change, and send related Contracts or Documents (e.g. policies)”.
Select the contract(s) to send and click Review Contracts.
Check each contract and fill in any dynamic fields that weren’t filled automatically. Use Next to move between contracts, then click Finish.
Click Confirm changes to open the confirmation window.
Review the changes and click Confirm and apply.
The updated conditions show under Current Pay Conditions & Hours on the employee’s profile.
Schedule a future change and send a contract
Use this when the change should start on a future date.
Go to Workforce › Staff and open the employee’s profile.
Open the Pay Conditions tab.
Click Add new conditions.
Under “When will the new conditions take effect?”, choose Start of the next pay cycle, or pick a custom date.
Make your changes.
Under Contracts & Documents, tick “Notify [employee name] of this change, and send related Contracts or Documents (e.g. policies)”.
Select the contract(s) to send and click Review Contracts.
Fill in any missing dynamic fields, then click Finish.
Click Confirm changes, then Confirm and apply.
The change shows under Upcoming Pay Conditions on the employee’s profile until it takes effect. To change or remove it later, expand it and use Edit scheduled pay conditions or Delete change.
Only apply changes once contracts are signed
If the new conditions shouldn’t apply until the employee has signed:
Follow either set of steps above.
In the Confirm Changes window, tick “Send contracts to be signed before applying this change”.
Click Confirm and apply.
The change is saved as a draft and shows as Approved - Awaiting Signatures. The new conditions take effect automatically once all contracts have been signed.
View the status of sent contracts
Go to the Contracts & Documents hub and open the Sent Contracts tab. Filter by Sent to, Status or Contract Template, and check the Status column. Contract statuses are:
Pending
Awaiting signature
Signed
Declined
Expired
Withdrawn
To see the contracts sent to one employee, open their profile and go to HR › Contracts & Docs.
FAQs
How do I send a contract to someone who’s already been onboarded, or resend one that didn’t send?
How do I send a contract to someone who’s already been onboarded, or resend one that didn’t send?
Open the employee’s profile and go to HR › Contracts & Docs.
Click Send Contracts.
Under Select contracts to send, choose the contract, then review it and send.
You need permission to edit the employee’s pay to send contracts. Word (.docx) templates can’t be sent from here. Send them by changing the employee’s pay conditions instead (see Send contracts when changing employment conditions above).
Why isn’t my contract template in the list?
Why isn’t my contract template in the list?
Check the template:
It hasn’t been deleted. Deleted templates don’t show.
It’s set for the right use. Under When would you like to use this template?, choose When onboarding staff for onboarding, or When updating an employee’s employment conditions to send it to existing staff. You can choose both.
It isn’t limited to other teams or locations. If the template is limited to certain teams or locations, it only shows for employees in those teams, and for managers of those teams.
For Word (.docx) templates, a version has been published. A template with only a draft can’t be sent.
During onboarding, a contract the employee has already signed shows as (Already Signed) and can’t be selected again.
I edited a contract template, but the old version is still being sent. Why?
I edited a contract template, but the old version is still being sent. Why?
A contract keeps the wording it had when it was created. Changes to the template don’t update contracts that have already been sent, or contracts already added to a pending onboarding.
Already sent: withdraw the contract, then send it again (see below).
For Word (.docx) templates: make sure you clicked Publish on your draft. Only the published version is sent.
A sent contract has a mistake. Can I edit it?
A sent contract has a mistake. Can I edit it?
No. Sent contracts can’t be edited. Instead:
Fix the information at the source. For example, {{start_date}} comes from the employee’s employment start date, and {{contract_start_date}} comes from the start date of their pay conditions.
Go to HR › Contracts & Docs on their profile, or the Sent Contracts tab in the Contracts & Documents hub, and click Withdraw on the contract.
Send the contract again.
You can only withdraw a contract while it’s Pending, or Awaiting signature for Word contracts. Once it’s Signed, it can’t be withdrawn or changed. Send a new contract instead.
Can I delete a withdrawn contract?
Can I delete a withdrawn contract?
No. Withdrawn contracts stay on the employee’s record with the status Withdrawn, so there’s a record that it was sent. The employee can no longer sign it.
Why does it say there are still dynamic fields left to fill in?
Why does it say there are still dynamic fields left to fill in?
The contract has a dynamic field, such as {{award}} or {{classification}}, that couldn’t be filled from the employee’s details. You can’t send the contract until every field is filled.
To fix it, either:
type the missing values in when you review the contract, or
add the missing details to the employee’s pay conditions, such as their template, tags or rate, or
remove the field from the contract template if you don’t need it.
Custom fields, such as a job title you added yourself, always need to be typed in.
How do I add a signature to a contract?
How do I add a signature to a contract?
Contracts built in the editor (rich text): you don’t need to add a signature field. The employee signs in the app when they accept the contract, and their signature is added to the contract.
Word (.docx) templates: add the signature fields to your document, such as {{signature_employee}} and {{signature_employee_date}}. To have a manager sign as well, add {{signature_manager}}. The employee signature is required.
Managers can save their signature on their own profile page, in the Contract signature card (US: Agreement signature).
Onboarding shows as complete, but the employee didn’t get their contracts or forms. What do I do?
Onboarding shows as complete, but the employee didn’t get their contracts or forms. What do I do?
Onboarding only includes the contracts and documents you selected when you invited the employee. If none were selected, those steps are skipped, and onboarding can show as complete without them.
Once onboarding is complete, you can’t send it again. Send the contracts from the employee’s profile instead (see How do I send a contract to someone who’s already been onboarded? above).
Why can’t an employee enter their bank details during onboarding?
Why can’t an employee enter their bank details during onboarding?
In the UK, the bank details step unlocks once Personal Details is complete. Ask the employee to check they’ve filled in everything in Personal Details: name, email, address, emergency contact, phone number, date of birth and gender.
If Employees must sign contract before onboarding is on, the other steps also stay locked until they’ve signed their contracts.
How can I tell if an employee has seen a contract?
How can I tell if an employee has seen a contract?
Check the contract’s status in the Sent Contracts tab: Pending, Awaiting signature, Signed, Declined, Expired or Withdrawn. There isn’t a separate “viewed” status. For contracts made from Word templates, click View. If the employee has opened the PDF from the app, you’ll see Opened by with the date and time.
How do I get a copy of a signed contract?
How do I get a copy of a signed contract?
Click View on the contract, in the Sent Contracts tab or on the employee’s profile.
Rich text contracts: click print and save it as a PDF from your browser.
Word (.docx) contracts: click View PDF.
Employees can download their own contracts in the app, under My Contracts.