Onboarding and payroll: getting the first payslip right

A clean start is half the job. For payroll to run smoothly from the first day, information has to arrive complete, correct and on time. Unclear routines, missing details or uncertainty quickly lead to delays and mistakes. So what belongs to payroll when someone joins?

By post, by email or in passing: information is the foundation of good payroll. Without it, a successful payday stands on shaky ground. Unfortunately, information doesn’t always reach its destination complete, correct and on time.

What sounds like a small hiccup is in practice one of the most common causes of payroll runs with question marks, needless follow-up questions or even mistakes.

But why? Why does relevant information get lost on its way to payroll, or arrive only in pieces? A look at how many companies work shows that it isn’t (only) the processes. Other possible causes:

1. “Payroll will know that anyway”

All too often, people assume payroll will understand. Then the wrong wording slips in, or half a sentence is meant to be enough. Once payroll starts interpreting, a successful payday is already at risk. So when you receive details that leave room for interpretation, go straight back to the sender and ask what they actually meant.

2. Without structure, there is chaos

Especially in companies without clearly defined routines, information ends up wherever there is room: in a personal inbox, as a chat message, in a note or somewhere in a tool. That can’t work. Make sure payroll can access every system and document it needs. What changes a lot here: everything in one place. Finding information straight away, without long searches and a thousand open windows. That is when payroll becomes a little more enjoyable.

3. Company culture: asking looks like uncertainty

Communication fails not only for lack of processes, but also because of attitude. In some organisations there is an unspoken expectation that you have to know everything. Asking shows weakness. Playing it safe means you don’t trust yourself enough. People would rather speculate than clarify properly. For me, that is a no-go in any company, but it helps to understand it and adapt how you work. In such environments, you have to look a little more closely, and don’t be dazzled by apparent competence. If you don’t ask, you won’t see anything new.

4. Data protection, and the fear of getting it wrong

Another obstacle is the worry of breaching data protection rules. “Am I even allowed to pass this on?” or “Is this information relevant at all?” lead employees or managers to hold information back out of uncertainty. Well meant, it ends in a lack of transparency. So ask anyway, anonymously if need be. Payroll will tell you whether it is relevant and needed.

These are only some of the most common causes. And as so often, it is rarely down to a single factor. But whatever the reason, the decisive question remains: what exactly does payroll need for the first payday to go right?

Which information and documents have to be complete, correct and on time when someone joins, so that questions and gaps don’t arise in the first place?

Getting this clear lays the foundation for correct payroll and takes pressure off everyone involved.

To help you see what information payroll needs and where the typical stumbling blocks are, we look at payroll administration for a new joiner through different scenarios. Not every case is the same. Onboarding a simple profile is usually quick.

But it can quickly get more complex.

Below, I’d like to show you with three scenarios how much the documentation for payroll onboarding can vary. I use three typical cases:

1. Level 1: the standard joiner
2. Level 2: a joiner with children
3. Level 3: a joiner subject to withholding tax

With these scenarios, we show you which information is needed at which step, and above all what to watch out for so that everything adds up in the end.

The standard joiner

In this case, the person joining has no children and isn’t subject to withholding tax. Because of this, hardly any clarification is needed, which makes it a relatively easy payroll onboarding.

Always needed

We always recommend drawing up a written employment contract and making it available to payroll. In Switzerland, employment contracts need no particular form, apart from a few exceptions, so a contract agreed verbally is also possible. You can do that. I wouldn’t recommend it, though, to avoid disadvantages if there is a falling-out later. In addition, the following information is essential for a successful payroll run. We recommend collecting it with a personnel data sheet when someone joins and passing it on to payroll:

• Address
• Date of birth
• Bank details
• AHV number (old-age and survivors’ insurance)
• Nationality
• Marital status, with the date it applies from
• Salary (*number of monthly payments), including any other pay components
• Residence permit, if the person isn’t a Swiss citizen

Needed depending on the company

Depending on what the company expects from payroll, or which options it offers its employees, payroll needs further information. Some examples:

• Assignment to a payroll group and/or cost centre
• Signed staff regulations or similar
• Assignment to a team and a manager
• Assignment of a company car
• Social insurance choice form (UVG (accident insurance), UVG-Z (supplementary accident insurance), KTG (daily sickness allowance insurance) and/or BVG (occupational pension) plan)
• Extract from the debt enforcement register and criminal record
• Target bonus agreement
• Further training commitment, with the costs the company covers
• Share of remote work outside Switzerland
• and much more

A joiner with children

Here onboarding gets a little more complex, because any entitlement to family allowances has to be checked. This is called a check of competing entitlements (Anspruchskonkurrenzprüfung). Depending on the company, HR or payroll does this. Some of the details asked for are quite sensitive, so we’d like to stress confidentiality and data protection in particular.

If HR does the check and perhaps even handles the application, it should at least tell payroll at onboarding. That way, no family allowances get forgotten.

A joiner subject to withholding tax

And this is where it gets really tricky. Payroll needs the following details to calculate pay correctly:

• Residence permit, marital status and number of children (already covered in the previous cases)
• Religious denomination
• Whether there is other income (salary) or replacement income (such as interim earnings while receiving ALV (unemployment insurance) benefits)
• If married: does the spouse work, or receive replacement income?

Needed depending on the case

The list above covers only the general Quellensteuer (withholding tax) checks. Depending on the case, withholding tax can get quite intricate. Some of the questions to ask:

1. Is the new joiner a board member living outside Switzerland?
2. Is the new joiner a single parent? If so, has the H rate already been applied for?
3. With a G permit (cross-border commuters), can the cross-border commuter rate be applied, and have the relevant documents been recorded?
4. How large is the share of remote work abroad?

As you can see, the information needed can vary widely from one joiner to the next. From simple to fairly complex.

But whatever the case looks like, what matters is that all the information needed reaches payroll complete, correct and on time.

Conclusion: so the first payday isn’t a guessing game

How well the first payday goes depends not only on payroll itself, but above all on how complete, correct and timely the information is. Unclear wording, scattered data, missing checks or uncertainty around sensitive topics: all of this can make the start shaky.

That makes it all the more important to work in a structured way when someone joins, whether it is a standard case or a more complex scenario.

To help you keep track and make sure no relevant detail is forgotten, we’ve put together a checklist that takes you through every important point. The checklist is in German. With it, the first payroll run can go ahead not only correctly, but without stress.

How does Paymira handle it?

At Paymira, we rely on two levers: our platform and a careful employer set-up.

Our platform makes sure no information gets lost. It shows your individual circumstances clearly, checks the steps needed and tracks how they are carried out. The result is a transparent process you can follow, which makes gaps and misunderstandings visible before they turn into mistakes.

At the same time, our payroll team starts every new customer with a detailed employer set-up. Every company works differently when it comes to internal routines, systems and needs. We capture exactly that at the start and set up payroll to match.

The result: an onboarding that makes sure all information is complete, correct and there at the right time.

So your first payroll run is checked and closely accompanied.