What is a new employee form?
As the name suggests, new employee forms are documents that freshly recruited staff members fill in before they commence employment at a company. Such documents usually contain important information about the new employee, including their tax and bank details. Some industries may require new hires to complete additional forms, such as non-disclosure agreements or documents relevant to health and safety.
Why do you need a new employee form?
In addition to providing you with personal information about your new hire, onboarding forms can also serve to inform new team members about your company policies. This can be done by including a few pages in the forms they complete that list important protocols or policies they need to know. In this way, such forms benefit both the employer and the new hire, as they can introduce newcomers to information that can help them when they start in their role, thus saving you time and effort.
Finally, when employee forms are completed, it’s advisable to keep accurate records for your human resources department. This includes tracking any employment changes and always following your local employment laws and regulations.
What do new employee forms need to include?
There are several types of new employee forms a company can choose to use in their operations. Some forms are required by law, such as taxation forms, while others may be used only for particular roles or locations. Generally, the most common aspects covered are typically the following:
Employee information
The standard, basic information required on employee forms is their name, date of birth, contact details and emergency contact details. After all, you need to know how exactly who it is you’re hiring and how to contact them, and who to call if there ever is a medical or other emergency with your new hire.
Legal compliance
Australia has strong legislation protecting human rights and the rights of employees, including:
- the Age Discrimination Act 2004
- the Disability Discrimination Act 1992
- the Racial Discrimination Act 1975
- the Sex Discrimination Act 1984
- the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986.
These statutes protect employees from discrimination due to their age, sex, disability, religion, political opinion, national extraction, nationality, social origin, medical record, criminal record or trade union activity. Additionally, each state or territory has its own equal opportunity and anti-discrimination laws. While these mostly overlap the federal law, employers need to be sure that they are fully compliant with all of them.
It may be a good idea to share your own workplace discrimination and harassment policies with new staff along with the new employee form. That way, new hires from any background will feel reassured that you take anti-discrimination seriously and promote a diverse working environment.
Qualifications, training and accreditations
According to a report by the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption, 20% to 30% of job applications typically contain false information, ranging from minor omissions to serious falsehoods. Adding a section about your new hire’s educational history, such as any degrees and accredited training courses, including completion dates and institution names, can help you uncover fraudulent claims.
Background verification
As an employer, you need to be sure that who’s in front of you really is who they say they are. This is where background and reference checks come in useful. To comply with Australian privacy laws, always seek the employee’s permission before contacting their references to verify their professional history or to confirm that they are eligible to work with children, for example. This can be done by simply including a relevant section on the new employee form that they can sign to indicate their consent.
Related: Employment Records: Legal Obligations and Best Practices for Australian Employers
Tax compliance
Australian employers are legally required by the Australian Taxation Office to collect their new staff member’s tax file number (TFN) in order to make correct tax withholding deductions. As Australian employers must make super contributions for eligible employees, your new employee tax form should also include a section for superannuation fund details, so you have everything you need to be compliant from the outset.
You have the option of creating and using your own forms for this purpose, or you can make use of the ATO’s online forms for new employees. To complete these forms, the employee needs to link their myGov account to ATO online services if they haven’t already. Benefits of using the ATO forms include prefilled information from the ATO’s database, less chance of incorrect employee information, and no requirement to forward paper forms to the ATO.
Related: Employee Evaluation Form
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background
Most questionnaires and forms in Australia include an optional question regarding Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. Employers find this information useful for reporting purposes back to the government to help with tracking statistics relating to a disadvantaged group. There are also a number of financial and training assistance programs available to businesses that employ an Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander person. Having this question in your new employee form can, therefore, be very useful.
Digital record-keeping
Gone are the days of piles of paper and ring binders piling up on desks and in storage cupboards. Today, most records are stored digitally, and employee forms are no different. This not only saves space but also allows different executive and HR staff members to easily access employee files and data as needed. Nowadays, software is available that lets your staff fill in forms electronically with just a few clicks. But, of course, you can also scan and electronically store any paper-based forms you may still be using.
Related: How Indeed Can Support a Digital Hiring Process
New employee form template
Creating form templates for your onboarding process helps ensure that you collect the right details from your starters. Let’s take a look at what a potential new employee form could look like:
Personal Information
Given name:
Middle name:
Family name:
Home address:
City:
State/Territory:
Postcode:
Primary phone number:
Mobile phone number:
Email address:
Date of birth:
Educational background and qualifications:
Last position held:
Are you of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin?: Y/N
Employment Information
Position title:
Employee ID number:
Manager’s name:
Department:
Work phone number:
Work email address:
Employee start date:
Salary:
Tax and Banking Information
Tax File number (TFN):
Bank name:
Bank account details:
Superannuation fund name and details:
Emergency Contact Information
Contact’s given name:
Contact’s family name:
Address:
City:
State/Territory:
Postcode:
Primary phone number:
Mobile phone number:
Relationship to employee:
Naturally, you can tailor this example to suit your organisation’s needs and add more fields or sections as required.
Related: New Hire Onboarding Checklist
It’s clear that an effective new employee form will not only make your life easier but also create transparency and ensure that your company is legally compliant. Building on the template and information provided in this article can help you draft a well-designed form that will be sure to simplify your onboarding process.
