Onboarding
Only available for payrolls set up with the Onboarding feature. To request this functionality:
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Click the Exchange icon
in the Powerpay toolbar.
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Select Powerpay Products.
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Select Powerpay Onboarding.
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Click Contact Us.
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Complete the form and click Send.
A Dayforce representative will contact you.
Service fees apply.
A good onboarding experience is critical for successfully bringing a new hire into your team. The Onboarding features in Powerpay are designed to help you provide a smooth process for both you and your new employees and consists of four distinct actions:
- Onboarding setup - personalize the onboarding experience for your company and define the steps new hires will be required to complete in the Self Service Onboarding Wizard.
- Onboarding notifications - select the Powerpay user(s) to receive notifications when new hires make and save changes in the Self Service Onboarding Wizard.
- Powerpay Onboarding Wizard - add and create Self Service accounts for the new hires so they can complete the onboarding process in Self Service.
- Self Service Onboarding Wizard - guides new hires through the process of entering, confirming and upload various personal, tax and other relevant employment information. The wizard opens automatically the first time a new hire logs into Self Service.
Onboarding Setup
The Onboarding Manager allows you to personalize and specify the information and tasks that are presented to your new hires during the Onboarding process in Powerpay Self Service.
The following tasks are managed through the Onboarding Manager:
- Company Name
- New Hire Welcome Email
- Powerpay Self Service Welcome page
- Information the new hire must complete during Onboarding
Tip: Click Save as Draft anytime during the setup process to save your progress and complete the process later.
Onboarding Wizard
Use the Onboarding Wizard to add new hires, enter some basic information, assign documents and create Self Service accounts for new hires.
Note: If you are a Powerpay People customer using the Onboarding functionality, and import your payroll data, you cannot import new hires. New hires must be added using the Onboarding feature.
Video
Tasks

- Navigate to the
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Confirm the Company Name. The name displays as it is currently registered in Powerpay and is used on all employee onboarding communications. You can customize the name for employee communications.
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Click Next.
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Configure the new hire welcome email. Welcome emails are sent to all new hires with Self Service access and includes their username, a temporary password, a link to the Powerpay Self Service application and initial login instructions. You can add your own content and specify any additional information you want to include.
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(optional) Click Preview Welcome Email to view what the message sent to new hires will look like. When you are finished, click Close to close the preview dialog box.
- Click Next.
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Customize the Powerpay Self Service welcome message. This is the message new hires see when they log into Powerpay Self Service for the first time to complete their Onboarding.
You can personalize the message for your company. Customizing the welcome message provides an opportunity to:
- Reinforce your company brand or message
- Introduce the company
- Describe what the new hire can expect on their first day
- Enhance the new hires initial experience.
- Click Next.
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Specify the information new hires must complete in Powerpay Self Service during the Onboarding process.
Use the Set all to option to set all options to the same value or select individual values for each page as appropriate for your company.
Three options are available:
- Mandatory – the new hire must complete ALL the information on the page to continue the Onboarding process.
- Optional - the new hire can view and edit the fields on the page but is not required to complete all fields to continue the Onboarding process.
- Skip – the page does not display for the new hire.
When Mandatory or Optional is selected for a page, a notification is sent when the new hire makes changes during Onboarding. Select the Powerpay user to receive the notifications on the
after completing the Onboarding Manager.Note: By default, all options are set to mandatory except Upload Photo which is set to optional.
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(optional) Click Preview Onboarding Pages to view what the Onboarding process will look like for new hires. When you are finished, click Close to close the preview dialog box.
- Click Save.
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Click Go Back to People List to continue working in Powerpay.
You can update the Onboarding Manager settings at any time by returning to the

When Onboarding is selected, the Powerpay user receives notifications in their Powerpay Inbox each time a new hire makes and saves changes in the Self Service Onboarding Wizard. A notification is also sent when the new hire completes the Onboarding Wizard.
- Navigate to the
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In the list of users, click the Edit action button in the row for the user to receive notifications.
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In the Self Service Notifications section select Onboarding.
- Click Submit.
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Repeat steps 2 through 4 for any additional Powerpay users who should also receive Self Service onboarding notifications.

When Onboarding is set up for your company, new hires are added using the Onboarding wizard. Use the Onboarding wizard to record some details about the newly hired employee and create a Powerpay Self Service user for the new hire so they can complete the new hire process.
Note: All fields with a red * are required.
- Open the
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Click
in the People list.
The Onboarding wizard opens.
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Complete the new hire’s basic information. The information is saved on the Profile tab under the People menu when you complete the wizard.
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Click Next.
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Complete the new hire’s work assignment information. The information is saved to the Work Assignment section on the Profile tab under the People menu.
To add a Position not in the list:
- Click the
adjacent to the Position field.
- Click Add.
- Enter the name of the position in English and French.
- Click Save.
The new position is available on the Position list for all people in the People list.
To add a Department not in the list:
- Click the
adjacent to the Department field.
- Click Add.
- Enter the name of the department in English and French.
- Click Save.
The new department is available in the Department list for all people in the People list.
- Click the
- Click Next.
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Complete the new hire’s employment information. The information is saved to the Employment Information section on the Compensation tab under the People menu.
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Click Next.
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Complete the new hire’s entitlements information. The information is saved to the Entitlements section on the Compensation tab under the People menu.
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Click Next.
- Select any company documents to assign to the new hire. Documents designated to send to all new hires on the Company Documents page are selected by default. You can clear any documents as required.
- Click Next.
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Review the new hire summary. The summary includes the values you entered and some automatically set defaults.
To make any changes to the values you entered, click Previous.
Note: The Employee Number cannot be changed once the Summary page is saved. If changes to the Employee Number are required, click Previous to return to the Employment Information page in the Onboarding Wizard and make the change before saving. To change the employee number after the payroll processes, contact your Customer Support Team.
To make changes to the defaults, click Save, complete the Self Service setup and navigate to the Profile and Compensation tabs under the People menu after completing the Onboarding Wizard.
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Click Save.
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(mandatory) Complete the Self Service setup section to create a Powerpay Self Service User for the new hire and grant the new hire access to Self Service.
When you assign a Self Service User account to a new hire, you assign the new hire a unique username. Once the account is created, an email is sent to the new hire with their username, a password, a link to the Powerpay Self Service application and access to the Onboarding Wizard.
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Click Create User.
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Click Create Another New Hire to add another new hire or click Go Back to People List to continue working in Powerpay.
The person is added to the People List with the status New Hire “N”.
Note: Employee’s with the status New Hire “N” are NOT paid and are not available on the payroll pages in Powerpay including the Employee Timesheet and Rapid Entry pages. For the employee to be paid they must be changed to Active status. For more information see "Activate New Hire "N" employees".
Note: The My Requests tab in Powerpay Self Service is only available to onboarded employees after they are activated in Powerpay (status ‘A’).

After a new hire is added using the Powerpay Onboarding Wizard, they are added to the People List and placed in New Hire status “N”. Before the employee can be paid, they must be changed to Active status “A”.
Depending on how you have configured the onboarding process, it may include the employee entering banking information and TD1 exemption amounts. If you activate the employee before the onboarding process is complete and run your payroll, the employee will be paid by cheque and basic exemption amounts will apply. When possible, best practice is to activate the employee after the employee has completed the Self Service Onboarding Wizard.
- Navigate to the
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Select the employee to activate from the People List.
Tip: Use the People List filter options to easily locate the employee by selecting only the New Hire from the status options.
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Click the Activate Employee button at the bottom of the page.
A warning message displays.
- Click Activate.
The employee’s status is changed to Active “A”.

After a new hire is added using the Wizard, they are added to the People List and placed in New Hire status “N”. To remove the new hire from the People List and remove all the information created during the new hire process, they must be deleted.
Once the new hire is deleted, they will no longer be able to log into Self Service and their information will be unrecoverable.
- Navigate to the
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Select the employee to delete from the People List.
Tip: Use the People List filter options to easily locate the employee by selecting only the New Hire from the status options.
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Click the Delete New Hire button at the bottom of the page.
A warning message displays.
- Click Delete.
The new hire employee is removed from the system.