This lesson walks through creating a fillable form in NetGuide. To get started, click NetGuide on the left side of your screen, then click Fillable Forms.

Uploading your PDF

Click Add Form at the top right. Choose the file from your computer — only PDF files are supported (Word documents, spreadsheets, and DocuSign files can't be uploaded), and the PDF must be 15 MB or smaller. Give the form a name and click Continue. Your PDF opens in the Form Builder.

Adding & customizing fields

On the left you'll see the available field types — the most commonly used are text, email, number, date, checkbox, and signature. Click, drag, and drop a field onto the document. Click a placed field to customize its settings (label, placeholder text, description, and more). One of the most important settings lives on the Validation tab (top left): marking a field Required forces users to complete it before submitting, and adds a red star next to the field. A preview appears on the right; click Save. You can resize and reposition fields by dragging their borders.

Continue adding and customizing fields — for example a number field for a driver's license number and a signature field, marking each Required and saving. When you're finished, scroll to the top and click Finish Form. To send the form to an employee, you'll create a task (covered next).

Now that the form is built, this lesson covers assigning it for completion and tracking completed forms.

Create the task

In NetGuide, click Tasks, then Create (top right) and choose Custom Onboarding Task. Give the task a name and enter instructions the user reads before completing the form. Choose a category, add a due date (the hire date, another milestone, or a specific date), and select who completes it (employee, primary/secondary manager, admin, or a group) — here, Assign to Employee. Check Add a fillable form to this task and select your form from the drop-down. Also check the box to add the completed form to the employee's profile, which stores it in Netchex so you can access it without opening NetGuide. Click Add Task.

Send the task — manually or automatically

• Manually — under NetGuide, click Employees, find the employee, click Add New Task, select the category and task name, and Save this task.
• Automatically — add the task to an onboarding template (NetGuide → Templates) and it's sent to the employee upon hire, no manual assignment needed.

Tracking completed forms

Review completed forms in the employee's profile, or by clicking Fillable Forms on the left. Completed forms show a blue link — click it to view the completed form.

In NetGuide, tasks are the individual forms and actions employees complete, and templates are what tie them together and automate the process. Without a template, tasks just sit in the system until you assign them by hand — a template tells Netchex to send the right tasks automatically when a new employee is hired.

Creating a template

Go to the Templates tab under NetGuide and click New Template in the upper-right corner. Give it a descriptive name (and an optional description) that makes sense to you and other admins — employees never see the template name, so it's purely for internal organization. Click Save and Continue.

Adding tasks

Click Assign Task, then choose Show All from the category drop-down to see your full task list. Select every task that should apply to the employees this template covers — whether it's a general new-hire template or one specific to a department — then click Continue.

Defining who receives it

Next, define who receives the template by filtering on department, position, or both. One important note: position is not a required field in Netchex, so filtering by department is the most reliable way to ensure an employee is assigned the template (department is required when onboarding).

• To apply it to all new hires, open the drop-down next to "0 selected departments" and check Select All.
• For a department-specific template (for example, a childcare department that needs a release form), select just those departments.

Click Save and Continue.

Two configuration questions

You'll answer two questions:

• Should employees who transfer into this department receive these tasks? For most onboarding templates the answer is no, but you can enable it if certain tasks apply to everyone in a role, not just new hires.
• Should this template apply to current employees? Almost always no — selecting yes immediately assigns every task to every existing employee in the selected departments, so it's only appropriate for a company-wide policy or a document everyone must acknowledge.

Once both are answered, a confirmation appears at the top of the screen.

Editing tasks later

If you need to update a task — say, uploading a revised employee handbook — always make that edit from inside the template, not from the standalone Tasks tab. Navigate to the template, click the task within it, and make your changes there so the update flows correctly through the template's workflow.

Tasks are the individual items employees or admins complete during onboarding. NetGuide offers two kinds: pre-built onboarding tasks that come ready to configure, and custom tasks you build from scratch. To create either, go to Tasks in the sidebar and click Create in the upper-right corner — you'll see Onboarding Task and Custom Task.

Pre-built onboarding tasks

Selecting Onboarding Task opens a drop-down of five pre-built forms: Direct Deposit, EEO, Emergency Contact, I-9, and Tax Forms. Their form logic, fields, and employee-facing experience are already built in — your job is to set a few parameters:

• Direct Deposit — the task name is pre-filled; add instructions, assign it to the employee, set a due date (typically the hire date or one day after), and optionally require an electronic signature after the employee enters banking info. Click Add Task.
• EEO and Emergency Contact — same process; assign, set the due date, and add. If EEO isn't required for your organization, just skip it.
• I-9 — configured the same way, but it requires an approver for Part 2 (verifying documents and signing off). Route it to the employee's primary manager (auto-assigned at hire) or a specific administrator.
• Tax Forms — the system assigns the correct forms based on the employee's work state (a Louisiana hire gets the W-4 and L-4; a Texas hire, with no state income tax, gets only the W-4). No signature setup is needed — it's built into the tax form wizard.

Custom tasks

Selecting Custom Task gives you a flexible blank form for any onboarding or offboarding item. Enter a name and instructions, assign it (employee, manager, or admin), optionally set a category for filtering, and define a due date tied to a milestone (hire or termination date) or a custom offset (e.g., three days before hire, one week after).

Custom tasks include several powerful options:

• Require sign-off — a manager or admin reviews and approves completion, with an optional digital signature.
• Attach a fillable form (if your Netchex account includes that feature) to build custom fields into the task.
• Require a file download before the task can be completed — useful for the employee handbook, and it creates a record that the employee received it.
• Require a file upload to complete — commonly used for I-9 identification documents, licenses, or certifications.
• Add a link to a welcome video, uniform ordering site, or other resource.

Click Add Task when done. Created tasks appear in your Tasks tab and become available to add to templates.

This session covers managing employees and their tasks in NetGuide — viewing progress, manually assigning work, approving the I-9, and how adding an employee triggers the whole onboarding workflow.

The Employee Dashboard & tiles

From the NetGuide Employee Dashboard, each employee with assigned tasks appears as a tile. The number on the tile shows how many tasks that person has open: blue numbers are pending but still within the due date, and red numbers are overdue. Click any tile to see the full task list — what's open, completed, and past due.

Manually assigning & removing work

There are two ways to assign work to an individual:

• Apply an entire template to an employee — useful when a template wasn't triggered automatically (for example, if the department field was missed at setup).
• Assign one task — click Add New Task on the right of their tile, pick the task from your library, and assign it (e.g., sending updated tax forms to a long-tenured employee).

To remove a task (say, an employee was terminated before completing their I-9, or submitted a form on paper), click the tile, then the trash can icon next to the task.

Reminders & the I-9 approval

Employees with overdue tasks automatically receive a daily reminder email until they finish — no action needed from you. To receive overdue alerts as an admin, go to Settings → Set Notification Preferences and enter your email.

Once an employee completes their portion of the I-9, it routes to the designated approver (primary manager or the assigned admin), who finds it under the My Tasks tab. The approver reviews the submitted info, verifies documents, and enters the required details (document type, number, expiration date, title, and digital signature). If something's wrong, they can reject the task with a reason so the employee can correct it; if it's good, they complete and sign Part 2 to finalize.

Adding a new hire (this triggers onboarding)

Adding an employee is what kicks off the onboarding tasks. There are two ways:

• Manual — People → Add Employee, fill out all the employee's information yourself (name, date of birth, address, hire date, department, pay rate, etc.). Clicking Add Employee triggers the tasks.
• Onboarding flow — Hires in Progress → Add Employee to Onboarding; enter first name, last name, and email or phone. The employee gets a message to complete their own demographic info (address, date of birth, Social Security number, etc.). When they finish, you're notified; open their profile, complete the job fields at the bottom (department, position, pay rate, manager), and click Add Employee to finalize and trigger the tasks.

Either way, template-driven tasks assign automatically as long as the template is set up and the Department field is populated.

This session shows onboarding from the employee's perspective — what they see when they first log in, how they navigate their tasks, and what completing each form looks like.

First login & dashboard

When a new employee is added (manually, through the applicant tracking system, or via the onboarding dashboard), they receive a welcome email with login instructions. On first login they land on a personalized employee dashboard with a countdown to their start date, a brief team introduction, and an optional section to share about themselves. Their pending tasks — the onboarding forms to complete before or on day one — appear at the top.

Completing the pre-built forms

NetGuide includes five pre-built onboarding tasks — federal and state tax forms, the I-9, Emergency Contact, EEO, and Direct Deposit — and as each is completed, Netchex automatically updates the employee's profile.

• Tax forms — a step-by-step electronic wizard asks the same questions as a paper W-4 or state form (filing status, dependents, additional withholding). The employee never sees the actual form until it's complete; on submit, tax elections update and a completed copy is stored in the profile. The state form launches immediately after the federal one.
• Direct Deposit — the employee selects add, enters routing and account numbers, and signs electronically; multiple accounts are allowed (e.g., a set amount to savings, the rest to checking). It isn't required in every state, so the system won't force it — but entering it adds the info to their profile automatically. (For employees without bank accounts, Netchex also offers a pay card program.)
• I-9 — a two-part process. The employee reviews pre-filled demographic info, selects citizenship status, and chooses which documents they'll provide; the system adjusts dynamically (choosing a List A document disables lists B and C; a List B choice also requires a List C). They review, sign electronically, and submit — completing the employee's portion. Part 2 (document verification) is completed by an admin or manager.

This session tours the NetGuide admin dashboard — how to reach it, what each section shows, and the key settings to configure before you start building tasks and templates.

Getting to the admin view

Two paths reach the same place (the employee dashboard): click the NetGuide widget on your Netchex dashboard (for example, the number of open tasks), or use the sidebar — NetGuide → Employees.

The dashboard tabs

• Employee dashboard — a tile for every employee with assigned tasks; blue squares are pending, red are overdue. You can filter by employee status for a real-time picture.
• My Tasks — where your admin responsibilities live. If you're an approver for tasks like the I-9, they appear here. Note that admins don't show as employee tiles on the main dashboard — your assigned tasks only appear under this tab.
• Tasks — the complete list of every task created in your company account; sort, filter, and review your library as it grows.
• Templates — what drives automation, grouping tasks and assigning them by criteria like department or position. Think of a template as a new-hire packet.

Two settings to configure first

Before building, set two things on the Settings page:

• Fallback manager — tasks are often routed to an employee's primary manager, but if a primary manager is missed at onboarding, those tasks could go unassigned. A fallback manager ensures tasks always have somewhere to route — especially important for the I-9, where Part 2 must be verified by an authorized person.
• Notification preferences — enter your email to receive daily alerts about outstanding or overdue tasks. If you skip it, the system still tracks all activity; you just won't get the reminders.

This lesson covers building fillable forms in the Onboarding and Workflows module. Select Onboarding and Workflows → Settings, then switch to the Forms section of the Task Library. Click the blue + New Form to upload a new form, or select an existing custom form to edit, preview, view completed, or archive it.

The form editor

After you name and upload the form, you're dropped into editing mode. On the left are all the field types — signature, initials, date/time, text, checkboxes, dropdowns, attachments, and specialized ones like stamps and calculated fields. Click a field type then click on the form, or drag and drop it into place. If the document has multiple recipients, use the toggle to switch between them so each field sits under the correct person's role.

Click a placed field to open its settings on the right: mark it required or optional, add a pre-filled value, apply validation (email or phone format), and add a label so repeated fields (like date of birth) stay consistent and autofill together. Text fields add character/line limits, character boxes for IDs, and auto-resize. Conditional rules can show or hide fields based on how someone answers.

Mapping to the employee profile

A standout feature: pull fields directly from the employee profile. Add a field, label it, and map it to the corresponding profile field so the form auto-fills — saving time and cutting manual-entry errors. Label each field clearly, since the label drives the mapping. When you're done, click Open Preview to see the signing session (switch recipients and toggle desktop/mobile), then Save and Close, which brings up the field-mapping step. You can also save the form as a template for reuse.

To get a form to employees, you attach it to a task. Go to Onboarding and Workflows → Settings and click New Task.

Building the task

Enter the task name and choose whether it's critical for onboarding (critical tasks must be completed before the employee is active). Check the Rehire box to also assign it to rehires. Set when it's assigned — immediately, or before/on/after a milestone like the hire date. Select the companies it applies to (create once, assign to many), then target positions or departments (or all). Choose who completes it (employee, manager, a specific person or position) and the number of days to complete. Click Next.

Form, approvals & notifications

Enter instructions, then choose form-based or checklist-based. Form-based lets you attach a custom form you built earlier (select it from the drop-down; preview it and adjust signers if needed). Configure approvals (Yes → assign approvers and days), then notifications (who's notified, on which triggers — assigned, overdue, canceled — by email, text, or both). Click Next to review, then Save Task. Employees who meet the criteria are automatically assigned the task when you add them to Netchex.

Netchex's enhanced Onboarding gives new hires a simple, paperless, mobile-friendly way to complete forms and documents — and the biggest improvements make administration easier for you. Open it via Onboarding and Workflows → Onboarding.

A consolidated dashboard

Instead of navigating company by company, you get a consolidated view across every company in your organization (filter to a specific company with the top-left drop-down). Each row shows the employee's name, company, hire date, status, and task progress. The status column is new — you can keep an employee pending until they complete critical onboarding documents, then activate them, so nothing falls through the cracks. Click the three dots → View Details to see open, closed, and overdue tasks, assign tasks one-off, cancel tasks, or jump straight to the employee's profile with View Profile.

Tasks, approver groups & forms

Under Tasks → All Open, all tasks across companies are managed in one place — not just onboarding, but things like compensation changes and terminations too. Creating tasks is more efficient: build one under Settings → New Task and assign it to multiple companies, targeting specific positions, business units, or departments (onboarding forms can even vary by role). Approver Groups are shared across the org — the same groups work for onboarding and workflows. Notifications are flexible (who, when, and email/text/both), and custom forms now support multiple signers and pre-filled profile data.

This lesson covers setting up onboarding tasks that are sent to new employees automatically upon hire. Go to Onboarding and Workflows → Settings to reach the Task Library.

Netchex pre-built tasks

You'll see Netchex pre-built tasks (marked with the blue Netchex logo) — income tax withholding forms, the federal I-9, direct deposit enrollment, the self-identification form, and emergency contact information. Click a task, review it, and activate it; you can customize its approvers and notifications. We recommend activating all of the Netchex tasks to take full advantage of the solution.

Creating a custom task

Click New Task. Enter a name (e.g., “Employee Handbook”) and choose whether it's critical (critical tasks must be completed before the employee is active). Check Rehire to assign it to rehires. Set the timing (immediately, or before/on/after a milestone like hire date), the companies it applies to, and the positions/departments to target (or all). Choose who completes it and the days allowed, then click Next. Add instructions and choose form-based (attach a custom form, adjust signers) or checklist-based. Configure approvals and notifications, review, and Save Task — matching new hires are assigned it automatically.

This lesson covers tracking an employee's onboarding progress. Go to Onboarding and Workflows → Onboarding for a consolidated view of all companies in your organization — all employees and all statuses (pending and active).

Monitoring the dashboard

Filter at the top of the screen; by default all companies show, or pick one from the upper-left drop-down. Each row shows the employee's name, company, hire date, status, and overall task progress. To dig in, click the three dots on the right and select View Details, where you can review open, overdue, and closed tasks, manually assign a task one at a time, or cancel a task. It all works across multiple company codes from one centralized place — no multiple clicks.

Finally, here's the onboarding experience from the employee's perspective, using the Netchex mobile app. After receiving their onboarding invitation, the new hire logs into the app and sees a list of onboarding tasks to complete — everything organized in one place before day one.

Paperless, mobile, electronic

They complete forms electronically right from their phone: tax forms, the Federal Form I-9, direct deposit information, company policies, handbooks, and any documents you've assigned. When a document needs a signature, they review and sign it in the app; some forms also require manager or approver signatures, so the whole process can be completed electronically end to end. Progress updates automatically, and once all tasks are done, the employee's information is securely transferred into their employee profile — eliminating duplicate data entry and helping records be accurate from day one.

Managing employee changes shouldn't mean chasing emails, tracking approvals in spreadsheets, or wondering whether payroll was updated correctly. Netchex Workflows replaces that with structure: from a single setup, you automate how employee changes — promotions, pay changes, offboarding, profile updates — move through your organization, so every request reaches the right people in the right order.

What Workflows does

• Define the approval path once — based on position, location, or other business rules — and the system routes automatically. No manual forwarding, no bottlenecks.
• Schedule changes in advance — a promotion effective next month or a comp change starting next pay period is applied automatically on the effective date you set.
• One unified dashboard — every request (pending, upcoming, completed) in one place, so you can see what's waiting, overdue, or scheduled without chasing managers.
• Fully integrated — approved changes automatically update the employee's profile, with no duplicate data entry or manual sync.

This lesson tours the Tasks and Workflows dashboard. Once it's enabled, admins and managers can access it — you'll see tasks assigned to you plus any requests your security role permits. Go to Onboarding and Workflows in the left navigation, then click Tasks.

The four views

• Assigned to Me — your action center. Any request where you're the current approver appears here. Open it, review the changes, edit if needed, and approve or decline; it then moves to the next step or is marked declined.
• All Open — requests still moving through approval, for visibility even when no action is needed from you. Org admins see across companies, company admins see their company codes, and managers see employees they manage. Read-only unless you're the current approver.
• Upcoming — requests that finished approval but have a future effective date (e.g., a promotion effective next month), so you can prepare before changes go active.
• Closed — your historical record: completed requests (approved and past their effective date) and declined requests. Read-only, role-based.

Approver groups are the foundation of the approval process — they define who receives, reviews, approves, and declines change requests. Only org admins can configure workflows. Go to Onboarding and Workflows → Settings, then the Approver Groups tab in the task library.

Predefined groups

Two groups are built for you and can't be edited or deleted: Company Admins (users with access to one or more companies) and Organization Admins (org-wide access plus designated workflow org admins). If a group has multiple users, any one eligible approver can approve. Both can serve as initial reviewers for request-type workflows.

Creating a custom group

Click Add Approver Group (top left) and give it a clear name (e.g., “HR Approval Team”). Then select a default approver (required) — this fills company-level approver settings and becomes the approver for any new companies added later. Your options:

• Relationship-based — primary manager, skip-level manager, secondary manager, or the employee. Make sure the selected relationship exists, or a workflow can get stuck waiting for an approver.
• Position-based — choose a position from your company.
• Specific individuals or admins.

Click Create Approver Group to save. Groups also support sequential (multi-step) approval. You can update a group anytime, but changes only affect future requests — in-progress requests keep the configuration they started with.

With your approver groups created, you can configure a workflow. Go to Onboarding and Workflows → Settings, where you'll see pre-built workflows — position and compensation change requests and termination requests — ready to tailor to your business, whether that's one approver or a tiered approach.

The configuration tabs

• Settings — an overview, including who can initiate the request (managers and admins for employees they have access to).
• Content — a preview of which fields are included and what the requester can update.
• Approvers — where you define the process. Select the Initial Reviewer approver group (required; must be an administrator), then add more groups for a tiered process (e.g., HR manager, then CEO). Set how long each approver has, and enable Employee Acknowledgment if you want the employee notified when the change is complete.
• Notifications — customize the emails sent to the requester, initial reviewer, and additional approvers.
• Review — a summary; click Activate to make it available (or Save and Exit if already active).

Once a workflow is configured and enabled, an admin or manager with the right permissions can submit employee change requests for approval.

Starting the request

Navigate to the employee's profile (search by name, or People → Employees and click the name). Click Change Request at the top right, then choose the change type — position and comp changes, employee demographic changes, or employee termination.

Completing & submitting

On the request page you'll see fields for that change type (job details, compensation, department, profile). Select the appropriate effective date and enter the details. If the change requires it, you can upload a document for approvers to review, and you can request a pay change by percentage or dollar amount. Click Continue to review the summary, then Submit Request. From there it follows your configured approval process, and you can monitor its status on the Onboarding and Workflows dashboard.

The final step is the approver reviewing and completing the request. Go to Onboarding and Workflows → Tasks and click a task assigned to you.

Reviewing & acting

As the current approver, you'll see a summary — the employee's current information, the requested changes, and the effective date — plus an approver lineup panel on the right showing who submitted the request, when, the remaining approvers, anyone who's already acted, and the effective date. Scroll down and click Approve or Decline. Declining prompts you for a reason (predefined or Other); approving asks for your electronic signature.

What happens next

If more approvers remain, the task routes to the next one and leaves your list. If you're the final approver: an effective date of today or in the past applies the changes immediately; a future date moves the request to pending and applies it automatically on the effective date (visible under Upcoming). Every completed workflow creates an audit trail on the employee's timeline and job history — approvals, declines, edits, and comments — showing what changed, who approved it, and when.