Add an employee to payroll

If you are switching to Wave’s payroll software and paid employees this year, ensure you add all employees you paid this year to Wave, even if they are no longer active on your payroll. This will allow you to enter former employees’ wages and taxes in your payroll history, ensuring the tax forms Wave generates for your business are correct. Learn about entering your payroll history.

1. On the left side menu, click Payroll > Employees.

   If you’re setting up payroll for the first time, click Add employee on the Payroll Setup page.

2. Click Add an employee.
3. Enter the employee’s personal information including their name, home address, date of birth, Social Security Number (US), or Social Insurance Number (Canada).
4. Optionally, enter the employee’s email address if you want to invite them to create their own Wave account to view their pay stubs and tax forms. They can also enter or update their direct deposit information from their account.

   Click on the checkbox next to Invite employee to onboard and enter their information to let the employee know to accept the invitation and enter their own information.

5. Enter the employee’s work information including date of hire, work location, and wage details.

   The work location is used to calculate taxes for the employee. If the employee starts working remotely or vice versa, you need to update this field prior to running the first payroll with the new work location.

6. Select whether the employee is paid by direct deposit. You can update this anytime under the employee’s profile.
7. Set a vacation policy for your employee to accrue vacation hours, or you can choose not to offer vacation time. To learn about setting a vacation policy, see Set a vacation policy for your employees.
8. Click Save.

If you enter an email address, your employee will receive an email invitation once you have saved their information. Learn how an employee can view or update their payroll information.

After you’ve added an employee to payroll, you should enter their tax details. Learn how to add or edit an employee’s tax details.