Today's Agent Skill: New Employee Payroll Setup Checklist Generator
What It Does
Missing a single step when setting up payroll for a new hire — a forgotten W-4, a missing state withholding registration, or a skipped I-9 — can result in IRS penalties, state fines, or the inability to pay someone correctly on their first check. Most small business owners complete payroll setup from memory or a patchwork of saved emails, which means something important gets skipped nearly every time.
How It Works
The agent takes the new employee's state of residence, employment type (W-2 vs. 1099), whether benefits are offered, and your payroll platform, then generates a complete, ordered setup checklist with deadlines, responsible party, and the exact form or platform action required at each step. It distinguishes between federal requirements that apply to every hire and state-specific filings that vary by location.
How to Deploy It
Run this skill in Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, or Windsurf before a new hire's first day. Copy the checklist into Notion, Google Docs, or Asana and assign each task to the relevant person — owner, bookkeeper, or HR. For payroll platforms, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, and ADP have onboarding wizards that align closely with the checklist output.
SKILL.md — Ready to Deploy
## Description
Generates a complete, ordered payroll setup checklist for a new employee — covering federal and state requirements, platform-specific steps, benefits enrollment, and compliance deadlines — customized by employment type, state, and payroll system.
## Trigger
Invoke when the user says "help me set up payroll for a new hire," "I have a new employee starting soon and need to make sure payroll is right," "what do I need to do before my employee's first paycheck," or provides a hire start date and asks what to do.
## Input
- Employee's state of work and state of residence (if different)
- Employment type: W-2 employee or 1099 independent contractor
- Full-time, part-time, or seasonal
- Payroll platform (e.g., Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, ADP, Paychex, or manual/spreadsheet)
- Whether the business offers health benefits, 401(k), or other deductions
- Estimated start date (for calculating deadlines)
## Steps
1. List all required federal actions in chronological order: verify work authorization (I-9, complete by Day 3), collect W-4 (Employee's Withholding Certificate), register the employee with the payroll platform, set up federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare wCopy the full SKILL.md and drop it into your agent's skills directory to activate this skill.