PAYROLL · ONBOARDING

Killing the 23-page new-hire packet

OCT 13, 2026

Every payroll client has a version of it: the new-hire packet. A W-4, an I-9, a direct deposit form, a photocopy of a license and a social security card, signatures on half a dozen pages. Printed, filled out by hand at a break-room table, scanned crooked, and emailed to your team to re-key.

Somewhere along the way, it grew to 23 pages. We decided to get rid of it.

The problem was never the forms

The W-4 and I-9 aren't going anywhere, and they shouldn't. The problem is everything around them: the printing, the chasing, the illegible handwriting, the missing signature on page 14, the ID photo that's too blurry to verify. Each of those turns into an email, and each email turns into a delay before the employee's first paycheck.

One link instead of a clipboard

With FirmGlyde's Employee Forms, your payroll client does exactly one thing: they pick the packet template (or use the default you set for them) and send the new hire a link. That's their whole job.

The employee opens it on their own phone and is guided through it in plain English:

  • W-4, with the questions explained, not just printed.
  • I-9 Section 1, with the right document choices.
  • Direct deposit, entered once and correctly.
  • ID photos, taken in the flow and attached to the right form.

It's done from the couch before day one, not at the break room table on day one.

The real forms, signed and filed

When the employee signs on screen, FirmGlyde produces the official filled forms: the real W-4 and the real I-9, signed and dated. Not a data export someone has to re-key, but the PDFs your payroll team runs on and an auditor expects to find.

The packet files itself to the employer's record, payroll is notified, and the employer gets a confirmation, all before the first shift.

A service your firm can resell

This is the part firms tend to like most. Employee Forms is built into the platform and branded as your firm, so every payroll client gets white-glove onboarding without you adding headcount. It's a better experience for their new hires, and a clear reason for them to stay with you.

What goes away

  • The printed packet and the photocopier.
  • Re-keying handwritten W-4s.
  • Chasing missing signatures and blurry IDs.
  • "Did you get my paperwork?" emails.

Watch the one-minute film and click through the flow, then send one new hire one link and see the signed packet come back.

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