Toast Payroll: New Hire Employees (Employer Guide)

In this Article:

• Considerations Prior to Hiring Employees 
  • Key Points of the New Hire Workflow
  • Require SSN and EEO-1 Classification
• Hire an Employee
  • Invite a Toast Payroll Employee to Create a Toast Web Account
• Resend New Hire Onboarding Email (new page)
• Additional Resources

Considerations Prior to Hiring Employees 

Key Points of the New Hire Workflow

• Employees can be hired using a mobile device.
• Employers must complete all steps of the employer new hire workflow listed below at once. The workflow cannot be paused; this helps prevent incomplete and duplicate profiles.
• Multiple jobs/pay groups can be added to an employee's profile during onboarding.
• Social security numbers (SSNs) and email addresses may now be bypassed during the new hire steps, but this optional bypass should only be used when absolutely necessary since it can severely limit the benefits an employee gets from Toast Payroll.
  
  • Employees hired without email addresses cannot log in to the system, complete their own new hire steps, add a direct deposit account, fill out their Form I-9 and Form W-4, access a paystub, or retrieve year-end documents such as a Form W-2.
  • Employees hired without social security numbers (SSNs) may result in incomplete and/or inaccurate tax filings and new hire reporting and can also cause tax notices resulting in penalties/interest/fees being assessed. See Toast Payroll: Social Security Number (SSN) Information Policy for more details.

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Require SSN and EEO-1 Classification

Toast Payroll allows users to customize two features of the employee new hire experience: requiring a social security number (SSN) and/or an EEO-1 classification. These settings are company-wide and apply to any users that were hired after the settings were selected. To customize these options, navigate to Settings > New Hire > Settings. Once finished, don't forget to press Save at the bottom of the page.

• EEO-1 classification is largely helpful for California employers (among others) who may be required to report this information.
• Inaccurate or missing SSNs may result in inaccurate tax filings, tax filings not accepted by agencies, and/or financial penalties. For this reason, we highly recommend leaving the setting as Yes to avoid possible consequences.

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New Hire Workflow Steps

1. Log into payroll.toasttab.com and select Team. If you need assistance logging in, check out Toast Payroll: Log In.
2. Select + Add team member in the top-right corner.
3. This updated new hire workflow has been condensed. The first step asks for basic info and employment details.
   1. Email address fields are not required; however, employees hired without an email address cannot log in, complete a Form I-9 or Form W-4, view their paystubs, or access a potential Form W-2 or Form 1095-C around year-end.
   2. The Employee ID number must be populated with a 4-8 digit number for the time being, but it can be changed to any number after onboarding via Employment > Position.
   3. Social security number (SSN) field requirements are based on the selection you made in Settings > New Hire > Settings.
      1. Employees hired without an SSN may result in incomplete and/or inaccurate tax filings and new hire reporting and can also cause tax notices resulting in penalties/interest/fees being assessed to the restaurant.
      2. New hires set as Contractor (1099) will not see the SSN field.
      3. If you receive an error saying This SSN is already in use by another employee, select the X in the upper-right corner and select Discard & exit to back out. Now follow the steps in Toast Payroll: Resolve Duplicate Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to locate the duplicate SSN and take action to correct the error.
         
         
          
4. This next step includes questions about this employee's job roles and wage rates.
   1. The experience will change depending on whether Hourly or Salary is chosen.
   2. Select the + Add job button to add additional jobs for this employee to clock into.
   3. The POS Access Code field will default to the Employee ID number field in the previous step, but can be changed to any number not already assigned. If you remove the POS Access Code, the employee will be unable to access a Toast POS device.
   4. EEO-1 classification will only be available when users have the selection set to Yes. Check out the Toast Payroll: EEO-1 Reporting Guide for details on how this information can be used within Toast Payroll.
   5. Learn more about security roles (Toast Payroll permissions) in Toast Payroll: Manage Security Roles. New hires inherit POS permissions from their assigned job.
      
      
       
5. NEW! Toast Payroll Pro customers can now manage employee benefit coverage via SimplyInsured. Employees will follow these steps to sign up. If your restaurant uses Toast Payroll Pro, you'll only need to enter TAFW policy data here.
   
   
    
6. Next, select which documents this employee will view during their portion of onboarding. Without an email address entered in the Basic info step, employees won't be able to see these documents or complete their own portion of onboarding.
   1. You can add additional PDF documents specific to a single employee. Select the + Upload files button or drag and drop files into the box.
      
      
       
7. On the last step, it is best practice to review the information you entered for accuracy. Use a section's edit pencil to make any adjustments.
   1. At the bottom of the page, preview the steps that an employee completes for their portion of onboarding.
   2. Select Add to team to complete your portion of the new hire process.
      1. If you entered an email address for this employee, Toast will automatically send an email to the employee with instructions on their portion of the new hire process, beginning with creating a password.
      2. If an email was not entered, a pop-up will indicate this must be done in order for the employee to create a password and complete their portion of onboarding.
      3. If the employee cannot find the email or it needs to be resent, view Toast Payroll: Resend New Hire Onboarding Email.
         
         
          
8. After selecting Add to team, the employee will receive a "welcome" email at the email address entered in step 3 above. After using this email to set a password and create a Toast account, they should use Toast Payroll: Employee Onboarding (Employee Guide) to complete their steps of onboarding. Afterwards, toast.help/employees contains all the information they need and answers to questions about paystubs, Form W-2s, or using the Toast Payroll system in general.
   1. Toast Payroll allows payroll to be processed with a new hire even if their onboarding is incomplete. Employees can finish their portion later without impacting payroll.
   2. The employee's email and password is used as a log in for Toast Web, Toast Payroll, the MyToast app, and other Toast products. If you have concerns over the level of access to Toast Web an individual has, refer to the permissions in their Toast Web profile or their security role in Toast Payroll.
   3. If the new hire cannot receive the "welcome" email because the wrong email address was entered, they no longer have access to their email account, or the email simply needs to be updated, employers can navigate to the employee profile in Toast Payroll, select Profile > User Account, and select Update to change the email address. However, this can only be done before the new hire interacts with their "welcome" email. Otherwise, an "invite" email will need to be sent.
9. As of March 2024, employees in the states of Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana, South Carolina, Washington, and West Virginia require a Standard Occupational Code (SOC) assignment for occupational data collection and workers' compensation purposes. Since this option does not appear during the new hire workflow, employers of employees with a work tax location (WTL) in one of those six states may decide to set this after completing the above steps. Find instructions on how to do so by visiting Toast Payroll: Use Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Codes. If a code is not assigned to employees with a WTL in one of those six states, they will be defaulted to the 35-9000 Other Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers SOC code.

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Invite a Toast Payroll Employee to Create a Toast Web Account

First things first, what's the difference between a profile and an account? In short, a profile is a webpage where an individual's information is stored, but an account is a set of login credentials (typically an email address and password) that offers an individual access to a Toast platform (e.g. Toast Web, Toast Payroll, the MyToast app, etc.). Learn more about the difference between profiles and accounts in Log in to Toast: Create an Account.

After the employer and employee have finished their steps of the new hire process in Toast Payroll, the employee will have a Toast Payroll profile and a Toast Payroll account. They will also have a Toast Web profile with a POS access code, but they will not have a Toast Web account. This means the employee will be able to access Toast Payroll (based on their security role), but by default, they will be unable to access Toast Web (they will still be able to use a Toast POS device based on the permissions their job allows). Inviting a user to create a Toast Web account is optional and most restaurants only invite the individuals who need access to Toast Web for menu/price updates, reporting, loyalty/gift card management, and more.

If you'd like to invite your employee to create a Toast Web account, check out the Create a Toast Web Account section of Log in to Toast: Create an Account. Keep in mind that when you invite an employee in Toast Web, they will be unable to use their POS access code until they have accepted the email invite and set their password. However, this only take a minute to complete.

Additional Resources

• Toast Payroll: Employee Onboarding (Employee Guide)
• Toast Payroll: Get Help With New Hires
• Toast Payroll: Give Access to a Non-Employee
• USCIS Employer Guide for Verifying I-9s
• IRS Employee and Employer Form W-4 FAQs

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