---
title: Add Employee (starter)
description: "Follow this guide to add a new employee. ## Employee **Employees** > +**Add...** Tick/clear **Invite** if you want to send a password-set welcome email. Note: If you are evaluating or parallel running and do not wish to send welcome emails,…"
url: "https://paiyroll.com/kb/add-employee-starter/"
updated: "2026-07-18"
category: Employees
---

# Add Employee (starter)

Follow this guide to add a new employee.

## Employee

**Employees** > +**Add...**

Tick/clear **Invite** if you want to send a password-set welcome email.
Note: If you are evaluating or parallel running and do not wish to send welcome emails, clear this box.

Select the **Company**

Enter the required fields (generally shown with a red asterisk \*) on each of the employee tabs:

- **Main**: Username and email (we recommend keeping these the same). If the email is unavailable, you can temporarily use a fake email, e.g. *john.smith.1@example.org*. However, you must change it before going live so employees can log in and access their documents using secure self-service. See [more information on usernames and emails](https://paiyroll.com/kb/username-and-email/).
  Name, Start date and Department
- **Postal**: HMRC requires two address lines. Generally, a postcode
- **Bank**: Only needed If a bank file is required
- **Tax**: Weekly hours worked, Date of birth, Gender and NI number (if available).
  Select the **Employee statement**or leave it blank for the employee to enter using self-service. The system will automatically work out the correct starter tax code, including 0T, if an employee statement is never provided
- **Work Pattern:**
- **Login**: You will not generally enter an employee password, as employees should create their password securely using the Reset password on the first login. This feature is only provided in exceptional cases where you wish to check the employee view after adding, or the employee cannot set their password.

Click **Add**

If you have provided the correct fields, the employee will be added. Otherwise, look carefully for a red error, which may indicate a mistake in a tab that is not visible.

## Pay Items

After you've added an employee, they will have no pay items. You must add at least one Pay Item. If you try to **redo** a pay run, a Validation error will be raised if no pay items are added.

As most employees will need the Automatic Enrolment (AE) Pay Item, we suggest you always add this:

- **Pay Item Editor** > **Create** > **Pension** > **AE**
- When you add the first pay item, all the **Statutory Pay Items** will be added automatically once.
- Click **Update/View payslip**to commit the change.

Add any other pay items depending on how the employee will be paid. For example:

- **Create** > **Salary**, **Hours**, or **Pay** and enter any values
- Click **Update/View payslip**to commit and view the change

## Pay run

After you click pay run **Redo**, the employee will appear in all **Documents**, including payslips.

Changes to the employee and their pay items can be made at any time up until the pay run is approved.