1. Decide employee or contractor
A W-2 employee owes you an I-9 and a W-4 and you withhold. A 1099 contractor owes you a W-9 and carries their own insurance. If a contractor is paid hourly, works your schedule full time and has no business of their own, they look like an employee whatever the paperwork says. The misclassification radar scores that for you.
- W-2 employee: you withhold.
- 1099 contractor: they invoice.
2. Add the person
From People choose Add Person and walk the setup: contact details, pay type and rate, trade and state, and paperwork. Or send them a link to fill in their own details.
- Trade and state drive comp and tax.
- The I-9 needs your employer section too.
3. Give access and put them on jobs
Invite them as Field (free, no seat) or Office. Then assign them to jobs from the job itself so their home shows what they are on.
- Field people see only their jobs.
- Crew invites need the Team plan.
4. Hours become a week
They clock in against their jobs. The office reviews the week, fixes anything, and approves it.
- Only approved hours reach a pay run.
- Approving locks the week.
5. Run payroll
Open Payroll, run the period, read the preview, and send the run: pay it yourself or hand it to Gusto. Make stubs and tell the crew.
Voiding a run puts the hours back to approved so you can correct and run again.