A guide in five courses
You build a first hire one course at a time.
Hiring your first employee: classification, the W-4, I-9 and other forms, state rules, and comparisons of payroll services for a first hire.
Nothing here is urgent in isolation, and that is the trap. Each piece is small enough to postpone, and the order matters more than the effort: registration before payroll, payroll before the first pay date, cover before anyone starts work.
Where to begin
The pages that do the most work
Employee or Contractor: Getting Classification Right (2026)
What happens if I misclassify an employee as a contractor?
Read the guide ExplainerWhat Forms Does an Employer Need: W-4, I-9 and What Else?
Read the explainer ShortlistWhat You Legally Need Before Hiring Your First Employee (2026)
What do I legally need to do before hiring my first employee?
Read it How-toHow to Hire Your First Employee, Step by Step (2026)
What do I legally need to do before hiring my first employee?
Follow the steps ShortlistYour First Week Checklist After Hiring (2026)
What should be on my checklist the first week after hiring my first employee?
Read it Head to headGusto vs OnPay for a First Hire (2026)
Which payroll providers have the best support for first-time employers?
Read itThe sequence
Laid bottom to top
- One
Before you offer the job
Employer registration, an EIN, and deciding whether the role is genuinely an employee rather than a contractor. Getting this wrong is expensive to unwind.
Worked through in What You Legally Need Before Hiring Your First Employee and Employee or Contractor: Getting Classification Right.
- Two
The paperwork on day one
The I-9 and W-4, state new-hire reporting, and the state requirements that sit on top of the federal forms.
Worked through in What Forms Does an Employer Need: W-4, I-9 and What Else?
- Three
Getting them paid
Pay frequency, withholding, and whether payroll runs through you, your accountant or a payroll service.
Worked through in A Payroll Service vs Your Accountant and Gusto vs OnPay for a First Hire.
- Four
Cover and obligations
Workers' compensation and the state rules on pay, records and insurance that apply once someone works for you.
Worked through in How to Hire Your First Employee, Step by Step.
- Five
Keeping it running
Year-end W-2 forms, the payroll records you are required to keep, and the first week of routine after the hire.
Worked through in Your First Week Checklist After Hiring.
About
What this site is
This site covers the sequence of work a small US employer goes through when hiring for the first time - what has to be in place, and in what order.
Courses are order of work. Nothing here is a level, a tier or a rating.
Alongside the sequence, the site compares payroll services for a first hire, explains the forms and terms involved, and answers the common questions in one place.
Covered in detail in Employment and Hiring Terms, Explained, Hiring Your First Employee: Common Questions and Your First Week Checklist After Hiring.
What readers ask
Start from the question you have
- What's the best payroll software that handles state tax registration too?Shortlist
- How do I know whether to classify my first hire as an employee or an independent contractor?Shortlist
- What's the easiest payroll setup for a family-run business?Head to head
- Should I run payroll myself or use a payroll service?Head to head
- How much do payroll services cost for very small businesses?Review
- Do I need workers' comp insurance for one part-time employee?FAQ
Browse
Every page, by section
Where to read on
The write-ups behind this
Read on
- A Payroll Service vs Your Accountant (2026)
- An Employee vs an Independent Contractor (2026)
- Contractors Instead of an Employee: When That Works (2026)
- Employee or Contractor: Getting Classification Right (2026)
- Gusto vs OnPay for a First Hire (2026)
- Hiring Your First Employee as a Single-Owner Business (2026)
- How to Hire Your First Employee, Step by Step (2026)
- OnPay Review for First-Time Employers (2026)
- Patriot Software vs QuickBooks Payroll (2026)
- What Forms Does an Employer Need: W-4, I-9 and What Else?
- What You Legally Need Before Hiring Your First Employee (2026)
- Which Payroll Tools Handle Onboarding Paperwork (2026)
- Your First Week Checklist After Hiring (2026)