Plane is gradually rolling out a new onboarding experience. If your workspace still uses the classic onboarding flow, see the guides labeled (classic) instead.
Plane supports several onboarding flows depending on how a team member works with your organization. You may onboard contractors, U.S. employees, or international employees hired through an Employer of Record (EOR). While each of these onboarding experiences includes steps specific to that employment type, they all follow the same underlying structure.
This guide explains the core concepts that power onboarding in Plane so you can understand how onboarding projects, checklists, and tasks work together.
If you're looking for step‑by‑step instructions for a specific onboarding flow, see:
Each new team member has an onboarding project that organizes the steps required to set them up in Plane.
Plane also supports onboarding vendor contacts who represent the vendor. The same concepts of onboarding projects, checklists, and tasks apply.
Starting onboarding
Onboarding begins when you add a new team member in Plane. You'll provide some basic information:
First and Last name
Email address
Country
Employment type (Contractor or Employee)
Once this information is entered, you can start onboarding immediately. If you proceed, the team member will receive an invitation to Plane so they can begin completing their onboarding tasks.
If you are not ready to invite the team member yet, you can save for later. In that case, the team member's profile will be created without sending an invitation, and you can start onboarding later from their profile.
Onboarding projects
Every new team member in Plane has an onboarding project.
The onboarding project organizes the steps required to set up the team member before they begin working or receiving payments. It provides a single place where admins can track progress and complete the tasks needed to prepare payroll, agreements, and team member information.
Each onboarding project is made up of checklists and tasks.
Checklists
Checklists group related tasks together so that each part of onboarding can be completed in a logical order.
Common onboarding checklists include:
Role – defines the team member’s title and responsibilities
Compensation – sets how the team member will be paid
Options – configures things like agreements or payroll setup
Profile – collects personal and administrative details from the team member
Agreement – manages the review and signing of agreements
Employer of Record – includes additional tasks required for international employees using the EOR model
The exact checklists shown depend on the team member’s employment type.
Tasks
Tasks are the individual steps required to complete onboarding. Tasks are assigned either to the company or to the team member, depending on the information required.
Company tasks are completed by someone representing the company, such as an admin or manager. These may include configuring compensation, setting payroll details, or reviewing agreements.
Team member tasks are completed by the team member and typically involve providing personal information or signing required documents.
Some tasks must be completed before others become available, ensuring onboarding happens in the correct order. Tasks may depend on other steps or on required information being available. These tasks remain visible in the onboarding project, but they cannot be completed until the required information has been provided.
Once a task has been completed, the information entered in that task becomes read-only. You can still view the information that was submitted, but the fields cannot be edited from the task itself. A lock icon appears on those fields to indicate that they are read-only.
If information needs to be updated after a task has been completed, you can edit it directly from the team member’s profile instead of modifying the task.
Admin and team member experiences
Team members and company users see different onboarding views. In this guide, company users refers to admins and managers.
Admins can access all onboarding projects. Managers can access onboarding projects for their direct reports. Company users can complete many tasks on behalf of a team member when appropriate. However, some tasks require the team member’s own attestation or signature—such as signing tax forms or approving certain documents—and cannot be completed by company users.
Team members see a simplified onboarding page that only displays the tasks they are responsible for completing.
Once onboarding is complete, the team member gains access to the rest of the Plane application. The onboarding page remains visible for a short period after completion and then disappears automatically.
Agreements
Some onboarding flows include agreements that must be reviewed and signed during onboarding.
For contractors, agreements may be optional depending on how the team member is engaged.
For employees hired through an Employer of Record (EOR), an employment agreement is always required.
When an agreement is part of onboarding, Plane creates an Agreement checklist that guides the review and signing process.
Onboarding status and employment status
Onboarding status and employment status are independent. A team member may complete onboarding before their start date, or they may begin working while some onboarding tasks are still pending.
For example:
A team member may finish onboarding before their start date, so their onboarding status is complete while their employment status is still pending. When the start date arrives, their employment status automatically transitions to active.
A team member’s start date may pass while some onboarding tasks are still incomplete. In that case, their employment status becomes active, but their onboarding status remains in progress until the remaining tasks are completed.
Understanding this distinction helps explain why onboarding tasks may still appear even after a team member has started working.
Canceling onboarding
In some cases, you may decide not to continue working with a team member after onboarding has already started. When this happens, you can cancel the onboarding project. Canceling onboarding indicates that you no longer plan to move forward with the working relationship.
Canceling the onboarding does the following:
Changes the team member’s employment status to canceled.
Stops the onboarding project and prevents any remaining onboarding tasks from being completed.
Related guides
For detailed instructions, see:
If your workspace still uses the previous onboarding experience, look for the guides labeled (classic) in this help center.