The Essential Pre-Hire Checklist for NZ Small Businesses (Free Notion Template)

Hiring your first employee in New Zealand can feel like navigating a minefield. It’s completely normal to feel a little lost or unsure about where to start.

Between registering as an employer with IRD, understanding your compliance obligations, setting up payroll and KiwiSaver, drafting employment agreements, and putting essential HR policies in place, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed before you even advertise a role.

That’s exactly why I created the Employer-Ready Pre-Hire Notion Checklist. It walks you through the essential setup steps, provides direct links to official NZ government resources, and covers the practical foundations that make hiring smoother. I did the groundwork so you don’t have to.

Why a Pre-Hire Checklist Matters More Than You Think

Skipping steps in the early stages of hiring is one of the biggest (and most common) mistakes small businesses make. Not out of carelessness, but because no one tells you what the steps actually are.

Here’s what often happens:

• You reactively decide to hire because you’re suddenly overwhelmed
• You rush to write a job ad
• Halfway through recruitment, you realise you don’t have the right documents, processes, or information in place
• Something goes wrong and suddenly you’re playing catch-up but not sure where to start

The right pre-hire foundation saves you time, reduces risk, and makes the entire hiring process more straightforward.

Who This Checklist Is For

This is perfect for:

• Small business owners hiring for the first time
• Founders who want to avoid expensive HR mistakes
• Managers who need a clear, structured pre-hire process
• Anyone who feels unsure or overwhelmed by the employer obligations in NZ

It’s intentionally simple, clear, and beginner-friendly, while still grounded in proper New Zealand HR practice.

What’s Inside the Free Employer-Ready Pre-Hire Checklist

The checklist walks you through the core things you need to understand, prepare, or clarify before hiring someone. It sits in Notion so you can tick things off, make notes, adapt it to your business, and reuse it anytime.

It covers:

✔️ Links to all the compliance requirements you need to review before hiring (IRD, employment law, H&S, privacy, discrimination)
✔️ The key payroll and KiwiSaver decisions you must make before onboarding anyone
✔️ A clear outline of required policies, leave settings, and optional benefits
✔️ Health, safety, and ACC setup tasks with links to official guidance
✔️ The core employment documents you need to prepare (agreements, job descriptions, policies)
✔️ Simple systems and record-keeping steps to get your HR admin organised
✔️ A high-level view of the workflows you’ll need for recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and offboarding

Don’t have time or mental bandwidth to do it all yourself?

If you go through the checklist and realise you don’t have the time or energy to write job descriptions, create policies, build SOPs, or sort your full HR setup, grab my NZ Small Business HR Hub, a full end-to-end system for NZ small businesses that includes:

• 40+ templates, SOPs, workflows, and tools
• Recruitment and hiring processes
• Onboarding guidance
• Performance management tools
• Clear instructions and ready-to-use documents
• Everything tied together inside Notion

The free checklist gets you started. The HR Hub takes the work off your plate.

Get Your Free Employer-Ready Checklist

👉 Get the free NZ Pre-Hire Notion Checklist from my Gumroad shop

*Quick disclaimer note – the checklist provides general guidance only and is not legal or professional advice. Employment law can be complex so always consult an employment lawyer or HR professional for advice specific to your situation.