Onboard Your First India Employee in 5 Days: A Day-by-Day Timeline
From signed offer to first payslip in a single working week. Here's exactly what happens each day when you onboard through an EOR.
"Five days" sounds like a marketing number until you see the sequence. When the entity, payroll and compliance already exist — as they do with an EOR — onboarding is mostly coordination, not construction. Here's a realistic working week.
Day 1 — Offer and details
You confirm the role, compensation and start date. The EOR captures the candidate's details and shares a checklist of documents needed for statutory setup — identity, tax and bank information.
Day 2 — Compliant contract
A locally compliant employment contract is issued for e-signature, reflecting Indian labour requirements around notice, leave and statutory benefits. The candidate reviews and signs digitally.
Day 3 — Statutory registration
The new employee is enrolled for Provident Fund and, where applicable, ESI, and their tax details are recorded for TDS. Group insurance and any benefits are activated.
Day 4 — Payroll and access
The employee is added to the payroll run for the month, salary structure confirmed, and self-service access set up so they can see payslips, apply for leave and manage their profile from day one.
Day 5 — Go live
Your new team member is legally employed, insured, on payroll and productive — with you as their day-to-day manager and the EOR handling everything behind the scenes. No entity required.
