Onboarding a new employee in Kenya involves more legal steps than most employers document. Missing any of them creates compliance gaps that become expensive to fix later — either at a KRA audit, an NSSF dispute, or an employment tribunal.
This checklist covers the full process, in the order you should complete it.
Before day one
1. Prepare and sign the employment contract
Kenyan employment law requires a written contract for all employees. The Employment Act (Cap. 226) is specific about what the contract must include:
- Full names of employer and employee
- Job title and description
- Start date
- Remuneration and benefits
- Working hours
- Leave entitlements
- Notice period
- Termination conditions
Contracts for permanent staff and those for casual or fixed-term staff have different requirements. Make sure you are using the right template.
2. Collect statutory documentation
You need the following from every new hire:
- National ID or passport (original + copy)
- KRA PIN certificate — you need this to process PAYE. If the employee does not have one, they need to register at itax.kra.go.ke
- NSSF membership number — if they do not have one, you must register them within 30 days of employment
- NHIF/SHIF membership number — same rule applies
- HELB clearance certificate (if applicable) — required for employees with HELB loans to confirm deduction obligations
- Academic and professional certificates — required for your records and any regulated roles
- Bank account details (for salary payment)
3. Set up NSSF registration
If the employee is not already registered with NSSF, you as the employer must register them. This is done through the NSSF employer portal. The registration must be completed within 30 days of employment. Failure to register attracts a penalty.
4. Set up SHIF registration
Under the SHIF Act, all employees must be registered. If the employee is moving from a previous employer, their existing membership number carries over. If they are new to formal employment, registration must be completed through the SHA portal.
On day one
5. Complete P1 form (new employee declaration)
Submit the new employee's details to KRA via iTax. This declares the employment relationship and allows PAYE to be tracked under their PIN. Do this before the first payroll run.
6. Issue any equipment or access
Document everything issued to the employee — laptop serial numbers, access cards, keys, uniforms. Sign-off sheets create a paper trail for returns at offboarding.
7. Conduct a payroll setup verification
Before you run the first payroll for this employee, verify:
- Their gross salary is correctly entered
- Their tax code is set correctly (standard tax code unless they have a secondary employment or specific exemptions)
- NSSF deduction is set up using their membership number
- SHIF contribution is mapped to their membership
- Any HELB deduction is configured if applicable
- Bank account or M-Pesa number is verified
Running their first payslip incorrectly is common and takes multiple correction cycles to fix cleanly.
Within the first 30 days
8. Register with the county government (if applicable)
Some counties require employer registration or notification when new employees are hired. Check whether your county has this requirement.
9. Add to group medical scheme (if applicable)
If you offer a company medical scheme, the employee and their declared dependants need to be added within the scheme's enrollment window — typically 30 days.
10. File the employment contract with the labour office
For certain employment types, particularly casual and contract staff, Kenyan law requires that a copy of the contract be filed with the local labour office. This is more consistently enforced in some counties than others, but it remains a legal requirement.
The practical reality
Most companies do steps 1, 2 (partially), and 7. Steps 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10 are frequently missed — until a labour inspection or a statutory audit reveals the gap.
The documentation burden is real, but it is manageable with the right system. AndikishaHR prompts for every required document during the employee setup process and flags missing items before the first payroll run. The NSSF and SHIF registration steps are integrated directly — you initiate the registration from within the platform.
If you are reading this because you have an employee who has been on payroll for several months with incomplete statutory registration, the fix is not complicated — it just needs to be prioritised before the next audit window.
Tired of tracking this manually?
AndikishaHR handles all Kenya statutory compliance automatically. When KRA updates the brackets, the platform updates. Your next payroll just runs correctly.