TL;DR: Employee onboarding documents fall into two groups: forms the new hire signs (employment agreement, Form W-4, handbook acknowledgment, direct deposit authorization) and supporting files they upload (a voided check, a professional license, a certification). Put both in one signing request. Add an attachment field for each supporting file, name exactly what you need, limit file types, and make the upload required only when onboarding cannot continue without it. Save the packet as a template, and keep Form I-9 document review as its own step.
The employment agreement comes back signed on Tuesday. The W-4 shows up Wednesday. The voided check for direct deposit arrives Friday as a sideways phone photo, sent to a recruiter who is out that week. Monday is the start date, and someone in HR is still matching files to names.
Most onboarding checklists stop at the list. They tell you which onboarding documents to collect, but not how to get the signed forms and the supporting files back together, in one piece, before day one.
The fix is to collect both in the same place. An attachment field is a form field inside the eSignature request itself, one that asks the signer to upload a file while they sign. Put one next to the direct deposit authorization, and the voided check arrives inside the same packet as the form it supports, instead of in a separate thread days later.
Below is a new hire documents checklist sorted by that split. After it, you’ll find the upload rules worth setting, the one form that needs different handling (Form I-9), and how to reuse the packet for every hire.
New hire documents checklist: what gets signed and what gets uploaded
Every item in an onboarding packet falls into one of two groups: forms the new hire completes and signs, or supporting documents they upload. Sorting your onboarding paperwork this way before you build anything tells you exactly where attachment fields belong, and where they would only add friction.
| Onboarding document | What the new hire does | Fields to use |
| Employment agreement or offer letter | Reviews and signs | Signature and date |
| NDA or confidentiality agreement | Reviews and signs | Signature and optional initials on key clauses |
| Employee handbook acknowledgment | Confirms receipt and signs | Signature and date |
| Form W-4 | Enters federal withholding details and signs | Text fields, checkboxes, date, and signature |
| State withholding certificate, where applicable | Enters state withholding details and signs | Text fields, checkboxes where applicable, date, and signature |
| Direct deposit authorization | Enters account details, signs, and uploads account proof if required | Text fields, signature, and an optional attachment field for a voided check or bank letter |
| Required license or certification | Uploads a copy | Attachment field |
| Emergency contact form | Enters contact details | Text fields only |
| Form I-9, Section 1 | Enters personal and employment-authorization information and signs the attestation | Text fields, checkboxes, date, and signature. Handle identity-document review separately in Section 2. |
Two patterns stand out. Most onboarding forms need only signature and text fields. The attachment field earns its place on forms that depend on outside proof, like the direct deposit authorization, and on credentials a specific role cannot start without.
Form I-9 is the exception that looks like an obvious upload but is not. More on that below.
Your own list will vary by state, industry, and role. Treat this table as a starting structure, and confirm the required forms for your organization with your HR or employment law advisor.
Where onboarding paperwork breaks when files travel by email
Getting the forms signed is usually the easy part. The trouble starts with the files that have to come back alongside them, because most teams still collect those through a separate email thread.
- Two statuses, tracked in two places. The signature request shows the direct deposit authorization as signed. Whether the voided check arrived lives in someone’s inbox. From one screen, an HR coordinator cannot tell if a packet is actually complete.
- Files land with the wrong person. New hires reply to whoever emailed them last, often a recruiter or hiring manager. Bank details and license copies then sit in inboxes HR does not control, sometimes in more than one copy.
- The file arrives but cannot be used. A cropped phone photo, a password-protected PDF, a screenshot of a banking app. Each one restarts the follow-up loop.
- Follow-ups crowd the start date. Every round of “can you resend that?” pushes packet completion closer to day one. A missing direct deposit authorization or bank proof can hold up payroll setup for the first pay cycle.
The new hire feels it too. They sign on their phone, get a second email asking for a document, dig it up, send it, and hear nothing back. Silence after sending your bank details is not the welcome most HR teams are going for.
None of this is really a signing problem. It is a collection problem sitting right next to the signing step, which is why the fix belongs inside the same request.
What an attachment field does, and who controls it
Mechanically, the sender places the attachment field in the eSignature request and assigns it to one specific signer. That signer uploads the file during the same signing session in which they complete their other fields and sign, so there is no second link, portal, or email reply involved.
In an onboarding packet, the responsibilities split cleanly:
- HR, as the sender, decides which files to request, where each attachment field sits, what it is called, which file types it accepts, and whether it is required. HR also reviews what comes back.
- The new hire, as the signer, sees each attachment field next to the form it supports, uploads the file, and signs. The signer cannot remove a field or change what is being requested.
In BoldSign, one document can hold several attachment fields, each with its own title, optional instruction, accepted file types, and required setting. Signers can upload PDF (.pdf), Word (.docx), and image files (.jpg, .jpeg, .png). Each upload is recorded in the document history alongside the signature.
The help center walks through the attachment field settings one by one, and there is a broader guide to collecting supporting documents in vendor and customer workflows as well.
Attachment field vs. identity verification
An uploaded copy of a license shows you have the file. It does not prove the person signing is the person you hired. If that is the risk you are managing, especially with fully remote hires, verifying a new hire’s identity before they open the packet is the stronger way to confirm who is signing. BoldSign identity verification checks a government-issued photo ID and a selfie before the signer can proceed.
Use an attachment field when you need a file on record. Use identity verification when you need confidence in who is signing. Neither one replaces the document examination step of Form I-9.
How to set up an onboarding packet with attachment fields in BoldSign
The walkthrough below uses the direct deposit authorization as the example. Step 8 happens on the new hire’s screen. Every other step happens on the HR side.
Before you start: you need a BoldSign account (the 30-day free trial is enough to build and test this), your onboarding forms as PDF files, and the new hire’s name and email address.
1. Upload the packet forms (HR). From the dashboard, click Create New and choose Create New Document. Upload the forms that belong in this packet, such as the employment agreement, W-4, handbook acknowledgment, and direct deposit authorization.
2. Add the signers (HR). Enter the new hire’s name and email address. If someone at your company also signs, such as an HR manager countersigning the employment agreement, add them as well and set a signing order (the sequence in which signers receive the document) if one person must finish before the other starts.
3. Place an attachment field next to the form it supports (HR). Click Next to open the Configure fields page. Select the new hire in the signer dropdown, then drag the Attachment field from the Fields panel onto the direct deposit authorization, beside the line that explains what proof you need.
4. Fill in the attachment settings (HR). Dropping the field opens the Attachment settings panel on the right.
- Attachment title: name the document, for example “Voided check or bank letter for direct deposit.”
- Instruction: say what the file must show, for example “Must show your name, routing number, and account number.”
- Accept only: allow PDF and images here, since many people will photograph a check.
- Required: tick it if payroll setup cannot start without this proof.
5. Add the remaining fields (HR). Add signature, date, and text fields to each form. If the role needs a license or certification on file, add a separate attachment field for it with its own title. One field per file keeps the review simple.
6. Test the packet as a signer (HR). Before the first real hire, send the packet to your own email address and complete it yourself. A title that reads clearly to the person who wrote it can still confuse a new hire on a phone screen.
7. Send the packet (HR). Preview the document, select the appropriate brand, and click Send. Attachment handling is controlled by the brand’s Combine Attachments setting (Settings → Branding → Advanced). If enabled, attachments are merged into the completed document and cannot be downloaded separately. The new hire receives a signing link by email.
8. Upload and sign (new hire). On the signer’s side, the new hire opens the link, clicks the attachment field, selects the file in the Upload Attachment dialog, then completes the other fields and signs. A required field blocks completion until a file is attached. Here is what uploading an attachment looks like for the signer.
9. Download and review the files (HR). Once the packet is completed, open it from My Documents and use More actions to download the attachments, the signed document, or the audit trail (the time-stamped record of every action taken on the document).
10. To reuse the workflow, click Save as Template and assign signer roles before sending future onboarding packets.
One small catch: password-protected files cannot be uploaded. If your new hires often get password-protected bank statements, say so in the instruction text so they remove the password first.
Upload rules to decide before you send
The field settings take a minute to fill in. The decisions behind them are what keep a packet from stalling.
Make an upload required only when the next step depends on it
A required attachment field is a hard stop: the new hire cannot finish signing until a file is attached. That is exactly right for bank proof that payroll needs before it can set up direct deposit.
It is the wrong choice for anything the new hire might not have on hand. If a required field asks for a certificate they first have to request from an issuing body, the signed employment agreement waits with it. Leave that field optional, or send the hard-to-get file as a separate request so it cannot hold up the rest of the packet.
Match accepted file types to what the reviewer needs
Allow images where a phone photo is genuinely fine, like a voided check. Restrict to PDF where the personnel file needs a clean, readable copy, like a professional license. Word files rarely make sense for proof documents, so leave .docx off unless you actually want an editable file back.
Ask only for files someone will review
An easy upload makes over-collection easy too. Every file you request is personal data you now have to store, protect, and eventually delete. If nobody owns the review of a file, or you have no retention rule for it, leave the field out.
Keep Form I-9 document review out of the attachment field
Form I-9 looks like the perfect upload: the new hire has to show identity and work authorization documents, and you need a record. Two rules make a standard attachment field a poor fit.
First, employees choose which documents to present from the Lists of Acceptable Documents, and employers cannot specify which ones. An attachment field titled “Upload your passport” does exactly what that rule prohibits.
Second, a copy alone does not complete the employer’s review. Within three business days of the employee’s first day, the employer examines the documents in person. Employers enrolled in E-Verify can instead use the DHS alternative procedure for remote document examination. If they are in good standing, they can use it to review copies of the documents, examine the original documents during a live video interaction, and retain copies of the documents.
So run Form I-9 as its own step. The new hire completes and signs Section 1 no later than the first day of employment, and not before accepting the job offer. HR completes Section 2 after reviewing the documents. BoldSign offers a ready-to-use template for Form I-9 with both the employee and employer sections.
Electronic I-9 completion also carries its own federal rules for how forms are signed and stored. Confirm your setup with employment counsel before you move Form I-9 into any eSignature packet or collect document copies online.
Reuse the packet and keep every hire on track
Once your employee onboarding documents work as one packet, save it as a template: a reusable version of the document with its fields, attachment settings, and signer roles already in place. Every HR coordinator then sends the same packet with the same titles and instructions, instead of rebuilding it from memory and quietly dropping a field along the way.
Because each upload sits inside the signature request, a completed packet means the signatures and the required files are both in. HR can check document status in one place and let automated reminders nudge new hires who have not finished, rather than chasing two threads.
Completed does not mean correct, though. Name the person who checks each uploaded file, and decide in advance what happens when a bank letter is out of date or a license photo is unreadable.
Time the packet and scale it to a hiring class
You can prepare the packet ahead of time and schedule delivery of onboarding documents for a set date and time, such as the morning after an offer is accepted. For a start class where everyone receives the same packet, pair the template with Bulk Send, which sends individual copies to every new hire from a single CSV file.
Give payroll room for new hire reporting
The completed W-4 often feeds more than payroll. Federal law requires employers to report new hires to the state where they work within 20 days of hire, and some states set shorter deadlines. The W-4 collects the data that report needs, so a packet that completes early gives payroll more room to file on time.
Automate the packet with Power Automate or the API
If your team adds new hires to a SharePoint list, the BoldSign integration with Power Automate can send onboarding documents automatically when a new entry appears. Power Automate is a Microsoft product, so this route assumes your organization has a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes it.
For teams building onboarding into their own HR software, the BoldSign API (the interface developers use to connect BoldSign to other applications) can add attachment fields to documents programmatically, including whether each upload is required and which file types it accepts. After signing, developers can retrieve each uploaded file through the API using the document ID and attachment ID.
Start with the form that causes the most follow-ups
You do not need to rebuild the whole packet at once. Pick the form in your packet that generates the most “can you resend that?” emails, such as a direct deposit authorization that depends on bank proof. Add one attachment field with a clear title and instruction, test it as the signer, and save it as a template.
When that works, see how HR teams handle the rest of their onboarding paperwork with BoldSign, from policy acknowledgments to signing orders and reminders.
Start your free trial and send your first onboarding packet with signatures and supporting documents in one request.
FAQs
What documents are needed for employee onboarding?
Common documents include an employment agreement, Form W-4, Form I-9, direct deposit authorization, handbook acknowledgment, and role-specific licenses or certifications.
What paperwork should a new hire complete before day one?
After accepting the offer, new hires can complete employment agreements, tax forms, policy acknowledgments, and direct deposit forms. Form I-9 Section 1 must be completed by the first day of work.
Is Form I-9 required for every new employee?
Generally, U.S. employers must complete Form I-9 for every employee hired to work in the United States, including citizens and noncitizens.
What is Form W-4 used for in onboarding?
Form W-4 tells the employer how much federal income tax to withhold from the employee’s pay.
When do employers need to report a new hire?
Employers generally must report new hires to the appropriate state agency within 20 days, although some states require earlier reporting.
Can onboarding documents be signed electronically?
Yes. Most onboarding documents can be signed electronically, but electronic Form I-9 completion must meet specific federal requirements.
How do attachment fields work in an eSignature workflow?
Attachment fields let signers upload supporting documents, such as bank proof or certifications, while completing the eSignature document.
Which onboarding documents need a signature and which need a file upload?
Agreements, tax forms, and policy acknowledgments usually need signatures. Voided checks often require file uploads, while licenses and certifications generally require file uploads.
Can you require file uploads before a signer completes a document?
Yes. A required attachment field prevents the signer from completing the document until the requested file is uploaded.
How can HR collect IDs and supporting documents without email back-and-forth?
HR can add attachment fields to the onboarding packet so new hires upload supporting documents while completing and signing their forms.
