Making a great first day in Ireland
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
A great first day starts before the new hire walks through the door. Getting the admin right in advance means the day itself can focus on the person, not the paperwork.
Before day one: the essentials you must have in place
You cannot wait until someone starts to begin the employment formalities. Revenue requires you to register the employee and make a real-time payroll submission on or before their first payday. That means gathering their PPS number, date of birth and address well in advance so you can register them on Revenue Online Service (ROS) and retrieve their tax credit certificate. Without it, you will deduct tax on an emergency basis — higher rates, no credits — which is a poor start for anyone.
Before day one, make sure you have:
- A signed contract of employment (employees are entitled to a written statement of core terms within five days of starting)
- Their PPS number confirmed
- Their bank details for payroll
- Emergency contact details
- Any role-specific requirements completed — Garda vetting, professional licence checks, right-to-work verification
Right to work in Ireland is a legal obligation, not optional. You must see and record original documents before the person starts. Keep a copy on file.
The contract and written statement
Irish employment law requires you to provide a written statement of five core terms within five days of the employment starting. These include the employer's and employee's full names, place of work, job title, start date and rate of pay or method of calculating pay. A full written contract covering all statutory entitlements should follow within one month.
Statutory annual leave is four working weeks per year. Make sure your contract reflects this as a minimum, and be explicit about how leave is accrued and when it can be taken. Many employers cause confusion by leaving this vague.
Setting up payroll correctly from the start
Ireland operates a real-time PAYE system. Every time you pay an employee, you must submit a payroll submission to Revenue on or before payday. There is no grace period.
Once you have the employee's tax credit certificate on ROS, your payroll software will apply the correct income tax rates — 20% up to the standard rate cut-off point and 40% above it. Alongside income tax, you will deduct Universal Social Charge (USC) at banded rates of 0.5%, 2%, 3% and 8%, and employee PRSI at approximately 4.1% under Class A. You will also pay employer PRSI at approximately 11.15%.
If you do not have the tax credit certificate in time, you must apply emergency tax. This is not a workaround — it costs the employee money from their first pay and creates work to unwind later. Prompt registration is simply the better option.
It is also worth noting that pension auto-enrolment — the Government's My Future Fund scheme — is being introduced from 2026. Depending on when your new hire starts, you may need to factor this into their onboarding paperwork and payroll setup from the outset.
What the actual first day should look like
Once the compliance side is handled, the day itself should be straightforward and human. A few things that make a practical difference:
A clear schedule for the day. New starters do not know who anyone is or where anything is. A printed or shared agenda prevents them sitting awkwardly not knowing what comes next.
A named buddy or point of contact. Not their manager — someone peer-level who can answer the questions people feel embarrassed asking up the chain. Where is the coffee? What is the unwritten rule about lunch?
Access sorted before they arrive. Email, Slack, building access, any software they need on day one. Nothing says "we weren't expecting you" like spending three hours waiting for a laptop to be set up.
A short, honest overview of the company. Not a brand presentation — a real conversation about how the business works, what the team is trying to do and where this role fits. People want context, not marketing.
A genuine check-in at the end of the day. Five minutes from their manager asking how it went and whether they have what they need. It costs nothing and lands well.
Common mistakes to fix before they become habits
The most common first-day failure is treating compliance as something to sort out later. It is not. Emergency tax, missing contracts and incomplete right-to-work checks are all easier to avoid than to fix.
The second most common failure is over-engineering the welcome and under-delivering on basics. A thoughtful card and a branded mug mean little if the person's laptop is not ready or their manager is in back-to-back meetings all day.
Keep the day structured but not packed. New starters absorb a lot of information quickly. Build in time to breathe, ask questions and get oriented. That is what makes someone feel they have joined somewhere that thought about them before they arrived.
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