Know what's missing three weeks out, not the night before
Every starter has five or six documents that have to exist before they walk in. This tracks all of them across all your starters in one grid, chases what's outstanding, and files what arrives — so the Friday-before scramble stops happening.
Starters — next four weeks
5 people · 7 gaps
| Sub | Contract | RTW copy | Ref 1 | Ref 2 | Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N. Osei — 18 Aug | received | received | received | outstanding | received |
| R. Kapoor — 18 Aug | received | outstanding | received | outstanding | outstanding |
| E. Marchetti — 1 Sep | received | received | received | received | received |
| T. Aduba — 1 Sep | outstanding | outstanding | outstanding | not applicable | outstanding |
| S. Bright — 15 Sep | received | received | outstanding | outstanding | not applicable |
Kapoor starts in ten days with no right-to-work copy on file and one reference outstanding. Nobody has looked at this grid since it was made.
Works with
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- DocuSign
- Gmail
- Google Sheets
- Outlook
Documents land in the folder you already use and get filed against the right person. DocuSign publishes no triggers, so signature status is polled rather than pushed — which is why the sweep re-checks envelopes each morning instead of waiting to be told.
The chore
How this goes right now
Onboarding paperwork is a checklist problem that nobody keeps a checklist for. Five documents per starter, four starters a month, each arriving by a different route — the contract comes back through DocuSign, references arrive as email replies at whatever moment a former manager gets round to it, the right-to-work copy is a photo taken on a phone, and bank details turn up in a message that also contains three other things.
So the state of it lives nowhere. It's distributed across an inbox, a signature tool and a shared folder, and the only way to know where a starter stands is for somebody to go and look in all three. Which happens on the Friday before they start, because that's when it becomes urgent, and that is the worst possible time to discover that a referee has been ignoring you for a fortnight and the candidate's second reference is a company that no longer exists.
The consequences aren't evenly distributed either. A missing bank detail is an annoyance that delays a payment. A missing right-to-work document is a legal problem for whoever is employing that person, and on a contract desk that is frequently you. And the thing that makes it genuinely difficult is that chasing it well requires being polite to people who owe you nothing — a former manager providing a reference is doing a favour, and the tone of the third chase is the difference between getting it and not.
The difference
Same paperwork, visible while there's still time
Nothing about the requirements changes. What changes is that the gap is on a grid three weeks out instead of discovered on a Friday.
Try it
Walk through it yourself
This is the actual shape of the workflow — the same trigger, the same steps, the same draft waiting for your say-so. Click through it.
Collect compliance documents
Morning compliance sweep, 07:30
Checks the folder, the signature envelopes and the mailbox against what each starter still owes. DocuSign has no triggers, so envelope status is polled on each run rather than arriving as a notification.
What it does
Check what's landed and file it against the right starter
3 new documents since yesterday. Osei's reference two arrived as a PDF attachment. Two photos in the folder root matched to Bright by filename and content.
Google DrivePoll the outstanding contract envelopes
4 envelopes out. Aduba's contract sent 9 days ago, opened twice, never signed. The other three signed and downloaded.
DocuSignWork out who's short and how close their start date is
7 gaps across 5 starters. Kapoor starts in 10 days missing a right-to-work copy and one reference. Aduba starts in 24 days missing almost everything.
Google SheetsDraft chases, in the right tone for who's receiving them
5 drafts. Two to candidates listing exactly what's outstanding. Two to referees, deliberately softer. One to Aduba about the unsigned contract. Nothing sent.
Gmail
Draft list — nothing has been sent
Outstanding before start — ordered by how soon they start
- Urgent
R. Kapoor — starts in 10 days
No right-to-work copy on file and reference 2 outstanding since 28 July. Referee has not replied to two emails.
- Needs a call
T. Aduba — contract unsigned, 9 days
Envelope opened twice, never signed. Starts in 24 days. Usually means a question they haven't asked — worth a call rather than a third reminder.
- Chasing
N. Osei — reference 2 outstanding
Referee emailed 4 days ago, no reply yet. Within normal range. Second chase drafted for Thursday if nothing arrives.
- In flight
S. Bright — 2 references outstanding
Starts in 5 weeks. Both requests went out yesterday. No action needed today.
- Complete
E. Marchetti — complete
All five documents received and filed. Ready for her 1 September start.
Send the 5 chases and add Aduba to your call list?
The referee chases are the ones worth reading. Somebody providing a reference is doing you a favour, and the third message to them needs to sound like a person rather than a system — the candidate-facing ones are usually fine as written.
Chased, filed, and the grid is current
The chases go from your mailbox. Everything that arrived is filed against the right starter in your own Drive or Dropbox, under your retention rules. What it does not do is decide whether any document is acceptable — a right-to-work copy being on file is a fact it can report; whether it satisfies a statutory check is a judgement for the people with that legal duty.
Nothing missing on the Friday.
It collects and files. Checking a document is valid stays with the people whose legal duty that is.
How it works
What it's actually doing
Tracking a checklist across three systems and chasing the gaps. The collection is automated; the compliance decision is emphatically not.
- 1
- Google Sheets
- ExExcel
Knows what each starter owes
Requirements differ by client, by role and by whether someone is permanent or contract. Set per client, so a DBS-required role and a standard one don't share a checklist.
- 2
- Google Drive
- DrDropbox
- DocuSign
Watches every route a document can arrive by
Signature envelopes, email attachments, files dropped into a folder. It files what arrives against the right person rather than leaving it in an inbox.
- 3
- Gmail
- OuOutlook
Chases candidates and referees differently
A candidate owes you these documents. A referee is doing a favour. Those are not the same email and shouldn't be written as though they are.
- 4
- Gmail
- Google Sheets
Escalates when chasing has stopped working
A referee who has ignored two emails, or a contract opened repeatedly and never signed, comes to you as a phone call rather than a third reminder.
It collects documents. It does not verify anybody's right to work.
This is the sharpest boundary on the whole desk, and it is a legal one rather than a preference. Establishing a statutory excuse for right-to-work requires a person to check a document against the individual in a prescribed way. Software receiving a photograph does not do that, and any tool implying otherwise is selling you exposure.
Step one
It drafts
Step two — you
You read it and approve
Step three
Only then does it send
It reports presence, never validity
It can tell you a document is on file, what type it appears to be and when it arrived. It never asserts that a document is genuine, current or sufficient — those are determinations with legal consequences.
No right-to-work check is performed
The statutory check remains entirely with whoever is employing the person, done the way the law requires. Nothing here creates, contributes to or evidences that check.
It doesn't assess a reference's content
A reference is received and filed. Whether what it says is acceptable is a judgement for you and the client — it forms no view about what a former manager wrote.
It never clears anyone to start
A complete grid means five documents exist. Deciding somebody is cleared to work is a human sign-off, and it stays one no matter how green the row looks.
Setup
What setting this up involves
- 1
Connect
- Google Drive or Dropbox — wherever starter documents already live
- DocuSign, if contracts are signed electronically
- Gmail or Outlook, for chases and for documents arriving as attachments
- Google Sheets or Excel, holding starters and their start dates
- 2
Tell it how you work
- Your document checklist per client and per role type
- How far ahead of a start date each item should be requested
- Chase intervals, separately for candidates and for referees
- When to stop chasing a referee and hand it to you
- Your folder structure, so filed documents land where your process expects
- 3
Then it runs
About 45 minutes, once
Most of it is writing down your checklists per client, which many desks have never actually done in one place. That artefact tends to be useful well beyond this task.
Edge cases
Where it's careful, and what it won't do
What it handles
A document arriving by an unexpected route
A photo in a WhatsApp thread forwarded to your inbox, or a file dropped in the folder root with a meaningless name. It matches on content as well as filename rather than only recognising the tidy cases.
A referee who has gone silent
Two chases and it stops, because the third email to somebody doing you a favour costs more goodwill than it recovers. It comes to you, usually with a suggestion to ask the candidate for an alternative.
A contract opened but never signed
Treated differently from one never opened. Repeated opens without a signature almost always mean an unasked question, and that's flagged as a call rather than another reminder.
Requirements that differ per client
A DBS-required role, a financial-services role with extra checks, a contract placement with different paperwork entirely. Checklists are per client and per role type rather than one global list.
What it does not do
Verify a right to work
The statutory check is the employer's legal duty and must be performed the prescribed way. This collects and files; it never checks, confirms or evidences.
Judge whether a document is genuine
It reports that a file exists and appears to be of a given type. Authenticity, currency and sufficiency are human determinations with real liability attached.
Clear anyone to start
A complete checklist is not an approval. Sign-off remains a person's decision and is never implied by the grid turning green.
Store documents anywhere new
Everything stays in your own Drive or Dropbox under your existing retention policy. It doesn't create a second copy of sensitive personal data somewhere you'd have to account for.
Time back
Three to five hours a month, and no Friday scrambles
- Time back
- 3–5 hrs a month
- Spent on
- Starts that go ahead on time
- What it costs
- $49 / monthGrowthplan — see what’s included
How that’s worked out: Based on four to six starters a month at five documents each, where the real cost is the assembling — going through an inbox, a signature tool and a folder to work out where each person stands, usually more than once per starter. Delayed starts caused by a reference nobody chased are rarer but far more expensive, since they put a fee and a client relationship at risk simultaneously.
Fair questions
The questions compliance leads ask first
Compliance is exactly the thing we can't afford to get wrong.
Agreed, which is why the boundary here is drawn at collection rather than assessment. It tracks whether documents exist and chases the ones that don't. It makes no determination about validity, performs no right-to-work check, and never clears anybody to start. The failure available to it is telling you a document is missing when it isn't, which you'd see immediately. The failures that actually matter in compliance all sit on the other side of a line it doesn't cross.
We already have an onboarding system that does this.
If it covers all the routes a document actually arrives by, you're well served. The gap most desks have isn't the system, it's that references come back as free-text emails, right-to-work copies arrive as phone photos and contracts live in a separate signature tool — so the onboarding system knows about the tidy half and a person reconciles the rest. This is aimed at that reconciliation, and it can sit alongside what you run.
Where does sensitive personal data end up?
In your own Drive or Dropbox, where it already goes. Documents are filed within your storage, under your retention policy and your existing agreement with that provider. Nothing is copied into a separate store, and nothing is retained as a training corpus — which also means a deletion request is satisfied exactly the way it is today.
More off the same desk
Other things that keep falling off the list
Keep placed candidates warm
Aftercare that actually happens — check-ins at the points that matter, so a bad first fortnight reaches you before it becomes a fall-through.
Chase candidate availability
Every candidate sitting on an availability request gets a nudge with real slots in it, before the client's window closes and you have to ask for new ones.
Keep the ATS current
Stage moves and notes drafted from what actually happened in your mail and diary, so Friday isn't spent typing last week into a system.
Chase contractor timesheets
Missing hours and unapproved sheets both get chased, so Monday isn't spent working out who hasn't submitted and which manager is sitting on the approval.
Format CVs to your template
Drop a CV in the folder and get it back on your letterhead — contact details stripped, dates consistent, ready to send to the client.
The same paperwork chase elsewhere
FAQ
Questions worth answering properly
Does it check right-to-work documents?
No, and this is the most important limit on the page. Establishing a statutory excuse requires a person to check a document against the individual in the prescribed manner. This tracks whether a copy has been received and filed — nothing more. The check itself stays with whoever is employing the person, done the way the law requires.
Can it tell if a reference is any good?
It knows a reference arrived and files it against the candidate. What the reference says, and whether that's acceptable to you or your client, is a human judgement — it forms no view about the content and never grades or scores what a former manager wrote.
How does it handle documents arriving in odd ways?
It matches on content as well as filename, so a phone photo forwarded into your inbox or a file dropped into a folder with a meaningless name still gets attached to the right starter. Anything it genuinely can't place is surfaced for you rather than filed somewhere plausible.
What happens when a referee ignores us?
Two chases, then it stops and tells you — usually suggesting you ask the candidate for an alternative referee. A third email to somebody doing you an unpaid favour tends to cost more than it recovers, and the candidate can often unblock it with one message of their own.
Can different clients have different requirements?
Yes, and they usually do. Checklists are defined per client and per role type, so a DBS-required position, a financial-services role with extra checks and a standard permanent hire each track against the right list rather than a single global one.
Does a complete grid mean someone is cleared to start?
It means the documents you asked for exist and are filed. Clearing somebody to start is a sign-off by a person who is accountable for it, and nothing here performs or replaces that step.
Stop discovering gaps on the Friday before
Point it at the folder your documents land in and set your checklist per client. Tomorrow's sweep tells you exactly who's short of what.
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