Who are the HRMagix HR guides written for?

For people who have been handed a task rather than a topic, such as someone running a first payroll in a new system or setting up attendance for a shift workforce.

Is there a guide on switching payroll systems?

Yes. Running your first payroll in a new system covers when to switch, getting the employee master right, loading registrations, carrying year-to-date figures and running a parallel month.

Is there a guide on writing a leave policy?

Yes, Writing a leave policy that survives contact with a year is one of the guides listed on this page.

How do guides differ from Insights articles?

Insights are short and diagnostic, about one mechanism that goes wrong. Guides are longer and instructional, for when the work is already yours.

How do guides differ from the white papers?

White papers are positions about how HR and payroll systems should be structured; read one when choosing an approach. Guides tell you how to do the work in order.

How long does each guide take to read?

Each entry lists its number of chapters and approximate reading time in minutes, so you can judge whether it is worth your afternoon.

Where can I look up terms the guides use?

The HR and payroll glossary defines the terms these guides use, and the calculators let you run the statutory formulas on your own numbers.

Guides for people who have been handed a task

Longer and more instructional than the short pieces in Insights, and more practical than the white papers. Each one is chaptered in the order the work actually runs, and ends in a checklist rather than a conclusion, the test before publishing is whether somebody could do the thing afterwards.

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Employees managed: 9,000+
Integrated modules: 12
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Guides

01
Running Your First Payroll in a New System
Written for
Whoever has been handed payroll at a company moving off spreadsheets, often a finance or operations lead rather than an HR specialist.
You will be able to
Sequence the switch, know which data must be right before the first run, and understand why a parallel month is worth the effort.
Read guide 01 6 chapters
02
Writing a Leave Policy That Survives Contact With a Year
Written for
Founders and first HR hires writing a leave policy for the first time, and anyone inheriting one that has stopped answering questions.
You will be able to
Make the eight decisions a leave policy actually consists of, and know which of them create work at the year end.
Read guide 02 8 chapters
03
Setting Up Attendance for a Workforce That Is Not at a Desk
Written for
Plant, retail, field-service and multi-site operations where most people never open a laptop.
You will be able to
Choose capture methods per location, define shift rules that survive rotation and midnight, and keep a record that answers an inspector's question.
Read guide 03 7 chapters
04
The Employee Onboarding Checklist, From Signed Offer to Day Thirty
Written for
HR executives and office managers who run joining for every new hire and want one sequence that does not depend on memory.
You will be able to
Run joining as a fixed sequence of owned tasks, collect the statutory details payroll needs in the first month, and close onboarding with a check-in rather than a drift.
Read guide 04 5 chapters
05
An Employee Exit Checklist, From Resignation to Full and Final
Written for
HR and payroll staff who process resignations and terminations and need every clearance closed before the settlement is paid.
You will be able to
Take an exit from the resignation letter to the relieving letter in order, with clearances owned, the last salary calculated correctly and statutory transfers set up.
Read guide 05 5 chapters
06
Writing a 30-60-90 Day Plan for a New Hire
Written for
Managers with a new person starting soon, and HR teams who want every new hire to have a written first-quarter plan.
You will be able to
Write a short three-phase plan with outcomes for each month, review it at each milestone, and use it as the evidence for the probation decision.
Read guide 06 5 chapters
07
How to Run the Review That Ends a Probation Period
Written for
HR teams and managers who have to decide whether to confirm, extend or end an employee's probation, and record the decision properly.
You will be able to
Schedule the review before probation ends, assess against the standards set at joining, choose between confirm, extend and not confirm, and issue the right letter.
Read guide 07 5 chapters
08
Running an Appraisal Cycle End to End
Written for
HR teams responsible for the annual or half-yearly appraisal cycle, from the kick-off announcement to the letters.
You will be able to
Plan the cycle's stages and dates, run self and manager reviews, calibrate, and hand ratings into increments without the cycle stalling halfway.
Read guide 08 5 chapters
09
The Monthly Payroll Close, Step by Step
Written for
Payroll executives and finance teams who run payroll every month and want a fixed sequence from cut-off to filed returns.
You will be able to
Close each month in the same order: freeze inputs, process, review variances, approve, pay, file and lock, so errors are caught before money moves.
Read guide 09 5 chapters
10
Payroll Reconciliation: Bank, Ledger and Statutory Returns
Written for
Finance and payroll staff who need to prove each month's payroll agrees with what was paid, what was booked and what was filed.
You will be able to
Run three monthly reconciliations, trace each difference to a cause, and keep a reconciliation file that an auditor can follow.
Read guide 10 5 chapters
11
Closing the Payroll Year and Issuing Form 16
Written for
Payroll and finance teams responsible for the financial year end, the fourth-quarter TDS return and issuing Form 16 to employees.
You will be able to
Close the last months of the year cleanly, reconcile TDS to the returns, file the fourth-quarter Form 24Q, and issue Form 16 that matches what the tax department holds.
Read guide 11 6 chapters
12
Collecting Investment Declarations and Proofs From Employees
Written for
Payroll teams who run the annual declaration window and the proof verification that follows it.
You will be able to
Run the declaration window at the start of the year, verify proofs before the year end, and keep monthly TDS close to the final liability throughout.
Read guide 12 5 chapters
13
Registering an Establishment for EPF and ESI
Written for
Founders, finance leads and first HR hires at companies that have become, or are about to become, covered by EPF or ESI.
You will be able to
Work out when registration is required, prepare the documents, register on the EPFO and ESIC portals, and start contributions correctly from the first month.
Read guide 13 5 chapters
14
What Changes When Your Company Crosses 20 Employees
Written for
Founders and finance leads at growing companies who want to know which laws begin to apply as headcount rises.
You will be able to
Know which statutory obligations are triggered at 10, 20 and higher headcounts, how headcount is counted, and what to set up before the line is crossed.
Read guide 14 5 chapters
15
Writing an Overtime Policy: Approval, Rates and Records
Written for
HR teams and operations managers writing or rewriting the rules for when overtime is worked, approved and paid.
You will be able to
Decide who is eligible, how overtime is approved, how it is calculated and paid, and what records are kept, in a policy that matches the law for your establishment.
Read guide 15 5 chapters
16
What to Ask Before You Sign an HRMS Contract
Written for
The person running an HRMS evaluation at a growing Indian company, usually an HR head or finance lead with a shortlist of three vendors and a deadline.
You will be able to
Run a vendor evaluation that tests your own payroll, your own policies and your own exit terms, rather than the vendor's demo script.
Read guide 16 6 chapters
17
Moving HR Off Spreadsheets and Into an HRMS
Written for
HR and finance teams at companies that have run employee records, leave and payroll on spreadsheets and have now bought, or are about to buy, an HRMS.
You will be able to
Plan the switch in a sensible order, decide what moves and what stays behind, and get employees and managers using the new system rather than working around it.
Read guide 17 6 chapters
18
Cleaning and Importing the Employee Master
Written for
The HR or operations person preparing the employee data file for a new HRMS, often with a vendor template open in one window and four old spreadsheets in another.
You will be able to
Build an import file that loads cleanly, with duplicates resolved, codes standardised and every field the payroll will rely on checked before it goes in.
Read guide 18 6 chapters
19
Deciding Who Can See Which Employee Data
Written for
HR heads, founders and IT leads setting up roles in an HRMS, or tightening access after realising more people can see salaries than should.
You will be able to
Classify employee data by sensitivity, design roles around jobs rather than people, and keep access correct as people join, move and leave.
Read guide 19 6 chapters
20
The HR Reports a Leadership Team Keeps Asking For
Written for
HR managers and people-operations leads who are asked for numbers every month and want a standard pack rather than a fresh spreadsheet each time.
You will be able to
Build a short, recurring set of HR reports for management, with agreed definitions, so the conversation is about what the numbers mean rather than whether they are right.
Read guide 20 5 chapters
21
Producing a Headcount Number Everyone Agrees On
Written for
HR and finance teams who have been asked how many people the company employs and found that three systems give three answers.
You will be able to
Define headcount precisely, build a monthly headcount report with an opening-to-closing bridge, and reconcile it with payroll every month.
Read guide 21 5 chapters
22
Finding Out Why People Leave: An Attrition Analysis
Written for
HR leads and founders who know their attrition rate and want to know what is behind it, and what to do about it.
You will be able to
Calculate attrition consistently, break it down by the cuts that reveal causes, and combine the numbers with exit information to reach conclusions you can act on.
Read guide 22 5 chapters
23
Running an Annual Salary Revision, From Budget to Arrears
Written for
HR and payroll teams responsible for the annual increment cycle, from the budget conversation with leadership to the revised salary landing in payroll.
You will be able to
Run a salary revision process in order: set the budget, decide the guidelines, collect and approve recommendations, issue letters and pay arrears correctly.
Read guide 23 6 chapters
24
Putting Interns and Trainees on Payroll
Written for
HR and payroll teams paying interns, apprentices and graduate trainees for the first time, or tidying up an arrangement that has been handled informally.
You will be able to
Classify each arrangement correctly, decide how stipends are paid and recorded, check the statutory treatment, and keep the records that support it.
Read guide 24 5 chapters
25
Closing the Leave Year: Carry-Forward, Lapse and Encashment
Written for
HR and payroll teams running the leave year end process, who need balances, encashment and the new year's credits to be right on the first working day.
You will be able to
Close the leave year in order: freeze applications, settle the balances, apply carry-forward and lapse, pay encashment and open the new year cleanly.
Read guide 25 6 chapters
26
Managing Employee Loans and Salary Advances
Written for
HR, payroll and finance teams that give employees salary advances or loans and need to record, recover and close them without disputes at exit.
You will be able to
Write a clear advance and loan policy, record each one properly, recover it through payroll with consent, and settle what is outstanding when someone leaves.
Read guide 26 6 chapters
27
Conducting Exit Interviews That Tell You Something
Written for
HR generalists and people managers who run exit conversations, and the HR lead who has to turn them into something leadership will act on.
You will be able to
Decide who runs the interview and when, ask exit interview questions that produce usable answers, and record them so patterns become visible across leavers.
Read guide 27 6 chapters
28
Issuing Policies and Getting a Policy Acknowledgement You Can Rely On
Written for
HR and compliance owners who publish company policies and need to show, later, that each employee received and accepted them.
You will be able to
Issue a policy so employees can find it, collect a policy acknowledgement from each person, chase the gaps and produce the record when it is asked for.
Read guide 28 6 chapters
29
Running Employee Background Verification With Consent and Proportion
Written for
HR and talent teams setting up or tidying a background verification process, whether done in-house or through a verification agency.
You will be able to
Decide what to check for which roles, collect consent properly, time the checks against the offer, and handle a discrepancy fairly.
Read guide 29 6 chapters
30
Running a Workplace Investigation That Is Fair and Holds Up
Written for
HR managers and senior leaders who have received a complaint about misconduct and need to find out what happened before anyone decides anything.
You will be able to
Plan and run an investigation, interview the parties and witnesses, weigh the evidence and write a report that a decision-maker can rely on.
Read guide 30 6 chapters
31
Setting Up and Running a POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) Internal Committee
Written for
Founders, HR heads and compliance owners at organisations with ten or more employees who need to constitute an Internal Committee, or check that the one they have works.
You will be able to
Understand how a POSH Internal Committee is constituted, what it does when a complaint arrives, and what the organisation has to keep and report around it.
Read guide 31 6 chapters
32
Maintaining Statutory Registers Without a Filing Cabinet Crisis
Written for
HR, payroll and compliance staff responsible for keeping the registers and records labour law requires, especially at multi-location or growing employers.
You will be able to
Work out which statutory registers apply to each establishment, keep them from source data rather than retyping, and produce them on request.
Read guide 32 6 chapters
33
Preparing for a Labour Inspection Before the Notice Arrives
Written for
HR, administration and compliance leads at establishments that may be inspected under labour laws, including multi-site employers whose local managers would be the first point of contact.
You will be able to
Keep the records an inspector is likely to ask for in a state you can produce, know what to do on the day, and respond to observations in an orderly way.
Read guide 33 6 chapters
34
Writing an Employee Handbook People Will Actually Open
Written for
HR leads and founders turning a collection of separate policies into a single employee handbook, or rewriting one that has grown out of date.
You will be able to
Decide what goes in the handbook and what stays outside it, structure it around employee questions, write it plainly and keep it current.
Read guide 34 6 chapters
35
Putting Salary on Hold, and Releasing It, Without Creating a Dispute
Written for
Payroll and HR teams who are asked to hold an employee's pay, for an absconding case, an incomplete exit, missing documents or an open inquiry.
You will be able to
Tell the difference between holding a payment and withholding wages, follow a documented process for each hold, and release or settle it correctly.
Read guide 35 5 chapters
36
Tracking Employee Document Expiry Before It Becomes a Problem
Written for
HR operations teams responsible for keeping employee documents, work permits, licences, certifications and fixed-term contracts current.
You will be able to
Know which employee documents expire, store them with their expiry dates, set reminders with enough lead time, and act when a renewal is missed.
Read guide 36 5 chapters
37
Training Managers to Approve Leave and Attendance on Time
Written for
HR teams whose payroll close is held up by pending leave, attendance and regularisation approvals, and the managers who are being asked to do them.
You will be able to
Explain to managers why approvals matter for payroll, give them clear decision rules, and run reminders and escalation so approvals are timely and consistent.
Read guide 37 5 chapters
38
Running a Calibration Meeting: Preparing, Chairing and Closing the Room
Written for
HR business partners and department heads who have to bring several managers' ratings into line before an appraisal cycle closes.
You will be able to
Prepare the data, chair a calibration meeting that discusses evidence rather than personalities, record every changed rating with a reason, and hand managers outcomes they can explain.
Read guide 38 5 chapters
39
Cascading OKRs From Company to Team to Individual Without Losing the Thread
Written for
Founders, strategy leads and HR teams setting OKRs for the first time across several teams, or fixing a set that has drifted out of alignment.
You will be able to
Set a short list of company objectives, have teams write OKRs that visibly contribute to them, decide where individual OKRs are useful, and check alignment during the quarter.
Read guide 39 5 chapters
40
Designing an Employee Recognition Programme: Criteria, Schedule and Ownership
Written for
HR managers and culture leads building a recognition programme from scratch, or replacing an awards scheme that people have stopped taking seriously.
You will be able to
Decide what the programme recognises, set the channels and schedule, write criteria people can apply, give it an owner and a budget line, and review it so it stays credible.
Read guide 40 5 chapters

Formats

How these differ from the other two formats

Insights are short and diagnostic, one mechanism, written because something specific goes wrong in a payroll month. Read one when you need to understand why a number came out the way it did.

White Papers are positions, arguments about how HR and payroll systems should be structured, which you are invited to disagree with. Read one when you are choosing an approach rather than fixing a problem.

Guides are instructional. Read one when the work is already yours and you would rather not discover the order of it by getting it wrong.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions

For people who have been handed a task rather than a topic, such as someone running a first payroll in a new system or setting up attendance for a shift workforce.
Each is chaptered in the order the work actually runs and ends in a checklist rather than a conclusion.
Yes. Running your first payroll in a new system covers when to switch, getting the employee master right, loading registrations, carrying year-to-date figures and running a parallel month.
Yes, Writing a leave policy that survives contact with a year is one of the guides listed on this page.
Insights are short and diagnostic, about one mechanism that goes wrong. Guides are longer and instructional, for when the work is already yours.
White papers are positions about how HR and payroll systems should be structured; read one when choosing an approach. Guides tell you how to do the work in order.
Each entry lists its number of chapters and approximate reading time in minutes, so you can judge whether it is worth your afternoon.
The HR and payroll glossary defines the terms these guides use, and the calculators let you run the statutory formulas on your own numbers.

Every question, in one place

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Keep exploring

Contents

How these differ from the other two formats

Frequently asked questions

Who are the HRMagix HR guides written for?

How are the guides structured?

Is there a guide on switching payroll systems?

Is there a guide on writing a leave policy?

How do guides differ from Insights articles?

How do guides differ from the white papers?

How long does each guide take to read?

Where can I look up terms the guides use?

See HRMagix run on your own payroll month

Where to go next

Contents

How these differ from the other two formats

Frequently asked questions

Who are the HRMagix HR guides written for?

How are the guides structured?

Is there a guide on switching payroll systems?

Is there a guide on writing a leave policy?

How do guides differ from Insights articles?

How do guides differ from the white papers?

How long does each guide take to read?

Where can I look up terms the guides use?

See HRMagix run on your own payroll month

Where to go next