Hire Your First Employee in Singapore: a 30-Day Checklist

When you hire your first employee in Singapore, four deadlines start running. Key employment terms (KETs) must be in writing within 14 days of the start date. Salary is due within 7 days after each salary period ends, with an itemised payslip. Work injury compensation insurance is compulsory if the job is manual or a non-manual employee earns S$2,600 or less a month. CPF’s due date is the last day of the calendar month, and CPF Board takes enforcement action against employers who have not paid by the 14th of the following month. MOM also requires employment records for the latest two years.

This guide puts those rules on one calendar for a fictional hire on S$3,200 a month who starts on Tuesday 1 December 2026, and ends with a folder checklist to copy. It assumes a Singapore Citizen or permanent resident (PR); a foreign hire adds work pass steps not covered here (see our S Pass quota guide). It is general information from pages read on 17 October 2026, not legal advice.

What must a new employee receive in writing, and by when?

MOM’s page on the contract of service (updated 29 December 2025) says employers must issue KETs in writing to every employee who entered a contract of service on or after 1 April 2016, is covered by the Employment Act and is employed for 14 days or more. MOM adds that the 14 days refers to the length of the contract, not the number of days of work. The deadline is 14 days after employment starts: MOM’s example is a 1 January start with KETs due by 15 January. The Act covers local and foreign employees but not seafarers, domestic workers, statutory board employees or civil servants.

The tripartite guidelines on KETs encourage three habits: give the terms before work starts where you can, ask for written acknowledgement where practicable, and use a language the employee understands. We read them as good practice, not extra legal rules.

MOM’s KETs page lists the content. Copy this into your draft:

• Parties and role (items 1 to 5): both full names, job title with main duties, start date, and the duration if fixed-term.
• Working arrangements (item 6): daily hours, working days per week and the rest day.
• Pay (items 7 to 13): salary period, basic salary, fixed allowances and deductions, overtime period and rate where overtime applies, and other components such as bonuses.
• Leave and benefits (items 14 and 15): annual, outpatient sick, hospitalisation, maternity and childcare leave, and medical benefits such as insurance.
• Probation and notice (items 16 and 17): both periods; our notice period guide covers MOM’s default.
• Place of work (item 18): optional, but strongly encouraged when it differs from the employer’s address.

Items that do not apply can be left out. The tripartite guideline PDF lists 17 items and no place of work, so draft to the live page. Probation matters later too: employees who have completed it can make formal flexible work requests. MOM offers blank sample KETs forms in English and Mandarin and a verification tool that checks work arrangements against the Act.

Does the first hire need work injury compensation insurance?

MOM’s work injury compensation page (updated 11 July 2024) gives the rule. You must insure every employee doing manual work, whatever the pay, and every non-manual employee earning S$2,600 or less a month, a figure that excludes overtime, bonus, annual wage supplement, productivity incentive payment and any allowance. Failing to insure adequately is an offence: a fine up to S$10,000, jail up to 12 months, or both. For other employees insurance is optional, but you must compensate a valid claim either way.

Our reading, not MOM’s: the S$3,200 administrator in the example is above the line and non-manual, so cover is optional, but a hire on S$2,500 basic plus a S$400 fixed allowance would still need cover, because allowances sit outside the test. Confirm borderline cases with MOM or your insurer.

Policies must come from a designated insurer. MOM asks employers to finalise the insurance contract and give the insurer the required information at least 21 days before the policy starts. Our inference: the page gives no grace period for a new hire, so treat day 1 as the date cover must exist.

How and when do you pay the first salary?

MOM’s paying salary page (updated 30 January 2026) says to pay at least monthly, within 7 days after the salary period ends and within 14 days for overtime, on a working day during working hours, into the employee’s bank account or by cheque (counted once cleared). For a 1 to 31 December period the latest legal date is Thursday 7 January 2027; treat that as the outer limit, not the plan. Singapore has no minimum wage, so pay is what you and the hire agree. If the role falls under the Progressive Wage Model, see our Progressive Wage Model checklist first. If the job will carry overtime, our free overtime pay calculator shows MOM’s formula step by step for monthly-paid full-time and part-time staff.

MOM’s itemised payslips page (updated 14 March 2024) says every employer must give covered employees an itemised payslip with the payment, or within three working days of it, in soft or hard copy including handwritten. Items that do not apply, such as overtime, can be left off.

When is the first CPF payment due, and what do you need first?

CPF is payable for Singapore Citizens and PRs earning total wages above S$50 a month; foreigners are exempt. The rate page (updated 7 October 2026) lists, for Citizens and PRs from the third year of PR status aged 55 and below on wages above S$750 a month, employer 17%, employee 20% and total 37%. Other ages, newer PRs and low wages follow other rates: see our CPF contribution rates guide.

CPF’s enforcement page (updated 5 August 2026) says the due date for CPF contributions is the last day of the calendar month, and that enforcement action is taken against employers who fail to pay by the 14th of the following month, or the next working day if the 14th is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday. Late payment interest is 1.5% a month from the day after the due date, with a S$5 minimum; the page’s example is that for late January contributions, interest runs from 1 February.

For December 2026 wages, applying that rule (our reading), the due date is Thursday 31 December 2026, and enforcement action starts if CPF has not been paid by Thursday 14 January 2027. Our reading, not CPF’s wording: the 14th is when enforcement action starts, not the due date, so treat 31 December as the date to meet. The page does not say whether “paid” means submitted or received, so leave margin and ask CPF Board if a case matters.

First you need a CPF Submission Number (CSN). CPF says all employers need one: a UEN-registered entity applies through Corppass, where authorised users need access to CPF’s e-service, and a person trading under their own name applies on CPF’s website with Singpass. After approval you can submit contributions the next calendar day. The page (updated 1 August 2025) gives no processing time, so we suggest applying before day 1. Each month you then submit in CPF EZPay, where you add new employees, verify and pay; it needs a CSN, and a UEN-registered entity does a one-time Corppass set-up first. You pay by Direct Debit or PayNow QR. The Skills Development Levy (SDL) is 0.25% of monthly total wages, S$2 minimum and S$11.25 maximum per employee, paid together with your CPF contributions.

What does the first month look like for a S$3,200 hire?

This is a fictional, illustrative example. A small design studio hires an office administrator on S$3,200 basic a month, with no allowances or overtime pay. The hire is a Singapore Citizen aged 30 and starts on Tuesday 1 December 2026. The salary period is the calendar month, and the studio pays on the last working day. Dates for steps with no legal deadline are our suggestions. The timeline, with one owner per step:

• Tuesday 10 November (21 days before day 1). Owner: you and your insurer. Decide whether the job needs work injury insurance and, if so, finalise the policy. Here, record why cover is not compulsory.
• By Friday 27 November (our suggested date). Owner: you. Apply for a CSN. Draft the KETs from MOM’s sample form and send them with the offer for written acknowledgement.
• Tuesday 1 December (day 1). Owner: the hire, then you. The hire supplies address, NRIC number, date of birth and gender; you file them, check the acknowledged KETs are on file and open the employment record.
• Tuesday 15 December (start plus 14 days). Owner: you. Last day to issue KETs (the legal backstop).
• Wednesday 30 December (day 30, our suggested date). Owner: you. Run the folder review below and prepare payroll.
• Thursday 31 December. Owner: whoever runs payroll. Pay S$2,560 net with the payslip. The legal outer limit is 7 January 2027. This is also CPF’s month-end due date: in EZPay select December, add the new employee, verify and pay CPF of S$1,184 and SDL of S$8.
• Thursday 14 January 2027. Owner: whoever runs payroll. CPF’s enforcement date for December contributions, not the due date. Confirm the payment has cleared.

A start on the first of the month puts payday and the CPF due date on day 31 and CPF’s 14 January enforcement date on day 45, so month-one duties run just past day 30. The arithmetic, on CPF’s 2026 rates for a Citizen aged 55 or below:

• Employee CPF: 20% of S$3,200 is S$640. Net salary: S$3,200 less S$640 is S$2,560.
• Employer CPF: 17% of S$3,200 is S$544. Total CPF: S$640 plus S$544 is S$1,184, or 37%.
• SDL: 0.25% of S$3,200 is S$8, between the minimum and maximum.
• Paid to CPF Board by the 31 December due date: S$1,184 plus S$8 is S$1,192.
• Cost of the month to the employer: S$3,200 plus S$544 plus S$8 is S$3,752, before any insurance premium.

The sums are whole dollars, so rounding does not arise; a mid-month start would need a part-month salary calculation.

Which records belong in the first employee’s folder?

MOM’s employment records page (updated 14 March 2024) requires records for covered employees: the latest two years for a current employee; for an ex-employee, the last two years, kept for one year after they leave. Employee records are the address, NRIC number (work pass details for non-citizens), date of birth, gender, start and leaving dates, working hours including meal and tea breaks, and public holidays and leave taken. Salary records carry the same 12 items as the payslip. A folder to copy (the layout is our suggestion; the record items are MOM’s):

• KETs: the acknowledged copy, date issued and language used.
• Employment record: the eight items above, opened on day 1 with the leaving date blank and leave and public holidays added as they happen.
• Salary records: a copy of every payslip.
• Work injury insurance: the policy schedule, or a dated note of the job and pay facts showing cover was not compulsory.
• CPF: the CSN approval, each EZPay submission and payment confirmation, and the SDL amount.
• Diary: the KETs deadline, each payday, each CPF date, and a review date two years after each record.

Restrict who can open the folder, since it holds NRIC numbers, addresses and pay (our suggestion, not a MOM rule).

What should you recheck, and when?

Recheck the CPF rate page before 1 January 2027, because CPF says rates rise for senior employees then, MOM’s work injury and KETs pages in the week you hire, and the CSN page before you apply. For another start date, recompute: KETs by start plus 14 days, pay within 7 days of the period end, CPF by the last day of the month, with the 14th of the next month as CPF’s enforcement date.

Next, write the steps down with our guide to processes people use and add payroll to your month-end close; in January, year-end IR8A filing follows. More sit under operations.

Common questions