Onboarding and playbooks
Contractor to employee playbook
A playbook for a contractor or intern moving to an employee contract: the contract and payroll for HR, benefits before the deadline and a welcome.
New playbook. Opens a new playbook with these steps and timings. Each person’s steps wait for your approval before they send.
Someone moving from a contract or internship to an employee role already knows the work. What changes is their paperwork, pay, benefits and how the team sees them.
This playbook starts the day the employee contract begins. HR moves the paperwork, the person picks benefits in time, and their manager marks the change.
Shuffl · HR by the numbers
From contract to team
From contract to team. 63.1% of 2024-25 US interns were converted into full-time hires (NACE, 2026) (National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), April 3, 2026). 88.3% of 2024-25 US interns offered a full-time job accepted it (NACE, 2026) (National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), April 3, 2026).
Move person to an employee contract
To HR, on the day they join.
**Move {{hire}} to an employee contract**
- [ ] Issue the contract and written terms
- [ ] Move them to employee payroll
- [ ] Enrol them in benefits and tell them the deadline
- [ ] Update their employment type in PeopleWelcome to the team, properly
To the person, on the day they join.
**Welcome to the team, properly** Your employee contract starts today. A few things to finish so your pay and benefits are right from the first payday. - [ ] Sign your contract - [ ] Choose your benefits before the deadline
Mark person’s new contract
To their manager, on the day they join.
**Mark {{hire}}’s new contract**
- [ ] Tell the team
- [ ] Agree goals for their next six monthsYour benefits
To the person, 14 days after the day they join.
**Your benefits** If you have not chosen your benefits yet, now is the time. Questions go to HR. - [ ] Finish your benefits enrollment
Checking in
To the person, 30 days after the day they join.
**How is the new contract going, {{hire}}?**
If anything about your pay, benefits or paperwork is not right yet, say so and a named person from HR will follow up with you directly.How to adapt it
- Shuffl fills in {{hire}} and {{manager}} for each person. Replace them by hand if you send the message yourself.
- Check the benefits enrollment window starts on the contract date.
- Tell the team, so the change is visible, not only on paper.
What the research says
Internships and contracts are real hiring routes. Employers surveyed by NACE converted 63.1% of their 2024-25 interns into full-time hires, and 88.3% of interns offered a job accepted.1
Those hires tend to stay. More than three-quarters of new hires who interned with the employer are still there after a year, compared with less than half of hires with no internship experience.2
What the law requires
In the UK, changes to the written statement of employment particulars must be given to the employee within one month of the change.3 Check what each country requires when someone moves from a contract or internship to employment, including benefits eligibility.
Common mistakes
- Treating it as paperwork only. Mark the change with the team.
- Missing the benefits window that opens on the contract date.
- Leaving their old contractor or intern details in People.
- Forgetting to agree new goals for an employee role.
Common questions
- What changes when a contractor becomes an employee?
- Their contract and written terms, payroll and tax, benefits eligibility, and their employment type in your records. Tell the team too, so the change is visible.
- Do interns who are hired full time stay?
- NACE finds more than three-quarters of new hires who interned with the employer are still there after a year, compared with less than half of hires with no internship experience.
- Do you need a new written statement?
- In the UK, changes to the written statement of employment particulars must be given within one month of the change. A move to an employee contract usually means new written terms.
Sources
Read on . Laws change, so check the source before you act. This page is general information, not legal advice.
- National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), Intern Conversion Rate Hits Highest Mark in Five Years, April 3, 2026. NACE 2026 Internship & Co-op Survey, October 15, 2025 to January 4, 2026; 284 organizations.
- National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), Internship Program Retention Rates Underscore Long-term ROI, May 14, 2026. By Kevin Gray. From the NACE 2026 Internship & Co-op Report; 284 organizations.
- GOV.UK, Employment contracts: Written statement of employment particulars, No date stated; read October 2026.