Justworks User Management Guide

• Model type: role-based
• Description: Justworks uses a role-based permission model with two primary admin tiers (Full Administrator and Limited Administrator) and a standard Member/Employee role. Limited Administrator permissions are configured from a predefined set of functional categories (e.g., payroll, benefits, HR) rather than fully custom granular permissions. There are no user-defined custom roles.
• Custom roles: No
• Custom roles plan: Not documented
• Granularity: Functional category level (payroll, benefits, HR, reporting). Not field-level or object-level granularity.

1. Log in to secure.justworks.com as a Full Administrator or Limited Administrator with HR permissions.
2. Navigate to the 'People' section from the main dashboard.
3. Click 'Add New Member' or 'Invite Employee'.
4. Enter the employee's first name, last name, personal email address, start date, employment type (full-time, part-time, contractor), and compensation details.
5. Select the employee's work state and department if applicable.
6. Choose whether to send an onboarding invitation immediately or schedule it.
7. Employee receives an email invitation to complete their own onboarding profile (personal info, I-9, direct deposit, benefits enrollment).
8. Admin monitors onboarding completion status from the People dashboard.

Required fields: First name, Last name, Personal email address, Start date, Employment type, Compensation (salary or hourly rate), Work state

Watch out for:

• The employee's personal email is used for the invitation; a work email can be added later but the personal email is required at setup.
• Employees must complete all required onboarding steps (I-9 verification, direct deposit, SSN) before they can be included in payroll runs.
• I-9 Section 2 must be completed by the employer within 3 business days of the start date; Justworks provides a workflow but the admin is responsible for compliance.
• Adding an employee mid-pay-period may result in a prorated first paycheck; admins should verify pay period cutoffs.
• Benefits enrollment windows are time-limited; if the employee misses the window, they must wait for open enrollment or a qualifying life event.

• Can delete users: No
• Delete/deactivate behavior: Justworks does not allow permanent deletion of employee records. Employees are terminated/offboarded, which deactivates their account access while retaining all historical payroll, tax, and HR records for compliance purposes. Records are retained per applicable legal requirements (typically 3–7 years for payroll and tax documents).

1. Log in to secure.justworks.com as a Full Administrator or authorized Limited Administrator.
2. Navigate to 'People' and locate the employee to be terminated.
3. Click on the employee's profile.
4. Select 'Terminate Employee' or 'Offboard'.
5. Enter the termination date, termination type (voluntary/involuntary), and reason.
6. Confirm whether the employee is eligible for rehire.
7. Review and confirm final pay details, including any outstanding PTO payout obligations based on state law.
8. Submit the termination; Justworks will process the final paycheck on the next scheduled payroll run or off-cycle if required.
9. Employee's login access is revoked on the termination date; they retain limited access to download their own pay stubs and tax documents (W-2s) via a former-employee portal.

Watch out for:

• Final paycheck timing requirements vary by state; some states (e.g., California) require same-day or next-day final pay for involuntary terminations. Justworks flags these requirements but the admin must initiate an off-cycle payroll if needed.
• PTO payout on termination is state-dependent; Justworks does not automatically calculate this-admins must manually add any required PTO payout to the final paycheck.
• COBRA notices are handled by Justworks as part of the PEO service, but only for benefits administered through Justworks. Separately administered benefits are not covered.
• Terminating an employee who is also a Limited Administrator does not automatically remove their admin role; the admin role should be revoked separately before or at termination.
• Rehire of a terminated employee requires creating a new onboarding flow; historical records from the prior employment are retained but the employee must re-complete onboarding steps.

• Where to check usage: Dashboard → Reports → Company Reports → Headcount or Payroll Summary reports show active employee counts and associated costs.
• How to identify unused seats: Justworks does not have an 'inactive seat' concept in the traditional SaaS sense. Admins can identify employees who have not completed onboarding (and are therefore not yet billable) via People → filter by onboarding status. Terminated employees are automatically removed from billing.
• Billing notes: Billing is per active employee per month. Employees added mid-month are typically billed on a prorated basis. Contractors on the international plan are billed per active contractor per month. The $50/month base fee applies to the Payroll plan only. PEO plans do not have a separate base fee but have per-employee minimums that may apply for very small companies. Justworks invoices are accessible under Company Settings → Billing.

Justworks uses per-employee-per-month billing, so seat costs scale directly with headcount. Terminated employees are removed from billing automatically, but mid-month additions are prorated and must be monitored manually. There is no native 'inactive seat' report; admins must cross-reference onboarding status filters and payroll summaries to identify employees who are billable but not yet active.

The most consistent friction reported by admins centers on three areas. First, Limited Administrator permissions are scoped to broad functional categories - payroll, benefits, HR - with no way to restrict access to a specific manager's direct reports only.

Second, there is no bulk employee import; every new hire must be invited individually, which creates real overhead during high-volume onboarding periods.

Third, the termination workflow does not automatically surface state-specific PTO payout obligations, and revoking admin access from a departing administrator is a separate step that is easy to miss.

Common complaints:

• Users report that the Limited Administrator permission categories are not granular enough-for example, it is difficult to give a manager access to only their direct reports' information without broader HR access.
• Some HR professionals note that there is no bulk import option for adding multiple employees at once; each employee must be invited individually, which is time-consuming for larger onboarding cohorts.
• Users report that the termination workflow does not automatically prompt for or calculate state-specific PTO payout requirements, requiring manual intervention and knowledge of state law.
• Admins note that removing admin access from a departing administrator requires a separate step from the employee termination flow, creating a risk of overlooking the admin role revocation.
• Some users report confusion about the distinction between the employee's personal email (used for Justworks login) and their work email, particularly when the employee later changes jobs and loses access to their personal email on file.
• Users on community forums note that Justworks does not support SCIM provisioning or deep SSO integration with enterprise identity providers like Okta or Entra ID, requiring all user management to be done manually within the Justworks interface.

Justworks is a strong fit for small-to-mid-size companies that want payroll, compliance, and benefits administration consolidated in one PEO. The tradeoff is that identity lifecycle management is entirely manual and disconnected from enterprise IdPs like Okta or Entra ID.

Teams that need automated provisioning or deprovisioning tied to an identity provider will find that gap significant, particularly as headcount grows.

Bottom line

Justworks delivers real value as a PEO platform, but every app that relies on Justworks for HR data operates without an automation layer - no SCIM, no public API, no webhooks.

Admins carry the full operational burden of provisioning and deprovisioning, which compounds risk during offboarding if the admin role revocation step is missed.

For companies where compliance and payroll are the priority and headcount is manageable, the manual overhead is workable; for teams scaling quickly or running tight IT/HR handoffs, the absence of any programmatic access is a meaningful constraint.