---
title: "Add an upcoming employee"
description: "Add one new joiner by hand from the Upcoming view so their preboarding starts before they are in your HRIS."
sidebar:
  order: 2
area: directory
feature: employees
appPath: /directory/home
lastVerified: 2026-10-22
version: "2026-10-16"
audience: admin
screenshots:
  - id: directory-employees-add-employee
    caption: Add an upcoming employee asks for the few fields preboarding needs.
related:
  - directory/employees/upload-employees-from-a-spreadsheet
  - directory/employees/fix-missing-details
  - flows/automations
intercom:
  - id: "16755797"
    title: How to Upload Employee Data Manually (Pyn 2)
    url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/16755797-how-to-upload-employee-data-manually-pyn-2
    note: draws on
---

An offer is signed but the person will not be in your HRIS until payroll sets them up, and you want their welcome messages to start now. Add them as an upcoming joiner; when the HRIS record arrives with the same work email, Pyn merges the two.

## Before you start

- You are a workspace admin. The button is hidden from other roles.
- You know their start date and country. A time zone is required too; the dialog defaults it to the workspace's zone.

![Add an upcoming employee asks for the few fields preboarding needs.](https://support.pynhq.com/media/directory/employees/directory-employees-add-employee.png)

## Steps

1. In Pyn, open **Directory** in the left navigation, then select **Upcoming** under **Employees**.

2. Select **Add employee**. The dialog **Add an upcoming employee** opens.

3. Fill **Full name** and, if they go by something else, **Preferred name**. Left blank, the preferred name is the first word of the full name.

4. Fill **Work email** if the mailbox exists (it must match the address your HRIS will send later), otherwise **Personal email** so preboarding has somewhere to go.

5. Fill **Start date**, choose **Country** and check **Time zone**.

6. Search for their **Manager** and select them; **Clear** removes the choice.

7. Select **Add employee**.

> **Note:** The dialog creates an Employee File record behind the scenes, with a generated id that starts with `pyn-`. If the workspace has no Employee File integration yet, Pyn creates one.

## What you should see

The dialog reads **[Name] has been added as an upcoming joiner.** Select **Done** and the person appears on **Upcoming** with their start date; on the day they start they move to **Active**. If the manager could not be linked, the dialog says so and you can supply the manager through a spreadsheet upload. Any automation triggered by start date and open to upcoming joiners enrols them from here.

## Related

- [Upload employees from a spreadsheet](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employees/upload-employees-from-a-spreadsheet/) for many people at once, or for the fields the dialog does not ask for.
- [Fix a missing manager, time zone or email](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employees/fix-missing-details/) if the record needs correcting.
- [Automations](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/automations/) for what enrols a joiner.

## Related Intercom articles

- [How to Upload Employee Data Manually (Pyn 2)](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/16755797-how-to-upload-employee-data-manually-pyn-2) — draws on