how to train a new hire on karbon

last checked 19 oct 2026

the short version

karbon's own training teaches a new hire how karbon works. it doesn't teach them how your firm uses it, and that's the part that takes months to sink in.

so split the job in two. let karbon's videos and the karbon expert certification cover the buttons. you cover your rules: how you name work, who owns an email, when time gets logged.

this guide gives you the setup to do before day one, a five-day plan, the five things every new starter has to get right, and which of your habits are worth writing down.

before day one

do this the week before they start, so their first morning isn't spent waiting on access.

• send the invite. in karbon go to settings, then invite, add their email and pick their permissions. they show as pending until they accept (karbon help).
• check their permission level. new users start as standard user, which blocks settings and data exports (karbon help). that's right for most starters. only add extras like view dollar amount or time administrator if their role needs it.
• add them to teams and a job role. settings, colleagues, click their name, then pick from job roles and teams. this is what puts them on the right work and in the right reports.
• make a training work item for them. one work item with a section per day of their first week. several firms on the karbon community do this, and it means the new hire learns karbon by using karbon.
• pick a buddy. one person they can ask "is this right?" without feeling dumb. this matters more than any video.
• block time in your own calendar. 30 minutes a day for the first week to check their work. if you don't book it, it won't happen.

the week one plan

one area a day, real work by wednesday. watching videos all week feels productive but nothing sticks until they touch a real client.

the five things they have to get right

karbon has a lot of features. a new starter only needs these five to be useful. teach each one by doing it once together, then watching them do it once.

1. clearing triage. triage is where email lands in karbon, and it's where most new hires go wrong. the rule worth copying from firms on the karbon community: every email gets an owner, a to-do date, a due date and a link to a contact and work item. no leaving emails sitting in triage as reminders.
2. finding a client. before they reply to anyone, they should open the client in contacts and read the recent timeline. it stops the "didn't we already send that?" emails.
3. working a work item. open it, read the tasks top to bottom, tick as you go, and ask questions in comments so the next person can see the history.
4. planning in my week. my week is their to-do list. ten minutes every morning dragging the day's work into place saves a lot of "what should i be doing?" messages.
5. logging time. whatever your firm's rule is (end of each task, end of each day), make it a habit in week one. it's much harder to fix in month three.

for the exact clicks, point them at karbon's own help centre collections for triage, my week, work and contacts. don't rewrite karbon's docs, write down your firm's rules instead.

write down your firm's karbon rules

the biggest complaint from firms training on karbon isn't the software. it's that the house rules live in one person's head. a one-page doc fixes most of it.

write down these, with one line on why for each. people follow rules they understand and quietly ignore ones they don't.

• work item naming. client, job, period. eg "smith pty ltd, bas, sep qtr". pick a format and stick to it so search works.
• to-do titles. start with a verb and say the outcome. "send bas to client for sign off" beats "bas".
• who owns an email. the person assigned in triage, not whoever got @mentioned.
• where conversations happen. comments on the work item for anything about the job. no side emails between colleagues.
• time rules. when to log, what's billable, what to do with time that doesn't fit a job.
• when to ask. a rough rule like "stuck for 15 minutes, ask your buddy" saves hours.

for the step-by-step stuff (setting up a new client, rolling over a recurring job, sending a client request), a short screen recording with you talking it through beats a written doc. new hires can rewatch it at their own pace.

common mistakes in the first month

• treating triage like gmail. reading an email and leaving it there means nobody owns it. it gets cleared or assigned, every time.
• @mentioning instead of assigning. a mention is a tap on the shoulder, not a handover. if someone needs to do something, assign it.
• vague to-dos. "follow up" with no client or outcome is useless to anyone covering for them.
• side emails to colleagues. the conversation about a job belongs on the job, so the next person can see what happened.
• saving up time entries. reconstructing a week of time on friday afternoon is how numbers end up wrong.
• expecting it to click in a week. firms on the karbon community talk about months, not days, before someone is fully up to speed. plan for check-ins at week two, week four and month three.

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