Adding a New Employee (Microsoft 365)

Creating a Microsoft 365 account for a new team member

Before You Start

When a new person joins your team, you will need to create a Microsoft 365 account for them. This gives them an email address, access to Teams, OneDrive, and all the apps included in your Microsoft 365 plan.

Before you begin, make sure you have a spare licence available. If all your licences are in use, you will need to purchase an additional one first.

Creating the Account

Step 1: Open the admin centre

• Go to admin.microsoft.com and sign in.

Step 2: Start adding a user

• Click Users in the left menu, then Active users.
• Click the Add a user button at the top of the page.

Step 3: Fill in their details

• Enter their first name, last name, and display name.
• For the username, this will become their email address. For example, entering jsmith will create jsmith@yourdomain.com.
• Set a temporary password or let Microsoft auto-generate one.
• Tick the box to make them change their password on first sign-in.

Step 4: Assign a licence

• On the next screen, choose which Microsoft 365 licence to assign.
• If you only have one type of licence (e.g. Microsoft 365 Business Basic), select that one.
• This controls which apps and services the new user can access.

Step 5: Optional settings

• You can set their job title, department, and office location. These are optional but helpful for keeping things organised.
• You can also add them to any existing groups at this stage.

Step 6: Finish and share credentials

• Review the summary and click Finish adding.
• Send the new user their username and temporary password securely (phone call or in person is best).

👉 Tip: After creating the account, remember to add the new person to any Teams channels, SharePoint sites, or shared mailboxes they will need. These are separate steps that do not happen automatically.

What the New User Needs to Do

Ask them to go to office.com, sign in with the username and temporary password, and set a new password. If you have MFA enabled (and you should), they will also be walked through setting up the Microsoft Authenticator app on their phone.

They can then download the Office apps (Word, Excel, Outlook etc.) from the Office home page if your licence includes desktop apps.