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Configure my organisation's onboarding workflows

Dominic Beckham
Updated
EH Content Team

Available for the following plans: Employment Plus, Employment Unlimited
Available for the following HR classic plan: Platinum
Available for the following User Access levels: Admin

You can use Onboarding Workflows feature to trigger ‌onboarding checklists, create a Google Workspace and Microsoft account, a 1:1  or create a task once an employee finishes onboarding onto your platform. This feature follows a "when-if-then" sequence for every step of the workflow. To learn more about this and see examples, please refer to The When-If-Then sequence and scenarios tab in the Further information section of this article.

Important

Workflows are triggered when an employee is onboarded, but not when they are added using the 'Quick Add' feature. This applies to employees added before 10 September 2025.

For employees added to the Employment Hero platform AFTER 10 September 2025, please refer to the "Why your onboarding workflow did not trigger" tab in the Further information section of this article.

Getting started

Walkthrough: Add an onboarding workflow
Add an onboarding workflow
  1. Click the Workflows menu.
  2. Click the Create New button.
    C 1.jpg
  3. Select the Onboarding option and click the Create New button.
    C 2.jpg
  4. Click the When field.
    C 3.jpg
  5. Complete the following fields:
    • When: 
      • Employee has completed onboarding setup.
      • Employee record created.
      • Employee has accepted contract.
      • Employee has been issued a contract.
      • Employee's start date is approaching.
  6. Click the Save button.
    C 4.jpg
  7. Click the Conditions field.
    C 5.jpg
  8. Click the Add Condition button.
  9. Complete the following fields:
    • Field.
    • Condition.
    • Value.
  10. Click the Save button.
    C 6.jpg
  11. Click the Then field.
    C 7.jpg
  12. Complete the following fields:
    • Then:
      • Trigger onboarding checklist.
      • Add employee to review period 
      • Create task:
        • Name.
        • Description.
        • Owner.
        • Send this task to an email address.
        • Subtasks.
        • Due date.
        • When will this action be performed.
      • Create Microsoft account.
      • Create Google Workspace account.

      • Helpful Hint

        Send Email Notification includes several powerful capabilities:

        • External Recipients: Send to anyone outside Employment Hero by typing a complete, fully formatted email address (e.g., john.smith@domain.com) into the Recipients field. Once you type the full address, an option will appear to add it as an external recipient—click to add.
        • Clickable Hyperlinks: Click the link icon in the content editor to insert URLs or email addresses that recipients can click directly in the email.
        • Dynamic Subject Lines: Click the dynamic variable button (right side of Subject field) to personalise subjects with employee names, dates, or other variables.
        • Multiple Recipients: Search and select multiple roles, teams, specific employees, and external emails in one action—no need to create separate notifications.
        Send email notification (for example, a welcome email):
        • Type of recipients.
        • Subject.
        • Content.
        • When will this action be performed.
      • Create 1:1:
        • Meeting title.
        • Meeting template.
        • Time.
        • Remind type.
        • Subject.
        • Content.
  13. Click the Save button.
    C 8.jpg
  14. Click the Save and Publish button.

    Helpful Hint

    To add an additional step, click the  button below the last step. You need to publish this workflow for it to become active.

    C 9.jpg
Add an assigning certifications workflow
  1. Click the Workflows menu.
  2. Click the Browse Workflows tab.
  3. Click Onboarding button.
  4. Click on Quick Set up on the workflow entitled Assign certifications after onboarding.
  5. Select who this workflow applies to.
    select who does this apply to
  6. At the Certifications dropdown, select which certifications you would like to automatically assign to onboarding employees.
    assign certifications from drop down menu
  7. Click on Quick Set up and Publish.
    click on quick set up and publish
Add an assigning policies workflow
  1. Click the Workflows menu.
  2. Click the Browse Workflows tab.
  3. Click Onboarding button.
  4. Click on Quick Set up on the workflow entitled Assign policies after onboarding.
  5. Select who this workflow applies to.
    policies who does this apply to
  6. At the Policies dropdown, select which policies you would like to automatically assign to onboarding employees.
    issue policies from the drop down menu
  7. Click on Quick Set up and Publish.
    click on quick set up and publish

Daily activities

Publish an onboarding workflow
  1. Click the Workflows menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab
  3. Click Onboarding button.
  4. Click the Three Dots button.
  5. Click the Publish button.
    Pub 1.jpg
Unpublish an onboarding workflow
  1. Click the Workflows menu.
  2. Click the Workflows menu.
  3. Click the Manage Workflows tab
  4. Click Onboarding button.
  5. Click the Three Dots on your selected workflow. 
  6. Click the Unpublish button.
    UnPub 1.jpg

Editing onboarding workflows

Edit an onboarding workflow

Important

You cannot edit a published workflow. You have to unpublish it first before editing.

  1. Click the Workflows menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab
  3. Click Onboarding button.
  4. Click the Three Dots button. 
  5. Click the Edit button.
  6. Edit the workflow as needed.
  7. Click the Save button.
    Ed 1.jpg

Deleting data

Delete an onboarding workflow

Important

You cannot delete a published workflow. You have to unpublish it first before deleting.

  1. Click the WorkFlows menu.
  2. Click the Workflows menu.
  3. Click the Manage Workflows tab
  4. Click Onboarding button.
  5. Click the Three Dots on your selected workflow. 
  6. Click the Delete button.
    Del 1.jpg

Use custom fields in the onboarding workflow

How to use custom fields in the onboarding workflow

You can create and use custom fields as conditions when you set up workflows. This will help you to properly target the right employees to be affected by the workflow. The Custom Fields feature lets you customise onboarding and employee file fields, with the ability to ask a free text, single-select, or multi-select question. Learn how to set up a custom field in

this article.

Note: Make sure you have the 'Capture field during onboarding' selected when setting up a custom field.

Once you have set up a new custom field you can then select these within the Condition section of an onboarding workflow. Whatever you have named the custom field will appear in the dropdown list. In the example below the custom field is called 'Custom field condition'. Custom field

Further information

The When-If-Then sequence and scenarios

Important

The When-If-Then sequences of workflows can only follow a particular flow.

Step 1: WHEN (a trigger occurs), then step 2: IF (particular conditions are met), then 3: THEN (a certain action can occur).

This order cannot be changed. See the below accordion entitled 'Can I change the When-If -Then sequence?' for further information and examples.

The Employee File Change Workflows feature lets you create a set of steps that Employment Hero will take regarding expense claims. Each step follows the When-If-Then sequence, which is like this:

  • When this happens -> If this condition is met -> Then do this.
    • "When" is the situation that will trigger the workflow.
    • "If" is the condition that decides what action should be taken.
    • "Then" is the action that the platform will take.

To visualise this better, please see the examples below relating to expense claims. "X" and "Y" in these scenarios refer to values you can pick and enter on Employment Hero.

  1. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim amount is more than "X", Then the request will be sent to the executive leadership team for approval.
  2. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim category is "X", Then the request will be automatically declined.
  3. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim currency is "X", Then the request will be automatically approved.
  4. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If purchase start date is after "X" AND end date is before "Y", Then the request will be automatically approved.
Can I change the When-If -Then sequence?

No, the When-If-Then sequence cannot be changed.

An IF field must always come before a THEN field.

Examples:

Set up Will this work? Why?
WHEN - IF - THEN ✅  IF field comes before the THEN field.
WHEN - IF - THEN - IF - THEN ❌ IF field comes after the first THEN field.


 

You cannot perform a THEN action and then have the workflow re-evaluate new IF conditions as part of the same workflow run. You will need to split these into separate workflows.

"And condition" and "Or condition" in the "IF" field

When you click the "IF" field when creating a workflow, the "Add conditions" panel will slide out. There, you will have to fill in the following: Field, Condition, and Value.

screenshot of the add conditions panel, highlighting the add condition button

Below those is the Add condition button, which lets you set up an additional condition to come with the first one. When you click this button, you will be asked to choose between:

  • And condition: This means the platform will take action only if BOTH the original and additional conditions are met.
  • Or condition: This means the platform will take action if EITHER the original or additional condition is met.

To demonstrate this, here are some examples:

 And condition:

For the image below, the platform will act only if the expense claim amount is over 5,000 and has a category of Miscellaneous. The platform will not take the specified action in the "THEN" field if both are not met, even if one of the conditions is followed.

screenshot of the add conditions panel, showing an example of the and condition

 Or condition:

For the image below, the platform will take action if the expense claim amount is over 5,000 OR has a category of Meal Allowance. There just needs to be at least one condition met for the platform to act. So, the workflow will still function if two, three, or more conditions were met.

For our example, this means the workflow will act if the expense claim amount is over 5,000, even if it falls under a different expense category. The platform will also function if the request is under the Meal Allowance category, even if the amount is less than 5,000.

screenshot of the add conditions panel, showing an example of the or condition

Why your onboarding workflow did not trigger

For employees added to the Employment Hero platform AFTER 10 September 2025, here is a table showing which onboarding workflows will and will not trigger depending on how the employee was added to the platform.

Onboarding Source Employee Record Created Employee Has Been Issued a Contract Employee Has Accepted Contract Employee Has Completed Onboarding Setup Employee Start Date is Approaching
ATS (Onboarding from Recruitment) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Contractor Onboarding No No No No No
Contractor Quick Add No No No No No
CSV Import Yes No No Yes Yes
Early Adopter No No No No No
Invite Yes No No Yes Yes
Job Adder Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Onboarding Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Onboarding Guides No No No No No
Onboarding Setup Wizard Yes No No Yes Yes
Quick Add Yes No No No No
Troubleshooting: Why employees didn't get added to a probation review period

If you've set up an onboarding workflow to add employees to a probation review period, but employees are not being added as expected, follow the troubleshooting steps below to identify the issue.

Step 1: Confirm the employee and review their profile

  1. Confirm the onboarded employee's name and open their employee profile.
  2. Check the date they were onboarded using the Audit Trail and note this information.

Step 2: Verify the employee's onboarding method

Not all onboarding methods trigger workflows. Check the employee's onboarding method by reviewing their profile in SAP under the heading Onboarding Method.

Refer to the table in the "Why your onboarding workflow did not trigger" section below to see which onboarding sources support the workflow trigger you've configured. For example, if the workflow is triggered by "Employee record created," check that the table shows "Yes" for that employee's onboarding source.

Step 3: Check if workflow conditions were met at onboarding

At the time the employee was onboarded, did their employee file match the workflow conditions? For example:

  • Team condition: Was the employee assigned to the required Team when they were onboarded?
  • Employment Type condition: Does the employment type in the employee file match the workflow condition?
  • Other conditions: Review any custom field conditions to ensure they were populated correctly at onboarding.

If a condition was not met at the time of onboarding, the workflow would not have queued the employee, even if the condition is now met.

Step 4: Check if the workflow was unpublished and republished

Unpublishing a workflow will stop all queued instances. When you republish the workflow, an "Apply workflow to existing employees" pop-up should appear.

If you did not select the employee in this pop-up, they will not be requeued to be added to the probation review period. To resolve this:

  1. Unpublish the workflow.
  2. Republish the workflow.
  3. When the "Apply workflow to existing employees" pop-up appears, select the employees you want to add to the probation review period.
  4. Click Apply.

Helpful Hint

If the "Apply workflow to existing employees" pop-up does not appear when you republish, it may indicate that the workflow trigger or conditions have not changed from the previous version. Check that your changes are substantial enough to warrant reapplying the workflow to existing employees.

Explore related content

  • Manage gb organisation's policiesThis feature lets you choose from Employment Hero's pre-made content or upload your own documentation and share it with your employees.
  • Access gb company policiesThis feature lets you view and acknowledge assigned policies and procedures that your organisation has shared with you.

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