• Purpose
• Workflow process

Purpose

To know about the complete automation procedure of the new joinee onboarding process. When a new employee joins an organization, the basic things that an HR must do is to create login access for the employee(s), provide ID card, allocate a place, provide work computer, phone, configure a system, enroll employees in the benefit plans, etc. Given below is the step by step procedure to achieve this using workflows. 

Workflow process

a. To create a Welcome Letter Template:

1. From your home page, go to Settings (gear icon) > Customization > Templates  > Record Template > Add Template.
2. Select Employee from the Form Name drop-down list.
3. Provide Template Name as Welcome letter.
4. Select Record Template as Template Type.
5. Select the required fields from the available merge fields.
6. Select System Fields from the drop down if you would like to insert fields like Company Logo, Company Name, Company First Address etc. as required.
7. Click Save

You can Edit, Clone or Delete the template if required. Click here to know how

You can create an offer letter template with Mail Merge as well. Follow the steps given below to do it. 

Mail Merge is useful when you have some standard letters like Employment Contract, Probation Confirmation Letter etc to be sent across to many people at one go. A template can be created and the dynamic fields can be changed as per the need.

Zoho People is integrated with Zoho Writer and this gives enhanced editing options for standard letters.

Consider an example of sending Probation Confirmation Letters to a set of employees.

Follow the steps given below to use Mail Merge to get this done.

1. From your home page, go to Settings > Customization > Templates > Mail Merge Template.
2. Click on Add Template.
3. Select a form - for eg. If you would like to use Mail Merge for Probation Confirmation Letters, then select the Employee Form.
4. Give a Template Name - Eg - Probation Confirmation template.

5. Click Save

You will be taken to the Zoho Writer page where you can create your template as shown in the below image

For eg -

"Dear (Insert First Name, Last Name by clicking on the fields from the left-hand side)

You joined the organization on (Insert 'Date Of Joining' from the left-hand side) and have successfully completed your probation period today.

Regards

HR Team"

Now you have created a mail merge template. Click on 'Update Template' if you make any changes to the template.

b. To send the Welcome Letter to the employee:

Using Record Template:

1. From your home page, go to Organization > Employee.
2. Click on the desired employee name and the Employee form appears.
3. Click on the ellipsis icon and click Download as PDF.
4. Select Welcome letter from the Select Template drop-down list.
5. Select Portrait View or Landscape View.
6. Click Download.
7. Attach the file and send it to the new joiner.

Using Mail Merge:

You can also do it using Mail Merge by following the steps given below.

1. From your home page, go to Organization > Employee.
2. Select the employees for whom you would like to send the Probation Confirmation letter.

Click Mail Merge Template.

4. Select the template from the drop-down - in this case, the Probation Confirmation Template and click Merge.

By default, you will be able to see the dynamic fields of the Template replaced with appropriate values of the first record.

5. Click on the respective record from the right-hand side list and click on 'Email this record' to have the Probation Confirmation template emailed.

c. To configure a checklist for the new joiner onboarding process using Checklists:

1. Click Settings (Gear icon) > Automation >Actions.
2. Go to the Checklists & Tasks tab.
3. Click Add Checklist.
4. Select Employee form from the drop-down list.
5. Provide Checklist name as New Joinee.
6. Click Save.
7. Provide Allocate workplace for an employee in Task name.
8. Provide a Description and Priority if needed.
9. Click on the individual drop-down list to Assign Task Owner for this task. You can choose from options like Teams, Roles, Form Field(The values listed in the Form Field are the lookup fields that were added while you created the form) etc. You can also directly add employee email addresses here. Click Submit.
10. Under Actions after checklist completion , select Mail Alerts.
11. Enter a Mail Alert Name.
12. Select 'Person performing this action; under 'From'
13. Select the task owner from the To drop-down list.
14. Enter 'Allocate workspace for new joiner'  as Subject.
15. Provide the required message and click Save.
16. Click Add New Task and follow the same procedure as above to add all the tasks as listed below
    1. Enroll Benefit Plans for Employee(s): Assign this task to the Finance Department
    2. Conduct Induction Program for New Joinees: Assign this task to the HR Department
    3. Provide Laptop for New Employee(s): Assign this task to the System Admin Department
    4. Setup System Configuration: Assign this task to the System Admin Department
    5. Provide Phone to Employee(s): Assign this task to the Admin Department
    6. Create login access and provide ID Card: Assign this task to the HR Department.

 Tip: To re-order tasks and sub-tasks, you can drag the task/sub-task and drop them under the desired parent item.

The same can be done by assigning each of the items (like providing phone, arranging for a work desk etc) as individual tasks. Click here to know more. 

Birthday Reminder

• Purpose
• Workflow process

Purpose

To create a workflow to send a birthday wish to employees on their birthday automatically.

Workflow process

You can configure a workflow which will automatically trigger an email to employee(s) wishing them on their birthday.

Follow the steps given below.

1. From your home page, go to Settings (Gear icon) > Automation > Workflows > Add Workflow.
2. Select the Employee form in the 'Form Name' drop down.
3. Give a name for the workflow and give a description if needed.
4. Keep the status as 'Active'.
5. Under 'Trigger Process', select 'Execute based on the date'.
6. Under 'Field Name', select Birth Date.
7. Under 'Date of Execution', select 'On'.
8. Under 'Time of Execution', select the Time of your choice.
9. Under ' Execution occurrence', select 'Occurring Every Year'.
10. Under 'Action', go to Mail Alerts.
11. Click the + symbol to configure a new email alert or click on the listing icon to see the list of existing email alerts.

For a new email alert:

1. Give form name, Mail Alert Name.
2. Under Message, select From and under 'To', select 'Email ID' from 'Form Fields' by clicking on the list icon.
3. Give a subject.
4. Under Message, you can either create a new message by selecting Create New template or Choose from an existing template.
5. If you have selected 'Create New message' option, create a suitable birthday wish using the available merge fields.
6. If you have selected 'Choose from existing template', select the desired message template.
7. Click Save.

To map an existing mail alert:

8. Select the desired mail alert from the list
9. Click Save

The workflow is configured now. The employee will receive a birthday wish email every year to their email id.

Work Anniversary Reminder

• Purpose
• Workflow process

Purpose

To send emails automatically to employees wishing them on their work anniversary.

Workflow process

You can configure a workflow which will automatically trigger email alerts to employees as and when they complete one or more years of service at work.

From your home page, go to Settings (Gear icon) > Automation > Workflows > Add Workflow.

1. Select the Employee form in the 'Form Name' drop down.
2. Give a name for the workflow and give a description if needed.
3. Keep the status as 'Active'.
4. Under 'Trigger Process', select 'Execute based on date'.
5. Under 'Field Name', select Date of Joining.
6. Under 'Date of Execution', select 'On'.
7. Under 'Time of Execution', select the Time of your choice.
8. Under ' Execution occurrence', select 'Occurring Every Year'.
9. Under 'Action', go to Mail Alerts.
10. Click the + symbol to configure a new email alert or click on the listing icon to see the list of existing email alerts.

For a new email alert:

1. Give form name, Mail Alert Name.
2. Under Message, select From and under 'To', select Person performing this action.

3. Give a subject.
4. Under Message, you can either create a new message by selecting Create New template or Choose from an existing template.

If you have selected 'Create New message' option, create a suitable anniversary wish using the available merge fields - For eg, "Dear Employee Name (Select Employee from Available merge fields and select First Name and Last Name from Select Field) Congratulations on completing _(Select Employee from Available merge fields and select 'Work Experience' or the field name that you have given for the work experience field in the employee form from the Select field) years of service in this organization. "

5. If you have selected 'Choose from existing template', select the desired message template

6. Click Save.

The workflow is configured now and employees will receive an email to their email id wishing them on their work anniversary day.

Disable login for employees on long leave

• Purpose
• Workflow process

Purpose

To automatically disable login for the long leave employees and enable login once they are back to work. For example, when the employee has taken one year leave due to health or maternity reasons etc., we can configure a workflow to disable their login during their leave period and automatically enable login once they back to work.

Workflow process

The first step is to configure a leave type called long leave.

Tip: Click here to know how to create a new leave type.

When an employee applies for leave under the 'Long leave' category, a workflow can be configured to change the status of the employee to 'Disabled'. The workflow should also include another condition to change the status to 'Active' from the day the leave ends.

Given below are steps to configure this workflow.

1. From your home page, go to Settings (gear icon) > Automation > Workflows > Add Workflow
2. Select the leave form under Form Name and give a name
3. Keep the status as Active and give a description if needed
4. Under Trigger Process, select Execute based on action and choose Create
5. Under Criteria, in the first field, select 'Leave Type', in the second one, select value as 'Contains' and in the third field, select the value as 'Long Leave'
6. Click + to add a new row
7. Once a new row has been added, select the 'And' option
8. In the following fields, select the value 'Leave Count' from Leave, select the value 'Greater than' in the second field and enter 365 in the last field

This way, we are creating a condition which says that the workflow will get triggered when these conditions are satisfied.

9. Under Action, select Time-Based Action
10. Give a name
11. Under Execution time enter '0' in the first field, 'days' in the second field, select the value 'After' from the third field and the value 'From' in the last field

This means that the workflow will be triggered from the day the long leave starts. I.e the employee login status will be changed to inactive from the day on which the long leave starts.

12. Select Field update and click on the + icon to configure a new field update
13. Give a name for the new field update Eg- Disable login
14. Go to edit field and under Field to be updated, go to Employee and select Employee Status
15. Under Select Field, select the status as Disabled
16. Click Save.
17. Go back to the Workflow, and under Field Update, link the new field update that you have created to the workflow
18. Click Save.

Now, the first part of the workflow is done. I.e - when an employee applies for leave under leave type 'Long leave', his/her status will be changed to login disabled from the day their leave starts.

The next part of the workflow configuration is to enable login for the employee when he/she joins work again.

1. Click on Add Time Based action
2. Give the name as Enable Login
3. Under Execution time, enter the value '1' in the first field, select 'day' in the second field, 'before' in the third field and 'To' in the last field

Now, this part of the workflow will get triggered from the date on which the leave ends. I.e - the employee's login status will be changed to active again from the next day of the end of the long leave of the employee.

1. Under Field update, click the + icon to add a Field update
2. Give the field update name as Enable Login
3. Go to Edit field, and under Field to be updated, select Employee ID and choose Employee Status from the drop down
4. Under Select field, select Active
5. Click Save
6. Go back to the workflow and link this field update to the workflow by clicking on the icon
7. Click Save

The workflow is configured now. As a result, when an employee applies for leave under the 'Long leave' category, his/her login will be disabled form the day their leave begins. The login status will again become active on the day after the long leave ends.

Team change update

Purpose

The team update change automation process is a very useful scenario for any organization. All you need to do is a single time workflow configuration by following the steps explained in this help page. As a pre-requisite to this workflow, you need to create a form called 'Team Change' form, with the fields of your choice like the Current Team name, New Team name etc. Using this process, whenever you update the department name in the team change form, department name in the respective employee form gets updated and a mail alert will be triggered. There is no need to manually go and update the employee form and send a mail alert every time whenever there is a team change.

Workflow process

1. Click Settings (gear icon)  > Automation > Workflows  > Add Workflow
2. Select Team Change in Form Name. 
3. Provide 'Team Change Update' as Workflow Name
4. Select the status checkbox for the rule to be Active and provide a description
5. Choose Trigger Process as Execute based on Action and click Create
6. Click + icon to create a new mail alert
7. Provide the details and the template message

 Tip: Click here to learn more about creating email alerts.

8. Click Save.​
9. Go to your workflow page and click Webhook list and click + icon to create a new webhook.
10. Provide Update team change as Name.
11. Provide https://people.zoho.com/people/api/forms/xml/employee/updateRecord in URL to Notify. 
12. Click Post in Method.
13. Select Team Change in Form Name drop-down list.
14. Under Parameters in Standard Format, Provide recordId as Parameter Name and select ID (Zoho ID) and Employee Details (Employee) as Parameter Value.
15. Under Parameters in the User Defined Format, provide inputData in Parameter Name and ${Department_To.ID}${Reporting_To.ID} in Value Description and select Team Change from the drop-down list.
16. Under Append Custom Parameters, provide authtoken as Parameter Value and 0d843f01bd2486e33a0cdd2aa6f4b425 in Parameter Value.
17. Click Refresh URL and Save.
18. Go to your workflow page and click the folder icon in the mail alert.
19. Select Team Change mail alert.
20. Select Update team change webhook.
21. Click Save.

Approvals

Travel approval (Related field criteria)

• Purpose
• Workflow process

Purpose

The related field criteria are the one which helps to relate one form to another form through the lookup field. For example, if the travel request form and the employee form are related to each other through an employee id lookup field in the travel request form, all the fields in the employee form will be listed and matched in the travel request form criteria. You can create an approval to define that employees will be qualified to travel only after a specific period of time. Follow the steps given below to do this. 

Workflow process

1. Click Setup (Gear icon) > Approval > Add Approval
2. Select Travel Request in Form Name

    Tip: Click here to know how to add a new form.

3. Give a Name for Approval - For eg. Travel Approval
4. Click Set Criteria and select Date of Joining {Work}(Under Employee ID (Employee)), 'Before' from the drop-down list and provide 365 in the Days (you may give the number of days as per your need)

Now, there is a Criteria set, going by which, employee(s)' joining date should be before 365 days of the date on which Travel request is raised. I.e - employees should have completed one year of service for them to be eligible for travel.

5. Click Configure Approver
6. You can either manually configure approvers to approve/reject the form or enable the system to auto approve/auto reject the form based on your requirement

To configure approvers manually, you can choose from various options like Reporting To(up to 10 levels), Department Lead of Login User, Approver based on Role, Department Head, Department Members, Employee, Form Field etc. You can also enable the employee to choose the approver while logging request.

7. To add multi-level approvers, click the add (+) icon and select the Approver type
8. Click Enable follow-up option for this approval, if you want a follow-up e-mail either One-time or Repeat after the number of days from the approval trigger date
9. Click Configure email template
10. Select From, To etc depending on your need
11. Give a suitable subject 
12. You can either create a new template using available merge fields or select from existing ones
13. Click Save.