This article explains how to map your company structure in Personio by adding both workplaces and legal entities and assigning employees to them. Adding workplaces in Personio helps organize employees by their physical locations and enables location-specific reporting and analytics. Additionally, adding legal entities allows for managing compliance with local laws and ensures accurate payroll and benefits administration.

Before you start

• If you are using Personio Payroll, it is essential to set up your company structure correctly. Learn more about setting up your company structure for Personio Payroll.

Set up a workplace

You need to set up each workplace location as a distinct workplace in Personio. This allows you to configure the address, currency, time zone, and, if necessary, a customized public holiday calendar for each workplace.

To set up a workplace, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Organization section, click Workplaces.
3. Click Add workplace.
4. After adding the new workplace, you can fill in the different fields:
   • (0): How many active employees are assigned. If there are none, you can delete the workplace.
   • Workplace name: The name you just entered.
   • Currency: The workplace's currency. This will show in employee profiles for salary and payroll.
   • Timezone: The workplace's timezone. This is important for import processes and email reminders.
   • Address: The workplace address is essential if you want to use job portals. 
   • Public holidays: The workplace's public holiday schedule. This is only relevant if it's different from the company's public holiday schedule, and it's essential for calculating time off balances.

Note:
The Workplace employee attribute is usually created automatically when you import employee data into Personio. However, it's a good idea to review and update this information manually afterward.

Enable workplace geofencing

If you’re tracking your employees’ location relative to workplaces, you must enable geofencing. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Organization section, click Workplaces.
3. Click a workplace location and then Edit.
4. Search for an address and drag the pin to refine the location.
5. Scroll down and enable the geofence option.
6. Set a perimeter radius. This establishes how close to the workplace your employees should be when clocking in or out.
7. Save the changes.

Set up legal entities

Set up legal entities to reflect the registered companies that make up your organization. For example, you may have different subsidiaries by country. By defining them as part of your org structure, you lay the foundation for processes and reporting in Personio.

The table below shows how legal entities affect features in Personio.

To set up a legal entity in Personio, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Organization section, click Legal entities.
3. Click Add new.
4. Select a country. 
5. In Legal entity lookup, search for the legal entity's full name and select the right entity. Personio fills in the details automatically. Alternatively, add the details manually. Refer to the guidelines below to fill in the details correctly.
6. Click Add.

Repeat this process for every legal entity.
 

Guidelines for filling in legal entity details

To avoid errors while filling in the attributes for a legal entity, refer to the table below. If your company is based in Germany, you can also refer to these payroll-related guidelines.

Assign employees to a legal entity

To assign new employees to a legal entity, follow these steps:

1. Add a new employee to the People list.
2. Select the legal entity for that employee in the new employee profile setup options. You can see how many employees are in each legal entity.

To change an employee’s legal entity:

1. Go to Organization > People list.
2. Select the employees whose information you want to edit.
3. Click Edit profile.
4. Choose Legal Entity from the attribute list.
5. Select a new legal entity.
6. Select when this takes effect.
7. Save your changes.

Manage legal entities

Edit legal entity details

To edit a legal entity, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Organization section, click Legal entities.
3. Select the legal entity you want to edit. 
4. Update the legal entity and save your changes.

Note:
You cannot change the legal entity country if the legal entity uses Personio Payroll or DATEV.

Delete a legal entity

Deleting a legal entity is permanent. You can't undo this action. When you delete a legal entity, its name disappears from the employee history and reports. The historical information remains in both places, but without the legal entity name. If you need to keep the name for historical purposes, rename the legal entity instead.

To delete a legal entity:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Organization section, click Legal entities.
3. Select the legal entity you want to delete. Make sure the legal entity doesn’t contain any active or inactive employees.
4. Click the three-dots icon in the top right.
5. Click Delete.
6. Confirm the deletion.

Note:
You cannot delete a legal entity that has Personio Payroll activated. 

Next steps

You might also want to explore these actions:

• Manage work schedules
• Create time off types
• Create time off policies