This article explains what access rights are in Personio, and how you can either give your employees more access or to limit their access to certain sections through access rights.

 

What are access rights in Personio?

Access rights in relation to employee roles

Personio comes with two types of employee roles:

• Preset employee roles: 
  
  ▶︎ All Employees role: As this role is automatically assigned to all new employees, it must contain a very basic set of access rights.
  ▶︎ Administrator role (or any role with Administrator rights): This role contains full access rights, and the level of access rights cannot be modified. 
  
  
• Custom employee roles:
  
  ▶︎ HR manager role, Management role, Intern role, etc.: As these roles are manually assigned to certain employees, they must contain a very specific set of access rights.

Access rights and access areas 

Access rights can be found under Settings > People > Employee Roles.

They are divided into different sections and subsections, but also into access rights (horizontal) and access areas (vertical). The combination between both access rights and access areas allow you to either strengthen or weaken the access rights:

• The more you go towards the right, the easier for your employees to make changes to the data. 
• The more you go towards the bottom, the more information your employees can access. 

In the following example, the strongest access rights were assigned. Employees within this employee role will be able to fully edit all employees' data (including their own).

 

Access rights

Access rights are divided into View, Propose and Edit:

View	This access right allows employees to see the data.
Propose	This access right allows employees to edit the data and submit it for approval. If you select this type of access right, you will also need to configure an approval process.
Edit	This access right allows employees to edit the data without any approval step.

 

Access areas

Access rights are divided into Own, My reports, Custom and All:

Own	This access area only includes the employee's own data.
My reports	This access area includes all employees who are directly or indirectly assigned to a supervisor. This access area is therefore only relevant to supervisors.
Custom	This access area includes a specific selection of employees that can be defined through filters.
All	This access area includes all active employees except the employee themselves.

Note
The My reports, Custom and All access areas do not include the employee's own data. If you want an employee to have access to their own data, you need to select the Own access area in addition to the relevant access area. 

Access rights per section

 

Employee profile

Personal data

This section refers to the Personal info tab in the Employee profile.

 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to see their Personal info tab.	The employee will be able to make changes in their Personal info tab and submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to make changes in their Personal info tab.
My reports	The employee will be able to see their reports' Personal info tab.	The employee will be able to make changes in their reports' Personal info tab and submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to make changes in their reports' Personal info tab.
All	The employee will be able to see every employee's Personal info tab.	The employee will be able to make changes in all employees' Personal info tab and submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to make changes in all employees' Personal info tab.

 

Salary information

This section refers to the Salary tab in the Employee profile.

 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to see their Salary tab.	N/A	The employee will be able to make changes in their Salary tab.
My reports	The employee will be able to see their reports' Salary tab.	N/A	The employee will be able to make changes in their reports' Salary tab.
All	The employee will be able to see all employees' Salary tab.	N/A	The employee will be able to make changes in all employees' Salary tab.

 

Attendance data

This section refers to the Attendance tab in the Employee profile.

 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to see their Attendance tab. They will also be able to access the Time Tracking section from the main navigation bar in Personio.	The employee will be able to enter their daily working hours in their Attendance tab and submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to fully register their daily working hours in their Attendance tab. They will also be able to change their work schedule and their overtime balance.
My reports	The employee will be able to see their reports' Attendance tab. They will also be able to access the Time Tracking section from the main navigation bar in Personio.	The employee will be able to enter their reports' daily working hours in their Attendance tab and submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to fully register their reports' daily working hours in their Attendance tab. They will also be able to change their reports' work schedule and overtime balance.
All	The employee will be able to see all employees' Attendance tab. They will also be able to access the Time Tracking section from the main navigation bar in Personio.	The employee will be able to enter all employees' daily working hours in their Attendance tab and submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to fully register everyone's daily working hours in their Attendance tab. They will also be able to change all employees' work schedule and overtime balance.

Note
Employees with access rights to the Attendance tab will be able to access the Time Tracking section from the main navigation bar in Personio, but will not be able to approve attendance requests unless they have been set as approvers through the Approvals settings. 

 

Documents

This section refers to the Documents tab in the Employee profile.

You need to configure separate access rights for each category of documents.

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to download documents on their Documents tab.	The employee will also be able to upload documents on their Documents tab.	The employee will also be able to use document templates and to delete documents on their Documents tab.
My reports	The employee will be able to download documents on their reports' Documents tab.	The employee will also be able to upload documents on their reports' Documents tab.	The employee will also be able to use document templates and to delete documents on their reports' Documents tab.
All	The employee will be able to download documents on all employees' Documents tab.	The employee will also be able to upload documents on all employees' Documents tab.	The employee will also be able to use document templates and to delete documents on all employees' Documents tab.

 

Onboarding

This section refers to both the Onboarding and the Offboarding tab in the Employee profile.

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to see all the on/offboarding steps from the on/offboarding template that is assigned to them.	N/A	The employee will be able to assign, edit and delete on/offboarding steps from the on/offboarding template that is assigned to them.
My reports	The employee will be able to see all the on/offboarding steps from the on/offboarding templates that are assigned to their reports.	N/A	The employee will be able to assign, edit and delete on/offboarding steps from the on/offboarding templates that are assigned to their reports.
All	The employee will be able to see all the on/offboarding steps from the on/offboarding templates that are assigned to all employees.	N/A	The employee will be able to assign, edit and delete on/offboarding steps from the on/offboarding templates that are assigned to their reports.

Note
Employees do not need viewing rights to see and complete the on/offboarding to-dos that are assigned to them.

Note
For employees to be able to see all the employees currently enrolled on an on/offboarding process, they also need access rights to the section where the Status attribute was allocated.

 

Manage accounts

This section relates to the menu that appears when clicking on the three-dots icon within the Employee profile.

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to reset their password and see their account status (example: last login).	N/A	N/A
My reports	The employee will be able to reset their report's password and see their account status.	N/A	N/A
All	The employee will be able to reset each employee's password and see their account status.	N/A	N/A

Note
For employees to see the Manage account option, you need to grant them viewing rights to the Manage accounts section, as well as viewing rights to Personal data. 

Note
The remaining options within the three-dots icon require different access rights:

▶︎ For employees to see the Set a reminder option, you need to grant them proposal rights to the Notes section and viewing rights to the Manage accounts section.

▶︎ For employees to see the Schedule leave option, you need to grant them editing rights to the section where the Status attribute was allocated (Personal data, HR information…).

▶︎ For employees to see the Terminate employment option, you need to grant them editing rights to the section where the Status attribute was allocated (Personal data, HR information...).

▶︎ Only Administrators can see the Delete profile option.

 

Absence

This section refers to the Absence tab in the Employee profile. 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to see their Absence tab, and the absence types with accrual policies assigned to them.	The employee will be able to request absences in their Absence tab and to submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to fully request absences in their Absence tab. They will also be able to fully update and delete existing absences.
My reports	The employee will be able to see their reports' Absence tab, and the absence types with accrual policies assigned to them.	The employee will be able to request absences in their reports' Absence tab and to submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to fully request absences in their reports' Absence tab. They will also be able to fully update and delete existing absences.
All	The employee will be able to see all employees' Absence tab, and the absence types with accrual policies assigned to them.	The employee will be able to request absences in all employees' Absence tab and to submit them for approval.	The employee will be able to fully request absences in all employees' Absence tab. They will also be able to fully update and delete existing absences.

Note
Employees with editing rights will not be able to update accrual policies. They need either Administrator rights or access rights to Account configuration > Absences to be able to update accrual policies.

Note
Employees will editing rights will be able to both approve and reject approval requests from other employees, even if they have not been set as approvers through the Approvals settings.

 

Absence / Balance history

This section refers to the Show absence balance link in the employee's Absence tab.

 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to see all the accrued days and manual adjustments made since their hire date.	N/A	N/A
My reports	The employee will be able to see all their reports' accrued days and manual adjustments made since the report's hire date.	N/A	N/A
All	The employee will be able to see all employees' accrued days and manual adjustments made since the employee's hire date.	N/A	N/A

 

Employee history

This section refers to the History tab in the Employee profile.

	View (Overview)	View (Detail View)	Edit (Detail View)
Own	The employee will be able to see their History tab.	The employee will be able to see a list of past attribute changes in their History tab.	The employee will be able to edit the application date of past attribute changes and assign them new dates in their History tab.
My reports	The employee will be able to see their reports' History tab.	The employee will be able to see a list of past attribute changes in their reports' History tab.	The employee will be able to edit the application date of past attribute changes and assign them new dates in their reports' History tab.
All	The employee will be able to see all employees' History tab.	The employee will be able to see a list of past attribute changes in all employees' History tab.	The employee will be able to edit the application date of past attribute changes and assign them new dates in all employees' History tab.

 

Note
For employees to be able to both see and edit the application date of the attributes, you need to also grant them access rights to the respective attribute via the Personal data section. 

 

Employee notes

This section refers to the Notes tab in the Employee profile. 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to see their Notes tab, and all their employee notes and reminders.	N/A	The employee will be able to both add and delete employee notes and personal reminders in their Notes tab.
My reports	The employee will be able to see their reports' Notes tab, and all their notes and reminders.	N/A	The employee will be able to both add and delete employee notes and personal reminders in their reports' Notes tab.
All	The employee will be able to see all employees' Notes tab, and all their notes and reminders.	N/A	The employee will be able to both add and delete employee notes and personal reminders in all employees' Notes tab.

 

Note
For employees to be able to create personal reminders, you also need to grant them access rights to the Manage accounts section.

 

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Employee list

Add new employee

This section refers to the Add employee option in the Employee list.

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	N/A	N/A	The employee will be able to both create an employee profile and to assign it an employee role via the Employee list.

Note
For employees to be able to see other employee profiles, you also need to grant them access rights to Personal data > Public profile.

 

Org chart view

This section refers to the Orgchart view in the Employee list.

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	The employee will be able to access the Orgchart view via the Employee list.	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	N/A	N/A	N/A

 

Note
For employees to be able to see other employees in the Orgchart view, you also need to grant them access rights to Personal data > Public profile.

For employees to also see any employees who are on leave (and their reports), you need to grant them access rights to the section where the Status attribute was allocated.

For employees to also be able to filter the Orgchart view, you need to grant them access rights to the section where the relevant attribute (example: Subcompany, Department, Office) was allocated.

 

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Main navigation bar

Recruiting

This section refers to the Recruiting area in Personio. 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	The employee will be able to access the Recruiting area from the main navigation bar in Personio, and to see all the open positions, candidate profiles and unassigned messages.	N/A	The employee will also be able to both add and edit open positions, candidate profiles and unassigned messages.

Note
The above access rights give employees access to the whole Recruiting area. If you only want to partially involve your employees in the application process (example: invite them to a specific candidate interview), you need to grant them access rights within the Recruiting section.

 

Payroll

This section refers to the Payroll area in Personio. This section is divided into four subsections so that you can set individual access rights for each subcompany.

 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	The employee will be able to access the Payroll area from the main navigation bar in Personio, and to see the payroll overview for the selected companies. The employee will also be able to download the payroll documents.	N/A	The employee will also be able to edit the payroll overview for the selected companies. They will be able to approve the payroll, generate the export and manage any documents.

Note
Edit rights do not allow employees to access the Payroll settings to either create a new payroll group or to customize table columns. This can only be done by an Administrator.

 

Reporting

This section refers to the System reports section that is within the Reports area in Personio. This section is divided into 18 subsections so that you can set individual access rights for each system report type.

Of the 18 subsections, 8 of them require additional access rights. For the system reports Headcount, FTE, Birthdays, Hires, Probation periods, Terminations, Ending contracts and Employee Turnover, you need to grant your employees access rights (at least view rights) to the sections where the following essential attributes are allocated:

• First name
• Last name
• Status
• Department
• Team
• Office
• Subcompany (only relevant for Enterprise Plan)
• Hire date
• Employment type
• Position
• Contract end date

More information on access rights for these specific system reports can be found in our article on HR Management system reports. 

 

For the system reports Salary, Absence Days, Absence Rate, Absence Distribution, Attendance Periods, Applications, Channels, Application Funnel, Disqualified Applications and Hiring Speed, you need to grant your employees the following access rights: 

 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	The employee will be able to access the System reports section from the main navigation bar in Personio, and to see all the reports from the respective type.	N/A	N/A

Note
For 10 of the 18 system reports, access rights to the Reports area in Personio override the access rights to the individual employee profile tabs. If you give the employee access rights to the Reports area, they will be able to see the Salary system report and all the information that it contains, even if they don't have access rights to the Salary tab.

 

Custom reports

This section refers to the Custom reports section that is within the Reports area in Personio. 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	The employee will be able to access the Custom reports section from the main navigation bar in Personio, and to see all existing custom reports and the data they contain, regardless of whether they have access to a specific attribute.	N/A	The employee will also be able to generate new custom reports, to edit existing custom reports, to delete them, and also to select report attributes.

Note
The above access rights give employees access to the whole Custom report area. If you want to give your employees access to a single custom report, you can do so via the Sharing options window. 

 

Imports

This section refers to the Imports area in Personio and its document multi-upload function. 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	N/A	N/A	The employee will be able to access the Imports area from the main navigation bar in Personio, and to upload documents for all employees in the company.

Note
For employees to be able to both see and edit imported documents, you need to grant them access rights to the Documents section.

 

Workflow overview

This section refers to the Workflow Hub and the Workflow dashboard widget.

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	The employee will be able to access the Workflow Hub from the main navigation bar in Personio, as well as the Workflow dashboard widget. They will be able to see most of the features, except for the Active signature widget and the settings icon within each widget.	N/A	N/A

 

Performance & Development

This section refers to the Performance & Development area in Personio. It is divided into four sections: Continuous Feedback and Performance Notes, Cycles and Cycle Reviews, Training, and Goals. 

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	N/A	N/A	Continuous Feedback and Performance Notes: The employee can see continuous feedback received by all employees. They can create performance notes for all employees. They can edit and delete only the notes that they have created. Regardless of these settings, employees can never see, add or edit performance notes about themselves. Cycles and Cycle Reviews: The employee can create and manage performance review cycles. They can see and unlock performance reviews assigned to all employees. Training: The employee can create and manage training courses and training sessions. Goals: The employee can create, edit and delete goals for everyone in the organization. They cannot edit and delete goals that someone else created for them.

Note
Edit rights do not allow employees to create feedback form templates. This can only be done by an Administrator.

 

Personio Conversations

This section refers to Personio Conversations.

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	The employee will be able to access Conversations from the main navigation bar in Personio, and receive and work on employee workplace requests in Conversations.	N/A	N/A

Note
For an employee to have full access to Conversations, you will need to create a “Conversations Expert” custom role in Personio, to add them to this role and to invite them as a user within Conversations.

 

 

Account configuration

This section refers to the Personio settings. This section is divided into 17 subsections so that you can set individual access rights for each settings section (example: Absences settings section).

	View	Propose	Edit
Own	N/A	N/A	N/A
My reports	N/A	N/A	N/A
All	N/A	N/A	The employee will be able to see and edit all the information within the corresponding settings section.