This article explains how to use access rights in Personio. With access rights, you can give employees more or less access to different areas of Personio. Managing these rights protects sensitive information and ensures employees have appropriate permissions.

View and manage access rights

You manage access rights in Personio through employee roles. To view and change these rights:

1. Go to Settings in the main navigation menu.
2. In the People section, click Employee Roles.
3. Choose the employee role you want to change.
4. Click Access Rights.

After configuring access rights, you can check the settings. Do this by logging into an employee's Personio account through their profile page.

Understand access rights

Access rights control what information employees can view or change. Personio organizes access rights into two categories:

• People Data: all rights about access to employee data.
• Configurations: all rights about Personio applications and company settings.

Each category has sections and subsections. You control employee access to this information using access levels and areas.

Access levels

Access levels determine if employees can view, propose, or edit data. You can grant different levels of access by using these three access rights.

View	Employees can see the data.
Propose	Employees can propose changes to the data and submit them for approval. If you select this type of access right, you need to configure an approval process.
Edit	Employees can edit the data without needing approval. A warning alerts you when you grant access rights to sensitive data.

Access areas

Access areas define what information employees have access to. You can decide which set of employees each access right applies to.

Own	The employee's own data.
My reports	All employees directly or indirectly assigned to a supervisor. It doesn't include the employee's own data.
Custom	A specific selection of employees that you define through filters. Custom access doesn't replace All access. You can't exclude specific employees from All access using custom filters. It doesn't include the employee's own data.
All	All employees. It doesn't include the employee's own data.

Understand access rights and employee roles

You manage access rights in Personio through employee roles. Personio has two types of employee roles: preset and custom. Learn more about managing employee roles.

Role Type	Role Name	Description
Preset role	All employees	This role automatically applies to all new and active employees. It includes a basic set of access rights.
	Administrator (or roles with administrator rights)	This role contains full access rights. You can’t change these access rights.
Custom role	Examples: "HR Manager" "Management" "Intern"	These are roles you create and assign to specific employees. They have the same rights as the All employees role, and you can add extra rights as needed.

People data

This section refers to access rights for personal information and sensitive data. All the access rights in the subsections apply to the employees defined by access areas.

Personal data

This section refers to the Personal info tab in the employee profile. It includes access to profile pictures, last login date, and email invite status.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can see the Personal info tab.	The employee can submit changes to the Personal info tab for approval. These changes can be either immediate or scheduled changes.	The employee can submit changes to the Personal info tab. These changes can be either immediate or scheduled changes.

 

Salary information

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

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can see the Salary tab.	N/A	The employee can make changes in the Salary tab.

 

Attendance data

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

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can access these in view mode: The Attendance tab The time tracking section The employee can only use a shared device to track their time.	The employee can track time using: The Attendance tab The time tracking section The Time tracking widget on their homepage They can also edit their time entries unless you apply time tracking restrictions. Your company might use approvals for time tracking. If it does, Personio sends each time entry for approval when an employee tracks or edits it.	The employee can: Enter working hours in the Attendance tab and skip approval. Bypass time tracking restrictions. Change work schedule and overtime balance. Even with edit rights, employees can't approve attendance requests. You must assign them as approvers in the approvals settings.

 

Documents

This section refers to the Documents tab in the employee profile. You must configure separate access rights for each document category.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can download documents to the Documents tab.	The employee can upload documents to the Documents tab.	The employee can: Upload, edit, and delete documents. Create documents using document templates.  Request electronic signatures for documents.

 

Onboarding

This section refers to the Onboarding and Offboarding tab in the employee profile. By default, employees can see and complete their on/offboarding tasks.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can see all the on/offboarding steps from the on/offboarding template.	N/A	The employee can assign, edit, and delete on/offboarding steps from the template.

 

Manage accounts

This section refers to the menu you see when you click on the three-dots icon in the employee profile. If you want employees to see the Manage account option, grant them view rights to this section. They also need view rights to personal data.

Within the menu, there are different options:

• Set a reminder directs you to the Reminders tab to create a new reminder for that employee.
• To see Schedule leave and Terminate employment, grant edit rights to the section that has the Status attribute.
• Only Administrators can see the Delete profile option.

Manage accounts

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can: See account status (for example, the last login). Access the Reminders tab to see an overview of reminders. Create reminders that don't relate to an attribute.	N/A	The employee can send email invitations and password reset emails.

Reset password

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can change the password of another user.

 

Data exports

This section refers to the data exports from the Employee List.

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can only export data they have access to.

 

Reporting

Tip:
Learn about granting employees access to reports.

Absence

This section refers to the Absence tab in the employee profile. All the absence types you create are in this section. You can set different access rights for each of them.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can see the Absence tab and the absence types with accrual policies.	The employee can request, update, and delete absences in the Absence tab. Proposed actions need approval.	The employee can: Request, update, and delete absences in the Absence tab and skip approval. Approve or reject approval requests from other employees without being an approver. Even with edit rights, employees can't update accrual policies. They need edit rights to Absence/Balance history.

 

Employee history

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

Employees can see and edit the date of an attribute change if you grant them access rights. To do this, grant access rights to the respective attributes in the Personal data section.

View (Overview)	View (Detail View)	Edit (Detail View)
The employee can access the History tab.	The employee can see a list of past attribute changes in the History tab.	The employee can edit the date of an attribute change.

 

Absence / Balance history

This section refers to the Activity and Policies tabs in the employee's Absence tab.

 

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can see all the accrued days and manual adjustments made since the hire date.	N/A	The employee can: Adjust absence balances. Assign accrual policies to existing employees. For both actions, the employee needs propose rights for the relevant absence type.

 

Payroll

This section refers to the Payroll area in Personio. This section includes four subsections. You can set individual access rights for each legal entity within these subsections.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can: Access the Payroll area from the main navigation bar in Personio. See the payroll overview for the selected companies. Download payroll documents.	N/A	The employee can: Edit the payroll overview for the selected companies. Approve the payroll. Generate the export. Manage any documents. Employees with edit rights can't create new payroll groups or customize table columns. Only an Administrator can do this.

 

Employee notes

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

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can see the Notes tab and all notes in it.	N/A	The employee can add and delete employee notes in the Notes tab.

 

Custom Reports

Tip:
Learn about granting employees access to reports.

 

Performance & Development

This section refers to the Performance & Development area in Personio. It has three sections:

Continuous Feedback and Performance Notes

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can: See continuous feedback received by all employees. Create performance notes for all employees. Edit and delete only the notes they have created. Employees can never see, add, or edit performance notes about themselves. This restriction applies regardless of the settings.

 

Cycles and Cycle Reviews

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can: View and edit the cycles they are participating in. Only access the reviews shared with them. Allow the sharing of manager reviews from their manager and access them. Request peer feedback about themselves. Create and manage performance review cycles. See and unlock performance reviews assigned to all employees.

 

Goals

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can create, edit, and delete goals and organizational goals for everyone.

 

Training

This section refers to the Training area in Personio.

Course Management

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	Employees can create and manage courses for everyone in the organization. Employees can create and manage training sessions for everyone in the organization. Employees can add external courses for everyone from the Course catalog.

 

Training Record

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	Own The employee can add external courses to their training record.   My Reports The employee can add external courses to their reports' training records.

Employees with edit rights to training records can edit external courses they create. They can do this unless participants who are not the course creator and their reports join. If this happens, only employees with course management rights can edit the course.

Jobs

This section refers to the Job architecture and catalog area. 

Job family

Configurations

This section refers to Personio applications and company settings. This excludes personal information. 

Recruiting

This section refers to the Recruiting area in Personio. 

You can involve an employee in parts of the application process. For example, you can invite them to a specific candidate interview. To do this, you need to grant them access rights to the Recruiting section.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can access the Recruiting area from the main navigation bar in Personio. They can see all the open jobs and candidate profiles.	N/A	The employee can add and edit open jobs, candidate profiles, and unassigned messages. They can generate the application data export.

 

Home

This section refers to the homepage in Personio. 

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can write, archive, and delete company-wide announcements.

 

Account configuration

This section refers to the Personio settings. It has subsections, and you can set the access rights for each one.

If you give access to the API or Marketplace integration sections, employees see a list of all available attributes but not their values.

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can see and edit all information within the corresponding settings section.

 

Add new employee

This section refers to:

• The Add employee option in the Employee List.
• The option to add employees to an employee role.

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can create an employee profile and assign a role using the Employee List.

 

Delete employee profile

This section refers to the option of deleting an employee profile via their profile. These access rights apply to the set of employees defined by access areas.

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can delete an employee profile.

 

Org chart view

This section refers to the Org Chart in the Employee List.

If you want employees to see other employees in the Org Chart, grant them access rights. Do this by providing access to Personal Data > Public Profile. They also need access rights to certain sections to use filter options. Examples include legal entity, department, and office.

To see employees on leave, you need to grant access rights to the section that has the Status attribute.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can access the Org chart via the Employee List.	N/A	N/A

 

Imports

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

If you want your employees to see and edit imported documents, grant them access rights to the Documents section.

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can: Access the Imports area from the main navigation bar in Personio. Upload documents for all employees in the company.

 

Automations Overview

This section refers to the Automations area.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can: Access the Automations area from the main navigation bar in Personio. See most features. They can't see the Active signature widget and the settings icon within each widget.	N/A	N/A

 

Conversations

This section refers to Personio Conversations.

To grant employees full access to Conversations, create a “Conversations Expert” custom role. Add employees to this role and invite them as users within Conversations.

View	Propose	Edit
The employee can: Access Conversations from the main navigation bar in Personio. Receive and work on employee workplace requests in Conversations.	N/A	N/A

 

Custom Workflows

This section refers to the Workflows and Activity tabs in the Automations area.

 

Creating and managing Custom Workflows

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can: Access the Workflows tab in the Automations area Create Workflows Manage Workflows

Monitoring Custom Workflows

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can: Access the Activity tab in the Automations area Monitor Workflows

Performance & Development settings

This section refers to the Performance & Development > Settings area in Personio.

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	In Performance & Development > Settings, the employee can: Create, edit, and delete feedback form templates. Manage sharing and confidentiality settings for continuous feedback and reviews. Manage feature visibility in the Performance & Development area. This option doesn't give access to the general settings in Personio.

 

Compensation Management 

This section refers to Compensation Management.

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can: Access Compensation from the main navigation bar in Personio. Set up, run, and end compensation review cycles.

Surveys

This section refers to the Surveys area. Learn more about survey access rights.

Survey creation

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can: Create their own surveys. See their survey results. Grant other employees access to edit and collaborate on a survey they created. Do this by selecting a Survey Admin. Grant other employees access to see and manage the results of a survey they created. Do this by granting full results view access rights. Revoke Survey Admin or full results view access rights to their survey.

Themes

View	Propose	Edit
N/A	N/A	The employee can add themes to the surveys they have access to.

Reports

Tip:
Learn about granting employees access to reports.

Planning 

This section refers to the Position Management feature. You can find this in the Planning area.

Position list