This article explains how to set up the Slack integration with Personio. Once connected, you can:

• Receive Personio-related updates in Slack channels.
• Set up automatic updates to your Slack status for absences.
• Request absences in Slack.

Available functionalities

Note:
Only internal employees can use channel updates, automated status updates, and absence requests.

Channel updates

You can send channel updates to public Slack channels based on teams, departments, or offices. The updates include the following:

• Who is absent today, and until when?
• Who has a birthday today?
• Which employees have their first day in our company today?
• Which employees have a work anniversary today?

You can send these updates with an automatic Slack message to the selected channel. You can also choose the group of employees who receive them. If you don't use teams in Personio, you can select groups of employees per department. If you don't use departments, differentiate employees by their offices. Then, assign them to Slack channels.

Automated status update

This feature updates your status automatically based on your absences. You can decide if the absence type, like paid or sick leave, appears in the status or not. The feature only supports daily absences. Hourly absence requests are unavailable.

The integration calculates absence return dates by considering working schedules and public holidays. This helps Slack show accurate return dates.

The following emojis appear, linked to their respective status:

🌴 : Paid vacation.
🤒 : Sick leave.
❌ : All other absence types, apart from remote work.
🏡: Remote work. The emoji only shows if you tick yes to view the reason for the absence in the status message. This option appears when you set up the status update functionality. If you don't enable this, the remote work absence type doesn't show any emoji.

Note:
The automated status update feature is only available if you use a paid Slack account.

 

Request an absence

Use Slack to request daily absences in the text box of a channel or direct message. Type "/personio" in Slack to launch the Personio App. Follow these steps:

1. Type "/personio" and click Enter to activate the Personio App. 
2. Click Request absence. 
3. Select the type of absence, define the start and end date, and submit.

Once the submission is successful, you see a summary of your request.

Note:
The feature only supports daily absences. Hourly absence requests are unavailable.

 

Pre-requisites for a successful integration

Before integrating Slack, ensure the following is in place:

• You have an Administrator role or editing rights for the Marketplace in Personio:

  1. Go to Settings.

  2. In the People section, click Employee Roles.

  3. Select Access rights.

  4. Go to Account configuration and Marketplace integration.

• You have administrator or owner rights for your Slack workspace.
• You select the Tray.io, Inc. checkbox in the Data Protection Information tab of your account.

Connect and authenticate Slack

Set up the Slack integration in Personio's Marketplace with the Configuration Wizard. This requires you to grant Personio permission to access your Slack workspace. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Marketplace in Personio and search for the Slack integration.
2. Click Connect to open the Configuration Wizard.
3. Click Authenticate Slack.
4. A new Slack window opens. Sign in to your workspace. Then, grant Personio access and continue the installation. 
5. Return to the Configuration Wizard in Personio and continue to the next step.

Authenticate Personio

Step two requires you to grant Slack access to the necessary Personio data. Follow these steps:

1. Review the permissions that Slack requires.
2. Continue to the next step.

Personio allows the Slack integration to read the following system attributes:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email
• Hire Date
• Termination Date
• Office
• Department
• Team
• Status

To identify each user, each employee's email address in Personio has to be the same as that used in Slack.

Manage channel updates

Define the channel update settings in step three of the Configuration Wizard. Follow these steps:

1. Choose the language for updates.
2. Select the time of the updates.
3. Choose the elements to include in the daily update message. The available options are absences, birthdays, company anniversaries, and new employees. 
4. Select the channels for the update. You can only send the daily channel updates to public Slack channels. You can assign employees of specific teams, departments, and offices to the channels. To add more channels and groups, click Add new attribute.
5. Optional: if you want updates to appear in a read-only channel, ensure the Personio app has posting permissions. Learn how to manage channel posting permission in Slack.
6. Continue to the next step. 

Currently, you can't exclude the transfer of certain absence types, like parental leaves. 

Note:
Slack updates always use Central European Time (UTC+1). If you select the UTC timezone in Personio and set the time of the update to 08:00 am, it sends the update at 07:00 am your time. Events on weekends don't transmit to Slack.

Slack status updates

Define Slack status update settings in step four of the Configuration Wizard. Absences requested for the same day transmit as soon as someone accepts them. This ensures that colleagues can view absences that have come up at short notice, like sick leave. Follow these steps:

1. Choose to activate automatic Slack status updates. 
2. Choose if the status should contain the absence type. 
3. Finish the integration process.

You can edit the settings or deactivate the integration at any time.