This article explains the redesigned roles and permissions experience, now live in all Personio accounts. It covers what's changed, where to find things, and how your existing setup carried over.

Key improvements

In the updated experience, our system automatically:

Displays all your permissions in the new layout, keeping every access level and scope exactly as it was.
Groups permissions by topic instead of splitting people data and configuration settings across separate sections.
Moves all calendar visibility settings into the relevant permission groups based on topic.
Keeps all role assignments and members intact.

The table below summarizes what changed when your account moved to the new experience.

Topic	Before	After
Reminders	Reminder configuration was only accessible to Administrators in Employee Roles.	Reminders configuration moved to Automations. You can now grant non-Admins permission to create and manage role reminders.
Security settings	Authentication settings were only accessible to Administrators in Employee Roles.	Two-factor authentication moved to Authentication settings. You can now delegate authentication configuration to non-Admins.
Role descriptions	Roles didn’t have a description field.	You can now add a description to each role to communicate its purpose and scope.
Permissions layout	Permission controls were spread across multiple sections and checkboxes.	Permissions are re-organized into clear groups based on the topic they relate to. For example, all permissions related to the same area, like Time off periods, time off settings and tasks, are in one place.
Calendar access	Calendar visibility was managed in a separate tab and didn't support additional supervisors or multi-value scopes.	Calendar visibility is now part of the relevant permissions group, like Time off, Recruiting, and Team Calendar.
Access level and scope configuration	You set access levels and scope directly in the checkbox view.	Configure access levels and scope for each permission in a dedicated sidebar. A description of the permission helps guide Admins through the configuration.
Access level display	There was no visual indicator showing what access level was set for each permission.	Color-coded symbols show the access level at a glance: blue for View, yellow for Propose, red for Edit, and grey for No access.
Bulk permission management	Enabling multiple permissions at once was done in the central checkbox view.	You can select multiple permissions and edit them together in a separate window, which includes a clear way to review the result before saving.
Review before saving	A confirmation step was shown before saving permission changes.	A review and confirm step shows all pending changes before you save, so you can ensure users get access to the intended data and settings.
Permissions export	Exports included internal IDs alongside permission data.	Exports now use names and labels you recognize. IDs are still included for backward compatibility.
Access analyzer	To review a user's access, you checked each of their assigned roles individually.	The Assignees tab shows the combined permissions for any user across all their roles in a single view.

Transition timeline

The table below describes the phases of this transition.

When

What

Late 2025

The Reminders and Security tabs moved out of Employee Roles.

June 2026

The new roles and permissions experience rolled out gradually through an opt-in beta.

All new Personio accounts created from this date had the new experience by default.

September 2026

The new experience became the default for all accounts. All Personio accounts now use the new roles and permissions experience.

Note: This change didn't affect your existing roles, permissions, or configurations. They carried over automatically. Only the names, groupings, and display changed.

New permissions structure

All existing permissions are displayed in the new layout automatically. Every permission that was enabled in your account before the transition is enabled in the new experience. The access levels (View, Propose, Edit) and scopes (Self, Reporting line, Custom, All) carry over exactly as they were.

The main change you'll notice is how permissions are organized. Instead of splitting people data and configuration settings across separate sections, the new experience groups them by topic. For example, permissions that control access to Attendance data and Attendance settings — which used to be in separate sections — are now both in the Attendance permissions group.

For a full map of where every permission has moved, see Find permissions in the new experience.

Calendar visibility settings

The Calendars tab no longer appears in Employee Roles. All calendar visibility settings have moved into the Team Calendar group in the main permissions view.

Each time off type now has two separate permissions. See the Summary of Time off and Team calendar permissions article for more information. Any custom scopes you had set for calendar visibility carry over automatically.

Setting	New permission group location
Time off type visibility	Time off
Team Calendar access	Team Calendar (permission named Out of office periods)
Birthday visibility	Team Calendar
Start/end date visibility	Team Calendar
Recruiting calendar events	Team Calendar

Review the new roles and permissions experience

Get familiar with the new layout

Review your roles in the new layout to get familiar with it. To access the Roles and permissions page:

Go to Settings.
In the People section, click Roles & permissions.

The Roles and permissions page shows a table of all your roles. A new Permissions column shows how many permissions are enabled per role.

Click a role to open a sidebar summary of its current configuration and assigned members.
Click Edit to manage the role's details, members, and permissions.
Click + Create role to set up a new role. You can add a name and description before moving to the permissions configuration.

In the permissions configuration view:

You'll see permissions grouped by topic.
Click a permission group's name to expand it. Use the search option to find a specific permission.
Use the Filter option to show only enabled or sensitive permissions.
To edit in bulk, select the checkbox next to multiple permissions then click Edit access. Review the result before saving.
Click any permission to open a side panel with a description and options to set the access level and scope.
Check if a permission is people-data based or feature based by looking at the Type column.
Look at the Access column for color-coded symbols that show the access level and scope. Hover over a symbol for a full breakdown.

Add descriptions to your roles

Review your roles and optionally add a description to each one. To do this:

Click a role.
Click Edit > Edit details.

A clear description helps your team understand the purpose and scope of each role. For example:

"Full access to employee data for HR Business Partners"
"Read-only access to time off and attendance for team leads"
"Payroll admin access, scoped to Germany entity"

Review an employee's access

Click the Assignees tab to search for specific employees and see all the permissions they have across all their roles. Use this to confirm their assigned permissions are correct.

Review the new roles and permissions content

Check the articles linked below to find out more about the new experience.

Give feedback about the new experience

Your feedback helps us improve the new Roles & Permissions experience before it's released to everyone. To give feedback, follow these steps:

Go to Settings.
In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
In the top right corner, click Early access > Give feedback.
Add your feedback, choose whether Personio can contact you to discuss the feedback, then Share feedback.

Return to the legacy experience

For a limited time after the transition, you can switch back to the old roles and permissions experience. You can opt out at any time. Before you do, be aware of the following:

Switching back affects all admins in your account, not just you.
Most configuration changes you've made in the new experience carry over to the old experience without issues.
If any of your configurations are incompatible with the old experience, you'll see a warning before the switch so you know what to expect.

Changes that will not carry over
Some features are only available in the new experience. If you have configured any of the following and then opt out, those settings will be lost and will need to be reconfigured if you opt back in:

Calendar visibility for additional supervisors (like dotted-line reports) or multiple custom scopes.

Changes that will be temporarily hidden
Other settings are saved but not visible in the old experience. If you opt back in, they will reappear automatically with no action needed:

Role descriptions
The Assignees tab

To opt out of the new experience, follow these steps:

Go to Settings.
In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
In the top right corner, click Early access > Switch back.
Optionally, provide feedback.
Click Switch back.

This returns all admins in your account back to the old experience.

More information

Read more about the new experience in the following articles:

FAQ

Were existing roles and permissions affected by the transition?

No. Your roles, permissions, and configurations carried over automatically. The permissions and their logic stay the same — only the names and groupings change.

Can I switch back to the old experience?

Yes, but only for a limited time after the transition. After that window closes, the new experience becomes the only version available.

Will changes I make in the new experience carry over if I opt out?

Most will, but not all. See the Return to the legacy experience section above for a full breakdown of what carries over, what is temporarily hidden, and what will need to be reconfigured.

Where do I manage calendar visibility now?

Calendar visibility is now part of the relevant permission groups — for example, Time off and Team Calendar— rather than a separate tab. This makes scoping consistent across all permissions.

Where have Reminders and two-factor authentication settings gone?

Both have moved to their own dedicated areas. Reminders are now under Automations > Reminders, and two-factor authentication is under Authentication settings. This keeps the roles area focused on access rights, and allows non-admin users to configure these settings if needed.

Did reminder configuration change?

No. Reminders moved to Automations > Reminders, but how they work hasn't changed. Use role reminders for custom date attributes. For predefined attributes like hire date, you can also use workflow reminders.

Do reminders now run through workflows?

No. Role reminders remain a separate feature. Use role reminders for all date attributes, including custom ones. Use workflows if you want to build a more complex process based on specific predefined date fields.

What if a permission I had is no longer visible?

It may have moved to a new group or been renamed. Use the search bar in the permissions configuration window to find it by name, or refer to the Find permissions in the new experience article to look it up by its old location.

Where can I find permissions that used to be under "Account and subscription"?

Most are now under the Account permission section. Subscription-related permissions are under Account > Subscription management.

How can I share feedback?

You can share feedback directly with the product team. Details on how to do this are included in the in-product experience.

Will any access rights changes or adaptations that I make in the new experience also be carried over to the old experience if I opt out again?

It depends on which features you've used. Most of your configuration will continue to work as expected if you opt out — but there are a few things to be aware of:
Some features are only available in the new experience. If you've set up any of the following and then opt out, these configurations will be lost and will need to be reconfigured if you opt back in:

Calendar visibility for additional supervisors or
Calendar visibility for multiple custom scopes (e.g. Legal entity is one of A, B, or C)

Other features such as role descriptions and the Assignees tab will become invisible when on the old experience but reappear if you opt back in, with no action needed on your end.
If any of your configurations are incompatible with the old experience, you'll see a warning before opting out so you know what to expect.

Find the answers you need

The transition to the new roles and permissions experience