This article explains how to set up employee roles and permissions. The two are closely linked in Personio — permissions can't be granted directly to individuals, they're always managed through employee roles. By the end of this article, you'll know how to create employee roles, assign the right permissions, and manage who belongs to each role.

Before you start

• If you're new to employee roles and permissions, read the Overview of permissions and employee roles article first. It explains the key concepts you'll need before setting up roles and permissions in Personio.
• Permissions: You need an Administrator role to set up permissions.

Create a new employee role and set permissions

To set up permissions for an employee role, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
3. Click Create role.
4. Add a role name and optional description.
5. Click each permission to review and set up the necessary access in the side panel. For guidance, see:
   • Grant permissions for everyday tasks in Personio
   • Overview of the most common employee roles and permissions
   • Summary of permissions
6. Select the people to assign to the role by following the steps below. 
7. Review the summary and save the new role.

To verify an individual employee's permissions across all their assigned roles, go to the Assignees tab.

Add employees to an employee role

Add individual employees

When you add individual employees to a role, they appear under People always included and are added to the role regardless of any condition-based rules you set. To add individual employees to a role:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
3. Select a role from the list, then click Edit > Edit members.
4. In the Add people tab, under Select members, search for and select the employees you want to add. Selected employees appear under People always included and are added to the role regardless of any condition-based rules you set.
5. Added members automatically appear in the Members tab of the side panel. Click the Changes tab to see who has been added or removed.
6. Save the changes.

Add an employee to a role through the employee profile

To add an employee to a role through their employee profile:

1. Go to the relevant Employee profile.
2. Click the Roles tab.
3. Select the checkbox next to the role you want to add them to.
4. Save your changes.

Add multiple employees based on conditions

Instead of adding employees one by one, you can set rules based on attributes to automatically assign employees to a role. For example, you can create a rule that adds everyone in a specific department or location. Anyone who matches the rule is added automatically — including new employees who join later and match the same rule.

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
3. Select a role from the list, then click Edit > Edit members.
4. In the Add people tab, under People added based on conditions, click + Add rule.
5. Select an attribute and set your criteria. For example, setting "Workplace contains London" automatically assigns all London-based employees to the role. You can select multiple values for one attribute — the role will include employees matching any of those values. You cannot add more than one rule for the same attribute.
6. Added members automatically appear in the Members tab of the side panel. Click the Changes tab to see who has been added or removed.
7. Save the changes.

Note: To exclude specific people from the group, select them in the Exclude people tab. If you manually add an excluded employee to the role, their exclusion is overwritten.

Attributes you can use in conditions

You can add rules using the following predefined attributes:

• Department
• Team
• Employment type
• Legal entity
• Workplace
• Status
• Supervisor status (use this to automatically add all supervisors to a role)
• Hire date
• Termination date

You can also use custom attributes with a single selection, date, or number type.

Note: If you set a rule to exclude a specific option — for example, "Department does not contain Sales" — the role will also include employees with no value assigned for that attribute, not just those in other departments.

Remove employees from an employee role

You can remove employees from a role in different ways. Before saving, review the Changes tab in the side panel to make sure you've removed the right employees.

Remove an individual employee

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
3. Select a role from the list, then click Edit > Edit members.
4. In the side panel, search for the employee, hover over their status, and click Exclude. Alternatively, under People always included, click the x next to their name.
5. Save your changes.

Remove multiple employees based on conditions

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
3. Select a role from the list, then click Edit > Edit members.
4. In the Add people tab, adjust or delete the rules you've set to remove employees who match those conditions.
5. Save your changes.

Remove one or more employees using the People List

You can bulk edit the roles employees belong to using the People List.

Exclude specific employees from a condition-based group

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
3. Select a role from the list, then click Edit > Edit members.
4. In the Exclude people tab, search for and select the employees you want to exclude.
5. Save your changes.

Delete an employee role

You can delete roles you no longer need. Deleting a role is permanent and can't be undone. Employees in the role will lose the permissions assigned to it.

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the People section, click Roles & permissions.
3. Find the role you want to delete. In the Actions column, click the three-dots icon.
4. Click Delete role.
5. Confirm the deletion.