Part 5 · People and team

Employees

Maintain employee records, departments, skills and the org chart, then manage employee benefits, their use and the retention indicators.

Symbifox 18.0 (September 2026 catalogue) · Modules: Expérience employé, Expérience employé: tuile tableau de bord, Expérience employé: digest quotidien, Expérience employé: notes de frais, Expérience employé: allergies, Expérience employé: allergies, pont vie privée (Loi 25), Expérience employé: pont vie privée (Loi 25) · Base applications: Employees, Skills Management, HR Org Chart · Revised 2026-09-12

The Employees application holds the file of every person who works in the organization: work contact details, department, job position, manager, working schedule, resume and skills. Human resources use it, as do managers who need an up-to-date org chart and every employee who looks up a colleague in the directory. Symbifox adds the Expérience employé (employee experience) family of modules: the catalogue of employee benefits, who is eligible, who uses them, what they cost, and six retention indicators. The result is a complete employee record, which feeds timesheets, expenses, recruitment and the retention schedule.

Overview#

An employee record describes one person: their Department, Job Position, Manager and Coach, their Work Location, Working Schedule and Tags. A department groups people under a manager and can have a parent department. The job position is shared with Recruitment: the same record carries the job offer and the title of the person hired. The org chart is derived from the Manager field of each record. The directory shows all staff the public part of the records.

An employee's resume is a series of dated lines (experience, education, certification), and their skills are picked from skill types, each of which carries a list of skills and levels. Activity plans launch all the activities of an onboarding or a departure in one go.

The Expérience employé family adds an application named Expérience employé. A benefit is what the organization offers (group insurance, RRSP, employee assistance program, remote work, training budget). An eligibility rule says who is entitled to it, in readable criteria. An entitlement is the result: this person, this benefit, from this date. The usage log says who uses it and at what cost. A request serves benefits that require approval. The retention indicators record each month the uptake, the costs, the median seniority and the turnover. This family is published but absent from the Boréal demo: it is described here without screenshots (published module, not illustrated).

The application's home screen shows the demo's twenty employees as cards.

The records feed Timesheets, Expenses, Fox Quest (gamification), Celebrations and the retention schedule in Privacy (Law 25 and other frameworks).

Configuration#

Access and permissions#

The Employees access right on the user form takes two values. Without it, each person sees the directory and their own record.

Expérience employé adds no group. Each person sees the full catalogue with their own eligibility, their own entitlements, their own usage and their own allergies. The direct manager sees nothing of the usage log or of the team's allergies: this is deliberate, because the log touches on health.

Settings#

Go to Employees › Configuration › Settings.

Base data#

Before the first record, check in Employees › Configuration:

• the Departments (the Departments menu of the main bar);
• the Job Positions and the Employment Types, under Recruitment;
• the Work Locations and the Working Schedules, under Employee;
• the Departure Reasons, the Skill Types and the Tags;
• the resume Line Types, under Resume;
• the plans under Activity Plan, including “Onboarding” and its departure counterpart.

For Expérience employé, load the starter catalogue, then review its rules (see Build the benefits catalogue).

Getting started#

This walkthrough creates a complete record on the Boréal Services-conseils demo and launches its onboarding plan, with the Officer access right.

1. Go to Employees › Employees › Employees and select New.
2. Enter the name, the Job Title and the Work Email.
3. Choose the Department, the Job Position and the Manager.
4. In the Work Information tab, fill in the Work Location and the Working Schedule.
5. In the Resume tab, select Pick a skill from the list and add a language with its level.
6. Save, then select Launch Plan and choose “Onboarding”.
7. Confirm.

The record appears in the Kanban view, in the Org Chart under its manager and in the Directory. The plan's activities (prepare the equipment, schedule the training, follow up on the training) are created and assigned to the manager and the employee.

Common tasks#

Create an employee record#

A record is created by hand, or from a hired applicant with Create Employee in Recruitment.

1. Go to Employees › Employees › Employees and select New.
2. Enter the name, the Job Title, the Work Email and the phone numbers.
3. Choose the Department, the Job Position, the Manager and, if needed, the Coach.
4. Add free-form Tags.
5. Fill in Work Information (location, schedule, approvers) and Private Information (address, emergency contact).
6. Save.

The chatter (the message thread at the bottom of the form) receives “Employee created”. The Timesheets and Contacts shortcut buttons at the top of the form link the record to its hours and to its contact.

Maintain the resume and skills#

The resume is in the Resume tab of the record, with the skills and their timeline beside it.

1. Go to Employees › Employees › Employees and open the record.
2. In the Resume tab, select Create a new entry.
3. Enter the Title, the Type, the Display Type and the Duration, then save.
4. Under Skills, select Pick a skill from the list.
5. Choose the type, the skill and the level, then save.

The resume line shows with its dates. Timeline shows how the levels change over time. An experience line is created automatically when the record is created, in the company's name.

Launch an onboarding or departure plan#

A plan creates, in one go, a series of activities assigned to the manager, the employee or a named person.

1. Go to Employees › Employees › Employees and open the record.
2. Select Launch Plan.
3. Choose the plan and the reference date.
4. Confirm.

The activities appear on the record and in the activities of each assignee. Plans are set up in Configuration › Activity Plan.

Organize departments#

A department carries a manager, a parent and a code; the Employees shortcut button lists its members, and Plans lists its activity plans.

1. Go to Employees › Departments and select New.
2. Enter the name, the Manager and, if needed, the Parent Department and the Code.
3. Save.

The departments Kanban view shows each department with its headcount.

View the org chart and the directory#

The org chart is built from the Manager field; the directory shows the public records.

1. Go to Employees › Employees › Org Chart.
2. Expand a manager to see their team.
3. For a colleague's public record, go to Employees › Directory and open their card.

The directory shows only the title, the department, the manager and the work contact details: nothing private.

Record a departure#

An employee who leaves is archived with a departure reason; the record stays available through the Archived filter.

1. Go to Employees › Employees › Employees and open the record.
2. Select Actions › Archive.
3. Choose the Departure Reason, the departure date and a description.
4. Confirm.

The record disappears from the Kanban view, the org chart and the directory. Reasons are set up in Configuration › Employee › Departure Reasons. In Expérience employé, the person's entitlements close at the next rule run, and their allergies are destroyed after the grace period if the purge is turned on.

Set up a working schedule#

The working schedule sets the hours of the week; it serves timesheets and the eligibility rules that tell full time from part time.

1. Go to Employees › Configuration › Employee › Working Schedules and open the schedule, or select New.
2. Enter the Company Full Time in hours per week and the Timezone.
3. In the Working Hours tab, adjust each slot: Day of Week, Day Period, Work from, Work to.
4. Check Flexible Hours for a schedule without slots, or select Switch to 2 weeks calendar to alternate two weeks.
5. Save.

The Work Resources shortcut button lists the people who follow this schedule.

Analyze skills and certifications#

Two reporting screens: the skills report and the list of resume lines.

1. Go to Employees › Reporting › Skills for the pivot table of skills by employee, type and level.
2. Go to Employees › Reporting › Certifications for the list of resume lines, to filter by type or by expiry.

On the demo, the skills report is empty: no skill has been entered yet. The certifications list shows the nineteen experience lines created with the records.

Build the benefits catalogue#

The catalogue says what the organization offers. It opens from the Expérience employé application (published module, not illustrated).

1. Go to Expérience employé › Catalogue › Charger un catalogue de départ (load a starter catalogue) to receive ten benefits common in Québec, with their rules.
2. Go to Expérience employé › Catalogue › Avantages (benefits) and open a benefit, or select New.
3. Enter the Nom (name), the Catégorie (category), the Fournisseur (provider) and the Responsable (person in charge).
4. Choose the Modèle de coût (cost model: per person per year, per use, or annual flat fee) and the Montant de référence (reference amount).
5. Check Approbation requise (approval required) and choose Qui approuve (who approves) if the benefit is requested rather than applied.
6. Save.

The Qui y a droit (who is eligible) tab lists the rules and the open entitlements; Indicateurs (indicators) gives the uptake rate, the annual cost and the Personne ne l'utilise (nobody uses it) flag. Loading the catalogue never overwrites a benefit already there, even an edited one.

Write an eligibility rule#

A rule is an AND of its filled criteria; the rules of one benefit are an OR. A criterion left empty constrains nothing.

1. Go to Expérience employé › Catalogue › Règles d'admissibilité (eligibility rules) and select New.
2. Enter the Nom and choose the Avantage (benefit).
3. Check the relevant criteria: Départements (departments), Postes (job positions), Lieux de travail (work locations), Horaires (schedules), Gestionnaires (managers), Type d'emploi (employment type), Ancienneté minimale (mois) (minimum seniority in months).
4. Read the Résumé (summary): the rule in one sentence, as you would explain it to someone.
5. Save, then select Rejouer les règles (replay the rules) on the benefit.

Personnes visées (people covered) counts who passes the rule. Entitlements open for these people and close for those who stop meeting it.

Grant or close an entitlement by hand#

An exception negotiated at hiring is recorded as a manual entitlement; the daily recalculation never touches it.

1. Go to Expérience employé › Personnel › Droits (entitlements) and select New.
2. Choose the Employé (employee), the Avantage and the Ouvert le (opened on) date.
3. Write the Motif (reason): it is mandatory for an entitlement granted by hand.
4. Save. Accordé par (granted by) keeps your name.
5. To withdraw an entitlement, open it and select Fermer le droit (close the entitlement), or Fermer (close) from the list.

A closed entitlement carries its Fermé le (closed on) date and stays readable: you can always tell what the person was entitled to last year.

Log a use#

The usage log answers “who uses it” and carries the actual cost. A line is entered by the person, by the administration, from an approved expense report, or by import.

1. Go to Expérience employé › Personnel › Registre d'usage (usage log) and select New.
2. Choose the Employé, the Avantage and the Date.
3. Enter the Quantité (quantity) and the Coût réel (actual cost); left at zero, the cost is estimated from the benefit's cost model.
4. Add a Note if useful.
5. Select Confirmer (confirm).

A confirmed line can no longer be rewritten; only the note stays editable. If the person had no open entitlement that day, Avait le droit (was entitled) stays cleared: the use is not blocked, it is flagged.

Process a benefit request#

A request only goes through if the person has an open entitlement on the day of the request.

1. Go to Expérience employé › Personnel › Demandes (requests).
2. To request, select New, choose the Avantage, enter the Quantité or the Montant demandé (amount requested) and the Motivation, then select Soumettre (submit).
3. To decide, open the request and select Approuver (approve) or Refuser (refuse) with a Motif du refus (reason for refusal).
4. When the benefit has been used, select Consommer (consume).

Consommer turns the approved request into a confirmed usage line; Usage produit (resulting use) leads to it. The approver is the benefit's approver, or by default its person in charge.

Read the retention indicators#

One snapshot per month and per company: headcount, arrivals, departures, turnover, median seniority, benefit costs and departure costs.

1. Go to Expérience employé › Analyse (reporting) > Indicateurs de rétention (retention indicators).
2. Open the month you want.
3. Choose the Méthode du coût d'un départ (departure cost method): actual components or a percentage of annual salary, never both.
4. Select Recalculer (recalculate) to refresh the snapshot.

The snapshot of the past month is produced automatically every night. Seniority counts from the date of the first contract: a person without a contract has no known seniority.

Declare an allergy and produce the service list#

An allergy is health information: each person declares their own, and only that person and the administration can read it.

1. For your own, go to Expérience employé › Personnel › Mes allergies (my allergies) and select New.
2. Choose the Allergène (allergen) and the Gravité (severity), add a Note, then save.
3. For a team meal, go to Expérience employé › Santé et sécurité (health and safety) > Liste de service (sans les noms) (service list, without names).
4. Choose the people in the group and read the list.

The list gives the group's dietary constraints, the number of people and the highest severity, without a single name: this is what you hand to the caterer. Non-food allergens are left out. The catalogue under Santé et sécurité › Allergènes (allergens) comes preloaded with the priority allergens recognized in Canada, plus latex, insect stings and scented products.

Aggregate usage before a destruction#

The aggregate keeps the measurement, per benefit and per year, without names. A destruction campaign refuses to erase a year that has not been aggregated.

1. Go to Expérience employé › Analyse › Agréger tous les usages (aggregate all usage).
2. Go to Expérience employé › Analyse › Usage agrégé (anonymisé) (aggregated usage, anonymized) and open a line.
3. Read Personnes distinctes (distinct people), Usages (uses), Coût (cost) and Taux d'adhésion (%) (uptake rate); select Recalculer if needed.
4. Then launch the campaign in Privacy (Law 25 and other frameworks).

The current and the previous year are aggregated every night. Lignes à la source (source lines) says how many lines were counted; if they have since been destroyed, this number is what remains of them.

The menus, one by one#

• Employees: root of the application.
• Employees › Human Resources: grouping menu, with no screen.
• Employees › Employees: grouping menu.
• Employees › Employees › Employees: Kanban view of the demo's twenty employees, one card per person with title, email and presence indicator; list, activity, graph and pivot views. Useful filters: by department, by manager, archived. This is the home screen. Screenshot m298.png, form m298_form.png.
• Employees › Employees › Org Chart: the same records in a hierarchy view, from management down to the teams. Screenshot m493.png.

• Employees › Directory: the twenty public records, as cards. Use it to find a colleague without opening their file. Screenshot m299.png.
• Employees › Departments: Kanban view of the five departments with their headcount. Screenshot m305.png, form m305_form.png.
• Employees › Reporting: grouping menu.
• Employees › Reporting › Skills: skills report by employee, as a list and a pivot table; empty on the demo. Screenshot m497.png.
• Employees › Reporting › Certifications: the demo's nineteen resume lines, with employee, type and dates. Screenshot m600.png, form m600_form.png.
• Employees › Reporting (second menu with the same name): grouping menu, with no screen.
• Employees › Configuration: grouping menu.
• Employees › Configuration › Settings: the settings described under Settings. Screenshot m313.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Activity Plan: the demo's two plans, including “Onboarding”; the form is titled Employee Plans and lists the Activities To Create. Screenshot m303.png, form m303_form.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Employee: grouping menu.
• Employees › Configuration › Employee › Work Locations: the demo's three locations (office, home, other), with their address. Screenshot m306.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Employee › Working Schedules: the demo's schedule, “Standard 40 hours/week”. Screenshot m307.png, form m307_form.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Employee › Departure Reasons: the three reasons offered at archiving. Screenshot m308.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Employee › Skill Types: the demo's two types, including “Languages” and its list of languages. Screenshot m496.png, form m496_form.png.

• Employees › Configuration › Employee › Tags: the free-form tags of the records; empty on the demo. Screenshot m309.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Resume: grouping menu.
• Employees › Configuration › Resume › Line Types: the five resume line types (experience, education, certification, and two others). Screenshot m495.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Recruitment: grouping menu.
• Employees › Configuration › Recruitment › Job Positions: the demo's twelve positions, the same as in Recruitment, with the Recruitment, Job Summary and Application Info tabs. Screenshot m311.png, form m311_form.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Recruitment › Employment Types: the ten contract types. Screenshot m312.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Challenges: grouping menu for gamification.
• Employees › Configuration › Challenges › Badges: the demo's nine badges. Screenshot m490.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Challenges › Challenges: the demo's nine challenges. Screenshot m491.png.
• Employees › Configuration › Challenges › Goals History: the goals reached; empty on the demo. Screenshot m492.png. These three menus are described in Fox Quest (gamification).

Reference#

Fields of the Employee form#

Fields of the Department form#

Fields of the Avantage form#

Fields of the Règle d'admissibilité form#

Reports and exports#

• Relevé personnel des avantages (personal benefits statement, from the employee record): a person's entitlements and uses.
• Skills: pivot table, exportable to a spreadsheet.
• Certifications: list of resume lines, exportable.
• Any list exports through Actions › Export (see Common actions in every application).

Automations#

• Every night, the eligibility rules are replayed: entitlements open and close; entitlements granted by hand are never touched.
• Every night, the indicator snapshot of the month just ended is produced, per company.
• Every night, the usage of the current and the previous year is aggregated without names.
• When an expense report linked to a benefit is approved, a confirmed usage line is created for the amount actually spent.
• The daily digest receives a Benefits section (pending requests, uses without an entitlement, benefits nobody takes), only on days when there is something to do.
• The purge of the allergies of people who have left ships turned off: the administration turns it on and chooses the grace period.

Public pages and portal#

This application has no public page and no portal. The directory is reserved for signed-in staff.

Modules that extend this application#

The six satellite modules install themselves when their prerequisites are present; the allergies module installs on demand.

The tile shows only the number you act on right away.

Quiet days stay quiet: the section only appears when there is something to do.

Link the training product to the benefit once: every later expense follows.

Health information is declared by the person themselves, because a consent the holder cannot use is not consent.

The benefits bridge, on the other hand, keeps a measurement.

Understanding#

Entitlement, not merit. A benefit is given because you are entitled to it, not because you earned it. No points balance opens anything here; the rewards of Fox Quest (gamification) are a different mechanism, which can coexist.

Criteria, never a formula. A person who disputes their entitlement must be able to hear why they do not have it. The Résumé of each rule states the rule in one sentence. A rule is an AND; the rules of one benefit are an OR.

The rule computes the entitlement, it does not replace it. An entitlement granted by hand requires a written reason and keeps the name of whoever granted it. The daily recalculation never touches it: the exception negotiated at hiring is exactly what it must not undo.

A lost entitlement closes, a confirmed line freezes, a use without an entitlement is flagged. Without an end date, “what was she entitled to last March” has no answer. A confirmed usage line belongs to the date on which it happened. Blocking a use without an entitlement would hide the anomaly; flagging it puts it in front of whoever administers the plan.

Seniority requires a contract. The employee record carries no start date; the first contract provides it. Without a contract, there is no seniority, no median seniority and no turnover, and an unknown seniority opens no entitlement.

Who reads what. The usage log touches on health (employee assistance program, insurance, sick leave). The person and the administration read it, never the direct manager or the rest of the company. The catalogue, by contrast, is visible to everyone, with each person's eligibility: you cannot tell someone “after a year, you will be entitled to it” about a hidden benefit.

The cost of a departure carries a method, not a sum. Actual components and a percentage of annual salary estimate the same thing; adding them up would count the same departure twice.

Allergies follow a separate regime. A field visible to the whole company and a field reserved to whoever organizes meals are not the same feature. The declaration is voluntary, express, and destroyed at departure; the service list excludes non-food allergens and returns nothing for a single person, because a group of one is a name.

The measurement outlives the data. Once destroyed, the log cannot be rebuilt, and the organization would lose “we pay for this and nobody takes it”. The aggregate keeps the count per benefit and per year, without names, and enforces the order: aggregate first, destroy afterwards. Receipts attached to a usage line go with it.

Troubleshooting#

See also#

• Recruitment: job positions, applications and the employee record created at hiring.
• Timesheets: the hours each employee enters.
• Expenses: the expense reports that feed the usage log.
• Privacy (Law 25 and other frameworks): the retention schedule for employee files and the destruction campaigns. Law 25 is Québec's Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.
• Fox Quest (gamification): badges, challenges and rewards.
• Celebrations: birthdays and milestones drawn from the records.
• My desk, Dashboard and Progress: the benefits tile.
• Common actions in every application: filters, archiving, exports and the chatter.