> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wayak.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Onboarding automation

> Generate personalized onboarding checklists and deliver tasks to the right owners on the right timeline

A disorganized first week sets the wrong tone. When onboarding relies on manual handoffs between HR, IT, and hiring managers, tasks get missed — equipment arrives late, accounts are not provisioned, and new hires spend their first days waiting instead of learning. The problem compounds when you are onboarding multiple people across different departments and locations.

Wayak connects your HRIS data, onboarding templates, and communication channels so that a single event — a confirmed new hire — triggers a complete, personalized onboarding workflow. The playbook assigns every task to the right owner with the right deadline, and the agent follows up until everything is complete.

***

## What you need

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Data sources" icon="database">
    * **HRIS database** — Employee records table with role, department, location, start date, and manager
    * **IT asset database** — Equipment inventory and provisioning status
  </Card>

  <Card title="Knowledge spaces" icon="book-open">
    * **Onboarding templates** — Department-specific onboarding checklists with task owners and relative due dates
    * **Employee handbook** — Company policies, benefits summaries, and orientation materials
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

**Semantic layer:** Define these in your ontology before setting up the agent.

| Component | Name                 | Definition                                                                                        |
| --------- | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Object    | `Employee`           | Maps to the HRIS employees table. Represents a current or incoming team member                    |
| Object    | `OnboardingTask`     | Maps to the onboarding task tracker. Represents a single task with an owner, due date, and status |
| Metric    | `TaskCompletionRate` | Percentage of onboarding tasks completed on time per new hire                                     |
| Dimension | `Department`         | Categorization by business unit: Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance               |

<Tip>
  See [building a semantic layer](/quickstart/build-semantic-layer) for a step-by-step guide.
</Tip>

***

## Agent setup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create the agent">
    Go to **Agent Space** → **New agent**.

    | Field    | Value                                                              |
    | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
    | **Name** | People Ops Assistant                                               |
    | **Role** | Employee experience and onboarding specialist                      |
    | **Goal** | Ensure every new hire has a smooth, complete onboarding experience |
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the description">
    > You manage new hire onboarding end to end. When generating checklists, tailor every task to the hire's role, department, and location. Use a friendly, welcoming tone in all communications directed at the new hire. Be precise with deadlines and task owners. If a task is overdue, escalate to the responsible owner's manager with a clear summary of what is blocked.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Scope data access">
    Grant access to:

    * HRIS database (employees, departments, managers)
    * IT asset database (equipment inventory)
    * Onboarding templates knowledge space
    * Employee handbook knowledge space
    * `Employee`, `OnboardingTask` objects and `TaskCompletionRate` metric
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add skills">
    <AccordionGroup>
      <Accordion title="Generate onboarding checklist">
        **Trigger:** New hire confirmed in HRIS

        1. Pull the new hire's role, department, location, start date, and reporting manager from the HRIS.
        2. Retrieve the onboarding template for that department from the knowledge space.
        3. Customize the template: add role-specific tools, access permissions, and training modules.
        4. Assign each task to the responsible owner (IT for equipment, manager for introductions, HR for paperwork, security for badge access).
        5. Set due dates relative to the start date (equipment ready 2 days before, orientation on day 1, 30-60-90 day check-ins).
        6. Deliver the checklist to the hiring manager and the new hire via email.
      </Accordion>

      <Accordion title="Follow up on overdue tasks">
        **Trigger:** Daily check or manager request

        1. Query all onboarding tasks with a status of "pending" and a due date in the past.
        2. Group overdue tasks by new hire and by responsible owner.
        3. For each overdue task, identify how many days it is past due and what downstream tasks it blocks.
        4. Send a reminder to the task owner with the task details and escalation timeline.
        5. If a task is more than 3 days overdue, notify the owner's manager and the HR business partner.
      </Accordion>
    </AccordionGroup>
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Automation

### Playbook: New hire onboarding workflow

<Steps>
  <Step title="Set the trigger">
    Event trigger: **New employee record created** in the HRIS database with a status of "confirmed" and a future start date.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build the workflow">
    1. **Query** the HRIS for the new hire's full profile: name, role, department, location, start date, and manager.
    2. **Query** the onboarding templates knowledge space for the matching department template.
    3. **Loop** through each task in the template:
       * Personalize the task description with the new hire's name and role.
       * Assign the task owner based on the task category (IT, HR, manager, security).
       * Calculate the absolute due date from the relative offset and the start date.
       * Create the task record in the onboarding tracker.
    4. **Condition:** If the start date is less than 5 business days away, mark the checklist as "expedited" and shorten all pre-start deadlines by 50%.
    5. **Aggregate** the full checklist into a formatted summary.

    <Info>
      The **deadline calculation** step uses a Python code block to compute business-day offsets, accounting for weekends and company holidays. You can customize the holiday calendar in the code.
    </Info>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure delivery">
    Send an email to the hiring manager with the full checklist. Send a Slack message to the `#new-hires` channel with the new hire's name, role, start date, and a link to the checklist.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Test and activate">
    Click **Run now** to test with live data, then toggle to **Active**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## What's next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Policy Q&A" icon="arrow-right" href="/use-cases/hr/policy-qa">
    Help new hires (and all employees) get instant answers to policy questions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="All HR use cases" icon="list" href="/use-cases/hr">
    See the full list.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>