HR policy self-service that answers for each employee's own country, with the clause quoted
Policy answers for each employee's own country in seconds, clause quoted.
See one case, screen by screen ↓It lets employees and managers ask any HR policy question in their own words and get the answer that applies to them, without opening a ticket. HR Policy Self-Service answers only from the documents in force for the asker's country, entity and contract, quotes every clause, and sends a pre-filled case to HR when a person is needed.
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A global life sciences company runs on a global family leave standard, country addenda, works agreements, country handbooks, work rules and FAQ articles — and one question can be governed by several of them at once. A QC lab manager in Mannheim, a field representative in Atlanta and a clinical data manager in Barcelona each have a different right answer, and none of them can tell which document applies. So they open a ticket, and the HR service centre answers the same “which document applies to me?” question by hand, country by country.
When two documents disagree, the first one found wins. The German works agreement asks for seven weeks' written notice for parental leave; the global standard asks for 8 weeks in the HR portal. Spain's remote work addendum allows 10 days a year from abroad, the global guideline 20 and an old FAQ 15. Nobody tells the policy owner — and a question about pressure from a manager or someone's own pay must never get an automated answer at all.
Estimated split, in hours, for one employee's policy question that ends up with the HR service centre, by hand and with the solution.
Six specialist agents find who is asking, pick the policies in force, quote each clause, compare countries and flag policies that disagree; an HR advisor takes every case.
Northwind Bio has 41,200 people in 58 countries. On a Wednesday morning, Felix Brandt, a QC lab manager in Mannheim with 12 reports, asks for one of his technicians. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Self-service opens on a real answer. Lena asked how much leave she gets when her partner has their baby in February: 12 weeks at full pay, within 12 months of the birth, in three parts — birth leave, additional birth leave topped up from UWV's 70% to 100%, and Northwind family leave. Six clauses are quoted, all in force today, at confidence 0.94. Beside it, the same question for the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.
“Answers come only from documents that apply to the person asking, in force today.”
Felix types in his own words. He does not say where he works: the Context Resolver reads six fields from the HR system — Germany, Northwind Bio GmbH, permanent full-time, band 10, Works Agreement BV-17, since May 2015. The Topic & Sensitivity Classifier labels it family leave, not sensitive. The Policy Retriever finds 8 of 1,846 documents that apply to Germany and are in force today, with 5 clauses that answer the question.
“Six fields only · never pay or health data”
Under the works agreement, Northwind tops up the state parental allowance (Elterngeld) so the technician receives 100% of net pay for 12 weeks, plus one paid day of special leave for the birth, in up to three blocks — five clauses quoted, at confidence 0.88. On notice, BV-17 § 2 (3) says seven weeks, in writing; the Global Family Leave Standard § 5 says 8 weeks, in the HR portal. Both are shown side by side, case C-3331 goes to Jonas Weber in Leave · Germany, and the United States, Netherlands and United Kingdom answers sit on the right.
“Until HR decides, ask him to apply 8 weeks ahead — that meets both.”
One switch shows the partner-leave question answered for six countries at once, Felix's own country marked: the Netherlands and the United States at 12 weeks, Germany at 12 weeks topped up to 100% of net pay, the United Kingdom at 2 statutory weeks enhanced to 12, Japan at up to 4 weeks of paternity leave with the first 12 weeks at full salary, and Spain at 19 weeks. Each card names the clauses it comes from.
“Only 15% of employees say where they are when they ask. Self-service never needs them to.”
The case carries Felix's question, his context from the HR system, why it came to a person — policies disagree, notice of 7 or 8 weeks — the five clauses with their effective dates, and a draft reply written from those clauses. The advisor can send the reply, ask Jonas Weber to decide F-216, or reassign it. Felix never has to repeat himself.
The Case Builder writes the draft; it is never sent without an HR advisor.
Five questions this month hit the same conflict, Felix's among them, with others from a QC analyst, a process engineer and a lab technician in Mannheim and Berlin. The Knowledge Steward suggests: German law (BEEG § 16) sets seven weeks' written notice and the works agreement repeats it, while the global standard's 8 weeks is a company planning step — so the works agreement governs in Germany, and section 5 of the global standard gets a Germany note. Jonas chooses and clicks Decide.
“The decision is recorded on the audit trail; answers change from the next question.”
Ana asks whether she can work from her parents' home in Lisbon for four weeks in December. The Spain Remote Work Addendum says 10 days a year, the Global Work-from-Anywhere Guideline 20 unless a country sets less, and FAQ KB-0412 15. All three are shown. The Spain addendum is the lowest and the most specific, so 10 days is the safe answer until HR confirms; four weeks needs a mobility review, so case C-3321 goes to Global Mobility already filled in.
Omar writes that his manager says he can't take sick days during launch week. The Topic & Sensitivity Classifier marks it sensitive, so no agent answers it. Case C-3318 opens in Employee relations · confidential, and Omar is told that someone from Employee Relations will contact him within one working day. For reference, he sees the sick-leave clause and the Speak-Up policy's protection against retaliation.
“Only Employee Relations can see this case; the employee's manager is never notified.”
In the last 7 days, 4,118 questions were asked. 80% were answered with the clause quoted and no case, at a median of 9 seconds. 1,660 tickets were avoided — 32% fewer than the 5,200 a week before self-service, against a 30% target — and 90% of answers were rated helpful.
The same question, seen by the four people who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six specialist agents find who is asking, pick the policies in force, quote each clause, compare countries and flag policies that disagree; an HR advisor takes every case.
Reads the asker's country, legal entity, population, grade band, agreement coverage and service date from the HR system, so only the documents that apply to that person are searched.
Labels the topic of each question and routes sensitive ones — harassment, retaliation, health detail, immigration, termination, personal pay — straight to a person.
Searches only documents that apply to the asker's country, entity and population and are in force today, and ranks the clauses by precedence: local law, agreement, country addendum or work rules, global policy, handbook, FAQ.
Writes a plain answer only from the retrieved clauses, quotes each one with its effective date and a confidence, and detects in-force clauses that disagree.
Opens a pre-filled case — context, question, matching clauses, why it was routed and a draft reply — in the right queue, so the employee never repeats themselves.
Each night finds clauses that disagree, questions with no document and sections that are out of date, and sends each to its policy owner with the evidence and a suggestion.
Decides every case. The agents propose; a named person decides.
HR can ask in plain words what employees asked, where the library is thin, or change a rule. Every answer points to its source.
What did people ask most today?
Today's 712 questions, by topic: leave and time off 31% (88% answered), benefits 18% (79%), pay and payslips 14% (62%), hybrid and work from abroad 11% (74%), family leave 9% (90%). Pay is lowest by design — questions about someone's own payslip go to Payroll.
Why does Spain get a different answer on working abroad?
Because three documents disagree: the Spain addendum says 10 days, the global guideline 20 days unless a country sets less, and an older FAQ 15 days. Self-service applies the Spain rule and flags the conflict — finding F-207 is waiting for Inès Moreau.
Is self-service reducing tickets?
Yes. Tickets reaching the service centre fell from 5,200 a week before self-service to 3,540 in the week to Oct 7 — 32% fewer, or 1,660 tickets avoided, against a 30% target. In the same week 3,294 questions were answered with the clause quoted and no case.
What employee data does self-service read?
Six fields only: country, legal entity, population, grade band, agreement coverage and service date — enough to pick the documents that apply. It never reads salary, health data or performance ratings, and context is kept for 30 days.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
How self-service answers, what always goes to a person, and who decides are settings HR owns.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Confidence floor | 0.75 | Raise or lower it; below the floor, self-service opens a pre-filled case instead of answering |
| Quote the clause in every answer | On | Required by policy — every sentence carries a citation |
| Show effective dates | On | On · Off |
| Answer in the employee's language | On | German, Spanish, Japanese and 11 more, quoting the original clause |
| Always a person | Harassment or bullying, retaliation, discrimination (cannot be turned off); health detail, termination, personal pay | Switch topics on or off, or add one |
| Which document wins | Local law → collective or works agreement → country addendum or work rules → global policy → handbook or guideline → FAQ article | Local law is fixed in first place; the others can be moved up or down |
| Employee context from the HR system | Country, legal entity, population, grade band, agreement coverage, service date — kept 30 days | Home address not read · salary, health data and performance rating never read |
| Case queues and owners | By country and topic, e.g. Leave · Germany to Jonas Weber | Dana Okafor · Jonas Weber · Inès Moreau · Aiko Tanaka · Niamh Kelly · Employee Relations team · Global Mobility team |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (2026 employee HR-service survey — 36% wait a day or more for an HR answer; a live HR contact costs about 11× self-service). German parental-leave notice: BEEG § 16. People and companies named on this page, including Northwind Bio, are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
It lets employees and managers ask any HR policy question in their own words and get the answer that applies to them, without opening a ticket. HR Policy Self-Service answers only from the documents in force for the asker's country, entity and contract, quotes every clause, and sends a pre-filled case to HR when a person is needed.
The Context Resolver reads six fields from the HR system — country, legal entity, population, grade band, agreement coverage and service date. The Policy Retriever then searches only documents that apply to that person and are in force today, ranked from local law and agreements down to FAQ articles. The employee never has to say where they work.
Both clauses are shown side by side with their sources and a safe course to follow meanwhile — for the German notice case, apply 8 weeks ahead, which meets both. A pre-filled case goes to HR, and the conflict becomes a finding the policy owner decides. From the next question on, answers follow that decision.
No. Harassment, retaliation, discrimination, health detail, termination and personal pay always go to a person, in confidence, with the case pre-filled. When the classifier is unsure, it treats the question as sensitive, and employee relations cases are visible only to Employee Relations.
Six fields only: country, legal entity, population, grade band, agreement coverage and service date. It never reads salary, health data or performance ratings, and the context is kept for 30 days.
Yes. Below the 0.75 confidence floor the agents do not answer; they open a case. An HR advisor sends, edits or routes every case and its draft reply, the policy owner decides which clause governs, and the Knowledge Steward proposes changes but never edits a policy.
Yes. The confidence floor, the always-a-person topics, which document wins, the context fields read from the HR system, and the case queues and owners are all settings. Topics required by the Speak-Up policy cannot be turned off.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your global policies, country addenda, works agreements, handbooks and FAQs — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own policies first.
Only the people a change touches retrain, all before it takes effect
1-min demoGxP Training ComplianceAn inspector's training question answered with cited records in minutes
1-min demoEU Pay Transparency ComplianceEvery pay-information request answered within the legal deadline.
1-min demoWe'll run HR Policy Self-Service on your own policies, addenda and a sample of past employee questions.