How To Use Jira For HR: Automation, Add-ons, Templates & More

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Hi everyone!

I put together this article which compiles ways you can use Jira (and other Atlassian apps) for HR processes - including onboarding, managing HR requests, documentation, recruitment & more.

If you find this useful, I'm also hosting a live webinar on Thursday, June 12 - where you can ask questions and hear from Atlassian about how to setup HR processes with Jira. You can register or watch the recording for free here - https://www.airmeet.com/e/1deeb130-3757-11f0-b2d7-b7f97ae3f9ac

Hope to see you there!! Now back to the main content...

According to SHRM and the Harvard Business Review, 65% (!!!) of managerial tasks can now be automated. With agile project management tools like Jira that have out-of-the-box automation capabilities, it’s possible to significantly accelerate HR workflows and better serve your employees.

In this article, I'll explore how automation in Jira, Confluence, and Jira Service Management can enhance your HR operations.

We will cover:

• Practical automation use cases to free up your team's time.
• Impactful Jira HR add-ons from the Atlassian Marketplace for extended functionality.
• Ready-to-use HR templates available in Jira to help your team get started quickly.
• How you can use Rovo to help employees find HR-related information.

Jira Automations for HR Teams

One of the most powerful features of Jira Service Management (JSM) for HR teams is its straightforward automation capability. You don't need to be a coding expert; setting up automated rules often takes just a few clicks. The primary goal here is to eliminate the manual, repetitive tasks that consume your team's valuable time. This allows your HR professionals to concentrate on strategic initiatives and work that truly requires their expertise.

Consider the new employee onboarding process, a classic HR workflow with a lot of opportunity for automation:

Imagine a new hire is confirmed. Instead of manually coordinating with multiple departments, an automated workflow in Jira Service Management can take over:

1. Initiation: An HR team member initiates the "New Hire Onboarding" request in Jira.
2. Automated Triggers:This single request can automatically: 

• Notify IT to provision a new laptop and install necessary software.
• Trigger the creation of a new email account.
• Alert the facilities team to prepare a workstation.
• Schedule initial orientation meetings.

Each step seamlessly kicks off the next, creating a connected process across HR, IT, and other relevant departments. Here you can see how easy it is to customize the fields required to submit an onboarding request form:

This level of automation ensures consistency in how every new employee is onboarded.

You can customize these workflows precisely to your team’s specific needs, ensuring all critical steps are completed efficiently and no detail is overlooked. This not only saves significant time but also creates a smoother, more welcoming experience for your new team members.

Plus, in JSM, you can find a library of automation rules to help get you started or create your own automation rule from scratch:

Integrating Your HRIS: The Workday to Jira Connection

Many HR teams rely on a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) like Workday as their central hub for employee data. The good news is that Jira Service Management can connect with these systems to create even more sophisticated automation, further reducing manual data entry and speeding up processes.

Here's how Atlassian's own HR team leverages this kind of integration for new employee onboarding: 

1. Data Flow from Workday: When a new employee is hired and their details are entered into Workday, this action doesn't just sit within the HRIS.
2. Automatic Request Creation: Through an integration (Atlassian uses Workato, but other integration platforms can achieve similar results), adding the new hire in Workday automatically creates an onboarding request directly in Jira Service Management.
3. Cascading Tasks: This single, automatically generated request then kicks off a comprehensive onboarding checklist managed within Jira. This can include everything from: 

• Provisioning laptops and necessary software.
• Creating system accounts.
• Ordering accessories.
• Scheduling orientation sessions and initial team meetings.
   

This integrated approach also brings greater measurability to the entire onboarding process, allowing for better oversight and continuous improvement. Most importantly, it contributes to a more intuitive and positive experience for new employees as they join the company, with all their onboarding tasks managed and tracked centrally.

Interested in more HR automation use cases? Check out our blog for more inspiration: Blog - Seibert Solutions US

Jira Add-Ons for HR Teams

While Jira’s native capabilities for HR are extensive, the Atlassian Marketplace offers a wealth of add-ons to further tailor the platform to your specific HR needs. These apps can introduce specialized functionalities, helping your team manage processes even more effectively.

A great example of this is the suite of tools offered by Onward. Their apps, such as OnRamp and OnLink, are designed to deepen HR workflow automation directly within Jira Service Management. Key functionalities include: 

• Enhanced Onboarding/Offboarding: Creating sophisticated, automated journeys for new hires and departing employees with pre-defined task libraries and templates.
• HRIS Integration: Seamlessly connecting Jira with popular HR Information Systems (like Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ADP). This allows for data from your core HR system to be used in workflows in Jira, such as automatically assigning user permissions based on their credentials in HRIS.
  
  

These kinds of integrations and specialized tools can significantly augment your HR team's ability to manage employee lifecycles and internal processes efficiently. 

Get Started Quickly: Ready-to-Use HR Templates in Jira

Jumping into a new system can feel daunting, but Jira helps your HR team hit the ground running with a selection of out-of-the-box templates specifically designed for common Human Resources processes. These aren't just blank slates; they come pre-configured with workflows and request types relevant to your daily tasks, such as:

• Employee Onboarding: Manage all the steps from offer acceptance to a new hire's first day, ensuring a consistent and welcoming experience.
• Employee Offboarding: Systematically handle resignations or terminations, covering everything from knowledge transfer to exit interviews and system access removal.
• HR Service Management: This general template is often a starting point for creating a service desk where employees can raise various HR requests (e.g., benefits questions, policy clarifications, leave requests).
• Recruitment: Some templates or configurations help track candidates through the hiring pipeline, from application to offer:

Starting with these HR templates available in Jira, your team can more easily transition your processes to a more organized and efficient system, building upon a proven framework.

How to Use Rovo for Fielding HR Questions

In any busy organization, enabling employees and HR staff to quickly find the information they need is crucial. Atlassian's Rovo is engineered to address this challenge. It offers powerful AI-driven enterprise search capabilities, not just across your Atlassian tools like Confluence and Jira, but also by connecting to a wide range of other internal company systems.

Thanks to its third-party (3P) connectors, Rovo can search for information stored in platforms such as Google Suite, Figma, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and more. This means your teams can get a truly comprehensive view of relevant data from a single search point.

Find HR Information Faster with Rovo

Imagine employees needing to check a benefits policy, find the latest company holiday schedule, understand the process for leave requests, or locate a specific HR form. Instead of navigating multiple repositories or asking HR directly, they can use Rovo's intelligent search.

Rovo can quickly scan your documented knowledge across these connected tools and provide relevant answers and links.

This empowers employees with self-service access to HR information, saves them time, and also reduces the volume of routine inquiries your HR team needs to manage, allowing them to focus on more strategic tasks.

Spotlight on a Rovo Agent: Job Listing Assistant

Beyond its broad search functionality, Rovo also offers specialized AI agents designed for specific tasks. For HR teams, one particularly useful agent is the Job Listing Assistant. This tool focuses on supporting your talent acquisition efforts: 

• Consistent and Engaging Job Descriptions: The Job Listing Assistant helps you draft compelling and standardized job listings, ensuring your open roles are presented professionally and attractively.
• Leverage Existing Content: It can intelligently search across your organization's data (best used within Confluence where job description drafts might live) to find similar past listings or related content. This helps maintain consistency and saves time when creating new postings.

 So, while Rovo acts as a comprehensive search tool for all HR-related information by tapping into various company systems, it also provides targeted assistance through agents like the Job Listing Assistant to help with specific, recurring HR processes.

Did you know?
With the Google Chrome extension for Rovo, you can access Rovo chat on any webpage – and ask Rovo to help you with whatever you're working on in Google Docs, Figma, Github, etc. Here's what it looks like in action:

Get Started Using Jira to Automate Your HR Workflows

From Jira's powerful automation and customizable templates to specialized Marketplace add-ons and Rovo's intelligent search – Atlassian offers a significant opportunity to refine and improve how your HR team operates. It’s easier than ever to move away from manual processes, create more consistent experiences for your employees, and free up your HR professionals to focus on strategic initiatives that truly drive your organization forward.

If you'd like to explore how Jira, Confluence, and Jira Service Management can be tailored to your specific HR needs, my team at Seibert Solutions is here to help. As a Platinum Atlassian Solution Partner, we have the expertise to guide you through the setup, customization, and optimization of these tools for your Human Resources department. Book a consultation with us: Seibert Solutions Sync