Question 1

Adding and inviting colleagues

Accepted Answer

As an HR admin you add colleagues via People in the left menu. Click Add people in the top right to choose how you want to get started.

Three ways to add colleagues

Add a single colleague: Add someone manually via a 5-step wizard. This is the most complete way to set someone up.
Import via spreadsheet: Have multiple colleagues to add? Download the import template, fill it in and upload it back. You can also assign teams directly in the template.
Send us your files: Already have a staff overview in a spreadsheet? Send it over and the Heartsome team will import everyone for you. Completely free!

Adding a single colleague: the 5 steps

Step 1 — Basics: Fill in the first name, last name, work email address, job title and start date. The email address is used to create their account — they'll use it to log in to Heartsome. Click Next to continue.
Step 2 — Profile (optional): Add personal details such as preferred name, pronouns, date of birth, gender identity, nationality and a profile photo. You can skip this step and fill it in later via the employee profile.
Step 3 — Contract (optional): Set the job title, level, employment type, working hours per week, start date and optionally the probation end date. Assign the colleague to a team and set their reporting line. You can also choose a location per working day. Optionally you can already upload documents here, such as a signed contract.

Question 2

Reviewing time off requests

Accepted Answer

As an HR admin or Manager you are responsible for approving or declining time off requests from your employees.

Where do you see open requests?

In two places:

Pulse → Your action items — open requests appear here directly as an action item. Click on a request to review it.
HR → Requests — a complete overview of all open time off requests, showing the employee's name, type of time off, period and number of days per request. You also receive a notification as soon as an employee submits a time off request.

Reviewing a request

Go to HR → Requests or click on the action item in your Pulse.
Click Review next to the request.
You'll see a pop-up with the details: type of time off, period and number of days.
If there are team members who are also absent during the same period, Heartwork shows this automatically — so you can take team availability into account.
Choose one of the two options:

Approve — the request is approved immediately and the employee receives a notification.
Decline — you can optionally provide a reason. Then click Decline to confirm.

Editing or cancelling an approved request

Want to adjust or cancel an already approved request? Go to People → [employee name] → Time off. Click the three dots next to the request and choose Edit or Cancel.

|| Note: No open requests? Then you'll see the message "No open requests — All time off requests have been processed" at HR → Requests.

Question 3

Customising teams

Accepted Answer

When you create your account, Heartsome automatically sets up a number of default teams, such as Design, Engineering, Marketing and Sales. You can customise these to match the actual structure of your company.

You manage your teams via Company settings → Teams.

Renaming or removing a team

Click the three dots next to a team to edit or remove it. Remove teams that don't apply to your company, so you're left with an overview that makes sense.

Adding a new team

Don't see your team? Click Add team in the top right and give the team a name and a colour.

Linking employees to a team

You can link an employee to a team at three different moments:

When inviting a single person — you can choose a team directly during the adding process.
During a bulk import — the import template has a column to assign a team.
Afterwards — go to People, click on an employee, open the Employment tab and click Edit next to General. From there you can choose or change a team.

Question 4

Org chart

Accepted Answer

The org chart shows the reporting structure of your company visually. You can open it via the org chart icon at the top of the People page.

What do you see?

Each employee appears as a card with their name, job title and team(s). The lines between cards show the reporting lines. If there are multiple employees without a Manager, a company node with your company's name automatically appears at the top as a starting point.

If there's a number with a + below a card, that person has direct reports that are still collapsed. Click it to expand them. A - collapses them again.

Navigating

In the top right you'll find the controls:

— and + — zoom out and zoom in
Fit to screen icon — fits the org chart to your screen
Double arrow down — expand all
Double arrow up — collapse all
Horizontal / Vertical — switch between a horizontal or vertical layout Click on an employee card to go directly to their profile.

Setting up the reporting structure

The structure of the org chart is determined by the Reports to setting in each employee's employment details. Update this via People → [employee name] → Employment → Edit.

Question 5

Reporting sick

Accepted Answer

Can I report myself as sick in Heartsome?

That depends on your company's settings. If the HR admin has enabled the option Allow employees to report their own absence via Company settings → Preferences, you'll see the Report sick button in the top right of your Pulse.

If the button isn't there, you can't report yourself as sick via Heartsome. Pass your sick report on to your Manager or HR admin, who can process it for you.

Reporting yourself as sick

Click Report sick in the top right of your Pulse.
Fill in the start date — today is already filled in by default.
Optionally add a note.
Click Report absence. After reporting, you'll see a notification on your Pulse that you've been reported sick since the date you filled in, including a Feeling better? button as a reminder to pass on your recovery to your Manager once you're feeling better.

As an HR admin or Manager: reporting absence for a colleague

As an HR admin or Manager you can always report absence for a colleague, regardless of the company settings.

Click Report sick in the top right of your Pulse.
You'll first see the question "Who is this for?" — click on yourself or search for a colleague using the search field.
Fill in the start date and optionally add a note.
Click Report absence.

|| As an HR admin you set whether employees can report themselves as sick via Company settings → Preferences → Allow employees to report their own absence.

Question 6

Managing absence

Accepted Answer

The absence overview for an employee can be found via People → [employee name] → Absence. Here you can see the current status, any required actions for long-term absence and the complete absence history.

Current status

If an employee has been reported sick, you can see here how long the absence has been ongoing and since which date. As long as there is an active sick report, you can update the status via Update status. Via the three dots next to the sick report you can cancel the report if it was created by mistake.

If the employee has not been reported sick, you'll see the message "Not currently absent" and you can register a new sick report via Report absence.

Updating the status

Via Update status you can keep track of the employee's situation as an HR admin or Manager. There are three options:

Partially recovered: The employee is partially back at work. You enter a recovery percentage — for example 50% means the employee is working half of their normal hours. Heartsome closes the current entry and creates a new one with the entered percentage.
Fully recovered: The employee is fully back. The absence is closed on the date you enter. The case is closed and will from now on appear in the absence history.
Worsened: The employee was partially recovered but has fully dropped out again. Heartsome closes the partial recovery entry and registers a new full sick report.

Relapse within 4 weeks

If an employee reports sick within 4 wee

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