From Recruitment to Offboarding

Managing the Complete Employee Lifecycle with SIX PeopleFlow

People management begins before an employee’s first working day and continues after the employment relationship ends. Recruitment, contracts, working time, leave, skills, performance, compensation, equipment, access rights and exit procedures all belong to one connected employee lifecycle.

When these activities are managed through spreadsheets, paper files and separate applications, HR information becomes difficult to trust. Managers may not know who is available, which qualifications are expiring or whether an employee’s role has changed. Payroll may receive incomplete time data. IT may not be informed when someone leaves. Important documents may exist, but nobody knows which version is current.

SIX PeopleFlow connects these stages in one structured process:

Workforce need → Recruitment → Selection → Onboarding → Employment → Time and Leave → Development → Role Changes → Offboarding → Record Retention

The goal is not simply to store employee data. It is to give HR, employees, managers and operational teams reliable information throughout the entire employment relationship.

Why the employee lifecycle needs one connected system

An employee interacts with many parts of the business.

HR manages personal records, contracts and policies. Managers assign work and review performance. Employees request leave and record time. Finance needs compensation and cost information. IT manages access. Production and field service need to know whether qualified employees are available.

If each team maintains its own records, different versions of the truth appear.

For example, an employee may be marked as available in the field-service schedule even though HR has approved sick leave. A production manager may assign a machine operation to someone whose certification has expired. Finance may receive a timesheet that does not reflect approved overtime.

SIX PeopleFlow creates a shared employee record and connects it with the processes that depend on it.

One employee record from entry to exit

The employee record is the center of the HR process.

It can bring together information such as:

• Personal and contact details
• Position and department
• Manager and reporting structure
• Employment contract
• Working schedule
• Work location
• Compensation information
• Skills and qualifications
• Training records
• Leave and absence history
• Timesheets and attendance
• Performance goals and reviews
• Company equipment
• Documents and approvals
• Role and contract changes
• Exit information

Not every user should see every field. A project manager may need to see availability and skills, but not private medical or compensation information. Finance may need approved payroll inputs, but not recruitment notes.

PeopleFlow should therefore combine one connected employee record with controlled access.

Stage 1: Identify the workforce need

Recruitment should begin with a real organizational need, not only a request to “hire someone.”

The company should first define:

• Why the position is needed
• Which department owns it
• Who the manager will be
• What work the employee will perform
• Which skills and qualifications are required
• Where the work will happen
• Which working schedule applies
• What level of responsibility is involved
• Whether the role is new or a replacement
• What compensation range is approved

This information becomes the foundation of the job profile.

A clear job profile helps HR find suitable candidates. It also supports fairer decisions because applicants can be measured against defined requirements instead of personal impressions.

Stage 2: Build a structured recruitment process

Recruitment creates large amounts of personal information. Applications, resumes, interview notes, test results and communication should not be spread across individual email accounts.

A structured recruitment workflow can follow these stages:

1. Position requested
2. Position approved
3. Vacancy published
4. Applications received
5. Candidates reviewed
6. Interviews completed
7. Candidate evaluated
8. Offer approved
9. Offer accepted or rejected
10. Candidate converted into an employee

SIX PeopleFlow can keep the vacancy, candidate, interviews, documents and final decision connected.

Capture candidate information once

Candidate data should be collected in a consistent format.

This may include:

• Name and contact information
• Application source
• Resume and documents
• Applied position
• Relevant experience
• Skills and qualifications
• Interview status
• Evaluation results
• Communication history
• Consent or legal basis for data processing
• Retention or deletion date

Only information needed for recruitment should be collected. Sensitive or unrelated personal questions should not become part of the selection process.

Use a clear candidate pipeline

A candidate pipeline shows where each applicant stands.

Typical stages include:

New Application → Initial Review → Interview → Assessment → Final Review → Offer → Hired or Rejected

This gives HR and hiring managers the same current information. It also reduces the risk that a promising applicant is forgotten because an email was missed.

Evaluate candidates using defined criteria

A good evaluation should use the requirements of the role.

Criteria may include:

• Technical knowledge
• Relevant experience
• Required certification
• Communication
• Problem-solving
• Availability
• Language skills
• Role-specific competence

The evaluation method should be consistent. Different candidates for the same role should be judged using comparable criteria.

PeopleFlow can preserve the evaluation history, but software should not replace professional judgment. Managers remain responsible for fair and explainable hiring decisions.

Stage 3: Move from candidate to employee

When the selected candidate accepts the offer, the recruitment record should continue into employment.

The company should not have to enter the same name, address, contact information and position several times.

The transition may create:

• Employee number
• Employee profile
• Position assignment
• Department assignment
• Reporting line
• Employment start date
• Contract record
• Working schedule
• Compensation details
• Onboarding checklist
• Document requirements
• Equipment request
• System-access request

This is one of the most important connections in PeopleFlow. Recruitment data becomes the starting point for the employee record without losing the history of how and why the person was selected.

Stage 4: Organize onboarding

Onboarding is more than signing a contract and showing someone where to sit.

A well-managed onboarding process prepares the employee, manager, HR team and supporting departments before the first day.

An onboarding checklist may include:

• Signed employment documents
• Tax and payroll information
• Identity and qualification checks
• Workplace preparation
• Computer and phone
• Uniform or protective equipment
• Building and system access
• Health and safety training
• Company policies
• Role-specific training
• Assigned manager or mentor
• Goals for the first weeks
• Required acknowledgments

Each task should have an owner and due date.

For example, HR may manage employment documents, IT may create accounts, and the manager may prepare role training. PeopleFlow can show which tasks are complete and which still require action.

Begin with clear expectations

The employee should understand:

• What the role includes
• Who the manager is
• Which goals apply
• How working time is recorded
• How leave is requested
• Which policies must be followed
• How performance will be reviewed
• Where help is available

Clear expectations reduce confusion and help the employee become productive faster.

Stage 5: Maintain accurate employment records

Employee information changes over time.

A person may:

• Change address
• Move to another department
• Receive a promotion
• Change manager
• Change working hours
• Move to another location
• Receive new responsibilities
• Complete training
• Renew a certification
• Receive a compensation adjustment
• Sign a contract amendment

These changes should update the current employee record while preserving the historical record.

The system should answer two questions:

1. What is true now?
2. What was true at a specific point in the past?

This is important for management, payroll, audits and legal disputes.

SIX PeopleFlow can keep current employee information together with dated changes, documents and responsible users.

Stage 6: Manage organizational structure and responsibilities

An employee record should not exist separately from the organization.

PeopleFlow should connect employees with:

• Legal company
• Business unit
• Department
• Team
• Position
• Manager
• Cost center
• Work location
• Project
• Operational role

This structure helps the business understand who reports to whom and where labor capacity is available.

It also supports approvals. A leave request may go to the employee’s current manager. A contract change may require HR approval. A high-value training request may require department and financial approval.

When an employee changes role, the approval path should change with the position.

Stage 7: Plan working time

Working time begins with a planned schedule.

The schedule may define:

• Working days
• Start and end times
• Shift
• Breaks
• Part-time arrangement
• Remote-work days
• Weekend work
• Holiday calendar
• Location
• Flexibility rules

The planned schedule is not the same as actual attendance.

An employee may be scheduled for eight hours but work seven hours, take approved leave, arrive late or work overtime. PeopleFlow should keep the plan and the actual result separate.

This makes differences visible and supports correct approval.

Stage 8: Record attendance and time

Several related terms are often confused.

Working schedule

The working schedule shows when the employee is expected to work.

Attendance

Attendance shows when the employee was present or recorded as working.

Timesheet

A timesheet explains how working time was used. It may connect hours with a project, task, manufacturing order, service appointment or internal activity.

Payroll input

Payroll input is the approved information used to calculate compensation. It may include regular hours, overtime, absence, bonuses or other approved elements.

These records are connected, but they are not identical.

For example, an employee may attend work for eight hours and record those hours across two projects. The attendance record proves presence. The timesheet explains the work performed.

SIX PeopleFlow can bring these records together while preserving their different purposes.

Stage 9: Control overtime and exceptions

Overtime should not become an invisible habit.

A controlled process should record:

• Why overtime was needed
• Who requested it
• Who approved it
• When it was worked
• How much time was recorded
• How it should be compensated
• Which project, order or department caused it

The planned schedule can then be compared with actual working time.

Repeated overtime may indicate:

• Insufficient staffing
• Poor scheduling
• Production bottlenecks
• Excessive service demand
• Unrealistic project deadlines
• Missing skills
• Incorrect time records

This turns time tracking into management information instead of simple administration.

Stage 10: Manage leave and absence

Leave affects more than HR.

When someone is unavailable, projects may need to be reassigned. A production schedule may require another qualified operator. Field-service appointments may need to be moved.

A structured leave process can include:

1. Employee submits a request.
2. The system checks the dates and balance.
3. The manager reviews operational impact.
4. The request is approved or rejected.
5. The employee calendar is updated.
6. Connected teams receive updated availability.
7. Payroll-related information is prepared.

Different absence types may include:

• Annual leave
• Sick leave
• Parental leave
• Unpaid leave
• Training leave
• Business travel
• Authorized absence
• Other locally defined categories

Each type may require different documents, approval steps and payroll treatment.

Connect HR availability with operations

Suppose a field-service technician becomes sick.

If Field Service and PeopleFlow are connected, the employee’s availability can change and the service manager can be warned about affected appointments. The manager can then reassign the work.

The same principle applies to projects and manufacturing. Workforce availability should update the operational plan, but the original HR record should remain the source of the absence information.

Stage 11: Manage skills and qualifications

A company needs to know more than who is employed. It needs to understand what each person is qualified to do.

A skill record may include:

• Skill or competence
• Proficiency level
• Certificate
• Issuing organization
• Issue date
• Expiration date
• Evidence document
• Training requirement
• Renewal status

This is especially important in manufacturing, maintenance, logistics and field service.

A machine may require a trained operator. Welding may require a valid qualification. A technician may need product-specific authorization. A driver may require a valid license.

SIX PeopleFlow can connect skills and qualifications with the employee record. Operational teams can then use current competence information when assigning work.

Detect expiring qualifications early

The company should not discover an expired certificate when work is about to begin.

Alerts can help managers identify:

• Certificates nearing expiration
• Mandatory training not completed
• Skills missing from a team
• Employees ready for advanced training
• Roles that depend on only one qualified person

This reduces operational risk and supports better workforce planning.

Stage 12: Organize training and development

Training should respond to an actual need.

The need may come from:

• A new role
• A performance review
• A new machine
• A customer requirement
• A legal requirement
• An expiring qualification
• A new system
• A future workforce plan

Training records should show what was planned, completed and achieved.

SIX PeopleFlow can connect training with the employee, required skill and development objective. This makes it easier to see whether the training solved the original capability gap.

Stage 13: Manage goals and performance

Performance management should not be a single conversation at the end of the year.

A stronger process includes:

• Clear expectations
• Measurable goals
• Regular feedback
• Employee comments
• Manager evaluation
• Development actions
• Review dates
• Final acknowledgment

Goals should be connected with the employee’s real responsibilities.

A production employee may have quality, output and safety goals. A service technician may have response-time, completion and customer-service goals. A manager may have team, cost and delivery goals.

Performance information should not be based only on raw numbers. Context matters. A lower output level may be caused by machine failure, missing materials or a difficult customer case.

PeopleFlow can organize the evidence and review process, but managers must still interpret results fairly.

Stage 14: Maintain fair and explainable compensation records

Compensation may include more than base salary.

It can include:

• Fixed salary
• Hourly pay
• Shift allowance
• Overtime
• Performance-based pay
• Commission
• Bonus
• Benefits
• Travel allowance
• Other approved payments

Each pay element should have a clear reason, effective date and approval history.

The system should preserve:

• Current compensation
• Previous compensation
• Date of change
• Reason for change
• Approver
• Related position or grade
• Objective pay criteria

This information becomes especially important under pay-transparency rules.

SIX PeopleFlow can organize compensation records and payroll inputs. The final payroll calculation and statutory reporting may remain inside PeopleFlow or continue through an integrated payroll or accounting system, depending on the company’s setup.

Stage 15: Connect people with business operations

PeopleFlow becomes more valuable when HR information supports operational decisions.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing can check employee availability, shift assignments and required qualifications before assigning work.

Field service

Service managers can see whether technicians are available and qualified. Leave, sickness or employment exit can trigger a scheduling warning.

Projects

Project managers can use approved availability and timesheets to understand labor effort and project cost.

Finance

Finance can receive approved time, compensation and cost-center information without rebuilding HR records manually.

Management

Management can review workforce capacity, overtime, absence, skills and labor cost together.

This does not mean that every department receives access to private HR data. Each team should receive only the information needed for its work.

Stage 16: Manage changes during employment

The employee lifecycle is not a straight line from onboarding to exit.

Employees may move between roles, teams and locations. They may become managers, return from leave or change from full-time to part-time work.

A controlled change process should update all affected areas.

For example, a promotion may require:

• New position
• New manager
• New compensation
• New approval rights
• Updated job description
• New system access
• New goals
• Additional training
• Contract amendment

The change should have an effective date. Historical information should remain available for authorized review.

Stage 17: Begin offboarding with a clear trigger

Offboarding starts when the organization knows that an employee will leave.

The trigger may be:

• Employee resignation
• End of fixed-term contract
• Retirement
• Mutual agreement
• Dismissal
• Internal transfer to another legal entity
• Other lawful reason

The system should record the final working date, responsible manager and required actions.

Offboarding should begin early enough to transfer work and protect the organization.

Stage 18: Transfer work and knowledge

Before departure, the company should identify what the employee owns.

This may include:

• Open tasks
• Projects
• Customer relationships
• Service appointments
• Purchase approvals
• Documents
• Equipment
• Team responsibilities
• System ownership
• ​_Important knowledge

These responsibilities should be reassigned before the person leaves.

In field service, future appointments may need another technician. In projects, tasks and approvals need a new owner. In management, reporting lines may need to change.

SIX PeopleFlow can use the exit event as a trigger for connected departments.

Stage 19: Recover assets and remove access

The company should track the return of:

• Computer
• Phone
• Keys
• Access card
• Vehicle
• Tools
• Protective equipment
• Documents
• Payment cards
• Other company property

System access should also be reviewed.

This may include:

• Email
• SIX ERP account
• Remote access
• Customer systems
• Building access
• Shared accounts
• Company devices
• Third-party services

Access removal should happen at the correct time. Removing access too early may stop the employee from completing work. Removing it too late may create a security risk.

Stage 20: Complete the final employment record

The exit process may require:

• Final attendance approval
• Final timesheet
• Leave balance review
• Expense settlement
• Payroll-related information
• Returned assets
• Access closure
• Required documents
• Exit interview
• Departure reason
• Record-retention classification

The employee should no longer appear as available for future work after the effective exit date.

Historical information may still need to be retained for legal, payroll, tax or audit reasons. Access to that history should remain restricted.

Use workforce analytics carefully

People analytics can help management answer important questions:

• How long does recruitment take?
• Which roles are difficult to fill?
• How quickly do employees complete onboarding?
• Where are overtime levels increasing?
• Which teams have high absence?
• Which qualifications are expiring?
• Where are skill gaps developing?
• How often do employees change roles?
• Why are people leaving?
• Are pay differences supported by objective reasons?

Useful measurements include:

Analytics should support questions, not create automatic conclusions. A high absence rate or lower performance result should be investigated fairly and with proper context.

Compliance must be built into the process

HR software can support compliance, but it cannot make an organization compliant by itself.

The company must still define:

• Lawful HR procedures
• Appropriate approval rules
• Access rights
• Retention periods
• Employee notices
• Fair evaluation criteria
• Local labor-law requirements
• Responsible decision makers

PeopleFlow provides the structure, records and traceability needed to apply those rules consistently.

GDPR and employee data protection

Employee and candidate records contain personal information. Some records may also contain sensitive information.

Under GDPR, personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently. The organization should collect only what is necessary, keep information only as long as needed and protect it from unauthorized access or loss. These principles are commonly called data minimization, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality. (EUR-Lex)

For PeopleFlow, this means:

• Limit access according to role.
• Separate sensitive information from ordinary operational data.
• Explain how employee data is used.
• Record the lawful reason for processing.
• Define retention rules.
• Protect exports and documents.
• Preserve an audit history.
• Correct inaccurate information.
• Delete or anonymize data when legally appropriate.
• Avoid collecting information with no clear HR purpose.

Consent is not always the correct legal basis in employment because the relationship between employer and employee may not be equal. The correct legal basis should be selected according to the purpose, applicable law and professional legal advice.

Working-time compliance

The EU Working Time Directive sets minimum requirements for working time, rest, breaks and annual leave. It includes an average maximum working week of 48 hours, including overtime, and at least four weeks of paid annual leave. It also establishes minimum daily and weekly rest rules. National law and collective agreements may provide additional detail or stronger protection. (European Union)

PeopleFlow can support working-time compliance by keeping:

• Planned schedules
• Actual attendance
• Approved overtime
• Rest periods
• Leave/blog/from-recruitment-to-offboarding/
• Shift information
• Exceptions
• Approval history

The system should warn about possible violations, but managers must still review the situation according to national law and the employee’s working arrangement.

Pay transparency and equal pay

The “Pay Transparency Act” is more accurately described at EU level as the EU Pay Transparency Directive, Directive (EU) 2023/970.

EU Member States were required to transpose the Directive into national law by June 7, 2026. Each country’s implementing law determines the exact local procedures, authorities and penalties, so employers must check the rules in every country where they employ people. (EUR-Lex)

The Directive affects recruitment and employment.

Pay information during recruitment

Employers must provide applicants with information about the starting pay or pay range. This information must be given in the vacancy notice or before the interview. Employers must not ask applicants about their pay history. Recruitment notices and job titles must also be gender-neutral. (European Commission)

PeopleFlow can support this by storing:

• Approved pay range for the position
• Published vacancy information
• Objective selection criteria
• Candidate evaluations
• Offer details
• Approval history

Objective pay structures

Pay differences should be based on objective, gender-neutral criteria.

Possible criteria include:

• Responsibility
• Required competence
• Experience
• Working conditions
• Performance
• Scarcity of a qualified skill
• Shift or location requirements

These criteria should be documented and applied consistently.

PeopleFlow can connect the employee’s position, grade, skills, responsibilities, compensation and change history. This creates the data needed to review whether pay decisions can be explained.

Employee rights to pay information

Workers can request information about their individual pay level and average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers performing the same work or work of equal value. Employers must also inform workers regularly about this right and how to use it. (European Union)

This means that companies need a reliable way to define comparable work categories. Comparing only job titles is not enough. The company may need to consider responsibility, skills, effort and working conditions.

Pay reporting

The Directive creates reporting obligations based on employer size:

• Employers with 250 or more workers report by June 7, 2027, and every year afterward.
• Employers with 150 to 249 workers report by June 7, 2027, and every three years afterward.
• Employers with 100 to 149 workers report by June 7, 2031, and every three years afterward.

Member States may require smaller employers to report as well. (EUR-Lex)

PeopleFlow can help prepare the required data by maintaining consistent records for position, category, gender, pay elements, working time and effective dates.

Joint pay assessment

A joint pay assessment can be required when reporting reveals a pay difference of at least 5 percent in a worker category, the employer cannot justify the difference using objective and gender-neutral criteria, and the difference is not corrected within six months. (EUR-Lex)

This makes historical and explainable HR data essential. A company must be able to show how roles were classified and why pay decisions were made.

AI in recruitment and workforce management

AI may be used to sort applications, recommend candidates, evaluate performance, assign work or monitor employee behavior.

The EU AI Act identifies certain AI systems used for recruitment, selection and worker management as high-risk. This includes systems intended to filter applications or evaluate candidates. The classification can depend on how the system is used and whether it materially influences decisions. (eur-lex.europa.eu)

If AI is used with PeopleFlow, the organization should maintain:

• A clear purpose
• Human oversight
• Appropriate access controls
• Data-quality checks
• Decision records
• Bias testing
• A way to challenge incorrect results
• Information about where AI influenced a decision

AI can help organize information, but it should not quietly become the final decision maker for hiring, promotion, performance or dismissal.

Anti-discrimination and fair treatment

Recruitment, promotion, compensation, training and exit decisions should use fair and relevant criteria.

PeopleFlow can help by making criteria, approvals and decisions traceable. However, a complete audit trail does not prove that a decision was fair. The criteria themselves must also be lawful, objective and consistently applied.

Managers should be trained to understand:

• Which information is relevant
• Which questions are inappropriate
• How bias can influence judgment
• How to document a decision
• When HR or legal review is required

Records, retention and offboarding

Offboarding does not mean deleting the employee record immediately.

Some information may need to be retained because of labor, payroll, tax, health and safety, pension, litigation or reporting requirements. Other information may no longer have a valid purpose and should be removed.

The correct approach is to classify records by purpose.

For example:

Exact retention periods must be defined under national law and company policy.

How to implement PeopleFlow successfully

A PeopleFlow implementation should begin with process design, not data import.

Map the employee lifecycle

Document how recruitment, onboarding, time, leave, development, changes and exits currently work.

Define ownership

Decide who creates, reviews, approves and closes each HR action.

Clean employee data

Remove duplicates, correct outdated records and identify missing documents.

Build the organizational structure

Define companies, departments, teams, positions, managers, cost centers and locations.

Configure access

Give each role only the information needed for its responsibilities.

Define employment events

Create clear events for hiring, promotion, contract change, leave, sickness, transfer and exit.

Connect operational systems

Decide how PeopleFlow should exchange availability, skills, time and exit events with Field Service, Manufacturing, Projects, Finance and other SIX ERP processes.

Test exceptions

Test what happens when leave is canceled, a manager changes, a certificate expires or an employee leaves with open work.

Train employees and managers

A process is only reliable when users understand what they must do and why the data matters.

Review and improve

Monitor delays, errors, missing records and repeated manual corrections. Use these findings to improve the process.

From people records to workforce intelligence

A modern HR system should do more than store contracts and leave requests.

It should help the organization understand:

• Who is available
• Who is qualified
• Which teams need support
• Where overtime is increasing
• Which skills are missing
• Whether compensation decisions are explainable
• Which responsibilities must be reassigned
• Where compliance risks are developing

SIX PeopleFlow connects recruitment, employment, time, development and offboarding with the wider business.

The result is one clear employee lifecycle:

Recruit fairly. Onboard consistently. Manage accurately. Develop purposefully. Offboard responsibly.

Compliance note: This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Employment, payroll, data-protection and retention requirements vary by country. Organizations should confirm their obligations with qualified local HR, payroll, data-protection and legal professionals.