Microsoft Flow or Power Automate employee onboarding

In this Power Automate tutorial, we will discuss how to automate the Employee onboarding process using Microsoft Flow or Power Automate.

As we know employee onboarding is painful work at many organizations, so here we will automate the employee onboarding workflow communication using Power Automate.

Employee Onboarding Communication using Power Automate

Here we will see about Employee Onboarding Communication using Power Automate.

As we know Managers are busy, and welcoming new hires to the organization can fall through the cracks, so for this, we will automate the employee onboarding communication solution means workflows, updates, and notification.

There are three different audiences, according to this business solution, we will send a message to the audiences in a pre-set time sequence. So the three different audiences are:

1. Requestor of the cascade (may be admin assistant or manager)
2. Hiring Manager (recieve notice to prepare for the employee arrival and more).
3. New Hires (who should be welcomed, feedback, provided resources and prompted question).

So here we will create three flows to make the employee onboarding communication process easy. One flow for cascade requestor, manager, new hire, and at last we will send a welcoming message to the new hire.

So to store all the above data we will use the SharePoint list called Employee Onboarding.

Steps to create a Microsoft Flow Employee Onbarding communication

Here we will see the steps to create four flows for Microsoft Flow Employee Onboarding.

Step 1: Create a SharePoint list

I have already created a SharePoint list to track the hiring status or Employee onboarding, which had 12 columns with column type.

Column	Column type	Formula or values
Title	Single line of text
First Name	Single line of text
Last Name	Single line of text
Start date	Date and time
Manager	Person
Region	Choice	Arizona, Canada, Alaska
Hire Status	Choice	Start Date Not Final, Start Date Final, Cancel Hire, Complete
New Hire Email	Person
comm1	Calculated column	StartDate-14
comm2	Calculated column	StartDate-1
comm3	Calculated column	StartDate+14
RegionalLeader	Calculated column	IF(Region=”Arizona”,”[email protected]”,IF(Region=”Canada”,”ha[email protected]”,IF(Region=”Alaska”,”[email protected]”)))

Flow 1: Cascade Requestor

In this flow we will send an email notification to the person (maybe administrative assistant or the manager), who creates the onboarding communication request to receipt, to confirm the request for the cascade.

Step 2: Create flow cascade requestor flow

To create a flow, Login to Power Automate, then click on create and select Automated cloud flow.

Now provide the Flow name as ‘New hire- Email requestor’ and select the trigger ‘When an item is created‘ action.

Step 3: When an item is created

In this step provide the SharePoint Site address and list name, where you have added a new hire.

Step 4: Send an email to the requestor

Now we will send an email to the admin, so click on the Next step and select Send an Email (V2) action. Then provide the To, Subject, and Body fields like the below screenshot.

Flow 2: Hiring Manager

In this Flow, we will direct communication to the hiring Manager. So for this, we will send 3 email notifications after the flow triggers:

1. The first email arrive two weeks prior to the start date.
2. The emaill notification will arrive one day before start date.
3. The last email notification will arrive after two weeks new hire start date.

And in our SharePoint list, we have three communication columns are based on the timestamps i.e. comm1, comm2, and comm3. So based on the three timestamps we will send an email notification to the Hire Manager.

Step 5: When an item is created or modified in the SharePoint list

In Power Automate, select the Automated Cloud Flow, and then provide the flow name as’New Hire Email manager communication’ and select the trigger ‘When an item is created or modified‘ action.

Then provide the site address and list name of the SharePoint List.

Step 6: Retrieve items from the SharePoint list

Now we will get items from the SharePoint List, whose hire status is ‘Status is Final’. So, click on the Next step and select Get items action, then provide the site address and list name. Then click on Show advanced options, then in Filter query write the below query:

HireStatus eq 'StartDateFinal'

Step 7: Add the different timestamps to send notifications to hire a manager

Now we will create three parallel branches and add delay until action to add the timestamp and then send an email to the manager based on the timestamp. So click on the Next step and select delay until action then adds the comm1 from the dynamic content.

Then send an email notification to the hire manager, so click on the Next step and select Send an Email (V2) action. Then provide the To field from the Manager email from the dynamic content which will add the Apply to each action. And then provide the subject and body.

Similarly add the comm2 and comm3, by using a parallel branch, which will send an email one day prior to the start date and two weeks after the start date like the below screenshot.

Flow 3 – New Employee/ New Hire

In this flow, we will do two communication to the new hire, one with the on hire date and another one week later.

Step 8: When a new hire is added or modified to the list

In Power Automate, select the Automated cloud Flow then provide the flow name as ‘New Hire- Email New employee communication’ and then select the trigger ‘When an item is created or modified‘ action, then click on Create.

Next, provide the site address and list name of the SharePoint list.

Step 9: Get items whose hire status is equal to the Start date final

Now we will retrieve items with hire status is equal to the Start date final, so click on the Next step and select Get items action, then provide the site address and list name. Next click on Show advanced options, then in Filter query write the below query

HireStatus eq 'StartDateFinal'

Step 10: New employee start date plus 7 days

In this step, we will set the date for new hire communication, so click on the Next step and select Compose action. Then in Input write the below expression:

addDays(triggerOutputs()?['body/StartDate'],7,'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mmZ')

Step 11: Send Email to New Employee on the Start date

In this step, we will send an email to the new employee based on the start date, so click on the Next step and select Delay until action, then in timestamp add the below expression, and it will automatically add the Apply to each action.

formatDateTime(triggerOutputs()?['body/StartDate'],'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mmZ')

Next, we will send an email to the New employee for a personal greeting on the Start date. So click on the Add an action and select Send an email (V2) action, then provide the To, Subject, and body field from the dynamic content.

Step 12: Send an email to the new hire after 1 week

In this step, we will send an email to the new hire after 1 week, so click on the Next step and select Delay until action, and in timestamp add the compose output from the dynamic content, which will automatically add Apply to each action.

Then click on Add an action and select Send an email(V2) action, then provide the To, Subject, and Body field from the dynamic content.

Once all the Flow is ready, you can test the flow.

Step 13: Run the Flow

Now click on Save and to test the flow add an item in the SharePoint list.

Now you can see our first flow i.e. Cascade requestor, ran successfully.

And in outlook, you can see the below request email.

Next check Flow 2 i.e. Hire Manager, here you will see that communication 1 and communication 2 ran successfully. For communication 3 is running after completing two weeks it will send a notification to the Hire Manager.

At last check the Flow 3 i.e. Communication with the New Hire, so here you can see flow ran successfully.

This is an example of Microsoft Flow Employee Onboarding.

In this Power Automate tutorial, we learned Microsoft Flow Employee Onboarding Communication.

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