The Odoo Employees app is the foundation of everything people-related in Odoo: it holds the record of the business's people. This piece is about setting it up well.
What the Employees app is for
The Odoo Employees app, the HR foundation, holds the central record of a business's people: an employee record for each person, with their information, and the organisational structure, the departments, the job positions, the reporting. The Employees app is where the business's workforce is genuinely recorded. And it is the foundation: the wider people applications, the things to do with time off, attendance, payroll, recruitment, all build on the employee records the Employees app holds. Setting up the Employees app is setting up that foundation.
The central thing: accurate employee records
The heart of setting up the Employees app is the employee records: a record for each employee, holding their genuine information. These records are the single, authoritative description of the business's people, and everything else people-related refers to them. So setting up the Employees app well means, above all, getting the employee records right: the genuine employees, with accurate information. Accurate employee records are the foundation that everything people-related stands on, and they deserve care.
The organisational structure
Beyond the individual employee records, setting up the Employees app means establishing the organisational structure: the departments the workforce is grouped into, the job positions, the reporting relationships. This structure should reflect how the business is genuinely organised. Set up to match the genuine organisation, the structure is a true picture of the business, and, since the structure is largely derived from the employee records and how they relate, getting the records and their relationships right is what gives a correct organisational structure.
The foundation for the wider applications
An important point in setting up the Employees app is to remember it is a foundation. The Employees app holds the records; the wider people processes, time off, attendance, payroll, recruitment, and the rest, are separate applications that build on those records. Setting up the Employees app well, with accurate employee records and a correct organisational structure, is what gives those wider applications a sound base to build on. So even a business not yet using the wider applications should set up the Employees app carefully, because when those applications are added, they will all stand on the employee records, and they will be only as sound as that foundation.
Keep the records current
An honest note. Employee records are not set once; the workforce changes, people join, people leave, people's positions change. Setting up the Employees app includes the ongoing discipline of keeping the records current, so the employee records and the organisational structure keep reflecting the genuine workforce. Records kept current are a sound foundation; records allowed to drift undermine everything built on them.
The takeaway
Setting up the Odoo Employees app means establishing the central record of the business's people: accurate employee records, a record for each person with their genuine information, and an organisational structure of departments, positions, and reporting that reflects how the business is genuinely organised. The Employees app is the foundation that the wider people applications build on, so it should be set up carefully, with accurate records, and kept current as the workforce changes. For how we approach Odoo, see our ERP practice.