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HR agent

Leave requests

Every time-off request checked against the balance, the policy and team cover, then recorded and put on the calendar once it’s approved. Protected leave always goes to a person.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
The review screen for Leave requests: four items, three done, and one (Cover clash) waiting for the team lead, who is asked: Three of five in support are off that week. Approve anyway?
How it works

Three days off in October, checked before anyone says yes.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Leave requests, in 5 steps. It starts with “A day-off request comes in” and ends with “Approved and on calendars”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Leave requestsA typical run
Starts withA day-off request comes inMaya Chen in support asks for October 14 to 16 off, in Slack or in the HR system.
The agent: Maya asks for “the 14th through the 16th” in Slack. It reads that as three working days of vacation, not sick leave.
~10h/mo

Step 1 of 5Read the request

  • The agent

    Maya asks for “the 14th through the 16th” in Slack. It reads that as three working days of vacation, not sick leave.

    Some people write “vacation”, some write “a few days for my sister’s wedding”. The type decides which policy applies.

Reads
  • Team chat
  • HR system
Writes
  • HR system

~10 hours a month back

The agent: Looks for signs of medical, family or other protected leave. Maya’s is a plain vacation, so it carries on.
Automation: Anything that could be protected goes straight to HR with the dates and deadlines, and the agent steps back.
~5h/mo

Step 2 of 5Spot protected leave

  • The agent

    Looks for signs of medical, family or other protected leave. Maya’s is a plain vacation, so it carries on.

    “I need to look after my dad after his surgery” never says “family leave”. A keyword search walks straight past it.

  • Automation

    Anything that could be protected goes straight to HR with the dates and deadlines, and the agent steps back.

    Protected leave is always HR’s decision, so where it goes never changes.

Reads
  • HR system
Writes
  • HR case list

~5 hours a month back

Where teams differWhich leave counts as protected depends on where people work, so the list is set per state or country.

Automation: Maya has 9 days left and gave over a week’s notice. But 2 of the 5 people in support are already off that week, so she’d make three.
~10h/mo

Step 3 of 5Check balance and cover

  • Automation

    Maya has 9 days left and gave over a week’s notice. But 2 of the 5 people in support are already off that week, so she’d make three.

    Balance, notice and cover each come down to a number, so checking them is a count.

Reads
  • HR system
  • Team calendar
Writes
  • HR system

~10 hours a month back

Where teams differMinimum cover varies by team. Support might need three people in, finance just one outside month-end.

IfYour team: Sees who’s already off beside Maya’s dates, then approves anyway, rearranges cover, or asks her to move a day.
~4h/mo

Step 4 of 5Decide the clash

  • Your teamIf cover falls short

    Sees who’s already off beside Maya’s dates, then approves anyway, rearranges cover, or asks her to move a day.

    Whether support can run on two people that week depends on the queue, and the team lead knows the queue.

Reads
  • Team calendar
Writes
  • HR system

~4 hours a month back

Where teams differSome teams approve anything within the rules automatically. Others want the team lead to say yes to every request.

Automation: Records the days in the HR system and payroll, adds them to the team calendar and tells Maya in Slack.
~12h/mo

Step 5 of 5Record it everywhere

  • Automation

    Records the days in the HR system and payroll, adds them to the team calendar and tells Maya in Slack.

    A yes has to land in four places. By hand, that’s where one of them gets missed.

Reads
  • HR system
Writes
  • Payroll
  • Team calendar

~12 hours a month back

Ends withApproved and on calendarsRecorded in the HR system and payroll, on the team calendar, and confirmed to Maya.
Total~41h/mo

What changes

Requests that fit your rules are approved the day they’re asked for. Team leads only weigh in when a week would leave them short.

  • 3steps automated
  • 2steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~41 hours a month back

$23,600 a year in time

For a 250-person company handling about 180 leave requests a month, at $48 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never decides protected leave
  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentRequests from your HR system or Slack, records into payroll and calendars.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentYour leave policy, notice periods and minimum cover for each team.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentTeam leads for cover, HR for any protected leave.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentSlack or Teams to the employee and lead.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentAn approved request, recorded everywhere it needs to be.

Answering policy questions is its own agent in this catalog. Decisions on medical, family or other protected leave always stay with HR.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your team leads and HR.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past leave requests, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real leave requests.
The number we agree

Days from leave request to decision. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, your leave policy and a quarter of past requests, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and your leave policy and a quarter of past requests.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past leave requests.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Questions

About this agent.

What about FMLA or other protected leave?
It recognizes the request and hands it to HR straight away, with the dates and deadlines. Eligibility and designation are always a person’s decision, and it doesn’t read medical details.
Does it update payroll?
Yes, once leave is approved, along with calendars and the team’s schedule.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the days from leave request to decision. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Want leave handled the day it’s asked for?

Tell us how your team handles leave requests today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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Switchboard Agents$12,500 fixed · live in 3 to 6 weeks How it works Let’s build your agent