PeopleHR logo PeopleHR automation · runs weekly

Assign PeopleHR onboarding tasks to new starters

A new starter is added on Monday, and the tasks for their manager, IT and the team still wait until someone creates them one by one in the Tasks area.

Cotlet does it in your own PeopleHR account with list_employees, get_employee, list_tasks and create_task, called by your AI agent, an n8n workflow or a script.

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Hosted · nothing to install or maintain

Can PeopleHR do this on its own?

PeopleHR has no task action in its Integration API, which lists 31 resources and none for tasks, and the Zapier app has no actions (checked 22 Oct 2026). Natively a Background ripple linked to a query creates the same task steps for everyone the query returns. Tasks that depend on the role or the manager are created by hand.

How you do it in PeopleHR today

  1. An admin opens Tasks and the All Tasks view, then clicks the plus icon to create a task.
  2. The task takes a title and, if wanted, a completion date, who it is in relation to and a description. An admin can assign it to anyone, a manager only to employees reporting to them.
  3. The admin repeats this for each task of each starter. PeopleHR groups the results under Overdue, New, Due Today, Upcoming and Completed.
  4. To avoid the repetition, an admin builds a query on Employees Details > Start Date filtered to Today, creates a Background ripple under Settings > Ripples with a Task step and links the ripple to the query.
  5. The Task step has a name, an Assigned to person and a Date Offset, so every starter gets the same tasks with the same assignee.

How to assign PeopleHR onboarding tasks to new starters

Prompt

For everyone who started in PeopleHR this week, create the onboarding tasks for their manager: book a 1:1, share the team handbook and confirm their equipment. Set the completion date to 7 days after their start. Skip tasks that already exist.
  1. 01

    Find who started

    list_employees returns the employee list with each start date. The agent keeps people whose start date falls in your window and leaves leavers out.

  2. 02

    Read the profile

    get_employee gives job title, department and line manager for each starter. The tasks follow your prompt by role: an engineer gets an equipment task, a salesperson gets a CRM access task.

  3. 03

    Check for duplicates

    list_tasks reads the New and Overdue tasks, so a task created earlier by a ripple or by hand for the same starter is not created twice.

  4. 04

    Create the tasks

    create_task runs once per task with the assignee, the starter the task is about and a completion date counted from the start date. Each call waits for your OK until you switch confirmation off, because the assignee sees the task.

  5. 05

    Report who is missing

    A starter without a line manager, or whose manager is leaving, is listed for you instead of getting a task nobody owns. PeopleHR refuses a task for someone who is leaving.

What you get back

Example data

Starters this week: 3
Tasks created 8 for 3 starters, e.g. Ana Lopez: "Book first 1:1" for Dana Reyes, due 23 Nov
Skipped 1 (task "Confirm equipment" already exists)
Needs you 1:
- Jake Ortiz: no line manager on the profile

Other ways to ask

  • Every Monday, create the 30-day check-in task for people who started 30 days ago.
  • Create a task for IT for every new starter whose department is Engineering.
  • List the new starters without any task and create nothing yet.

What PeopleHR allows, and what to know first

  • A PeopleHR admin can assign a task to anyone, while a manager can assign tasks only to employees reporting to them.
  • PeopleHR does not allow a task for someone who is leaving; it has to go to another active employee.
  • Documents cannot be attached to PeopleHR tasks. Documents for new starters go out through a ripple or Mail Merge.
  • The completion date of a task is optional, and tasks are sorted under Overdue, New, Due Today, Upcoming and Completed.

create_task asks for your OK by default. To run it weekly without you, switch confirmation off for that tool in your dashboard.

Sources: PeopleHR Help: Overview on Tasks · PeopleHR Help: Assign tasks to all employees in bulk · PeopleHR Help: Attach documents to new starters' tasks · PeopleHR Help: Mobile tasks

Call create_task from a script

curl

curl -X POST https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/peoplehr/assignees/PW8/tasks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Book first 1:1","about_employee_id":"PW41","completion_date":"2026-11-23","description":"Book a 30 minute 1:1 in the first week."}'

Example response

{
  "task_id": "tsk-3301",
  "title": "Book first 1:1",
  "assignee": "Dana Reyes",
  "about": "Ana Lopez",
  "completion_date": "2026-11-23",
  "status": "New"
}

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the call is peoplehr_write → create_task. Example data.

Schedule it in n8n, Make, Zapier or cron

PeopleHR tools this automation uses

Cotlet PeopleHR tools used to assign PeopleHR onboarding tasks to new starters
Tool Parameters
list_employees search, cursor
get_employee employee_id
list_tasks view, status, cursor
create_task title, assignee_id, about_employee_id, completion_date, description
All 10 PeopleHR tools with descriptions

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to connect PeopleHR to Cotlet?

Yes. You sign in to PeopleHR yourself, in your own Cloud Browser in the EU, and we never save your password. Your agents only get PeopleHR once you enable it, every background request is listed, and the browser profile is stored encrypted with AES-256-GCM, the cipher 1Password uses for its vaults. The AI model never sees a login, posts and messages wait for your OK, and Disable for agents cuts access in one click. Independent scanners grade cotlet.dev A+ on Qualys SSL Labs, securityheaders.com and Mozilla Observatory; live results are on https://cotlet.dev/security.

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