Getting Started with Sia, Your AI Assistant

Sia is your virtual HR assistant, designed to streamline your work by answering questions, guiding you through HR tasks and processes, and helping you find information quickly. Instead of searching through manuals or waiting for responses from colleagues, you can get immediate answers by simply asking Sia.

Accessing Sia

You'll find the Sia chatbot in the top right corner of your screen. Click on the chat icon to open the conversation window and start typing your questions.

What you can do with Sia

Sia is built to help you with both information retrieval and everyday tasks. Here's what you can accomplish:

Find answers to HR and policy questions

Sia searches through your organization's policies and information in the company handbooks to provide quick answers to HR-related questions.

Examples:

• "What is our parental leave policy?"
• "What does the travel expense policy say about per diem allowances?"
• "How do I report sick leave?"

Complete everyday HR tasks

Sia can assist you with common HR activities such as requesting leave, registering absence, checking your vacation balance, setting your work status, and accessing employee or organizational information.

Examples:

• "I want to apply for vacation from 27–29 October."
• "I want to set my status as working remotely."
• "Show me my absence overview."

Leverage Sia’s unique AI comprehension abilities

Sia is built on large language model (LLM) technology with tool calling capabilities, which means you get powerful functionality beyond the basics.

This means Sia can often handle complex, multi-step requests and cross-reference information in ways that weren't explicitly programmed. For example, Sia can analyze patterns across your employment history, compare data points, or synthesize information from multiple sources to answer sophisticated questions.

What this means for you: You may discover that Sia can help with requests you didn't expect it to handle. Try asking—the system is often more capable than you might assume.

Employee examples of what's possible:

• "How long was I in my previous role as 'Senior Developer' compared to my current role so far, and what was the salary difference between the end of the previous role and the start of the new one?"
• "Generate a summary document confirming my employment status, current position, employment start date, gross monthly salary, and which office location I belong to."
• "Analyze my last performance review and connect it to recent absences."
• "Based on my feedback, what should be my main focus before the next performance review?"
• "Compare the goals and actions from my first performance review at the company with the latest one. How has my focus changed?"
• "Show me an overview of my job history, including the duration of each role and the salary I had when transitioning to the next role."
• "What is my 'vacation utilization rate'? Show how many of my total vacation days I have used so far this year."
• "Who is in my immediate leadership chain, from my manager upward?"
• "Tell me my story in Simployer, from my start date until today."
• "Create a 'year wheel' for me showing my vacation periods, sick days, and performance reviews for the current year."
• "Show me all approved absence periods longer than three days this year, and cross-reference them with performance reviews to see if they were planned or discussed."
• "Give me a 360-degree overview of my current situation: Who is my manager, what is my department, what are my main goals from the last review, and how many vacation days do I have left?"
• "Create a 'Career Snapshot' from my last promotion: What was my new title, who did I report to, and what were the main goals set in my first performance review after the promotion?"

Manager/Owner examples of what's possible:

• "What is our company's gender distribution, and how does it compare to the gender breakdown of recent leavers?"
• "What is our current headcount, and what is the breakdown of full-time vs. part-time employees?"
• "Compare the average age of our workforce with the average tenure. Are we an experienced team, a young team, or a mix?"
• "Generate a 'Company Dynamics Report': What's our current headcount, who are the latest joiners and leavers, and what is the average age of the workforce?"
• "Generate a 'Team Health' snapshot: Show me pending leave requests, the team's average vacation balance, and a list of any employees who haven't had a review in the last 6 months."

How to Get the Best Results

Be clear and specific

The more specific you are, the better Sia can help. Instead of asking "vacation," try "How many vacation days do I have left this year?" This clarity helps Sia understand exactly what you need.

Know when to ask Sia

Sia works best for HR-related topics. For technical questions or non-HR matters, she may not have reliable answers. Think of Sia as a specialized search tool with guidance rather than a general knowledge assistant.

Know when to escalate

Sia provides information and guidance but doesn't replace human judgment. If you have a sensitive situation or need personalized HR advice, reach out to your HR representative directly. Sia will let you know when a question needs human attention.

What Sia can and cannot do

What Sia can access

• Publicly accessible organizational data such as handbooks, policy documents, and employee/organizational information
• Your personal HR data, which is used solely to support the tasks Sia performs for you
• Information stored within your system

What Sia cannot do

• Sia is not a human HR advisor and answers based only on information she has access to
• She may not understand very complex or unusual questions; in those cases, rephrase your question or consult with HR directly
• She cannot access external data sources
• She does not share your data with external AI models or LLMs—your questions and personal information stay within the system

Get the most out of Sia

Sia is designed to save you time on routine tasks, provide quick answers to common questions, and help you focus on what really matters. Whether you're checking your vacation balance, understanding a policy, or exploring what information she can help you find, Sia is here to make your work easier and faster.

Start with a simple question and explore what Sia can do. You may be pleasantly surprised by her capabilities.

Coming Soon: Sia on Slack and Microsoft Teams

We're expanding Sia's availability to make her even more accessible. New Slack and Microsoft Teams apps for Sia will launch by the end of the month. These integrations will allow you to access Sia directly from your messaging apps, bringing HR support right into your daily communication workflow.

For Users of Simployer One AI and Simployer One Apps

If you're currently using the Simployer One AI or Simployer One HR apps in Slack and/or Microsoft Teams, please note that these apps will be removed in the coming weeks as we transition to the new Sia apps. You'll need to switch to the new Sia Slack and Microsoft Teams apps to continue accessing Simployer integrated HR features and to benefit from the newest AI-powered HR support from your messaging platforms.

Don't worry—we're giving everyone plenty of time to make this transition. Detailed instructions and a migration timeline will be provided in advance so you can move smoothly to the new Sia apps. Official customer communication about this transition will be sent out next week with step-by-step guidance.

Stay tuned for the announcement!