How do I create a custom role in Simployer One?

Custom roles let you give selected employees a specific combination of permissions in Simployer One.

A custom role defines:

• Who receives the access
• Which features and employee data they can access
• Which employees the access applies to

Everyone assigned to the same custom role shares that role's configuration.

Custom roles can extend or restrict the access provided through standard permissions to support specific responsibilities in your organization.

How do I start creating a custom role?

1. Go to Settings > Permissions.
2. Open the Custom roles tab.
3. Select Create new custom role.

You then configure the role in four steps: basic details, company-level permissions, scoped permissions and profile data access, and assigning users. 

How do I enter the basic details for a custom role?

Enter:

• Role name: Required, with a maximum of 100 characters
• Description: Optional, with a maximum of 500 characters

Use a name and description that clearly explain the purpose of the role.

The role preview shows the role name, description, permissions, scope, and assigned users while you configure the role.

Select Continue when you are ready to configure permissions. Continue is not available until you have entered a role name. 

Which company-wide permissions can I add to a custom role?

The company-level permissions are:

• Manage handbooks
• Manage candidates
• Move candidates to new hires
• Manage onboarding
• Manage job titles
• Manage review templates
• Manage competence library
• Manage teams

These permissions apply across the company.

Important: Company-level permissions cannot currently be limited to a department, team, or other subset of employees. For example, giving a custom role permission to manage Handbooks allows the role holder to manage Handbooks across the organization. 

How do I define which employees a custom role can access?

Some custom-role permissions require a scope. The scope defines which employees the role holder can access or manage.

1. In the scoped-permissions step, select Add scope. The Edit scope window opens.
2. Choose either:
   • Everyone at the company
   • Select people
3. If you choose Select people, define the employee group using the available criteria.
4. Exclude specific employees if needed under Exclude from this scope.
5. Review the number of employees included in the scope and select Save. The role preview then shows, for example "6 people included". Select View Details to see who was included. 

You can select people by:

• Individuals
• Teams
• Offices
• Employment types
• Departments
• Organizations

A role has one scope. It applies to both the scope permissions and the profile data access in the role

Which custom-role permissions require a scope?

The following permissions can be limited to the employees within the role's scope:

• Manage profile documents
• Manage signing processes
• Payroll Reports
• Reports
• Off-boarding
• Workflows
• Analytics
• Reset password

A user with one of these permissions can perform the relevant action only for employees included in the effective scope.

For example, Analytics allows the role holder to access Analytics and create charts using employees included in the role's scope.

How do I control access to employee profile data?

Custom roles can also give access to specific employee-profile sections and fields.

Available profile-data areas include:

• Employee - Employee work and tax data
• User - User personal information, emergency contacts, and banking details
• Social security number / national ID
• Bank account
• Child - Child information
• Compensation
• Employment details
• Competence data
• Notes
• Time off
• Custom fields

For each available section, select the access level required, such as View or Edit.

The updated walkthrough confirms that profile-card access is selected section by section during creation of the custom role.

Important: Profile-data permissions can expose sensitive employee information. Give access only to the employees and profile sections required for the person's responsibilities.

What is the difference between "Payroll Reports" and "Compensation" access?

These two permissions look similar but serve different purposes:

• Payroll Reports (under Scoped permissions) — gives the role holder the ability to generate and view payroll reports for the employees in the role's scope. Use this when someone needs to run or download payroll reports, for example a payroll administrator.
• Compensation (under Profile data) — gives the role holder access to the compensation section in an individual employee's profile card, such as viewing or editing salary and wage details. Use this when someone needs to see or update compensation data for specific employees.

How do I assign employees to a custom role?

After configuring the permissions and scope:

1. Continue to the user-assignment step.
2. Search for the employee you want to add.
3. Select Assign.
4. Repeat for any additional employees.
5. Review the role preview.
6. Select Save to create the custom role.

The employee list shows each person's current default role. You can use search and pagination to find employees.

Everyone assigned to the custom role receives the same custom-role configuration.

Select Cancel if you want to discard the unfinished role instead.

How do I edit a custom role?

On the Custom roles tab, select Edit on the role. The same four steps open, with the current settings filled in. Make your changes and select Save in the last step. Select the arrow next to the role to see its users, permissions and scope without editing. 

What is the difference between company-wide and scoped custom-role permissions?

Company-wide permissions apply to the complete organization and cannot be restricted to selected employees.

Scoped permissions and profile-data permissions apply only to employees included in the role's configured scope.

For example:

• Manage handbooks is company-wide
• Manage signing processes can be limited to a defined employee scope
• Compensation profile-data access can be limited to a defined employee scope

This distinction is important when designing custom roles because not every permission can be restricted in the same way.

What should I consider when assigning permissions in Simployer One?

Use the minimum access needed for each person's responsibilities.

A practical approach is to:

1. Use standard roles when the built-in access matches the person's responsibilities.
2. Configure Manager defaults for access most Managers need.
3. Use individual Manager or Administrator settings for exceptions.
4. Use custom roles when someone needs a specific combination of permissions or employee scope.
5. Limit access to compensation and sensitive profile data to the smallest appropriate scope.
6. Review role membership and custom-role assignments regularly.
   
   

FAQ

Question: How do I remove a person from a custom role

Answer; Edit the custom role, and go to step four called Assign users to role. If the is already assigned, a remove button should appear. 

Video guide: Standard and Custom Permissions
Standard and Custom Permissions