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Hire-to-Retire

From hiring to an employee’s departure

Applications read and summarized, employee records kept current, arrivals and departures prepared on your dedicated instance. Decisions about people, from interviews to departures, stay with the operator and the managers of your company.

What the employment cycle covers in a small business

In a small or mid-sized business, employment goes through the same steps every time: posting a job, receiving and sorting applications, interviews, the offer, onboarding, follow-up during employment (probation, reviews, payroll changes) and the departure. The work often falls to one person, the owner or someone in HR, who fits it in between other tasks.

A Belowdecks instance takes on the administrative side of these steps. It reads applications, keeps records up to date, prepares summaries, checklists and drafts, and sends reminders before deadlines come up. If your payroll or HR software has an API or an MCP server, the agent can read data from it and prepare changes for it; that connection is set up during installation.

The steps below follow a fictional example. Mathieu, in human resources, is the operator. He receives the agents’ questions, approves their work and decides what goes out. Amélie, a welder, applies for a job and plays the end customer, the outside person who writes to the company.

Who does what

Amélie’s arrival, from the signed contract to her first day

When Amélie’s contract is signed, the company’s payroll software sends a webhook to the instance, and the onboarding agent prepares her arrival. In the usual case, the agent handles this work from start to finish, and Mathieu gets a notice once everything is ready. He steps in only when the contract is missing a detail, such as the start date.

No operator step in the usual case

  1. Step 1 of 5: The payroll software reports the signed contract. Who acts: Payroll software, External system
  2. Step 2 of 5: The agent prepares the checklist and the schedule. Who acts: Agents
    • Exception. Only if the start date is missing: a question to Mathieu. Who acts: Mathieu, HR, Operator
  3. Step 3 of 5: Welcome email and equipment request sent. Who acts: Agents
  4. Step 4 of 5: Amélie asks her questions in the team space. Who acts: Amélie, welder, New employee
  5. Step 5 of 5: The assistant answers from the employee handbook. Who acts: Agents
Amélie, Mathieu and the plant are fictional. The welcome email and the equipment request go out through functions set up with you at installation. The company chose to let them go without confirmation, and every run leaves a log and a verdict.

  • Payroll software, External system

    Outside the mark,Sends an event

    When a contract is signed, the company’s payroll and HR software sends a webhook to the instance, if it supports webhooks. Without that connection, a record added to the Employees collection starts the same work.

    • Contract signed: Amélie, welder
    • Or a record added to Employees

  • Agents

    Below the line,Works

    The onboarding agent adds the record, creates the onboarding checklist and the first-week schedule, then calls the sending functions. The team space assistant answers Amélie’s questions from the employee handbook, one of the project’s skills.

    • Onboarding agent
    • Team space assistant

  • Amélie, welder, New employee

    Outside the mark,Writes in and confirms their own request

    Here Amélie stands in for the end customer. She receives the welcome email and her first-week schedule, then asks her questions in the team space.

    • Gets the welcome email
    • When is the meal break?

  • Mathieu, HR, Operator

    Above the line,Decides

    Mathieu runs the instance for human resources. In the usual case, he gets a notice once the arrival is ready. If the contract is missing the start date or the position, the agent asks him by email and waits for his answer.

    • Gets a notice
    • Answers from an email when needed

  • Belowdecks team

    Behind the scenes,Sets up and monitors

    We connect the payroll software’s webhook, write the sending functions with you and save the employee handbook as a skill. We then monitor the runs and never make decisions on your company’s behalf.

    • Connects the webhook
    • Writes the functions with you
    • Monitors

Demo

Amélie’s arrival, step by step, in the usual case and when the start date is missing

Each step shows who acts and where: the payroll software that starts the agent, the onboarding agent on your instance, Amélie in the team space and, in the exception, Mathieu in his inbox. Each step’s button moves the example on to the next one.

Who acts in this example

  • End customer Outside the mark: writes in and confirms their own request
  • Operator Above the line: decides
  • Agents Below the line: works
  • Belowdecks team Behind the scenes: sets up and monitors

Amélie’s contract is signed, and her arrival is prepared without waiting for an answer

A webhook from the payroll software starts the onboarding agent. The agent prepares the arrival, functions send what needs sending, and Mathieu gets a notice. On her first Monday, Amélie asks her questions in the team space.

Belowdecks · Usual case

Example

Belowdecks instance

Amélie, welder, End customer End customer
Amélie, welder, End customer

Amélie writes here, on the company’s website.

Below the line

Agents Agents Now

  1. Tuesday, October 20, 2:06 p.m. Amélie signs her contract in the payroll software. The software sends a signed webhook to the instance, which starts the onboarding agent.

Step 1 of 9 Tuesday, October 20, 2:06 p.m.

People and company are fictional. The payroll software’s webhook and the sending functions are set up with you at installation, and the company chose to let the welcome email go without confirmation. Without a webhook, a record added to Employees starts the same agent.

Eight steps

From application to departure, step by step

For each step: what starts it, who acts (Amélie, one of the agents, Mathieu or a function) and what gets recorded. When Mathieu steps in, he decides or answers, and the agent waits for his answer.

Legend

End customer
Someone outside the company: customer, supplier or candidate
Operator
A person on your team confirms, answers or decides
Agent
An AI agent on your instance does the work
Function
Fixed code, no model cost

  1. Step 1 of 8: Amélie applies

    Trigger: Email received at the hiring address

    Who acts: End customer

    Amélie sends her résumé to the address set aside for applications. The file is saved on your server, and the recruiting agent opens it to note the position, contact details, availability and experience described. It drafts an acknowledgement, which Mathieu sends.

    Recorded or delivered: Record added to the Applications collection

  2. Step 2 of 8: Summary of applications by position

    Trigger: Every morning

    Who acts: Agent

    For each open position, the recruiting agent takes the requirements written by the manager and summarizes what each new application says about them, one requirement at a time, noting what is missing. Its instructions tell it to set aside information unrelated to the job, such as age or family situation, and to give no score.

    Recorded or delivered: Summary visible in the team space

  3. Step 3 of 8: Mathieu picks who to interview

    Trigger: Team space and questions inbox

    Who acts: Operator

    Mathieu reads the summaries with the shop supervisor, then tells the agent who to interview, Amélie among them. The agent drafts the invitations, which Mathieu sends, and an interview guide based on the job requirements. When something looks off, such as two applications with the same name and email address, it asks Mathieu and waits for his answer.

    Recorded or delivered: Invitations ready for Mathieu

  4. Step 4 of 8: Hiring decision

    Trigger: Team space conversation

    Who acts: Operator

    After the interviews, Mathieu writes to the agent with the decision made with the supervisor: Amélie is hired, with her position, start date and agreed terms. The agent drafts the offer letter from your template, and Mathieu reviews it and sends it to Amélie, who then signs her contract in the payroll software.

    Recorded or delivered: Offer letter ready for Mathieu

  5. Step 5 of 8: Preparing the arrival

    Trigger: Contract signed in the payroll software

    Who acts: Agent

    A webhook from the payroll software reports Amélie’s signed contract and starts the onboarding agent; without that connection, adding her record to Employees starts it too. The agent adds or completes her record, creates the onboarding checklist and her first-week schedule, then functions send the welcome email and the equipment request. If the start date is missing, it asks Mathieu.

    Recorded or delivered: Onboarding checklist in the Arrivals and departures collection

  6. Step 6 of 8: Dates during employment

    Trigger: Every Monday

    Who acts: Function

    A function reads the dates in the Employees collection: end of probation, annual review, end of a fixed-term contract. It wakes the agent only if a date falls within two weeks, so the weekly check uses no tokens. The agent then prepares the form or the reminder and lets Mathieu know.

    Recorded or delivered: Reminder sent to Mathieu

  7. Step 7 of 8: Change of position or pay

    Trigger: Change announced by a manager

    Who acts: Operator

    When a manager announces a change of position or pay in the team space, a confirmation card goes to Mathieu before the record is updated, as the Employees collection requires. The agent prepares the payroll change, which your payroll administrator enters, or which goes through your payroll system’s API if that connection exists.

    Recorded or delivered: Change ready for payroll

  8. Step 8 of 8: An employee’s departure

    Trigger: Departure announced

    Who acts: Operator

    When a departure is announced in the team space, Mathieu confirms the date on a card before the record is updated. The agent prepares the offboarding checklist: access to close, equipment to collect, items payroll must handle (final pay, accrued vacation, record of employment) and questions for the exit interview.

    Recorded or delivered: Offboarding checklist in Arrivals and departures

Fictional example: two welder positions at a plant in the Beauce region

A door and window manufacturer with 70 employees posts two welder positions. For three weeks, applications arrive at the company’s hiring address, Amélie’s among them.

Every morning, Mathieu and the shop supervisor find the summary of new applications in the team space, one requirement at a time: welding certification, experience with aluminum, availability for the evening shift. They pick who to interview, and Mathieu sends the acknowledgements and invitations the agent drafted.

When Amélie signs her contract, the payroll software lets the instance know, and the onboarding agent prepares her arrival: the onboarding checklist, her first-week schedule, the welcome email and the request for safety gear sent to the plant’s stockroom. On her first Monday, Amélie asks in the team space when the meal break is, and the assistant answers from the employee handbook. Three months later, the Monday function reminds Mathieu that her probation period is ending.

What gets recorded

The records the instance keeps and what your team sees

Each collection has its own fields, retention period and authorized member groups.

Applications

One record per application: position, date received, contact details, summary, status and a link to the résumé stored on your server. The collection can have a retention period, after which its records are deleted.

Employees

Start date, position, manager, end of probation, review date and status. A record created or changed from a conversation goes through a confirmation card.

Arrivals and departures

The tasks for each arrival and each departure, with their owner, due date and status.

Questions inbox

The questions agents ask, with their answer choices. The operator and members of the authorized group answer from the team space or from the link in the email.

Access by member group

In the team space, each group gets its rights one by one: read or change the records of a given collection, launch a specific agent, answer the agents’ questions. Instance administrators hold all of these rights in every project.

Verdicts and monthly report

Every run leaves a log of its steps, and the agent closes it with a verdict: Delivered, Partial or Blocked. On the 1st of each month, an email counts the runs, the verdicts and the questions handled.

Who decides what in this cycle

Hiring, turning down an application, setting pay or ending someone’s employment are decisions made by people in your company, such as Mathieu and the shop supervisor in the example. The agent prepares summaries, checklists and drafts. Mathieu himself reviews and sends the messages that carry a decision, such as an interview invitation or an offer letter. The welcome email, based on an approved template, goes out through a function because the company set it up that way.

Amélie and the other candidates are told that an AI tool helps process their application. A sentence in the job posting and in the acknowledgement says so, and states that a person makes the decisions.

Résumés and employee files hold personal information protected by Quebec’s Law 25. They stay on your dedicated instance, and only the member groups you authorize can reach them in the team space. The text the agent reads is sent to the AI model provider, outside Quebec, to be processed. Law 25 requires that kind of transfer to be assessed before you start, and the diagnostic describes what your assessment needs.

Questions about the employment cycle

Where are résumés and employee files kept?

On your dedicated instance: files received stay on your server, and records stay in your project’s collections. A backup runs every night on the same server, and each backup keeps a copy of the data until it is rotated out.

The text the agent reads, a résumé for example, is sent to the AI model provider to be processed, through your company’s own account. Notification emails, sent to the people listed in your rules, may include the text of a question or a summary. The Belowdecks team can access the instance to maintain it, under the terms of your agreement.

Can the agent connect to our payroll or HR software?

Yes, if that software has an API or an MCP server. The connection is set up during installation, with access you create for the instance, stored encrypted in its vault. The agent can then read the data it needs and prepare changes, and the changes that affect payroll are set to wait for a confirmation.

Without an API, the instance works with files: an export attached in a team space conversation, or a prepared change that your payroll administrator enters in the software.

What does the agent do when an application or a record is unclear?

It asks the operator a question and puts its work on hold. The question can offer answer choices, for instance whether two applications sent by the same person should be merged. The operator gets an email, answers from the link or from the team space, and the agent picks up with all its context.

How long does it take to set up this cycle?

It depends on how many positions you post, the software already in place and the steps you choose. The diagnostic answers that question for your company, then the Belowdecks team sets the cycle up with you and monitors the instance. The cycle can start with a single step, such as receiving applications, then grow to onboarding and employment dates once that first step runs smoothly.

Start with one step of your employment cycle

The diagnostic starts from your tools and volumes and suggests which step to begin with.

Request a diagnosticSee the five cycles