HR Workflow Automation
75%+ Faster Approval Cycle
Replaced a manual, email-driven approval process with a Smartsheet workflow that standardized intake, automated routing and reminders, and gave HR one place to manage status — reducing typical completion time from approximately four weeks to about one week across 2,000+ annual employee actions.
What needed to change.
Managers submitted employee-action requests to HR by email. HR reviewed each request, determined the approval path, and manually forwarded it from one approver to the next — sometimes across four approval levels.
When messages were overlooked, HR had to chase approvals and reconstruct status from email threads. Promotions, pay increases, transfers, and other employee changes could take more than a month to complete, creating administrative burden for HR and frustration for employees waiting for changes to take effect.
HR also received frequent follow-up calls from employees trying to confirm whether their manager had actually submitted the request, creating a broader confidence problem around the process.
What I did.
- Mapped the existing email-driven process, approval paths, and recurring failure points.
- Designed a structured Smartsheet workflow supporting sequential approval across up to four levels.
- Standardized manager intake to improve completeness and consistency at submission.
- Automated approval routing, reminders, completion notifications, and centralized status tracking.
- Created a single record for HR follow-up, auditing, and future process metrics.
Built around the actual process.
Rather than simply recreating the email process electronically, I redesigned it around a structured request form and automated approval logic.
Once HR initiated the action, Smartsheet moved the request through the required approval path, sent reminders when action was pending, and maintained one centralized record from submission through resolution.
HR no longer had to manually forward every approval or search email chains to determine where an employee action was stalled.
From process design to daily HR use.
Sanitized examples showing the workflow design, standardized manager intake, and centralized HR tracking used to support the redesigned employee-action process.
Approval Workflow Design
Mapped the decision path and translated it into a structured workflow supporting sequential review across up to four approval levels.
Manager Request Form
Created a standardized intake form so managers submitted the employee information, request type, business justification, and supporting documentation needed to begin the approval process.
HR Approval & Status Tracker
Built a centralized Smartsheet view so HR could see the assigned representative, required approvers, approval status, resolution, and last activity without reconstructing email chains.
What changed.
Beyond speed, the redesign reduced missed approvals and repeated HR follow-up, gave the team a reliable audit trail, and improved confidence in a process affecting promotions, pay increases, transfers, and other important employee changes. Employee follow-up calls to verify whether requests had actually been submitted largely stopped after launch.