How it works
- The in-app bell works from day one, on the web and in the employee app.
- For each event, HR turns on the email, WhatsApp or push rule for the right recipient.
- While live sending is off, ZeniaHR only plans these copies and nothing leaves the system.
- HR switches live sending on for the company once the enabled templates have been read.
- Each copy goes through its channel: email to the address on record, WhatsApp to the employee's mobile number, push to a registered phone.
- A copy that fails is retried, up to five attempts in all, and events more than three days old are skipped rather than sent late.
What you can set
- Channels: in-app bell, email, WhatsApp, mobile push.
- Live sending: one switch for the company, off by default.
- Seeded email and WhatsApp rules start off.
- Up to 5 attempts per event.
- Events older than 3 days are skipped.
- WhatsApp copies need WhatsApp switched on for the company and a mobile number on record.
- Push needs the employee app signed in on a registered phone.
- Features that ring their own bells never ring twice through the rules.
Choosing the right channel
Match the channel to the person and the urgency. Office staff who live in email are well served by email copies of approvals and probation reminders. Shop-floor and field staff often have no company email, so an absent alert or a leave cancellation is better on WhatsApp, if your company has WhatsApp switched on. Routine events, such as a new wall post, can stay in the bell. The fewer outside messages people get, the more attention each one receives.
Worked example: switching on outside copies at a hospital
A 200-bed hospital in Kochi decides nurses should get absent alerts and leave cancellations on WhatsApp, and HR should get probation reminders by email. HR turns on those three rules. Before switching on live sending, HR goes through the nursing staff's records and finds six nurses with no mobile number; they keep getting bells only until the numbers are added. HR reads each enabled template, then switches live sending on at the start of the month. From then on, a nurse with no punch and no leave by 11:30 pm gets the bell and a WhatsApp message.
Before switching on live sending
A short check before the switch prevents embarrassing messages going to hundreds of phones at once. Once a WhatsApp message has gone out with a wrong name or a confusing instruction, there is no way to take it back from people's phones.
- Read every enabled email and WhatsApp template in full.
- Check that mobile numbers and email addresses on records are current.
- Turn on outside copies for a few events first, then add more.
- Tell employees which messages they will start receiving.
See email, whatsapp and push delivery in a demo
We show it on a video call with your own shifts, leave types and rules. Free for your first 50 employees.
Book a free demoSee pricingFrequently asked questions
Does ZeniaHR send WhatsApp messages to employees?
It can, through notification rules with WhatsApp as the channel. Messages go out only when the rule is on, live sending is switched on, WhatsApp is switched on for your company and the employee has a mobile number on record. Without these, the employee still gets the in-app bell.
Why are email notifications not going out?
Usually one of four reasons: live sending is off, the email rule for the event is off, mail sending is not set up for your account, or the person has no email address on record. Seeded email rules start off, so a new setup sends only bells until HR turns them on.
Will employees get the same alert twice?
No. Features that ring the bell themselves, such as probation reminders, praise, wall announcements and overtime, are not rung again by the rules; the rules send only their email, WhatsApp and push copies. Each attendance alert also goes only once per person, day and kind.
Is live sending on by default?
No. Live sending is off for a new company, so ZeniaHR only plans email, WhatsApp and push copies until HR switches it on. This lets HR read the templates and check contact details first. In-app bells work either way, so nobody misses anything in the app.