Skip to main content

AI Chat (Beta)

AI Chat allows you to quickly find information and generate insights by asking questions directly in Shapes. Instead of navigating through multiple sections, you can simply ask a question and the AI will retrieve the relevant data for you.

Written by Shapes Spport
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Please note: AI Chat is currently in Beta and is available to Super Admins only.

How to use the AI Chat

You can open AI Chat using the keyboard shortcut or via the top bar menu:
​

• Windows: Ctrl + J

• Mac: Cmd + J
​

Start a new chat to ask a question:

All your chats will be stored in the sidebar for easy access:

Data access & permissions

AI Chat respects your existing roles and permissions in Shapes. This means users will only see data that they are already authorized to access within the platform.

What you can ask

Currently, the AI Chat can retrieve and analyze information across the following sources:

Types of questions you can ask

Simple questions

You can quickly retrieve specific information, such as:

  • What is Sarah Johnson’s job title and who is her manager?

  • How many vacation days do I have left?

  • Has John Smith submitted his self-review yet?

  • What are the carry-over rules for vacation days?

In-depth breakdown & insights

You can also request deeper analysis, for example:

  • Break down salary by department and flag gender gaps

  • What’s the completion rate for the current performance review cycle? How many people have submitted vs. are still pending?

  • Which months had the highest number of sick leave days taken this year?

  • Which employees have had more than one salary change in the past year?

Cross-domain analytics

AI Chat can also combine insights across different areas of Shapes:

  • Which employees have no manager assigned, and do any of them have an active performance review?

  • Which offices have the highest sick leave usage per headcount this quarter?

  • Who are the highest performing employees with the lowest salaries?

Asking questions about People data

Employee Directory

You can:

  • Search and list employees by name, email, or job title

  • View full employee profiles including contact details, job title, manager, start date, and more

  • Filter by work status (active, inactive, terminated)

  • Retrieve profile pictures

Organizational Structure

You can:

  • Find an employee’s full reporting chain (managers above and reports below)

  • List all direct and indirect reports for any manager

  • Search within a hierarchy (for example: “find all VPs under this executive”)

  • Map team and office structures

Custom Fields & Demographics

AI Chat can retrieve data such as:

  • Gender, nationality, and date of birth

  • Office, team, and job assignments

  • Contract type, start date, and termination date

  • Any custom fields configured in your workspace

Salary & Compensation

You can analyze:

  • Salary amounts and currencies per employee

  • Salary history and changes over time

  • Comparisons across teams, offices, or job titles

Analytics & Insights

AI Chat can also generate insights such as:

  • Headcount by job title, team, office, or any groupable field

  • Breakdown by work status, permission role, or manager assignment

  • Custom field analytics (for example headcount by gender or contract type)

  • Historical field changes such as salary progression or team transfers

Asking questions about Time management

Time Away & Leave

You can:

  • List available time-off types (vacation, sick leave, WFH, extended leave, etc.)

  • Check an employee’s remaining leave balance

  • View time-off bookings filtered by employee, date range, or status (pending, approved, denied, canceled)

  • See manual balance adjustments such as bonus days granted or deducted

Policies & Entitlements

You can:

  • View time-away policies including accrual rules, carry-over limits, and entitlement settings

  • See which policies are assigned to which employees

  • List company holidays and which employees they apply to

Attendance & Timecards

You can:

  • View daily clock-in and clock-out records for employees

  • Check timecard submissions and their approval status (pending, approved, denied)

  • Filter attendance records by employee and date range

Analytics & Insights

AI Chat can generate insights such as:

  • Total days taken by reason type (vacation, sick leave, etc.)

  • Time-away trends by month or employee

  • Breakdown of bookings by status

Asking questions about Performance reviews

Review Cycles

You can:

  • List all review cycles filtered by status (draft, scheduled, running, published, ended)

  • Find the current or active review cycle

  • View cycle details such as dates and enabled form types (self-review, manager review, peer review)

  • See the form structure and questions for a cycle

Participants & Completion

You can:

  • See who is participating in a review cycle

  • Check submission status to see who has completed reviews and who still has pending ones

  • Track self-review and manager review completion separately

  • Identify employees who haven’t submitted yet

Reviewers & Feedback

You can:

  • List reviewers for a participant (self, manager, or peer reviewers)

  • Check reviewer submission status

  • View review responses and feedback content when available

Analytics

AI Chat can also show:

  • Completion rates for a review cycle

  • Breakdown of submitted vs. pending participants

  • Count cycles by status or form type

Asking questions about Surveys

Survey Overview

You can:

  • List all surveys filtered by status (draft, scheduled, running, ended)

  • Search surveys by name or date range

  • Find who created specific surveys

Participation & Completion

You can:

  • See who participated in a survey and their submission status (pending or submitted)

  • Get completion rates and response breakdowns for a specific survey

  • Check your own survey participation and pending surveys

Analytics & Insights

AI Chat can generate insights such as:

  • Count surveys by status, privacy type, or creator

  • Completion rate breakdowns showing how many responses were submitted vs. pending

What’s coming next

We’re continuously improving AI Chat, with upcoming enhancements including:

  • Export to CSV directly from chat results

  • Direct links to employee profiles from responses

  • Knowledge base files as a data source (files only, no links supported)

If you have any questions or feedback about this feature, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact support@shapes.co.

Did this answer your question?