Spaces separate the people in your Humaans account into distinct groups such as legal entity, country, or employment type. Each space has its own people list, its own logo, and its own access rules, so users only see the part of the organisation that's relevant to them.
You can use spaces alongside teams, managers, and custom roles. A person belongs to exactly one space, but a manager or admin can oversee people across several spaces.
Before you begin
Only account owners can create, edit, or delete spaces by default. If you need another role to manage spaces, grant the relevant space permissions on a custom role.
Only those on the Enterprise plan have access to spaces.
Every person must belong to a space. When you create your first additional space, existing people stay in the default space until you move them.
When to use spaces
Common reasons to split an account into multiple spaces:
Multiple legal entities. Keep people in separate entities (for example, a US Inc. and a UK Ltd.) visually and administratively separate.
Different employment types. Keep full-time employees in one space and contractors in another so each view stays relevant.
Access boundaries. Give regional HR teams access only to their own people and avoid building complex custom roles.
If you only need to group people for reporting or filtering, teams or custom fields are usually a better fit than spaces. To learn more, visit Teams and departments.
Create a space
To create a new space:
Go to Settings, followed by Spaces.
Click Add space.
Enter a name for the space.
To add a logo, click Add a logo and upload a PNG or JPEG (up to 10 MB).
Click Save.
The space appears in the list on the Spaces settings page and in the space switcher which is located in the bottom-left corner.
Switch between spaces
The space switcher sits at the bottom of the main menu on the left-side and is visible when your account has more than one space. To switch between spaces:
Click the space switcher in the bottom-left corner.
Select the space you want to open.
To see every space your account has, click Manage spaces at the bottom of the switcher, or go to Settings, followed by Spaces.
Add a person to a space
New people are assigned to a space when you create their profile. To pick which space an active member is in:
Go to People.
Click Add member.
Fill in the required fields.
Under Space, select the space this person should belong to.
Click Save.
To move an existing person to a different space, open their profile, click Edit, and change the Space field. Moving a person will change what their manager, teammates, and custom roles can see.
Assign a manager across spaces
A manager can sit in one space and still manage people in another. The manager's direct reports appear in their own space as normal, and they can switch into the other space to view those direct reports there.
To assign a manager in a different space to that of the report:
Open the report's profile.
Under Manager, select the manager, even if the manager belongs to a different space.
Click Save.
When the manager switches to the report's space, they only see their own direct reports, unless they also have a role that grants broader access to that space.
Space visibility by role
What each user sees is controlled by their role and their space assignments.
Role | What they see |
Employee | Their own space only. Cannot switch spaces. |
Manager | Their own space, plus any space where they have at least one direct report. In other spaces, they can only view their direct reports. |
Owner, Admin, Finance, Tech (default roles) | Every space in the account. |
Custom role with scope "Everyone" | Every space in the account. |
Custom role scoped to specific spaces | Only the spaces selected for the custom role. |
How spaces work with other features
Who's away
The Who's away panel shows only people in the current space. Switching spaces updates the list.
People lists and tables
People tables default to the current space. You can filter by space from the table's filter bar to pull in people from other spaces you have access to.
Workflows
Workflows run across the whole account. You can use a specific space filter for a workflow enrolment trigger, meaning that the workflow applies only to that entity.
Reports
Reports include every person you have access to and can be filtered by space from the report's filter panel.
Insights
Insights cover the entire organisation and are not filtered by space. To compare entities inside an Insights report, tag teams or people with a space-equivalent label and filter on that.
Integrations
Built-in integrations configured through the Humaans interface apply across all spaces and are not space-specific, unless using Teamtailor.
The Humaans API supports space-level filtering. Every person object includes a spaceId field, and list endpoints accept spaceId as a filter. This means custom API integrations can be scoped to a single space. For example, syncing a different payroll provider for each entity.
The API also exposes full CRUD endpoints at /api/spaces. To learn more, visit our API documentation for Spaces.
Teamtailor integration
If you have Spaces enabled in Humaans, you can choose which space employee data imports to from Teamtailor. To learn more, visit Enabling Teamtailor integration.
Delete a space
A space can only be deleted once all employees of any status (active, new hire, offboarded) have been removed. The default space cannot be deleted. To delete a space:
Go to Settings, followed by Spaces.
Click Edit on the space you want to delete.
Click Delete this space.
Confirm the deletion.
If the Delete this space link is disabled, you may see a "This space is in use" message. Move or offboard every person in the space first, then try again.
Frequently asked questions
Can a person belong to more than one space?
No. Each person belongs to exactly one space. To place a person in multiple spaces, change their manager or grant another user a cross-space role rather than duplicating the profile.
Can I rename a space?
Yes. Go to Settings, followed by Spaces, click Edit next to the space, update the name, and click Save.
Does the API support space-scoped requests?
Yes. Every person includes a spaceId, list endpoints accept a spaceId filter, and /api/spaces exposes full CRUD. To learn more, visit our API documentation for Spaces.
What happens to a person's data when I move them between spaces?
Their personal data, documents, and history stay with the profile. Only their visibility changes. People who could see the profile through the old space lose access, and people who have access to the new space gain it. Managers assigned directly to the person keep their access either way.
Can custom roles be limited to one space?
Yes. When you create or edit a custom role, set its scope to a specific space (or several spaces). Users with that role only see people in the selected spaces.