Set up a buddy automation
Assigning an onboarding buddy is one of the highest-value things you can automate in the Employee Onboarding Journey.
Pyn 2 handles it in two halves: first you establish the relationship between the new hire and their buddy, then you use that relationship to send communications to the buddy at the right moments.
This article walks through the full setup:
→ Part 1. Build a Buddy Selection form
→ Part 2. Ask the manager to nominate a buddy during pre-onboarding
→ Part 3. Confirm to the buddy that they've been selected
→ Part 4. Message the buddy on the new hire's first day
How it works
Buddy is a relationship field on the employee record, in the same family as Mentor.
Once a manager submits the Buddy Selection form, the nominated person becomes the buddy of the new hire (the "principal" in Pyn terms). From that point on, any automation running for the new hire can send messages to Buddy as a recipient, and any token you use resolves against the principal.
Two things follow from that, and they explain most of the design decisions below:
→ The buddy relationship does not exist until the form is submitted. Steps that message the buddy need to run after that point.
→ Buddy selection currently runs through Slack only. You need Slack connected for this to work.
Before you start
→ Slack is connected to your Pyn workspace
→ You have permission to create Forms and Automations
→ You know which Moment you want the nomination request to sit in (Pre-onboarding in this guide)
Part 1. Create the Buddy Selection form
The form is what writes the relationship to the employee record. Build it first, because everything else references it.
1. Add a new form
Go to Flows → Forms → Forms and click Add Form.
Add a form to select a Buddy
2. Add the Buddy field
Click Add Field, then choose Employee Fields → Buddy.
This is the field that creates the relationship. A Mentor field is available here too if you run a mentoring programme.
Select the Buddy field under Employee Fields
3. Configure the field
→ Label: Buddy
→ Description: something like "Select buddy". This appears with the field as a descriptive label.
→ Required: tick this so managers cannot submit an empty form.
Leave Confirmation Message blank. That field is not wired up yet (see Current limitations).
Click Save.
Configure the Buddy field with a label, description and required setting
4. Name and publish the form
Give the form a name you will recognise in a search box later, for example "Buddy Selection". New forms default to "New Form", so rename it before you publish or you will be hunting for it in Part 2.
Click Publish.
Name the form Buddy Selection and click Publish
The form now appears on your Forms overview.
Buddy Selection appears in the Forms overview
Part 2. Ask the manager to nominate a buddy
Now embed the form in a Slack message to the new hire's manager.
Go to Journey → Pre-onboarding → Flows and open the Onboarding buddy selection automation. If it is still a Pyn template, click Use This to add it to your workspace.
1. Set the recipient and write the message
On the Send Direct Message to Employee's Manager step, set:
→ From: Pyn Bot (or yourself)
→ To: Manager
→ Schedule: on the day of, at a sensible hour in the recipient's time zone
Write your message and use tokens where you need them, for example "Please select the buddy of @principal.firstName."
It's worth adding a line telling the manager who to contact if they have questions.
2. Embed the form
In the message editor toolbar, open the Widgets menu and choose Embed Form.
Open the widgets menu and choose Embed Form
3. Select the Buddy Selection form
Type "buddy" into the search box, select Buddy Selection, and click Save.
The dropdown does not pre-populate, so you need to search each time.
Search for buddy and select the Buddy Selection form
4. Set reminders and tracking
Open the Reminders tab if you want Pyn to chase managers who have not nominated a buddy. This is worth turning on. A buddy that never gets selected is invisible until someone notices on day one.
5. Preview and test
Click the preview icon in the editor toolbar, select an employee to preview as, then click Send a test to yourself.
Preview the message and send a test to yourself
The manager receives a Slack message with an embedded picker. They choose a buddy from the organisation and hit Submit.
The buddy selection message as it appears in Slack
Once submitted, the selected person is stored as the buddy of the new hire.
Part 3. Confirm to the buddy that they've been selected
The buddy should hear from you as soon as they are nominated, not on the new hire's start date.
This needs its own automation triggered by the form submission. Adding it as a step inside the Onboarding buddy selection flow would not work reliably, because that flow runs off the new hire's start date and there may be no buddy selected at that point. Triggering off the form submission means the message fires at the moment the relationship actually exists.
1. Create a new automation
Go to Flows → Automations and click Create New.
Create a new automation
2. Choose the trigger
Select Form Submission, search for "buddy" and choose Buddy Selection.
Select Form Submission as the trigger and choose Buddy Selection
3. Build the message
Name the automation, for example "Buddy Selection Confirmation". Then:
Add a step and choose Send Direct Message
Set To to Buddy
Write your message. Something like: "Hi, you've been selected as a buddy. You will receive communications later. Here is some information on being a buddy." Add a Link To Library Content button pointing at your buddy guide.
Set the automation to Automated when you are ready for it to run without manual approval
Click Publish to save and confirm
Configure the Buddy Selection Confirmation automation
4. Attach the automation to a Moment
Close the side panel.
Close the side panel
Click the icon on the right edge of the canvas to open additional functionality.
Open additional functionality to attach the automation to a Moment
Under Moment, select Pre-onboarding. This puts the automation on your Journey Map alongside the rest of your onboarding communications. You do not need to publish again for the Moment change to take effect.
Select the Pre-onboarding Moment
5. Check it landed
Go to Journey → Whole Journey, open the Pre-onboarding Moment and select the Flows tab. Buddy Selection Confirmation should be listed there.
Buddy Selection Confirmation now sits in the Pre-onboarding Moment
Part 4. Message the buddy on the new hire's first day
By day one the buddy relationship exists, so you can add this as a step to your existing first day automation instead of building a new flow.
1. Open the First day automation
Go to Journey → Whole Journey, select the First day Moment, then open First day (employee) from the Flows tab.
Select the First day Moment and open the First day (employee) automation
2. Add the step
Click Add a step and choose Send Direct Message
Set To to Buddy
Write the message, using tokens for the new hire's name. For example: "Your buddy, @principal.firstName, has started today! Please reach out via Slack to say hello!"
Set the schedule to on the day of at a time that suits
Set the step to Automated
Click Publish
Add a step to message the buddy on the new hire's first day
A note on tokens. The recipient of this message is the buddy, but principal tokens resolve to the person the flow is enrolled for, which is the new hire. Always send yourself a test before publishing to check the right name appears in the right place.
Current limitations
→ Slack only. Buddy selection is supported through Slack at the moment (we will add Teams and Email shortly. Please reach out to us if you need this to support your process).
→ The Preview button in the form builder renders HTML forms used in email flows, so it will not show you the Slack version of a buddy form.
→ No confirmation message. The Confirmation Message field on the form field configuration is not yet functional. After a manager submits, the message shows as answered without a custom confirmation. This will be implemented shortly.