USE CASE

AI HR Manager: Replace BambooHR, Gusto, and Rippling

Build an AI HR team that handles onboarding, PTO tracking, policy questions, and employee requests—without per-employee pricing.

December 2025•USE CASE

HRIS platforms charge $8-15/employee/month for what's essentially a database of employee records with some workflow automation. For a 100-person company, that's $9,600-18,000/year—and you still need HR staff to actually run HR.

What if AI agents handled the routine HR tasks—onboarding checklists, PTO requests, policy questions, compliance tracking—so your HR team could focus on culture and people?

Modern HRIS software charges premium per-employee prices but still requires humans to answer every policy question, process every request, and manually update every record. You're paying for a glorified spreadsheet with a nicer UI.

The HRIS Tax

Let's look at what you're actually paying for. Here's the monthly per-employee cost for popular HR software:

Tool	Price/Month	Annual Cost
BambooHR	$12/employee	$144/employee
Gusto	$6/employee	$72/employee
Rippling	$8/employee	$96/employee
Namely	$15/employee	$180/employee

Prices for standard business tiers as of December 2025. Most require annual contracts and charge additionally for payroll.

You're paying $8-15/employee/month for software that still requires HR staff to answer questions, process requests, and maintain records.

What HRIS Software Actually Is

Strip away the marketing. Here's what your HRIS subscription actually buys:

Feature You Pay For	What It Actually Is
Employee records management	A database that stores employee information with form fields HR still has to update
Onboarding workflows	Checklists that someone still has to create, assign, and follow up on manually
PTO tracking	A calendar system that requires manual approval and still sends you notification emails
Policy management	Document storage that employees rarely find—they still ask HR directly
HR reporting	Pre-built charts that someone has to interpret and explain to leadership

You're paying enterprise prices for a sophisticated database. The actual HR work—answering questions, processing requests, supporting employees—still falls on humans.

What an AI HR Manager Actually Does

An AI HR manager doesn't just store records. It actively manages HR operations:

Runs onboarding automatically

The agent triggers the complete onboarding sequence on day one—equipment requests, system access, welcome emails, policy acknowledgments, team introductions. No manual checklist management.

Manages PTO and leave requests

Employees request time off via Slack or email. The agent checks balances, verifies no conflicts, gets manager approval, updates calendars, and confirms—all without HR involvement.

Answers policy questions instantly

"What's our parental leave policy?" "How do I update my benefits?" The agent reads your handbook and responds with accurate answers immediately, 24/7.

Tracks employee milestones

Work anniversaries, performance review dates, certification renewals, probation end dates—the agent tracks everything and alerts the right people at the right time.

Generates HR reports on demand

Headcount, turnover analysis, PTO utilization, compliance status—ask for any report and get it instantly with insights, not just data.

Watch It Work

See how an AI HR manager handles real workplace scenarios:

New Hire Onboarding

#hr-team — Slack

🎉 New hire starting Monday: Sarah Chen (Senior Engineer) I've initiated the onboarding workflow. Here's the status:

Task	Status	Due
Laptop request submitted	✅ Complete	Today
Slack & GitHub access	⏳ Pending IT	Friday
Welcome email draft	✅ Ready for review	Friday
Day 1 schedule	⏳ Needs manager input	Friday

I need Mike (her manager) to confirm the Day 1 schedule. Should I ping him directly?

Yes, and CC me on it

Done. I've messaged Mike and added a reminder for Friday morning if he hasn't responded. I'll also send you the welcome email draft to review.

PTO Request Processing

Direct Message — Slack

Hey, I'd like to take December 23-27 off for the holidays

I can help with that! Let me check your balance and the calendar:

Detail	Info
PTO Balance	12 days remaining
Requested	3 business days (Dec 23-27)
Team Coverage	2 other engineers available
Manager	Mike (auto-approval enabled)

Everything looks good! Since Mike has auto-approval enabled for requests under 5 days, I can approve this immediately. Should I proceed?

Yes please!

✅ Approved! I've updated your calendar, notified the team, and set your Slack status for those dates. Enjoy your holidays!

Policy Question

Email — Employee Question

What's our policy on working from home? Can I work remotely for a week while visiting family?

Great question! Here's what our remote work policy says:

Remote Work Policy (from Employee Handbook)

All employees can work remotely up to 2 days per week without approval
Extended remote work (3+ consecutive days) requires manager approval
International remote work requires HR and Legal review (tax implications)
Equipment and secure internet connection are your responsibility

For a week with family, you'd need manager approval. Would you like me to send a request to your manager with the dates? I can also check if there are any team meetings that would conflict.

Monthly HR Report

Give me the HR metrics for last month

November 2025 HR Summary

Metric	Value	vs Last Month
Total headcount	127	+ 3 (new hires)
Turnover rate	1.6%	- 0.8% (improved)
Avg. PTO taken	1.8 days	+ Holiday season
Open positions	4	- 2 (filled)
Onboarding completion	100%	— (maintained)

Notable: Engineering team is at capacity. 2 new headcount requests pending for Q1.

Upcoming: 5 work anniversaries in December (3 at 1 year, 2 at 5 years).

The Killer Feature: Your HR Knowledge, Always Available

Here's what makes file-based AI agents fundamentally different from traditional HRIS software:

Your HR knowledge lives in organized files—policies, employee records, benefits guides, onboarding checklists. The agent reads these files directly, understanding context and taking action. When you update a policy, the agent immediately uses the new version to answer questions.

/hr
├── employees/
│   ├── active/
│   │   ├── sarah-chen.md
│   │   ├── john-smith.md
│   │   └── ...
│   └── onboarding/
│       └── new-hire-checklist.md
├── policies/
│   ├── pto-policy.md
│   ├── remote-work-policy.md
│   ├── parental-leave.md
│   └── employee-handbook.pdf
├── benefits/
│   ├── health-insurance.md
│   ├── 401k-guide.md
│   └── perks-summary.md
└── reports/
    ├── monthly-headcount.csv
    └── turnover-analysis.md

Update a file, update the answers

Changed your PTO policy? Updated the parental leave terms? Just update the file. The agent immediately uses the new information for all future questions.

Employee records that grow

Each employee has a file that accumulates everything—onboarding status, PTO history, performance notes, training completed. The agent uses this context for personalized support.

Institutional knowledge preserved

Why did we handle that situation this way last year? What was the exception we made? The agent remembers everything, so you never lose HR knowledge when people leave.

No per-seat scaling

Grow from 50 to 500 employees? The agent handles more requests without any additional cost. Your HR operations scale without your HR software bill scaling.

This isn't an HRIS with AI features bolted on. It's an agent that actually does HR—answering questions, processing requests, and supporting employees.

Build Your AI HR Manager in 15 Minutes

Here's how to set up an AI HR manager for your company:

Create the agent

Define your AI HR manager's responsibilities and give it access to your HR workspace.

You are my HR assistant. Manage all employee records in /hr/. Answer policy questions from the handbook. Process PTO requests and get manager approval. Run onboarding workflows for new hires. Generate monthly HR reports.

Upload your handbook and policies

Add your employee handbook, PTO policy, benefits guide, and any other HR documentation. The agent learns your specific rules and answers questions accurately.

Set up your workflows

Create onboarding checklists, offboarding procedures, and review cycles. The agent triggers these automatically at the right times.

Connect your systems

Give the agent access to Slack for questions, email for formal communications, and calendar for scheduling. It works where your team works.

Focus on what matters

The agent handles routine requests and questions. Your HR team focuses on culture, employee development, and the human side of HR.

From onboarding to offboarding—the agent handles the process while you focus on your people.

Scale to a Multi-Agent HR Team

As your company grows, deploy specialized agents for different HR functions:

Agent	Role	Workspace
Onboarding Agent	Manages new hire setup and first 90 days	/hr/onboarding/
Policy Agent	Answers questions and tracks acknowledgments	/hr/policies/
Benefits Agent	Handles benefits questions and enrollment	/hr/benefits/
Compliance Agent	Tracks certifications, training, and audits	/hr/compliance/