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WhatsApp HR and staff helpdesk: payslips, leave, hiring

For staff who have a phone but no work email. Payslips, leave balances, leave requests, expense claims and company notices on one WhatsApp number, plus hiring screens for shift workers and quick figures for managers in the field.

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Last updated 26 October 2026

Staff helpdesk
Business account · example

Payslip

Hi. To keep your payslip private, please send your employee number and the last 4 digits of your ID number.

E10482, 0087

Thanks, Sipho. Which month?

Choose a payslip
September 2026 August 2026 July 2026
Payslip_2026-09.pdf
PDF document from your payroll system

Anything else? Leave balance · Apply for leave · Submit a claim

Staff message one company number, we check who they are against your payroll or HR system, and they get their payslip, leave balance or claim status in the chat. Euphony builds this on your own WhatsApp Business account, connected to your payroll, HR, hiring or reporting system through its API. Meta bills you directly for messages, at Meta's rates.

What staff can do in the chat

The helpdesk is a menu on a WhatsApp number your staff save once. Every answer comes from your own systems, so HR stops being the person who looks things up and forwards them.

  • Get a payslip. The latest one, or a past month, sent as a PDF document in the chat.
  • Check a leave balance. Annual, sick and family responsibility leave, read live from your HR system.
  • Apply for leave. A short WhatsApp Flow (a form inside the chat) for leave type and dates, sent to your HR system for approval. The answer comes back in the same chat.
  • Submit an expense claim. The employee fills in the amount and reason and sends a photo of the receipt. The claim and the photo go to your system or to the person who approves claims.
  • Ask for a tax certificate. The request is logged, and the certificate is sent as a PDF once payroll makes it available.
  • Receive company notices. Shift changes, site closures, payday reminders and policy updates, sent to staff who have agreed to get them.

Anything the menu can't handle goes to a person on your team in a shared inbox. When they reply, the automation pauses so they aren't talking over the bot.

How a payslip request works, step by step

  1. The employee messages your staff numberThey type "payslip" or pick it from the menu. Their message costs you nothing; Meta doesn't charge for messages people send to you.
  2. We check who they areThe chat asks for their employee number and the last digits of their ID number. We check these, and the WhatsApp number they're writing from, against your payroll or HR system. No match, no payslip.
  3. Your system answersWe call your payroll or HR API for the payslip, the balance or the claim status. Your payroll system stays the record; the chat only carries the answer.
  4. The answer arrives in the chatA PDF document for a payslip, a short line for a balance, or a reference number for a leave request or claim.
  5. Status updates followWhen a manager approves the leave or a claim is paid, your system tells us and we send the update. If the employee hasn't messaged in the last 24 hours, that update goes out as an approved template.
We don't sell payroll connectors

There's no list of payroll systems that plug in. We connect WhatsApp to yours through its API, as a custom build. If your system has no API, a scheduled export or a Google Sheet can sometimes stand in for it.

Four ways employers use it

These are patterns seen in the market, not Euphony clients. Each is a build on our platform.

1. Payslips, leave and claims for staff without email

Printed payslips cost money and get lost, and hourly workers often have no login to an HR portal. The helpdesk verifies each employee by employee number and ID digits, then offers: latest payslip as a PDF, leave balance, apply for leave in a Flow, submit a claim with a receipt photo, or request a tax certificate. Each option reads from or writes to your payroll or HR API. Company announcements go out as templates.

2. Shift-worker hiring: an automated first interview

People applying for shop-floor, warehouse or kitchen jobs on a phone often drop out of long online forms. Instead, a poster in the store or an ad shows a QR code that opens WhatsApp with the word "JOBS" already typed. The chat asks a few questions with buttons and lists: name, age, suburb, availability and preferred branch. Answers are checked against your rules (a minimum age, for example). The profile goes to your hiring system, or by email to the branch, and the applicant is told what happens next. A branch or HR manager can step into the chat at any point from the shared inbox.

3. Screening tests and interview slots

Paper pre-tests and cold calls through a pile of CVs waste recruiter time. A candidate taps the WhatsApp link in the job ad, or your hiring system sends a job alert to people who opted in, with "Interested" and "Not interested" buttons. A Flow collects their details and runs a short multiple-choice test, which is scored automatically. Candidates who pass pick an interview slot and get a reminder. Each step writes the status back to your hiring system or a Google Sheet. Everything happens in text and buttons: we don't build voice AI interviews or outbound calls.

4. Figures on demand for field managers

Regional managers rarely log into a reporting tool from the road. With this build, a manager types a question such as "sales in Western Cape yesterday". Claude pulls out the region, the date and the measure, we confirm what was understood, and your reporting or BI system's API returns the numbers. The manager gets a short summary in the chat. Claude only reads the question: the figures in the reply come from your API's answer, not from Claude. Access can be limited to managers' registered WhatsApp numbers and the regions they're allowed to see.

WhatsApp Flow

A leave request, inside the chat

The balance is read live from your HR system when the form opens. On submit, the request goes to your HR system and the employee gets a reference number. Names, dates and balances below are examples.

Systems connected

PieceWhat it does hereBasis
ProgramsThe conversation logic: the menu, verification, keywords such as "JOBS", and timers for remindersOur engine; the logic is written for you
WhatsApp FlowsLeave requests, claim forms and screening tests, with live data from your systemsCustom build
Document messagesPayslips and tax certificates sent as PDFsRuns on our platform
Inbound mediaReceipt photos and documents staff send, stored and viewable in the inboxRuns on our platform
Your payroll or HR systemVerification, payslips, balances, leave and claims, over its APICustom build
Your hiring system (ATS)Applicant profiles, test scores and interview statusCustom build
Your BI or reporting systemFigures for field managersCustom build
ClaudeUnderstanding a manager's question; sorting free-text messagesRuns inside a Program
Google SheetsA simple home for applicants or claims, through an Apps Script web appCustom build
Shared inboxHR or a branch manager takes over a chat; automation pausesRuns on our platform

The receipt photo is attached to the claim as an image. Our platform doesn't read amounts off photos, so the employee types the amount in the claim form.

Which message categories it uses, and what Meta charges

Meta charges per delivered message, by category, and bills you directly at its rates. Euphony adds nothing to message costs.

MessageMeta categoryMeta's rate to a South African number
Messages staff or applicants send youNot chargedFree
Replies while the chat is open (payslip, balance, claim status, screening questions)ServiceFirst 1,000 per number each month free, then US$0.0095
"Your payslip is ready", "Leave approved", interview reminders, when the chat is closedUsually utilityUS$0.0095
Company announcementsUtility or marketing, depending on the wordingUS$0.0095 (utility) or US$0.0379 (marketing)

Meta decides a template's category from its content, and can change it later. Under Meta's guidelines, a utility message must be non-promotional, and either specific to or requested by the person, or essential to them. A general newsletter or a mixed message is likely to be treated as marketing. Since 1 October 2026, utility templates are charged even when the chat window is open.

example A company with 400 staff on one number. Each asks for a payslip once a month, and the chat sends about four replies each: 1,600 service messages, of which 1,000 are free and 600 cost US$5.70. A monthly "your payslip is ready" utility template to all 400 adds US$3.80. That's about US$9.50 a month in Meta fees.

A new business portfolio can send templates to at most 250 different people outside an open chat in any 24 hours. Staff who message you first don't count towards this. Larger workforces need to raise that limit before sending notices to everyone; see our guide to WhatsApp messaging limits.

Sources: Meta, Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform (South African rates from 1 October 2026) · Meta, Template categorization · Meta, Messaging limits. See our pricing page for rand examples.

POPIA, privacy and employee consent

Payslips, ID numbers and leave records are personal information, and you stay responsible for them under POPIA. We build the helpdesk so it shares as little as possible, but the policy decisions are yours. Things we'll ask you to settle:

  • Consent and choice. Many staff use their own phones. Tell them what the WhatsApp number is for, get their agreement before sending them notices, and keep another way to get a payslip for anyone who'd rather not use WhatsApp. Meta also requires opt-in before you message someone first.
  • Verification. How strict it should be. Employee number plus ID digits, matched to the WhatsApp number on their HR record, is a common starting point. A lost or shared phone is the main risk, so decide what happens when someone changes their number.
  • What's kept. Your payroll system stays the record. The conversation, including any PDF or photo sent, stays in the chat history, and anyone with access to the inbox can read it. Decide who gets that access.
  • Where data sits. Meta's Cloud API can keep message content at rest in South African data centres (it may be processed elsewhere for up to 60 minutes first). It has to be switched on before the number is registered, so tell us at the start. See Meta's local storage page.

This isn't legal advice. Run the design past whoever handles POPIA for you before launch.

Variants by industry

  • Retail and fast food chains: hiring screens per branch with a "JOBS" poster, shift notices, payslips for hourly staff.
  • Security and cleaning companies: staff spread across client sites, leave requests without a trip to head office, site-change notices.
  • Farms, mines and construction: payslips and leave balances for workers who rarely see a computer; safety notices to a site.
  • Hospitality: seasonal hiring, shift swaps logged to a sheet, payslips.
  • Distribution and field sales: expense claims with fuel slips, and sales figures for regional managers.
  • Call centres and BPOs: high-volume recruitment with a screening test in a Flow and interview slots.

What we need from you

  1. A WhatsApp number for staffYou connect it to your own WhatsApp Business account through Meta's Embedded Signup. Codeswop is a Meta Tech Provider; the number and Meta's billing stay in your name, on your own payment method.
  2. API access to your systemsDocumentation and a test login for your payroll or HR system, and your hiring or reporting system if those are in scope. For payslips and tax certificates, the system needs to give us each document as a PDF file we can download. If there's no API, we'll look at exports or a Google Sheet.
  3. Your rulesHow staff are verified, who approves leave and claims, which leave types apply, and what the screening questions and pass marks are.
  4. Message wordingWe draft the templates for notices and updates and submit them to Meta. Approval and category are Meta's call.
  5. A person for the inboxSomeone in HR or at each branch who picks up chats the menu can't answer.
Questions

WhatsApp for HR: common questions

Do employees need the WhatsApp Business app?

No. Staff use the normal WhatsApp app they already have. Only your company's number runs on the WhatsApp Business Platform.

Can we use our existing HR WhatsApp number?

Yes, but it moves to the API. Our platform doesn't support using the WhatsApp Business app and the API on the same number, so once it's connected your HR team works from the shared inbox instead of the app. A number registered on the app has to be removed from it first, and its chat history in the app won't come across to the shared inbox. If the number is already on the API with another provider, you share your WhatsApp account with us instead and the number doesn't move.

Which payroll and HR systems does it work with?

Any system with an API we can call. Each connection is a custom build, not a ready-made connector. If your system has no API, a scheduled export or a Google Sheet can sometimes do the job.

How do you stop someone getting another person's payslip?

The employee gives their employee number and ID digits, and we check them, together with the WhatsApp number they're messaging from, against your HR records before anything is sent. You decide how strict the check is.

What does Meta charge for an HR helpdesk on WhatsApp?

Replies to staff who message you are service messages: the first 1,000 per number each month are free, then US$0.0095 each to a South African number. Notices you send first are templates: US$0.0095 for utility and US$0.0379 for marketing, and Meta decides the category from the wording. Meta bills you directly and Euphony adds nothing. See Meta's pricing page.

Can a manager take over a hiring chat?

Yes. Any team member can reply from the shared inbox, and the automation pauses while they do. Chats can't be assigned to a specific person in the inbox, so agree between branches who answers which.

Related

Give your staff one number for HR

Tell us your payroll system, your headcount and what HR answers most often. We'll show you what a WhatsApp helpdesk would look like for your team.

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