The employee handbook chatbot: how it works and how to use it

The Handbook Chatbot lets employees ask questions about your company policies in plain English. It searches your published handbook and returns sourced answers without inventing information or giving advice.

Fewer routine questions for HR

Most policy questions ("How much annual leave do I have?", "What is our expenses limit?") have clear answers. The chatbot handles the routine ones so HR can spend time where it is needed.

Answers at any hour

Employees do not have to wait for HR to respond or search through documents. They get the answer in seconds, any time of day.

Grounded

Answers come from your latest published handbook, with section citations. If the handbook does not cover something, the chatbot says so.

Guardrails

The chatbot is designed not to give advice or make recommendations. It provides information and directs employees to HR for their specific situation.

1. 1

   Ask a question

   Type the question in plain English. The chatbot understands natural language, so employees can ask things like:

   • "What's the policy on working from home?"
   • "How do I book annual leave?"
   • "Can I claim expenses for travel to meetings?"
   • "What is TOIL?"
2. 2

   Finding the relevant policy

   The chatbot finds the sections of your published handbook that are relevant to the question and answers only from them.

3. 3

   A structured answer

   The answer is organised to suit the kind of question asked.

   Policy overview

   Summary, entitlements, requirements and related policies.

   Step-by-step procedures

   Numbered steps, what to prepare, who approves, deadlines.

   Eligibility checks

   Clear yes or no answers with conditions and requirements.

   Definitions

   Plain explanations of HR terms and where they apply.

4. 4

   Source citations

   Every answer cites the specific handbook sections used, for example "Annual Leave (5.2)", so employees can read the full policy if they want more detail.

The chatbot is designed to be helpful and safe. It follows strict rules so that employees get accurate information without it overstepping.

Many HR chatbots are generic document-search tools with a UK label on them. Regulyn's chatbot is UK-specific in three ways.

UK employment law underneath

The chatbot answers from policies that Regulyn's compliance engine has checked against UK legislation: the Employment Rights Act 2025, the Acas Code of Practice, the Equality Act and more. When an employee asks about sick pay or flexible working, the answer reflects a policy that has been audited against current UK law rather than a stale template.

UK GDPR by design

Regulyn is ICO-registered, employee questions and handbook content are encrypted in transit and at rest, and specialist service providers are subject to appropriate contractual and data-protection safeguards. Nothing your employees ask is used to train general-purpose AI models.

Works for standalone HR policies too

You do not need a full handbook. Publish a handful of individual HR policies, such as sickness absence, flexible working and disciplinary, and the chatbot answers questions about exactly what you published.

Conversation memory

Follow-up questions work naturally. Ask "What's the annual leave policy?" and then "How do I book it?", and the chatbot understands that "it" refers to annual leave.

Suggested follow-ups

After each answer the chatbot suggests related questions, which helps employees find policies they might not have thought to ask about.

Clarification when needed

If a question is vague (just "leave", say), the chatbot asks "Do you mean Annual Leave, Sick Leave, or Maternity Leave?" rather than guessing.

Streaming responses

Answers appear as they are generated, word by word, rather than after a wait for the complete response.

Scoped during onboarding

We can scope private Enterprise integrations that bring the chatbot to where your employees already work. Productised public API access and self-service integrations remain later standard-product milestones.

Microsoft Teams bot

The chatbot inside Teams, so employees can ask policy questions without leaving their main work tool.

Slack integration

A /handbook command or a dedicated bot channel, suited to remote-first companies that work in Slack.

Scoped REST integration

Private API access with streaming support, configured during onboarding for your agreed intranet, HR portal or custom application.

Custom endpoints

Need to integrate with something else? Our team can help build custom integrations for your workflow.

1. 1

   Be specific

   "How do I claim expenses for client lunch?" works better than just "expenses".

2. 2

   Ask one thing at a time

   Split "What's the leave policy and how do I book holidays?" into two questions.

3. 3

   Use follow-ups

   After an answer, ask related questions. The chatbot remembers the context.

4. 4

   Keep your handbook updated

   The chatbot only knows what is in your published handbook, so generate a new version after making policy changes.

5. 5

   Trust the guardrails

   If the chatbot says "speak to HR", it is because the situation needs human judgement.