An HR policy helpdesk that works out each employee's own answer, in Arabic or English, at any hour
HR answers in Arabic or English, at any hour.
See one case, screen by screen ↓A utility's people work in power and desalination plants, control rooms, network depots and field crews, many on 12-hour rotating shifts, and few of them sit at a desk. Their questions are short — how much leave can I carry over, what housing allowance do I get after a transfer, is the education allowance paid for my third child — but the answer depends on their grade, what they have taken, what they carried last year, any exception their manager approved, and clauses spread across a 214-page manual, a grade and allowance table and this year's circulars.
So the question becomes a ticket. An HR officer pulls the HR record, the rota and the leave record, finds the clauses, does the sum by hand and replies days later, often after the employee's next rest block. The intranet FAQ quotes the policy but never the employee's own number. Circulars change rules mid-year, the Arabic and English manuals drift apart, and the days that lapse on 31 December are usually found out in January.
Estimated split for one routine leave or allowance question, in working days, from the ticket to a reply. The 2.6-working-day total is Lumina's sample figure; with the helpdesk the answer is worked out in seconds, and only sensitive or unclear questions go to a person.
Six specialist agents read the question, the asker's own record and the clauses, and work out the answer; HR officers take what needs a person.
Lumina Utilities runs the Marsa Rawdah Power & Desalination Plant. On Tuesday 13 October 2026, on night shift in the Unit 3 control room, Yousef Haddad asks HR about annual leave and carrying it forward, the topic Lumina's employees ask about most: 1,412 questions in the last 30 days. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Yousef is grade G7, on rotating 12-hour shifts, 4 on and 4 off, and HR is closed when he is free. He asks in the phone app. The answer is his own: 5 days into 2027, from his balance of 14. His leave is drawn as day tiles — 21 taken, 5 to carry, 4 to take by 31 December, and 5 overhaul days that expire on 18 March 2027 — with the clauses on the right, the sentences used highlighted.
“Your rota has rest days 22–25 December. Taking leave on 18–21 December gives you 8 days off in a row.”
The question reader marks it annual leave, carrying forward, English, not sensitive. The record reader reads only Yousef's record: 3 leave entries in 2026 and 1 approved exception of 5 days. The policy finder takes clauses 4.1.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.5 and 4.3.6 of HR Policy Manual v7.2 and checks no circular changes them. The entitlement calculator does the sum, and the answer checker checks 9 numbers against the record and the clauses.
Entitlement calculator: “30 − 21 = 9 · 9 + 5 = 14 · limit 10 − 5 carried = 5 to carry · 4 lapse on 31 Dec”
Yousef carried 5 days from 2025 when the Unit 2 overhaul cancelled his leave, approved by Saeed Al Marri on 18 December 2025. Clause 4.3.6 lets a manager approve that, to be taken within 15 months. Clause 4.3.5 says those days count towards the 10-day limit in clause 4.3.2. The working shows it as its own line, “Already carried, counts towards the limit −5”.
Clause 4.3.5: “Days already carried forward under clause 4.3.6 count towards the limit in clause 4.3.2.”
44 % of Lumina's questions are asked in Arabic. Switching to عربي turns the answer, the headline and the clauses right to left, quoting the Arabic text of the same manual. The answer checker has already confirmed that the Arabic and English say the same thing.
Answer rule: “Hold the answer when Arabic and English differ.”
“Plan the 4 days” opens a leave request for 18–21 December 2026: annual leave, 4 days, to Saeed Al Marri. The helpdesk adds why: it joins his rota rest days and uses the days that would lapse, and two relief operators are free on those nights. It sends nothing on its own; Yousef sends it, and Saeed approves.
“The helpdesk fills in the request. Saeed Al Marri approves it; nothing changes in the leave record until then.”
The leave year shows taken, booked and suggested days, public holidays, the lapse on 31 December and the overhaul days' expiry on 18 March 2027. His reminders are set from his own dates: 90 days before 31 December, sent on 2 October; 30 days before, if nothing is booked; and 60 and 14 days before the overhaul days expire.
“Reminders go to the phone app and to email, in Yousef's language.”
Aisha is G10 at Head Office, on office hours. Her answer: 10 days into 2027, from a balance of 18. Her 6 days booked for 16–23 November come off first under clause 4.3.4, which leaves 12, and the limit is 10 — so she should take 2 more days by 31 December. The helpdesk notes that Thursday 24 and Friday 25 December join her weekend.
“Thursday 24 and Friday 25 December join your weekend: 4 days off for 2 days of leave.”
Ravi joined the Eastern Network depot field crew on 1 April 2026. His first-year leave is 19.5 days, pro rata under clause 4.1.3, and he has taken 4. His probation ended on 30 September, so under clause 4.3.3 he may carry leave forward, up to 10 days, and should take 5.5 days by 31 December. The helpdesk checks his on-call week before it suggests dates.
“You are not on call 14–21 December. Book 14–18 December and the morning of 21 December.”
Ravi asks: “My father is in hospital in Kochi, can I take time off?” The question reader marks it sensitive. Ravi is given the emergency-leave clause straight away, and the question goes to Noura, who must call by 08:20. The answer checker found that clause 4.6.1 gives 5 working days in English and 3 in Arabic, so no number of days is given until Noura confirms it. She gets his record, both versions of the clause and a drafted reply.
“Drafted from the English clause. Confirm the number of days before sending: the Arabic manual says 3.”
The gap finder groups the questions that needed a person into 12 gaps this month. G-01 is the emergency-leave mismatch, 19 questions, answers held, with the Arabic wording to match the English. G-02 is the most asked: 88 questions on whether 12-hour shift workers count leave in shifts or in days, where the manual is silent. Each gap carries what people asked and a suggested wording for Khalid.
Gap finder: never edits the policy — it proposes wording to the policy owner.
The same questions, seen by the five people they reach — what their month looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six specialist agents read the question, the asker's own record and the clauses, and work out the answer; HR officers take what needs a person.
Reads each question in Arabic or English, finds the topic, and marks anything sensitive — health, a family emergency, harassment, grievance, discipline or end of service — so a person follows up.
Reads the asking employee's own grade, leave record, rota, allowances and approved exceptions, when they ask.
Finds the clauses that apply in the manual in force, the grade and allowance table, the shift work rules and the circulars, in English and Arabic.
Works out the employee's number line by line from the record and the clauses — entitlement, taken, booked, carried, the limit and what lapses.
Checks every number against its source, and that the Arabic and English answers say the same thing.
Overnight, groups escalated and unanswered questions into policy gaps for the policy owner, and sends lapse reminders from each person's own dates.
Answers what needs a person. The agents propose; a named person decides.
The HR Services team asks about the questions, the answers and the gaps — or says what to change. Every answer points to its source.
Who is about to lose leave this year?
1,930 employees hold 6,140 days that lapse on 31 December unless taken or carried. All of them were reminded on 2 October, 90 days ahead, and 412 have booked leave since. Marsa Rawdah has the most at risk: 286 people and 1,004 days, mostly operators on rotating shifts.
Which clause confuses people most?
The most asked gap is how 12-hour shift workers count leave, in shifts or in days: 88 questions this month, and the manual is silent. The one to fix first is clause 4.6.1: the Arabic manual says 3 days of emergency leave and the English says 5, so those answers are held for a person.
Show me what Ravi was told at 06:20
Ravi Menon was given the emergency-leave clause on full pay, but no number of days, because the Arabic and English versions differ. His question is with Noura Al Shamsi, who must call by 08:20; the drafted reply is ready for her to check.
Remind everyone at Marsa Rawdah with days at risk
Done. 286 reminders sent at Marsa Rawdah, each with that person's own days and lapse date, and the rest days on their rota where leave would fit. Nobody was told anyone else's numbers.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
What the helpdesk may read, what it must hand to a person, and how it reminds people are settings, chosen by HR.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Records the helpdesk may read | HR record, leave record and approved exceptions, rota and on-call rota, payroll: basic salary and allowance amounts | Each on or off · only the asking employee's own record · bank details and medical claims: never |
| Health and family emergency · harassment or grievance | Hand to a person · call within 2 hours · the employee still gets the clause | Each on or off |
| Discipline and end of service · pay disputes | Hand to a person · 2 working days | Each on or off |
| Paying out leave | A Director decides | On · Off |
| Every number shows its source · never cite a superseded version | Always on | Cannot be turned off |
| Hold the answer when Arabic and English differ | On | On · Off |
| Lapse reminders | 90 days, and 30 days if nothing is booked · 60 days before exception days expire | Each on or off · monthly digest to managers of their team's days at risk: off |
| HR Services | Ask as an employee (logged) · draft replies for escalated questions | On · Off — send replies without a person: never |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our arithmetic: AED 1.9M = 2,820 routine tickets a month × AED 55 × 12 (Lumina sample inputs); the split of a ticket's working days is our estimate · “typical” = tier-1 HR cases are commonly costed at $12–20. Lumina Utilities, its sites and its HR Policy Manual are fictional, and the people named on this page are characters in the working solution.
An HR policy helpdesk answers employees' questions on policy, leave, allowances and benefits without a ticket to HR. HR Policy Helpdesk goes further: it works out each answer from the asking employee's own record — grade, leave taken, booked and carried, rota — and cites the clause behind every number, in Arabic or English, at any hour.
Six agents share the work. The question reader finds the topic and whether it is sensitive, the record reader reads the asker's own record, the policy finder takes the clauses in force, the entitlement calculator does the sum line by line and the answer checker checks every number. In the sample case it took 8.4 seconds to give Yousef 5 days to carry, from a balance of 14.
Yes. It is built for people on rotating 12-hour shifts, on call or in field crews, who ask from a phone outside office hours. It reads the rota, so it can suggest leave next to rest days and away from on-call weeks. In the sample month 31 % of questions came between 20:00 and 06:00, when HR is closed.
Yes. It answers in the language the question was asked in, with the other one a tap away, and quotes the clause in that language. The answer checker compares the two; where the Arabic and English manuals differ, the number is held for a person and the mismatch goes to the gap report.
They always reach a named person. Health and family emergencies, harassment and grievance go to an HR Services officer to call within 2 hours; discipline, end of service and pay disputes within 2 working days. The employee gets the clause at once, and the officer gets the record, the clauses and a drafted reply.
The gap finder reminds each employee of their own days at risk 90 days before they lapse, again at 30 days if nothing is booked, and before exception days expire. In the sample data 1,930 people holding 6,140 days were reminded on 2 October, and 412 booked leave since.
Yes. The helpdesk is read-only on HR records, reads only the asker's own record, and never decides anything that is at a manager's discretion. It fills in leave requests that the manager approves, drafts replies that an officer sends, and proposes policy wording that only the policy owner can adopt.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your HR policy manual in both languages, grade and allowance tables, circulars and a sample of past HR tickets — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own policies first.
Crews hear the expert’s own answer, in seconds, long after the expert has retired.
1-min demoWorkforce Qualification ManagementNo one on energised work without a current authorisation.
1-min demoApprenticeship Program ManagementApprentice to journeyman with every sign-off on record.
1-min demoWe'll run HR Policy Helpdesk on your own manual, grade tables and a sample of past HR tickets.