Employee documents’ access based on country

Overview

In multi-country organisations, employees may see document types that are relevant only to another country (for example, Form 16 visible to non-India employees). This can create confusion in Employee Documents.

With this update, admins can control Document Type visibility based on an employee’s country (work location). Employees will only see document types relevant to their geography.

Who Can Do This

Users with Manage document definitions permission.

Where to Configure

Org → Documents → Employee Documents → Settings → Document Type → Edit Document Type

In the Manage Document Type pop-up (above the Form fields section), you will see:

Allow access to employees based on country (work location)
Select countries based on which employees could access this document type.e

When This Setting Appears

• This setting is visible only if your organisation has two or more countries mapped under Work Locations.

• If your organisation operates in only one country, this setting will not be shown.

• The dropdown lists all countries mapped in Work Locations.

• Even if a country has no employees mapped, it will still appear in the dropdown.

Default Configuration (Required Field)

• This is a mandatory configuration.

• For all existing and new document types, the default is:

Give access to employees of all countries (enabled).

There is no disruption on release.

How the Setting Works

Option 1: Give access to employees of all countries (Default – ON)

• Employees from all countries can access this document type (subject to folder permissions).

• Any new country added in future will automatically be included.

• The country dropdown remains disabled.

• Display text: All countries selected for document access.

• Hover info explains inclusion of current and future countries.

Option 2: Restrict Access to Selected Countries

Uncheck Give access to employees of all countries.

• The country dropdown becomes active.

• Multi-select one or more countries.

• At least one country must be selected.

• If none selected, validation appears:
  “Please select at least one country.”

Important:

• If you manually select all countries and later add a new country, the new country will not be included automatically.

• Use the checkbox option to automatically include future countries.

Employee Experience

Employee Profile → Documents

• Employees see only document types allowed for their country.

• If a folder contains zero relevant document types, the folder will not be shown to the employee.

• The same rule applies to Pending Documents.

• Document counts reflect only visible document types.

Admins will continue to see documents based on their permissions and scoping.

Important Exception (Existing Documents)

If:

• An employee has already uploaded a document

• And later the document type is restricted or the employee’s country changes

Then:

• The employee can still view existing uploaded documents.

• New uploads will not be allowed.

• Deletion remains allowed (based on permissions).

Admin View Impact

(Org → Documents → Employee Documents)

For a specific employee, document types restricted by country will not appear in:

• Pending on employee

• Pending verification

• Verified documents

• Expiring documents

Expiry reminders will not be sent if the document type is not accessible to that employee due to country restriction.

Task Template Impact

If a Task Template uses a document type with country restrictions:

Location Criteria Behaviour

• Only locations from allowed countries can be selected.

• Other locations will be disabled.

Tooltip:

• If user has access to document settings:
  “Only locations of the countries allowed for the document type selected above are available for selection.”

• If user does not have access:
  “Only locations of the countries allowed for the document type selected above are available for selection. Contact the admin with access to employee document settings for more help.”

Mandatory Validation

Location criteria becomes mandatory.

If missing:
“Location is required in criteria as the document type selected has country-based restrictions.”

Blocking Save if Scope Mismatch

If the document type is already mapped to task templates whose criteria exceeds the newly selected countries:

Saving will be blocked with a pop-up:

Title: Cannot save country-based access settings
Message: Explains mismatch and lists impacted task templates (only those beyond scope).
If more than 5 tasks, the list will be scrollable.

Bulk Upload Behaviour

• Admins can upload documents in bulk irrespective of country restriction.

• Uploaded documents will be visible to employees.

• In Imported Documents, when moving documents to another folder, only document types allowed for that employee will be shown.

Migration & Default Behaviour

After release:

• All existing document types are set to All countries by default.

• No visibility changes occur unless modified by admins.