Introduction

Keka Engage helps organisations communicate with employees through announcements, surveys, polls and recognition programmes. However, communication is only effective when it reaches the right audience.

With Advanced Include & Exclude Filters, you can create highly targeted employee audiences using multiple organisational and employee attributes. Instead of limiting communication to broad groups such as departments or locations, you can now combine multiple conditions and selectively include or exclude employees to ensure communications are relevant to the intended recipients.

This feature is available across Announcements, Surveys, Polls and Rewards & Recognition (RnR).

Who can do this: Global Admins, HR Admins, HR Managers, HRBPs, and users with publish permissions in Engage.

Steps to Configure Advanced Include & Exclude Filters

Open an Engage Module

You can configure advanced audience filters while creating or editing:

• Announcements
• Surveys
• Polls
• Rewards & Recognition (RnR)

To begin:

1. Navigate to Engage from the left navigation menu.

2. Open the required module (Announcements, Surveys, Polls or RnR).

   

3. Create a new item or edit an existing one. Under Announcements, click + New Announcement. (Here we are showing it under Announcemnts.)

   

4. After filling up the Announcement details, click on Configure & Publish to open the Publish Settings panel.

   

Select the Audience Type

Under Choose the Audience:

1. Select Select Groups.
2. The audience configuration panel will display:
   • Include

   • Exclude

     

3. Use these sections to define your target audience.

Configure Include Filters

The Include section determines which employees should receive the communication.

1. Click inside the Include section.

2. Select a filter category.

   

3. Choose one or more values.

   

4. Add additional filters as required.

   

Available Include  and Exclude Filters

You can include and exclude employees based on:

• Legal Entity
• Business Unit
• Department
• Cost Centre
• Location
• Gender
• Job Title
• Worker Type
• Reporting Manager
• Pay Band
• Pay Grade
• Tenure
• Probation Status

• People

  

Example

To target employees from a specific business unit:

1. Select Business Unit.
2. Choose the required business unit.

3. Save the selection.

   

Only employees belonging to the selected business unit will be included.

Combine Multiple Filters Using AND Logic

Use AND when employees must satisfy all selected conditions.

Example

To communicate with employees in a specific department within a business unit:

1. Choose a Business Unit.
2. Click AND.

3. Choose a Department.

    

   

Result:

Only employees who belong to both the selected business unit and selected  department will receive the communication.

Combine Multiple Filters Using OR Logic

Use OR when employees can satisfy any one of the selected conditions.

Example

To communicate with employees from multiple locations:

1. Select Location.
2. Add India.
3. Click OR.

4. Add Canada.

   

Result:

Employees from either India or Canada will be included.

Configure Exclude Filters

The Exclude section allows you to remove employees or groups from the final audience.

1. Click inside the Exclude section.

2. Select the required filter category.

   

3. Choose the values you want to remove from the audience.

   

Example

To send an announcement to all employees except interns:

1. Include All Employees.
2. Under Exclude, select Worker Type.

3. Select Intern.

   

Result:

All employees except interns will receive the communication.

Include and Exclude Together

Include and Exclude filters can be used simultaneously to create highly targeted audiences.

Example

Include:

• Business Unit = Transport & Logistics
• Department = Treat Procurement & Logistics

Exclude:

• Probation Status = On Probation

Result:

Employees in the Transport & Logistics  business unit will receive the communication, except employees who are currently on probation.

Select Individual Employees

In addition to group-based filters, you can target individual employees directly.

To include or exclude specific employees:

1. Select People from the available filter categories.
2. Search for the employee's name.

3. Select the employee.

   

4. Add the employee to either:
   • Include

   • Exclude

     

This is useful when:

1. Running pilot programmes.
2. Communicating with a small group of stakeholders.
3. Excluding individual employees from larger audiences.

Review the Audience Count

As filters are added, Keka automatically calculates the number of employees matching the selected criteria.

Before publishing:

1. Review the employee count displayed on the audience panel.
2. Verify that the count matches your expected audience size.
3. Adjust filters if required.

Publish the Communication

Once audience selection is complete:

1. Configure the remaining communication settings.
2. Choose whether to publish immediately or later.

3. Click Publish.

   

The communication will be delivered only to employees who match the final audience criteria.

What Filter Categories Are Available?

Organisation Filters

Use organisation-wide attributes to define audiences.

Available filters:

• Legal Entity
• Business Unit
• Department
• Cost Centre
• Location

Job Filters

Target employees based on their role information.

Available filters:

• Job Title
• Worker Type
• Pay Band
• Pay Grade

Reporting Structure

Target teams based on reporting hierarchy.

Available filter:

• Reporting Manager

Employee Attributes

Create audiences using employee-specific information.

Available filters:

• Gender
• Tenure
• Probation Status

Individual Employee Selection

Directly include or exclude employees using the People filter.

Options & Variants

• Use a single filter category when targeting broad groups.
• Combine multiple categories using AND for precise employee targeting.
• Use OR to target multiple employee groups simultaneously.
• Apply Include filters alone or combine them with Exclude filters.
• Include or exclude individual employees alongside group-based criteria.

Field Reference / Parameters

Notes, Tips, Important, Warnings

Tip: Start with broad Include criteria and then use Exclude filters to refine the audience.

Tip: Review employee counts before publishing to ensure the correct audience has been selected.

Important: Exclude conditions always remove matching employees from the final audience, even if they match Include criteria.

Important: Existing group-based audience selection continues to work without any changes.

Troubleshooting

FAQs

1. Can I use Include and Exclude filters together?

Yes. You can simultaneously include specific employee groups and exclude others from the final audience.

2. Can I target specific employees?

Yes. Use the People filter to directly include or exclude individual employees.

3. Can I combine multiple filters?

Yes. Multiple filters can be combined using AND and OR logic.

4. Does this replace existing audience selection?

No. Existing audience selection functionality continues to work as before. This feature enhances audience targeting by adding additional filters and greater flexibility.

This feature enables a consistent audience selection experience across all major Engage communication channels.