Introducing Cocoon for HR Business Partners

Managers, admins, and HR business partners each play a vital part in managing a leave. But in order to do so effectively, they need easy access to the same real-time information to coordinate and problem solve. To give them just that, we’ve expanded our admin functionality to now include a role for HR business partners (HRBPs), giving everyone the visibility and tools they need to deliver a seamless, supportive leave experience. Because no matter your role, you deserve a Cocoon built just for you. 

The importance of HRBPs in the leave process 

HRBPs are often the first point of contact for employees with HR questions—especially when it comes to taking a leave. Tailored access in Cocoon gives HRBPs their own dashboard for direct visibility into where leave takers are in the process, and better insight into the work Cocoon takes on. That way, they’ll know what’s done, and what’s coming up so they can be prepared and see where they might be needed. However, they won’t see sensitive details, giving leave takers privacy and Workspace Admins ultimate oversight and control. 

They’ll also have access to our resource library to help them craft onboarding/offboarding plans, and coach managers through the process. With Cocoon automating things like payroll calculations, they’ll be able to focus efforts on personalized attention. Ultimately, effective coordination amongst everyone involved in managing a leave affects employee experience, retention, re-onboarding, and overall career success. Parentaly recently showed that those returning from parental leave who had the support of effective managers were 6x more successful in re-onboarding after their leave and 1.7x more likely to stay on at the company.

💡Pro tip: download our ultimate guide for managers to get tons of tips on how best to support someone before, during, and after a leave.

What an HRBP can do and see in Cocoon

Setting up an HRBP admin role

Setting up the HRBP role is fast and easy, while balancing flexibility with privacy. First, a Workspace Admin just needs to add the HRBP’s details and submit them from the Admin Settings.

From here, you’ll link the HRBP to any employee groups they’re responsible for, like departments or cities, etc. already created from your census data. This also means they’ll automatically link to teams, managers, and employees they oversee. Workspace Admins can add or remove access as needed, and as your census data updates, so will Cocoon.

The Cocoon experience for HRBP admins

When an HRBP logs into Cocoon, they’ll have a dashboard showing any upcoming, current, or prior leaves taken by employees in their group. The dashboard breaks down the view by employee, leave type, cadence, start date, end date, and status.

By clicking on an employee’s record, they can get more details around leave dates, laws and policies that apply to them, and pay coverage details. Additionally, they’ll also get notified when:

• An employee submits or updates a leave plan
• A leave gets approved or denied
• An absence gets reported
• A leave taker’s return date is approaching so they can plan accordingly 

💡 See it in action in our click-through tour:

The bottom line

Giving HRBPs tailored visibility in Cocoon directly translates into their effectiveness in being a better partner to a leave taker (and their own HR teammates), ultimately leading to bigger wins for the employee experience overall. With better admin capabilities, Cocoon gives each unique stakeholder the details they need, when they need them—especially as organizations change, grow, and scale. Leaves are never a one-person journey and Cocoon is built for you no matter your role in the process.