Email addresses in Humanforce HR can be tagged as Work, Personal, and/or Primary.
These tags affect:
Who can see the email address (data visibility), and
Where Humanforce HR notifications are sent (delivery).
An email address can have more than one tag at the same time (e.g., Work + Primary), which changes how it behaves.
Where to check email tags
Go to an employee profile and open the Email addresses section. Tags are shown under each email address.
Tag definitions and behaviour
Personal email
Identifies the employee’s personal email (e.g.,
funkyjosh89@gmail.com).Visibility: Default permissions typically restrict access to the employee, their manager, and HR.
Work email
Identifies the employee’s work email (e.g.,
josh.brady@humanforcehr.com).Visibility: Default permissions typically allow broader visibility (often all employees) to support workplace communication.
Primary email
Identifies the email address Humanforce HR will use for notifications.
Notifications: Humanforce HR notifications are sent to the Primary email address.
Visibility: Who can view the Primary email depends on whether the underlying address is tagged Personal or Work (Primary does not override visibility rules).
Combined tag scenarios
Work + Primary
Labeled as the employee’s work email address.
Humanforce HR notifications are sent to this email.
Appears in the People Directory if employee is enabled to view work email addresses.
Personal + Primary
Labeled as the employee’s personal email address.
Humanforce HR notifications are sent to this email.
Appears in the People Directory if employee is enabled to view personal email addresses.
Additional details and exceptions
Single email address behaviour: If only one email address exists on the profile (whether Personal or Work), it will automatically be tagged as the Primary email.
Form-specific sending rule (exception): Some forms can be configured in Form Design to always send to an employee’s Personal email. This is commonly used for pre-start onboarding when a work email doesn’t yet exist. In this case, the form sends to Personal even if a different email is tagged as Primary.
People Directory prioritisation: If a user has permission to see both Personal and Work emails, the Primary email is the one prioritised in the People Directory.