HR Automation
Leave, payroll inputs and statutory filing prepared without the spreadsheets.
What is HR automation?
HR automation handles the calculation and administration work in a personnel function, including leave accrual and balances, payroll inputs, statutory deduction preparation, contract generation and onboarding checklists, leaving every decision about a person to your HR team.
HR administration is arithmetic and deadlines. Leave accrues at a rate, balances carry over under a rule, payroll inputs are due on a date, and statutory deductions must be filed whether or not anybody had time.
Most Kenyan employers run this on spreadsheets. It works until somebody disputes a leave balance, or the person who built the payroll workbook leaves, or a filing deadline arrives during a busy month.
None of this requires judgement. It requires the same calculation applied consistently and a deadline that does not depend on memory.
What we automate and what we never will
Duara automates HR administration from Nairobi, built around Kenyan statutory requirements including PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy rather than adapted from a system designed elsewhere.
We automate calculation and never decisions about people. Nothing we build ends employment, issues a warning or scores performance, because those are legal and human acts that need a person who can be held accountable for them.
Who this is for
- Leave balances live in a spreadsheet
- Payroll inputs are compiled by hand each month
- Statutory deadlines are met under pressure
- Onboarding steps get missed
Industries we serve
- Manufacturing
- Hospitality and restaurants
- Retail chains
- Security services
- Healthcare providers
- NGOs and development
Problems this solves
These are calculation and deadline problems, which is the safest category of HR work to automate.
- Leave balances that get disputed. Accrual sits in a spreadsheet only one person understands, so a disagreement has no authoritative answer.
- Payroll inputs compiled by hand. Overtime, absence and allowances are gathered manually every month, which is slow and error prone at exactly the wrong time.
- Statutory deadlines under pressure. PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and housing levy submissions are prepared in a rush because nothing prompts them earlier.
- Onboarding steps missed. A new starter reaches their second week without a contract signed or a system account, because the checklist was informal.
What we deliver
Leave accrued and tracked automatically, payroll inputs assembled from real records, statutory deductions prepared ahead of deadlines, contracts generated from approved templates and onboarding driven to completion.
Leave accrual and balances calculated automatically
Payroll inputs assembled from attendance and records
Statutory deduction schedules prepared ahead of deadlines
Contracts generated from approved templates
Onboarding checklists chased to completion
Staff able to check their own balances
Features
- Built for Kenyan statutory requirements. PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy handled directly rather than adapted from a system designed for another country.
- No decisions about people. Nothing ends employment, issues warnings or scores performance. Those need a person who can be held accountable.
- Balances staff can check themselves. Self service removes most leave disputes, because the disagreement is usually about visibility rather than the number.
- Deadlines that prompt early. Statutory preparation starts before the deadline rather than on it.
- Rules you can read. Accrual and carryover logic is visible and editable, since employment terms change and you should not need us for that.
Benefits
- Leave disputes largely disappear. A consistent calculation staff can see themselves removes both the error and the argument.
- Payroll preparation shortens. Inputs assemble from records instead of being gathered, which matters most in the days when time is tightest.
- Statutory filing stops being a scramble. Preparation ahead of the deadline reduces both the pressure and the penalty risk.
- New starters begin properly. A chased checklist means contracts and accounts exist before the first day rather than after it.
Technologies we use
- Leave accrual engine. Applying your entitlement, accrual and carryover rules consistently across all staff.
- Attendance integration. Reading time and absence records so payroll inputs are assembled rather than gathered.
- Statutory schedule preparation. Producing PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and housing levy schedules ahead of their deadlines.
- Contract generation. Producing employment documents from your approved templates with terms filled from the record.
- Onboarding workflow. Driving each new starter checklist to completion with reminders to the people responsible.
Statutory rates and thresholds change. The rules are built to be updated rather than embedded, and we do not pretend a system can be permanently correct without maintenance.
How the process works, step by step
HR automation usually takes five to eight weeks, and it starts by writing down leave rules that are frequently applied inconsistently today.
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Step 1
Free HR review
We look at how leave, payroll inputs and statutory filing are handled and where the time goes.
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Step 2
Rules written down
Entitlement, accrual and carryover rules are documented, which normally reveals staff being treated differently without anybody intending it.
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Step 3
Balances reconciled
Current leave balances are agreed before automation starts, because inheriting a disputed number automates the dispute.
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Step 4
Leave and self service live
Accrual and staff visibility go first, since they remove the most friction for the least risk.
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Step 5
Payroll and statutory
Input assembly and statutory schedule preparation follow once balances are trusted.
Quality assurance and how we work
The commitments attached to automating personnel administration.
- Nothing decides anything about a person. No terminations, no warnings, no performance scores. Those are legal and human acts requiring somebody accountable.
- We reconcile balances before we start. Automating an inherited leave balance that staff dispute simply automates the dispute.
- We do not advise on tax treatment. Schedules are prepared for your payroll or tax adviser to confirm. We build the calculation, not the tax opinion.
- Statutory rules are maintained, not embedded. Rates and thresholds change, and we build them to be updated rather than pretending a system stays correct by itself.
- Staff can see their own record. Self service is part of the design, because visibility prevents most disputes before they start.
Frequently asked questions about HR automation
Does it run our payroll?
It prepares the inputs and statutory schedules. Running payroll itself stays with your payroll system or provider.
Does it handle Kenyan statutory deductions?
Yes, PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy, built for those requirements rather than adapted from a foreign system.
What happens when the rates change?
The rules are updated. We build them to be maintained rather than embedded, because no system stays correct by itself.
Do you advise on tax treatment?
No. We build the calculation and your payroll or tax adviser confirms the treatment. That distinction matters.
Can it terminate employment or issue warnings?
No, and we will not build it. Those are legal and human acts requiring a person who can be held accountable.
Does it score staff performance?
No. We automate calculation and administration, never judgements about people.
How does it handle leave carryover?
By your written rules, which we document first because two managers frequently give different answers today.
What about our existing leave balances?
Reconciled and agreed before automation starts. Inheriting a disputed balance simply automates the dispute.
Can staff check their own leave?
Yes, and self service removes most disputes, since disagreements are usually about visibility rather than the number.
Does it work with our payroll software?
Yes, feeding inputs into common Kenyan and international payroll systems rather than replacing them.
Can it generate employment contracts?
Yes, from your approved templates. The wording is yours and should be reviewed by your lawyer.
Does it manage onboarding?
It drives the checklist to completion with reminders, so a new starter is not in week two without a contract.
How long before leave is running on it?
Five to eight weeks, starting with documenting leave rules that are often applied inconsistently today.
Can it handle shift and casual workers?
Yes, and these are usually where manual calculation causes the most errors and disputes.
Does it track overtime?
Yes, from attendance records, applying your own overtime rules rather than an assumed standard.
What about staff without smartphones?
Self service is optional. Balances can be issued on payslips or through a supervisor where access is limited.
Will it flag statutory deadlines?
Yes, ahead of time rather than on the day, which is the main reason filing stops being a scramble.
Can it handle several locations?
Yes, including different terms by site where those genuinely differ.
Is our staff data confidential?
Yes. Personnel records stay in your systems, are not exported to us, and no public AI model is trained on them.
What does HR automation cost?
Headcount and the number of processes determine it, quoted after the HR review.
Glossary of terms
Kenyan HR administration terms.
- Accrual
- The rate at which leave entitlement builds up over a period of service.
- Carryover
- Unused leave permitted to move into the following period, under rules that vary by employer.
- PAYE
- Pay As You Earn, the income tax deducted from salaries and remitted to KRA.
- NSSF
- The National Social Security Fund, a statutory pension contribution deducted from pay.
- SHIF
- The Social Health Insurance Fund, the statutory health deduction administered by the Social Health Authority.
- Payroll input
- The overtime, absence and allowance data payroll needs before it can be run.
Related services in Automation
Talk to us about HR automation
Ask two managers how leave carryover works at your company. If the answers differ, the rules are not written down.
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