Answer Employee Policy Questions Instantly using Airia

Why this matters

In a 60-person company, HR answers the same questions all week: how many vacation days do I get, when do benefits start, who approves time off. The answers are in the handbook. Someone still types them out, and when they are busy people guess or ask a coworker who is wrong.

An AI agent can answer from the handbook, but only if it is held to it. An agent that fills gaps with a confident guess about benefits is worse than no agent. The two rules that make it safe are: answer only from the handbook, and say "I can’t find that" when it is not there.

Once it works, the same agent is the easiest way to roll out your AI policy. Put the policy in the handbook file, and staff can ask "Can I paste a client invoice into ChatGPT?" and get your answer, with the section name.

What you’ll build

You are Maya, HR manager at Northwind Partners, a made-up 60-person company. In Airia you add the Northwind Employee Handbook as a data source with a clear name and description, upload the file, and build an HR Policy Agent that answers only from it, in three sentences or fewer, and names the section it used.

You test it with two questions. "How many vacation days do I get in my first year?" gets 15 days and the TIME OFF section. "Does Northwind pay for gym memberships?" gets "I can’t find that in the handbook. Please email [email protected]." Then you learn where Publish shares it with the team.

What you need

Nothing to start the practiceAiria is a practice copy. No file is uploaded and no agent is created. Northwind and the handbook are made up.
An Airia account, to do it for realairia.com. Check its current plans and agent limits.
Your current handbookA PDF, Word file or plain text. Add your AI policy as its own section so the agent can answer AI questions too.
One HR contactThe email address the agent sends people to when the handbook does not cover their question.

Concepts

3 ideas you’ll use in the practice.

One source of truth

The agent answers only from the data source you give it, and the description tells it what is inside and when to use it. Airia says the more precise the description, the better the answers.

The agent is only as current as the file. When a policy changes, replace the file the same day.

"I can’t find that" is a feature

The most important test is the question the handbook does not answer. A good agent says so and sends the person to HR. An agent that guesses about pay or benefits creates a problem you have to clean up.

The instructions also say never give legal advice and never share one employee’s personal details. Those are guardrails, written in plain words.

A policy people can ask

Most staff never reread a policy. They will ask a question at the moment they need the answer. Putting your AI policy in the handbook agent turns a document into a habit, and the section name in each answer shows where the rule lives.

Practice

Do every step yourself in a practice copy of the real tool. It checks your work, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on.

AiriaAnswer Employee Policy Questions Instantly using Airia27 steps · ~10 min · nothing touches your real accounts

Start the practice →Prefer to read? Step-by-step guide

Do it for real

Now repeat it in your own account. Tick each step as you go.

Add your AI policy to the handbook as its own section, with the never-paste list and who to ask.
In Airia, open Build, then the Data Sources tab, and click Add Data Source. Choose File Upload.
Name the data source clearly and write a description of what is inside and when to use it. Click Done, then Add Files and upload the handbook.
Wait until the file shows Ready, then create the agent and attach the data source.
Paste instructions that say: answer only from the handbook, name the section, say "I can’t find that" and give the HR email when it is not covered, never give legal advice, never share personal details.
In the Playground, ask one question the handbook answers, one it does not, and one AI policy question such as "Can I paste a client invoice into ChatGPT?"
When all three answers are right, publish it to your team, and put a reminder in your calendar to replace the file whenever the handbook changes.

Quick check

3 questions to check you’ve got it.

1. What should the agent say when the handbook does not cover a question?

Its best guess
"I can’t find that in the handbook" and the HR email
Nothing

Show the answer

"I can’t find that in the handbook" and the HR email. Saying so and sending the person to HR is safer than a confident guess about pay or benefits.

2. Why name the handbook section in each answer?

So people can check the answer at the source
To make answers longer
Airia requires it

Show the answer

So people can check the answer at the source. The section name lets anyone verify the answer, and shows where the rule lives.

3. A policy changed today. What do you do?

Nothing, the agent learns by itself
Replace the handbook file in the data source today
Delete the agent

Show the answer

Replace the handbook file in the data source today. The agent is only as current as its source file.

Up next · Module 11

Invoices from Your Inbox to Google Sheets, with Approval

Staff can ask the policy. Last, the strongest guardrail of all: a workflow where AI does the reading but a person approves before money moves.

Start module 11 →