At VanRoey, we therefore opted for a smart, scalable solution: we built our own HR Buddy, an AI-driven chatbot that answers HR questions 24/7, helps employees faster and relieves our HR colleagues. In this blog, you can read why we did this, what the impact is and why this could be a huge value-add for your organisation too.

The challenge: lots of questions, little time

HR receives daily recurring questions about holidays, payflip, sick procedure, company cars, leave forms, referral fees and more.

Our analysis showed that more than 60 different questions (accounting for 75% of all HR questions) can be answered perfectly automatically, says Karin Versmissen, HR Director at VanRoey. “That meant only one thing: time to automate smartly, and let our team be good at just that!”

The solution: our own HR Buddy, made in Copilot Studio

Our HR Buddy was developed in Copilot Studio and fed with our internal HR documentation, policies and processes. As a result, he understands the context of our organisation and provides accurate, consistent answers.

We also set clear boundaries:

• What may the buddy answer? Generic HR information, procedures, explanation of policies...
• What should go to HR? Personal, sensitive or individual questions such as remaining leave days or salary information.

In addition, the buddy always displays the source of its answer, so employees can click through to the original policy. Transparent, clear and efficient.

The impact: employees helped faster, HR wins time back

24/7 instant answers

No waiting times. No tickets. No emails. Employees find what they need within seconds.

HR maintains focus on personal contact and the business

By automating repetitive questions, HR will again have room for:

• personal guidance
• welfare talks
• onboarding
• strategic projects
• employer branding

Continuous learning thanks to automatic feedback

Each user can provide feedback after each response. That feedback reaches HR directly, continuously triggering HR to refine policies, build documentation and make the HR Buddy a little smarter each time.

As a result, the quality of responses continues to rise and the system grows with the needs of the organisation.

Affordable to use (pay-as-you-go: ±€24 for 300 queries)

With a pay-as-you-go consumption of around €24 for around 300 queries per month, our HR Buddy remains extremely budget-friendly. Thanks to this low operational cost, we process hundreds of queries per month, making it one of our most cost-effective and scalable in-house tools.

Download our overview of licences here, awards & requirements for Copilot!

Results that speak for themselves

Since its introduction, we see:

• 25% fewer mails in HR mailbox thanks to elimination of recurring queries
• faster onboarding and higher employee satisfaction
• More focus by HR on personal cases
• better, up-to-date documentation thanks to feedback
• an organisation that actively uses AI instead of just talking about it

Internal adoption was additionally boosted thanks to an early-adopter campaign, which involved colleagues in the optimisation from day one.

What can an HR Buddy do for your organisation?

Many organisations struggle with the same challenges we do: limited HR capacity, high expectations from employees, and the desire to respond faster.

Thanks to our experience, we can now also build customised HR chatbots for other companies. Fully tailored to:

• your policies
• your systems (such as SharePoint)
• your tone of voice
• your needs

From internal use to full implementation: we accompany the entire process.

Conclusion: AI just makes HR more human

Our HR Buddy does not replace HR, it strengthens HR. By automating repetitive queries, employees get help faster and HR gets more space for what really matters: people.

AI in HR is not a future. It is today. And it works.

Wondering how an HR Buddy can help your organisation? We would love to show it to you in action. Contact us for a no-obligation consultation.