When an employee with pending workflow tasks (approvals or inputs) leaves the organization, those tasks can get stuck with no one to act on them. Leena AI's Auto-Reassignment feature automatically detects these orphaned tasks and reroutes them to the right person — ensuring your workflows keep moving without manual intervention.

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What It Does

Auto-reassignment runs as a background process that periodically scans all in-progress approval and input tasks across your workflows. For each task, it checks whether the current assignee(s) are still active in the organization. If an assignee has been terminated, the system automatically finds a replacement and reassigns the task.

When a terminated assignee is detected:

1. The system re-evaluates the original assignment rule. For example, if the task was assigned to "Initiator's Manager" and that manager has left, the system looks up who the initiator's current manager is (from your HRIS) and reassigns the task to them.
2. If re-evaluation doesn't produce a valid active user, the system falls back to the Default Assignee configured on the workflow node.
3. The new assignee is notified via bot message and/or email, informing them that the task has been reassigned because the previous assignee(s) were terminated.
4. A full audit trail is maintained — the reassignment is logged in the task's history with details of who it was reassigned from, who it went to, and when.

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How to Enable Auto-Reassignment

Step 1: Enable at the Application Level

The auto-reassignment toggle is available in the Create / Edit Application form in Workflows Studio.

1. Navigate to Workflows Studio and open the application you want to configure (or create a new one).
2. In the application form, look for the switch labeled "Automatically reassign tasks on assignee/s termination".
3. Turn the toggle on.
4. Save the application.

This toggle is turned off by default. Once enabled, the system will automatically scan all in-progress approval and input tasks within this application for terminated assignees.

You can also enable this setting when duplicating an existing application — the toggle will appear in the duplication form as well.

Step 2: Configure a Default Assignee on Each Node

While auto-reassignment is enabled at the application level, the Default Assignee is configured on each individual Approval or Input node. This acts as the fallback when the system cannot resolve a valid active assignee through the original assignment logic.

In the Basic tab of your Approval or Input node settings:

1. Scroll to the Default Assignee section.
2. Choose the assignee type:
   • Specific User — Search and select an employee who should receive orphaned tasks as a fallback.
   • Audience — Select a pre-defined group (e.g., "HR Operations Team") to receive the task.
3. Save the node configuration.

Without a default assignee configured, the system has no fallback and will skip reassignment if the original assignment logic doesn't resolve to an active user.

Step 3: Verify Assignment Rules

Auto-reassignment works best when your nodes use relation-based assignments (e.g., Manager, HR Business Partner, Skip-Level Manager). When an assignee is terminated, the system re-runs the relation lookup against your current HRIS data, so it naturally picks up org chart changes.

For nodes with static user assignments, the system will go directly to the default assignee since there's no relation to re-evaluate.

Best Practice: Always configure a default assignee on every approval and input node, even if you use relation-based assignments. This ensures workflows are resilient to edge cases like entire reporting chains being restructured.

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Configuring Auto Re-assign Notifications

When a task is auto-reassigned due to assignee termination, the new assignee receives a notification informing them of the reassignment. These notifications have their own dedicated template section, separate from regular reassignment notifications.

Since the previous assignee has been terminated, no notification is sent to them.

Accessing Notification Templates

1. Open your workflow in the Flow Builder.
2. Click on the Approval or Input node you want to configure.
3. Go to the Notifications tab.
4. Scroll to the Auto re-assign notifications section (labeled "Configure notifications sent on automatic reassignment due to terminated assignees").

Default Notification Message

If you don't customize the template, the system sends the following default message to the new assignee:

Bot message:

Hi {{user.displayName}}, Task: {{stepName}}, for the request {{appName}}, which was raised by {{requestor.displayName}} ({{requestor.employeeId}}) with the request/item ID: {{itemId}}, has been reassigned to you as the previous assignee/s have been terminated.

Email: The same content is sent as an HTML email, with the email subject line including the bot name.

What You Can Customize

For the new assignee notification, you can configure:

• Bot Message — The in-app notification content sent via the Leena AI bot.
• Email Content — The email notification body (supports HTML formatting).
• Email Subject Line — The subject line for the email notification.
• Action Buttons — CTA buttons like "Review Task" that link the assignee directly to the task. You can customize button labels and enable/disable them.
• Enable/Disable — Turn the notification on or off using the toggle.

Available Template Variables

Use these placeholders in your notification templates to dynamically insert context:

Note: Auto re-assign notifications are separate from the regular Re-assign notifications section. Regular re-assign notifications cover manual admin-initiated reassignments, while auto re-assign notifications are specifically triggered when the system detects terminated assignees.

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Behavior by Assignment Type

How auto-reassignment works depends on the assignment type configured on the node:

ANY (Single Approver Needed) — The task is flagged as orphaned only when all assignees have been terminated. If even one assignee is still active, the task stays with them. During reassignment, the system filters out terminated users and proceeds with any active users found through re-evaluation or the default assignee.

ALL (Every Approver Needed) — The task is flagged when any single required assignee is terminated, since the approval cannot be completed without everyone. The system validates that every user in the new assignee set is active — if even one default assignee is also terminated, reassignment is held until valid assignees are available.

HYBRID (Matrix Approval) — The system checks each row of the approval matrix individually. If a specific row is blocked because its assigned user is terminated, the system re-evaluates just that row. The task is only flagged as fully orphaned if the overall approval cannot proceed through any remaining active rows.

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Monitoring Reassignments

Progress Path — In the workflow item's Progress Path view, auto-reassignment steps are clearly labeled as "Automated Reassignment" with the timestamp and new assignee details.

Workflow Reports — Tasks that have been auto-reassigned are identifiable in your workflow reports. You can filter for reassigned tasks to monitor how often organizational changes are impacting your workflows.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What if the default assignee has also been terminated?

For nodes with the ANY assignment type, the system filters out terminated users and proceeds with whoever is active. For ALL assignment type, if any user in the default set is terminated, the reassignment is paused — the system retries on its next scan, giving you time to update the default assignee configuration.

Does auto-reassignment work if the task was previously delegated?

Yes. If a task was delegated to someone and that person is terminated, the system detects it and reassigns the task following the standard resolution flow.

Can I manually reassign a task instead of waiting?

Absolutely. Admins with the appropriate permissions can manually reassign any task from the Tasks Dashboard at any time. Manual reassignment is immediate and lets you pick the new assignee yourself.

Does the new assignee get full context of the request?

Yes. The new assignee is automatically added to the workflow item's participant list, giving them full visibility into the request history, comments, and progress path.

What if the system can't find any valid assignee?

If both re-evaluation and the default assignee fail to produce an active user, the system skips reassignment for that task and retries on the next scan cycle. This gives your admin team time to update the node configuration or resolve the organizational gap.

Are SLA escalations preserved after auto-reassignment?

Yes. Any active SLA escalation timers continue to apply to the new assignee. The escalation clock is not reset.