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Field guide

10 HR tasks you can hand to an AI agent in 2026.

A numbered list of jobs, not vendors. Where an agent colleague fits, and what still needs a human confirm.

Most “AI for HR” pages sell a window. This page sells a job list. Ten HR tasks you can hand to an AI agent in 2026, numbered so you can brief a colleague, not so we can crown a vendor. The numbers are tasks, not ranks. If the software cannot plan the work, use a tool, look at the result, and continue, you still have the task. That is the line in agentic HR vs chatbot.

We only claim Kumo can do a task when it maps to /platform, /platform/capabilities, /intelligence, or /cv-screening. If a step is wider industry pattern, we say so and then show where Kumo HR Agent 2.0 fits. Contract and policy reading is a first-pass HR checklist, not legal advice. Sensitive actions wait.

1. Build a hiring plan

Industry pattern: a people partner is asked for a hiring plan and spends a week in slides, then another week turning the slides into requisitions. An agent that finishes the work takes the goal (“hire three designers in Berlin this quarter”), drafts the plan, opens the roles, and posts what you confirm.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: the platform hiring module is explicit. Ask for a hiring plan and the colleague works across modules. The versus table on that page is the line “create me a hiring plan”, planned, drafted, posted. The live catalogue includes opening a role with an AI-drafted description and publishing it to the careers page, each behind a confirm. We do not invent extra ATS features beyond that catalogue.

2. Screen CVs against the job

Industry pattern: keyword ATS scores, or a chatbot that summarises a paste. Neither reads the document against the role you opened. The useful job is: open the file, compare it to the requisition, write a grounded note, and continue the mission (longlist, schedule, or reject) with you still deciding.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: /cv-screening is the page for this task. The agent reads the CV against the job, not a keyword cloud. It sees each tool’s real result and keeps going through the hiring mission. Sensitive steps wait. This is not legal advice.

3. Audit leave this week

Industry pattern: export a CSV, build a pivot, hope the balances match the policy in each country. Multi-entity teams feel this first. An agent that finishes the work pulls live leave, flags clashes and coverage gaps, and files a report you can send.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: Leave and Time on /platform is one calendar for holidays, leave, and public holidays, with localised policies per country and entity, and coverage gaps flagged before approval. The same page’s reporting line is “audit our leave this week”, report in minutes, saved as an artifact. The live catalogue can also book, approve, or clash-check leave, with confirms on actions that change someone else’s time.

4. Run multi-entity payroll (with a confirm)

Industry pattern: four entities, three currencies, one person who knows which spreadsheet is true. An agent that finishes the work drafts the run, calculates, flags variances, and waits. Nobody should auto-commit pay.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: Pay and Expenses on /platform is titled “multi-entity payroll.” The example ask is “run the June cycle across all entities.” The versus line is “run UK payroll”, variances flagged, confirm to commit. The live catalogue includes create payroll run, calculate, and the later commit steps, all confirm-gated. Country coverage for pay, when you need it, is 180+ countries via native engines or trusted partners on that page, and Global HR and EOR in 180+ countries on /global.

5. Chase overdue reviews

Industry pattern: you spend three weeks in Slack asking forty people to finish a form. An agent that finishes the work nudges the stragglers, collects what came back, summarises, and holds the calendar slot. You still calibrate.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: Performance on /platform is “360° reviews that finish on time,” with the example “chase the 5 overdue reviews before Friday.” The versus line says the agent chases, collects, summarises, and calibrates the 360. The live catalogue includes sending review reminders, running a cycle, and chasing outstanding 360 reviewers, each with a confirm when it messages other people.

6. Run the onboarding checklist

Industry pattern: a wiki page and a hope that IT saw the ticket. The finished job is a journey: accounts, kit, buddy, day-one plan, and a trail of what is still open.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: the platform versus table says the agent runs the checklist (accounts, kit, buddy, day-one plan). The live catalogue has onboarding setup: start a journey and regenerate tasks. New joiner posts can be created from onboarding on the team feed. We do not claim Kumo provisions every third-party SaaS by magic. What it does claim is the checklist and the mission, with confirms before anything is emailed.

7. First-pass contract and policy scan

Industry pattern: a counsel backlog, or a chatbot that summarises a PDF and calls it review. The finished first pass is a checklist against the role, the policy library, and obvious gaps, with a human still owning the legal opinion.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: /intelligence and /agentic-hr-employee state that the colleague reads contracts and policies. Contract review is a first-pass HR checklist, not legal certification and not legal advice. Policies can be assigned and acknowledgements requested from the live catalogue. Sensitive policy changes wait.

8. Settle expenses against the same pay cycle

Industry pattern: expenses in one tool, payroll in another, and a monthly argument about who was reimbursed. The finished job is capture, policy check, approval, and a reserve on the pay run.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: Pay and Expenses on /platform says expenses settle on the same pay cycle, with mobile capture, OCR, and policy-aware checks. The live catalogue includes submit, approve, and reject expense, plus expense policy configuration. Calculate payroll reserves that period’s approved bonuses and expenses. Confirms sit on approvals and on the pay commit.

9. Build a learning path

Industry pattern: a slide deck called “onboarding academy” that nobody finishes. The finished job is a path tied to the role and the skills graph, assigned, with a manager view of who is actually on it.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: Learning on /platform is skill paths, not slide decks. The example ask is “build a 6-week path for the new AE cohort.” The live catalogue includes assign a learning path, enroll in a course, and create a course with AI (draft only until published). Recommendations tie to the skills graph and goals. We do not invent a marketplace of every MOOC on earth. The claim is paths, assignments, and a draft course, with confirms.

10. Internal comms that actually send

Industry pattern: a draft in someone’s notes, a missed anniversary, a townhall recording that never leaves the folder. The finished job is a message to a real audience, or a feed post, with a confirm before it goes out.

Where Kumo Agent 2.0 fits: Team Feed on /platform covers shoutouts, polls, occasion reminders, and new joiner posts. The example asks are “share the townhall recording with everyone” and “draft shoutouts for this week’s anniversaries.” The live catalogue’s Communication module can nudge, message a resolved audience (departments, teams, policy non-acknowledgers, incomplete onboarding), or email a report, each behind a confirm. Messages send as Kumo DMs or email, not as you.

What you still do

You set the mission. You confirm pay, offers, access, and policy. You read the trail. An honesty kernel means the colleague cannot claim unfinished work. That is the difference between handing over a task and handing over a prompt box. More on the loop: /intelligence. The named 2026 field of agent tools: agentic AI HR tools in 2026.

What we skipped. Invented ATS features. Legal certification. A claim that Kumo auto-commits payroll. Customer counts. A 1 to 10 vendor rank dressed up as a task list.

Sources

Questions people actually ask

Short answers for humans and models.

Is this a ranked list of vendors?
No. It is a numbered list of tasks. The numbers are for reading, not for a trophy. We do not score vendors 1 to 10.
Can Kumo do all ten of these today?
Each task below maps to a live page: /platform, /platform/capabilities, /intelligence, or /cv-screening. Where a step is industry pattern rather than a named Kumo verb, we say so.
Does an agent replace the people team?
No. Sensitive actions wait. Confirm gates, an honesty kernel, and a full audit trail are how the colleague stays employable. You still decide offers, pay commits, and policy.
Is contract or policy review legal advice?
No. On Kumo it is a first-pass HR checklist, not legal certification and not legal advice. A lawyer still owns the opinion.
Where do I see this in the product?
Start at the live catalogue or how Agent 2.0 works. Then book a demo.
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