How to Automate Google Forms for HR Workflows

Morgan Hopkins, Customer Success Manager

Last Updated: Mar 9, 2026

HR teams run on forms and approvals. Time-off requests, expense reimbursements, onboarding checklists, policy acknowledgments, training requests — nearly every HR process involves someone submitting information and someone else reviewing it. Google Forms handles the submission side well, but the review, approval, and notification side requires automation.

Common HR Processes That Need Automation

If your HR team is managing any of these processes through email, paper, or manual spreadsheet tracking, there's an opportunity to automate:

• Time-off and leave requests: Employee submits, manager approves, HR records. See our dedicated guide on building a time-off request form.
• Expense reimbursements: Employee submits receipt and details, manager approves the expense, finance processes the payment
• Training and professional development requests: Employee requests a course or conference, manager approves the time and budget
• New hire onboarding checklists: HR creates a checklist for each new hire, various departments confirm completion of their tasks (IT provisioning, facilities access, benefits enrollment)
• Policy acknowledgments: Employees confirm they've read and understood company policies (annual compliance, safety procedures, code of conduct)
• Equipment and access requests: Employees request building access cards, parking permits, or office equipment with manager sign-off

Why Google Forms Works for HR

HR teams gravitate toward Google Forms for several practical reasons:

• Everyone already knows it: No training required for employees submitting requests
• Mobile-friendly: Employees can submit requests from their phone
• Free and unlimited: No per-form or per-response costs with Google Forms itself
• Data in Google Sheets: All response data flows into Sheets, where HR can report, filter, and share as needed
• Quick to modify: HR can add, remove, or change form fields in minutes without IT involvement

Where Google Forms Falls Short for HR

The gap is in what happens after the form is submitted. Google Forms collects data, but it doesn't:

• Route submissions to a manager for approval
• Let approvers approve or reject from their email
• Notify the employee when their request is approved or rejected
• Track the status of each request (pending, approved, rejected)
• Support multi-step approval chains (manager then HR then finance)

These are the exact capabilities that the Form Approvals add-on provides.

Automating HR Workflows with Form Approvals

Here's how to turn any HR Google Form into an automated approval workflow:

Step 1: Build the Form

Create your Google Form with all the fields your HR process requires. Include an email field for the approver (e.g., "Manager's email"). Enable "Collect email addresses" in Settings > Responses so the submitter receives status notifications.

Want to skip the manual setup? The AI Form + Workflow Builder can generate a complete HR form with approval routing in seconds — just describe your process.

Step 2: Add Approval Routing

Install the Form Approvals add-on and add your approver(s). For processes that require multiple sign-offs (e.g., manager then HR then finance), add multiple recipients in order. See our guide on multi-step approvals.

Step 3: Use Branching for Complex Forms

Use Google Forms branching to show different sections based on the type of request. For example, an "HR Request" form could branch into different fields depending on whether the employee selects "Time Off", "Expense Reimbursement", or "Training Request".

Step 4: Leverage the Google Sheet

The linked Google Sheet becomes your HR records system. Form Approvals automatically adds status columns, so you have a complete log of every request, its approval status, who approved it, and when. Use filters, pivot tables, and array formulas to create HR reports and dashboards.

Example: Expense Reimbursement Workflow

Here's a concrete example of an automated HR workflow:

1. Employee submits an expense reimbursement form with receipt upload, amount, category, business purpose, and manager's email
2. Employee receives a confirmation email
3. Manager receives an email with all expense details and the receipt attachment, plus Approve/Reject buttons
4. Manager approves — finance team is notified (if set up as a second approver)
5. Finance processes the reimbursement and the workflow completes
6. Employee receives a final notification that their expense has been approved

The entire process is trackable, auditable, and requires zero manual email forwarding.

Why Not Use an HR Platform?

Dedicated HR platforms like BambooHR, Workday, or Rippling are powerful, but they come with significant costs ($6-25+ per employee per month, based on published pricing as of March 2026) and implementation timelines measured in weeks or months. For organizations already on Google Workspace, Google Forms + Form Approvals provides the core workflow automation functionality at a fraction of the cost, with setup measured in minutes.

You don't need to replace your entire HR stack to automate approval workflows. Start with the processes that cause the most friction, automate them with Google Forms + Form Approvals, and expand from there.

Get Started

Automate your HR workflows today. Free to start with 20 responses per month, no credit card required. View pricing or get started today.