AI for HR in Microsoft 365
Safe Copilot adoption for HR teams under Fair Work, AHRC, Privacy Act, and EU AI Act extraterritoriality
Adopt Microsoft 365 Copilot and Viva safely across the employee lifecycle — under Fair Work, AHRC fair-hiring, Privacy Act, and the EU AI Act extraterritorial reach.
At a Glance
Who it's for
- CHROs and HR directors accountable for safe AI adoption across the people function
- HR business partners using Copilot in day-to-day manager and employee conversations
- Talent acquisition leads applying the AHRC AI and Recruitment Compliance Checklist
- Learning and development teams building Copilot literacy across the workforce
- People analytics specialists working with Viva Insights, Viva Glint, and Workday or SuccessFactors data
Course Details
Course Overview
AI for HR in Microsoft 365 is a 12-hour programme that takes Australian HR teams from Copilot curiosity to defensible adoption across the employee lifecycle. You will learn how to use Copilot in Word, Outlook, Teams, and Excel for day-to-day HR work, how to handle anonymised workforce data in SharePoint and Excel, and how to deploy Copilot Studio agents and Employee Self-Service patterns that integrate with HRIS platforms such as Workday Sana, SAP SuccessFactors, and ServiceNow. The programme is grounded in current Microsoft Learn guidance for Microsoft 365 Copilot, Viva Insights, Viva Glint (Copilot Highlights GA April 2026, multilingual May 2026), and Copilot Studio, the Workday Sana Self-Service Agent generally available in Microsoft 365 Copilot from 13 May 2026, the AHRC AI and Recruitment Compliance Checklist, the Privacy Act 1988 statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy in force from 10 June 2025 and the expected Tranche 2 narrowing of the employee-records exemption, the NSW Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Act 2026 — Australia's first statutory duty on AI work systems — and the EU AI Act Annex III high-risk obligations enforceable from 2 August 2026, which apply extraterritorially to Australian employers processing EU candidates with fines up to EUR 35 million or seven per cent of global turnover. You leave with HR red-lines, a sensitivity-label restrict-by-default pattern for Salary, Performance, and Employee Relations sites, a Fair Work s.205A consultation pattern, and a rollout plan that addresses SharePoint oversharing before any Copilot expansion.
What You'll Learn
Course Curriculum
Module 1: HR processes and AI opportunities across the employee lifecycle
120 min- Mapping recruitment, onboarding, performance reviews, policy drafting, leave planning, and HRBP communications to current Microsoft AI capabilities
- Viva Glint Copilot Highlights (GA April 2026) and multilingual support (May 2026) for engagement themes without exposing free-text comments
- Viva Insights manager Copilot for focus, collaboration, and wellbeing signals — what is safe to surface and what is not
- Workday Sana Self-Service Agent generally available in Microsoft 365 Copilot from 13 May 2026 — what it does and does not change
- Employee high-risk data classes: salary, performance, disciplinary, protected characteristics, health, bank, home address
- Reference: Microsoft Learn — Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Viva, and Viva Glint learning paths (current release)
Module 2: Beginner — AI for day-to-day HR tasks in Word, Outlook, Teams, and Excel
120 min- Drafting job descriptions, onboarding emails, and policy outlines in Word and Outlook using Copilot with neutral and inclusive language
- Turning manager meeting notes in Teams into short HR action summaries without exposing identifiers
- Using Copilot in Excel for simple, anonymised list work (headcount snapshots, training rosters) — no real employee IDs
- Inclusive-language patterns aligned to the Sex Discrimination Act and Racial Discrimination Act
- Core rule: never paste real employee IDs, salary, performance, or disciplinary notes into Copilot — sanitisation patterns and prompt hygiene
- Reference: Microsoft Learn — Get started with Microsoft 365 Copilot for everyday work (current release)
Module 3: Medium — AI for analysis, policy, and AHRC-aligned compliance
140 min- Analysing anonymised workforce trends in Excel and SharePoint — turnover, headcount by team, engagement themes — without re-identification
- Template performance-review wording managers can adapt, with calibration guidance to avoid bias amplification
- Drafting policy-change FAQs grounded only in approved frameworks and HR knowledge sources in SharePoint
- Applying the AHRC AI and Recruitment Compliance Checklist: genuine-role criteria, inclusive language, bias review, candidate transparency
- Where AI shortlisting is and is not acceptable under AHRC guidance and the Australian Human Rights Commission Act
- Reference: AHRC — AI and Recruitment Compliance Checklist (current edition); humanrights.gov.au
Module 4: Advanced — Copilot Studio agents, ESS, and HRIS ecosystems
120 min- Designing Copilot Studio HR agents for policy lookup, leave guidance, and onboarding journeys
- Employee Self-Service (ESS) agent overview and the Teams-based manager assistant pattern
- HRIS integration patterns with Workday Sana, SAP SuccessFactors, and ServiceNow — Copilot as the user experience, HRIS as system of record
- SharePoint HR knowledge base architecture with restrict-by-default sensitivity labels
- Least-privilege write-back to HRIS and audit trails for any AI-initiated change
- Viva Feature Access Management to scope Viva Insights and Glint data flow per legal entity, country, or works council
- Reference: Microsoft Learn — Build agents with Copilot Studio; Viva Feature Access Management (current release)
Module 5: Governance, ethics, and data safety — HR red-lines you do not cross
220 min- Privacy Act 1988 statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy (in force from 10 June 2025) and the likely Tranche 2 narrowing of the employee-records exemption
- NSW Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Act 2026 — Australia's first statutory duty on AI work systems and what it means for HR
- AHRC AI and Recruitment Compliance Checklist mandatory bias review and documentation expectations
- EU AI Act Annex III high-risk obligations became enforceable on 2 August 2026 and now bind Australian employers assessing EU candidates — what compliance requires today, with fines up to EUR 35 million or seven per cent of global turnover
- Employee transparency notice patterns and Fair Work Act s.205A consultation for workplace change involving AI
- Restrict-by-default sensitivity labels on Salary, Performance, and Employee Relations SharePoint sites before any Copilot rollout
- HR red-lines: no real names, employee IDs, salary, performance, discipline, protected category, bank, or home address in prompts
- Real incidents and lessons: EchoLeak zero-click Copilot exfiltration, Varonis single-click Copilot data exposure, DISA 3.3 million-record HR breach
- SharePoint oversharing remediation before Copilot expansion — site permissions, guest access, and sensitive site discovery
- Reference: OAIC — Privacy Act review and statutory tort guidance; NSW legislation — Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Act 2026; EU AI Act Annex III (current consolidated text); Fair Work Act 1986 s.205A
Who Should Attend
- Chief People Officers and CHROs accountable for AI risk across the people function
- HR business partners using Copilot in day-to-day manager and employee conversations
- Talent acquisition leaders applying the AHRC AI and Recruitment Compliance Checklist
- Learning and development professionals rolling out Copilot literacy across the workforce
- People analytics specialists working with Viva Insights, Viva Glint, and HRIS data
Prerequisites
Before enrolling, please ensure you meet these requirements:
- • Practical Microsoft 365 experience (Outlook, Word, Teams, SharePoint, Excel)
- • Familiarity with at least one HR process (recruitment, onboarding, performance, ER, policy)
- • Awareness of your organisation acceptable-use and AI policies
- • Optional but useful: exposure to Viva Insights, Viva Glint, or an HRIS such as Workday or SuccessFactors
- • No prior Copilot Studio or low-code experience required
Delivery, Format and Logistics
Delivery Mode
Twelve-hour cohort programme (virtual, four sessions)
Twelve-hour cohort across four sessions — virtual delivery with hands-on Copilot labs in a sandbox tenant and live Q&A
What You'll Need
- Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Teams, SharePoint, Excel)
- Familiarity with one or more HR processes (recruitment, onboarding, performance, ER, policy)
- Access to a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence and Viva Suite for labs (sandbox tenant provided if required)
- Awareness of your organisation acceptable-use and AI policies
- No prior prompt-engineering experience required
What You'll Receive
- 12 hours of instructor-led training across four sessions
- Hands-on Copilot labs in a sandbox Microsoft 365 tenant with anonymised HR data
- HR prompt library for Word, Outlook, Teams, and Excel with sanitisation patterns built in
- AHRC AI and Recruitment Compliance Checklist worked example for shortlisting and selection
- Sensitivity-label restrict-by-default pattern for Salary, Performance, and ER SharePoint sites
- Fair Work s.205A consultation template and employee AI transparency notice template
- Copilot Studio HR agent reference architecture for ESS, policy lookup, and onboarding
- Certificate of completion suitable for AHRI CPD claims
Frequently Asked Questions
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Next Intake
September 2026 — register your interest at educ4te.com
Format
Twelve-hour cohort programme (virtual, four sessions)
Group & Enterprise Options
Discounted rates available for teams of 3+ delegates. Contact us for in-house delivery options.
What's Included
- 12 hours of instructor-led training across four sessions
- Hands-on Copilot labs in a sandbox Microsoft 365 tenant with anonymised HR data
- HR prompt library for Word, Outlook, Teams, and Excel with sanitisation patterns built in
- AHRC AI and Recruitment Compliance Checklist worked example for shortlisting and selection
- Sensitivity-label restrict-by-default pattern for Salary, Performance, and ER SharePoint sites
- Fair Work s.205A consultation template and employee AI transparency notice template
- Copilot Studio HR agent reference architecture for ESS, policy lookup, and onboarding
- Certificate of completion suitable for AHRI CPD claims
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