HR Admins can view 15Five from a specific employee's perspective using impersonation. The session starts immediately after you confirm a modal prompt and ends when you click End Session or after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Before You Begin
You must have the HR Admin role. Manager-only accounts cannot access impersonation.
Steps
From the Manage People page
- Navigate to the Manage People page.
- Locate the employee you want to impersonate.
- Click the three-dot menu next to the employee's name.
- Select Impersonate.
- Review the confirmation modal — impersonation is read-only and hides private content.
- Click Confirm to start the session.
- Verify the impersonation banner appears at the top of the screen.
From the User Settings page
- Navigate to the employee's User Settings page.
- Locate the impersonation option on that page.
- Click Impersonate.
- Review the confirmation modal — impersonation is read-only and hides private content.
- Click Confirm to start the session.
- Verify the impersonation banner appears at the top of the screen.
Ending the session
- Click End Session in the banner at the top of the screen.
The session also ends automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity. When that occurs, a message confirms you have returned to your normal admin view.
If Something Goes Wrong
| Issue | Check | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Impersonate option does not appear in the three-dot menu | Confirm your account role is HR Admin | Contact your account owner to verify your role assignment |
| Confirmation modal does not appear after clicking Impersonate | Check for browser extensions blocking modal popups | Disable popup blockers for 15Five and retry |
| Impersonation banner is missing after confirming | Check whether the page fully loaded | Refresh the page; if the banner still does not appear, end and restart the session |
| Action buttons appear active during impersonation | Hover over the button — a tooltip indicates the action is blocked | This is expected behavior; buttons are disabled or grayed out during impersonation |
Not Covered Here
This article does not cover what HR Admins can and cannot view during an impersonation session — see the User Impersonation in 15Five — Feature Overview for capability details.