How do I test a policy in live mode without assigning it to real employees?

Last updated: October 9, 2026

Test mode is the first place to try a new policy — see 📄 Understanding test mode and live mode. When test mode can't receive your real placements, you can test in live mode instead by adding one condition that only matches a test employee you create.

When to test in live mode

Integrations are installed per mode. If your ATS is connected only in live mode — common with TempWorks, for example — test mode never receives the placements your policy reacts to.

The workaround: build the policy in live mode with one extra condition only your test employee can match. Real hires don't match, so they don't get the forms. When the test passes, you remove that condition.

Don't add the test condition to a policy real employees already depend on.

Every condition in a policy's AND group has to match. Add employee.last_name is Testperson to a live policy and real hires stop getting its forms until you remove it — and removing it doesn't add the forms to placements created in the meantime. Build the test as a new policy, even when it's a revised version of one you already run.

Steps

Build the test policy

  1. With the Test mode toggle off, open Policies and click New policy → Start from scratch.

  2. Name it so it reads as a test, like Forklift drivers (TEST). The name shows next to every task the policy assigns.

  3. Under Rules, replace the placeholder condition with the real conditions you want to test.

    The rule starts as one AND group — All of the following must be true. Leave it on AND. For either/or logic, use Add group → OR group inside it.

  4. Click Add condition in the same group and set the targeting condition: fact employee.last_name (search Last name), operator is, value Testperson.

    Both your real conditions and this one now sit under All of the following must be true.

  5. Click Create Policy, then attach the forms you're testing. See 📄 How do I build a policy? for that part.

  6. Click Enable Policy. New policies start disabled, and a disabled policy is ignored.

    The status tag next to the policy name reads Enabled.

Run the test

  1. Create a test employee with the last name Testperson and an email you can check. If hires arrive from your ATS, create the person there and move them through the step that normally sends a hire to Onboarded. Otherwise, use Employees → New Employee.

  2. If you created the employee in Onboarded, open them, go to the Placements tab, and click Create placement. Pick the employer, client, or job your real conditions expect.

    Before you save, Required tasks for this placement lists each form and the policy requiring it. Your test policy should be there.

  3. Leave Assign tasks now? on and click Create placement.

  4. On the test employee's Placements tab, click a task under Created tasks.

    Required by names the policy that assigned it — it should be your test policy.

Go live

  1. On the policy, click Edit.

  2. Hover over the targeting condition and click the trash icon to remove it.

  3. Take (TEST) out of the name and click Update Policy.

The policy now applies to every new matching placement. Updating it doesn't re-evaluate existing placements. If it replaces a policy you already run, click Disable Policy on the original so both don't apply.

Verify

During the test, only your test employee's tasks show the test policy under Required by — spot-check a real employee placed in the same window. After you go live, the next matching real placement gets the forms.

If something looks off, check:

  • The test placement got nothing. Policies run when a placement is created. If you enabled the policy afterward, create a new placement — editing one in the dashboard doesn't re-run policies.

  • The last name doesn't match. Values match exactly — Testperson won't match testperson unless you click Aa to ignore case.

  • A second run showed an old task. Onboarded reuses an employee's existing task for a form when the reuse criteria match. Use a fresh test employee each run — Test2 Testperson, Test3 Testperson — and the condition still matches. See 📄 Understanding task reuse criteria.

  • A real employee got the forms during the test. The group reads OR, so the targeting condition was optional. Switch it to AND and click Update Policy.

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