How to create and manage Manual teams

Manual teams in Kudos give you full control over membership by letting you add and remove users yourself. Unlike Quick teams and Automated teams, which update automatically based on data or rules, manual teams only change when you update them. This makes them perfect for short-term projects, pilot programs, or special initiatives where you want to handpick who belongs.

Because you manage them directly, manual teams stay static until you make changes. If a user is archived, they’ll be removed from the team. If reactivated, they’ll automatically reappear in the same manual teams they were part of before.

If you’re looking for more info about other team types, check out: 

• How to create and manage Quick teams
• How to create and manage Automated teams

• Creating ad hoc or one-time groups for projects or pilots
• Managing teams that don’t follow your standard org structure
• Testing programs or campaigns with a small handpicked group before rolling out broadly
• Running initiatives for a fixed group of employees, like a leadership circle or task force
• Keeping full control over who belongs in a team without relying on data syncs or rules

Creating a Manual team

1. Go to Users & teams in the admin menu
2. Select the Teams tab
3. Click Create team and choose Manual team
4. Enter a team name and optional description
5. Click Save to create the empty team

Adding users to a Manual team

1. Option 1: From inside the team
   1. Open your manual team
   2. Click Add users
   3. Search for and select the users you want to add (multi-select is possible)
   4. Click Add to team
2. Option 2: From the Users tab
   1. Go to Users in the admin menu
   2. Select one or more users
   3. Click Add to manual team
   4. Choose the team you want to add them to
   5. Confirm by clicking Add to team

Removing users from a Manual team

1. Open the manual team
2. Select the users you want to remove
3. Click Remove from team
4. The users are immediately removed from the team list

Managing Manual teams

• Edit team name or description anytime by opening the team and clicking Edit team name
• Membership changes will reflect instantly
• Deleting a Manual team removes it from all selection and filtering menus

• Use manual teams for small, flexible groups that aren’t tied to HRIS or CSV data
• Archive users when needed — they’ll be removed from manual teams automatically
• For larger or dynamic groups, consider using Automated teams instead to save time
• Combine manual teams with Quick or Automated teams for a more complete segmentation strategy

Q: Can I add the same user to multiple manual teams?
A: Yes. Users can belong to as many manual teams as needed, and they can also belong to other types of teams at the same time. 

Q: Do manual teams update automatically when employee data changes?
A: No. You must add or remove members yourself. If you want automatic membership updates, use Quick or Automated teams.

Q: What happens if a user in a manual team is archived?
A: They’re removed from the team. If they’re reactivated later, they’ll reappear in the same manual teams.

Q: Can manual teams be used for announcements or reporting?
A: Yes. All team types, including manual teams, are available for targeting audiences, defining permissions and filtering data.

Q: Can I move users from a manual team into an automated one?
A: Yes, but you’ll need to remove them from the manual team and ensure they meet the rules for the automated team.

Problem: My manual team isn't listed as a reporting filter or team selection

• Confirm your Manual team was successfully created
• Ensure your manual team contains at least 1 active user

Problem: My manual team looks empty after adding users

• Refresh your browser to reload the list
• Double-check you clicked Add to team to confirm changes
• Confirm that the users weren’t archived

Problem: Users are missing from a manual team

• Confirm the users are active in the system
• Check if the users were archived — reactivating will automatically restore the users to the team
• If not, re-add them manually from the Users tab or from the Manual team (follow Adding users to a Manual team above)