How to Configure Departments for a Company in Odoo 18: Complete Guide
By Braincuber Team
Published on February 27, 2026
Your Recruitment module has 14 open positions across 5 teams, but every applicant lands in the same generic pipeline. No department filters. No manager ownership. No way to tell which team lead approved which hire. That's what happens when you skip the department setup. Odoo 18 lets you structure departments in under 3 minutes—and that single step fixes applicant routing, reporting accuracy, and onboarding assignments across your entire HR operation.
What You'll Learn:
- How to create a new department in the Recruitment module
- Assigning managers and parent departments for hierarchy
- Adding employees to newly created departments
- Configuring employee work information, private data, and payroll
- Verifying department headcount after employee assignment
Why Department Structure Matters Before You Hire
Every job opening in Odoo 18 ties to a department. Every applicant tracking filter uses department as a primary axis. Every reporting dashboard slices data by department. Skip this setup, and your recruitment analytics are garbage—you'll see 47 hires in "Unassigned" while your CFO asks for a headcount breakdown by division.
Department configuration also controls who approves what. The manager assigned to a department becomes the default approver for time-off requests, expense reports, and appraisals for every employee under that department. Set it wrong, and approvals route to the wrong person for months before anyone notices.
Department Name = Required identifier (e.g., "Marketing", "R&D")
Manager = Existing contact who approves requests for this dept
Parent Department = Optional hierarchy link (e.g., "Sales" under "Commercial")
Color = Visual tag for dashboard filtering and Kanban views
Creating a New Department
Open the Recruitment module from the Odoo 18 main dashboard. This is your starting point. Every department you create here flows downstream into the Employees module, Payroll, Appraisals, and Time Off.
Open the Recruitment Module
Navigate to the Recruitment module from the Odoo 18 main dashboard. This module controls job positions, applicants, and department structures for your company.
Navigate to Configuration > Departments
Go to Configuration in the top menu, then select Departments. This opens the list of all existing departments in your company. Click the New button to create a fresh department.
Fill in Department Details
Enter the Department Name (e.g., "Digital Marketing"). Assign an existing contact as the Manager. Optionally, set a Parent Department for hierarchy (e.g., "Marketing" as the parent) and choose a Color for visual identification. Click Save.
Verify the Department in the List
Go back to Configuration > Departments. Your newly created department now appears in the list with the assigned manager and color tag. It starts with zero employees—you'll fix that next.
Parent Department Creates a Tree Structure
Setting a Parent Department isn't cosmetic. It creates a real org-chart hierarchy that Odoo uses for rollup reporting. If "Digital Marketing" reports to "Marketing," headcount and budget reports for "Marketing" will automatically include all child departments. Skip this field and your C-level dashboards show incomplete numbers.
Adding Employees to a Department
A department with zero people is just a label. The real value kicks in when employees are assigned. Odoo 18 lets you do this directly from the Employees module, and the department headcount updates in real time.
Open the Employees Module
Navigate to the Employees module from the Odoo 18 dashboard. Under the Departments grouping, you'll see your newly created department listed with 0 employees. Click on it.
Create a New Employee Record
Click New to create an employee. Enter the employee's Name, Work Email, Work Phone, Work Mobile, and Tags. The system auto-populates the Company, Department, Job Position, Manager, and New Appraisal Date fields based on context.
Employee Record Tabs You Need to Know
Each employee record in Odoo 18 has multiple tabs that control different aspects of their profile. Here's what each tab handles and why it matters for department operations.
| Tab Name | What It Contains | Impact on Department |
|---|---|---|
| Resume | Resume details, experience history, skills | Used for skill-based task assignment within the department |
| Work Information | Location, Approvers, Remote Work, Schedule, Planning | Determines shift planning and approval chains per department |
| Private Information | Contact details, Family, Citizenship, Education, Work Permit | Critical for compliance reporting by department |
| Payroll | Salary structure, contracts, payslip configuration | Feeds into department-level payroll cost reports |
| Settings | Status, App Settings, Attendance/POS/Manufacturing access | Controls which modules the employee accesses by role |
Configure Employee Tabs and Save
Fill in the Work Information tab (location, schedule, approvers), the Private Information tab (contact details, education, work permit), the Payroll tab (salary and contract details), and the Settings tab (attendance and module access). Click Save when done.
Verify Department Headcount Update
Go back to the Employees module and check the department grouping. The employee count for your new department should now show 1 (or however many you added). This count updates automatically—no manual refresh needed.
What Departments Unlock Across Odoo 18
A configured department isn't just an HR label. It's a filter, a reporting axis, and an approval chain trigger. Here's what lights up once departments are properly set.
Recruitment Filtering
Job positions and applicants are automatically grouped by department. Filter your hiring pipeline by "Engineering" vs. "Marketing" in one click instead of scrolling through 200 applications.
Approval Chains
The department manager becomes the default approver for time-off, expenses, and appraisals. Set it once, and every new employee added to the department inherits the same approval flow.
Department-Level Reporting
Payroll, attendance, and recruitment dashboards all support department as a grouping axis. Your CFO gets headcount-by-department without anyone touching a spreadsheet.
Onboarding Automation
New hires assigned to a department automatically inherit department-specific onboarding templates, equipment requests, and training plans. No manual copy-paste of checklists.
Multi-Company? Each Company Gets Separate Departments
If you run multiple companies in Odoo 18, departments are company-specific. A "Sales" department in Company A is completely separate from "Sales" in Company B. Make sure you've selected the correct company in the top-right switcher before creating departments, or you'll build the structure under the wrong company and wonder why employees don't show up.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I create a new department in Odoo 18?
Go to the Recruitment module, navigate to Configuration > Departments, click New, fill in the department name, assign a manager, set an optional parent department and color, then save.
Can I assign a parent department to create a hierarchy in Odoo 18?
Yes. When creating or editing a department, use the Parent Department field to nest it under another department. This builds an org-chart hierarchy used in rollup reporting.
How do I add an employee to a department in Odoo 18?
Open the Employees module, click on the target department, then click New to create an employee record. The department is auto-assigned based on your selection.
Does the department employee count update automatically in Odoo 18?
Yes. The moment you save a new employee under a department, the headcount on the Employees module dashboard updates in real time. No manual refresh required.
What happens if I don't configure departments before creating job positions?
Job positions will lack department assignments, making it impossible to filter applicants by team. Recruitment analytics and approval routing will also be broken until departments are added.
Need Help Configuring Odoo 18 HR & Recruitment?
Our team can help you set up departments, configure recruitment pipelines, automate onboarding, and make sure your HR structure actually works across modules.