Service User Cannot Retrieve Inactive Employees via API
If your service user can’t retrieve inactive employees (for example, Hired, Terminated, or on Leave) through the API, it’s usually related to permissions or a missing parameter in the request.
Here’s what to check
Make sure the service user has access to the relevant lifecycle statuses
Even if the API call is correct, the service user must have permission to access employees in those lifecycle statuses.
To review and update this:
1. Go to System Settings → Account → Permission groups.
2. Open the relevant service user permission group.
3. Under People’s data, find Access data for.
4. Select Select people by condition → click Edit.
5. Tick the relevant lifecycle statuses (for example, Hired, Terminated, Leave).
6. Save your changes.
If these statuses aren’t selected, the API won’t return those employees, even if they exist in Bob.
Add showInactive=true to the Search for people (https://apidocs.hibob.com/reference/post_people-search) API call
When using the Search for people endpoint, make sure you include the parameter:
- showInactive=true
Without this parameter, inactive employees won’t be included in the response.
If both the permission group and the API parameter are configured correctly, the service user should be able to retrieve employees in inactive lifecycle statuses.