---
title: "Group types"
description: "The five kinds of employee group, how each decides its members, when it is re-evaluated, and the groups every workspace starts with."
sidebar:
  order: 3
area: directory
feature: employee-groups
appPath: /directory/home
lastVerified: 2026-10-23
version: "2026-10-16"
audience: admin
related:
  - directory/employee-groups/how-audiences-match
  - directory/employee-groups/create-a-filter-group
  - directory/demographics/create-a-demographic
  - directory/employees/reference-employee-properties
intercom:
  - id: "12651638"
    title: Understand Groups in Pyn (Pyn 2)
    url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/12651638-understand-groups-in-pyn-pyn-2
    note: replaces
  - id: "6024178"
    title: Understand Groups in Pyn (Pyn 1)
    url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6024178-understand-groups-in-pyn-pyn-1
    note: Pyn 1 article
---

A group is a set of employees with a title. Four of the five kinds are evaluated by Pyn from employee data; the fifth is a list you keep. All five can be included or excluded in the audience of an automation, a step or a conditional sender; a filter group's audience takes demographic groups only.

## The kinds

| Kind | Membership rule | Re-evaluated | Created by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Demographic** | The employee's value of the parent demographic's property equals the group's value. One group per value, created as values appear; a boolean demographic has a group for true and one for false. | Whenever employee data refreshes. | [Create a demographic](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/demographics/create-a-demographic/); the groups follow. |
| **Lifecycle** | Today is within a window around a date property: from `offsetBefore` days before to `offsetAfter` days after. | Daily, as dates pass. | Seeded. |
| **Filter** | Matches a saved audience of demographic groups: in one of the included groups under each parent (or any group if none), in none of the excluded groups, and in one of the chosen lifecycle stages. See [How audiences match](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/how-audiences-match/). | Whenever employee data refreshes; **Last Evaluated** on the panel. | [Create a filter group](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/create-a-filter-group/). |
| **Relationship** | Has the relation (**Has relationship**) or lacks it (**Has no relationship**), for `manager`, `buddy`, `mentor`, `hrbp`, or the reverse (`manages`, `buddyOf`, `mentees`, `hrbpOf`). | Whenever relations change. | [Create a relationship group](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/create-a-relationship-group/). |
| **Static** | The people added to it. | Never; you add and remove members. | [Create a static group](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/create-a-static-group/). |

Groups appear in the audience pickers sorted by their parent demographic first, so demographic groups come as **Department: Engineering** and the rest follow by name. The parent decides how included groups combine: the same parent means any of them, different parents means all. See [How audiences match](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/how-audiences-match/).

## Groups every workspace starts with

**Demographics**, each with a group per value as values appear:

| Demographic | Property |
| --- | --- |
| **Country** | `country` |
| **Division** | `division` |
| **Department** | `department` |
| **Location** | `location` |
| **Employment Type** | `employmentType` |
| **Lifecycle** | `stage`, with the groups **Current Active Employees**, **Upcoming Employees**, **Inactive Employees** (people on leave) and **Terminated Employees** |

**Lifecycle groups:**

| Group | Window |
| --- | --- |
| **Birthday** | 8 days before to 1 day after the birthday. |
| **Onboarding** | Start date to 90 days after. |

**Relationship groups:** **Managers** (manager of others), **Buddies** (buddy to others), **HRBPs** (HRBP to others), **Mentors** (mentor to others).

## Which properties can become a demographic

Any boolean or single-select property, and these string properties: `employmentType`, `executiveLeader`, `jobClass`, `location`, `typeOfContract`, `workOffice`. Custom fields your HRIS adds qualify when they are boolean or single-select. Free-text fields such as `department` are already demographics; others cannot be chosen.

## Archiving

Every group's menu offers **Archive**, which hides it from the views and the pickers; an archived group's menu offers **Unarchive**. Archiving a demographic archives it from **All Demographics**; its groups stop being evaluated. An automation that includes an archived group keeps the reference.

## Related

- [How audiences match](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/how-audiences-match/) for how an audience combines its groups.
- [Create a filter group](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/create-a-filter-group/) for the most flexible kind.
- [Create a demographic](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/demographics/create-a-demographic/) to add a group per value.
- [Employee properties](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employees/reference-employee-properties/) for the properties groups read.

## Related Intercom articles

- [Understand Groups in Pyn (Pyn 2)](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/12651638-understand-groups-in-pyn-pyn-2) — replaces
- [Understand Groups in Pyn (Pyn 1)](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6024178-understand-groups-in-pyn-pyn-1) — Pyn 1 article