Employment status
Every HR system describes employment differently. Mesh maps them onto one set of statuses, so a policy you write once behaves the same no matter which HR platform reported the data.
The statuses
| Mesh status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | Currently employed and working |
| Pending | Hired but not yet started — a future joiner |
| On leave | Employed, temporarily away (for example parental or medical leave) |
| Suspended | Employed, temporarily not permitted to work |
| Terminated | No longer employed |
| Deceased | Recorded as deceased by the HR system |
| Unknown | Mesh cannot confidently interpret what the HR system reported |
Why the distinctions matter
These aren't cosmetic. Pending, On leave and Suspended all describe someone who is not currently working but has not left — and each carries different access implications.
Collapsing them into a single "inactive" state, or worse into Terminated, gets it wrong in both directions: it either revokes access from an employee on leave who is coming back, or leaves access in place for someone who has gone.
Deceased is kept distinct for the same reason. It is a departure, but it is not a resignation, and organizations handle the two differently.
When Mesh reports Unknown
Unknown is a deliberate answer, not a failure.
Mesh reports it when your HR system returns an employment state it can't map with confidence — most often because that provider doesn't have provider-specific status mapping yet. Workday and TriNet have provider-specific mapping today; other supported providers connect and sync normally, and may report Unknown for states that are ambiguous.
Mesh would rather tell you it doesn't know than assert that someone is Active or Terminated on a guess — a wrong guess in either direction is an access decision.
All other identity fields sync normally while status is Unknown.
If a provider's states are consistently Unknown and you need them mapped, contact Axiad Customer Success — mapping is per-provider work.
Someone missing from a sync is not treated as departed
If a person stops appearing in sync results, Mesh does not conclude they have left. A departure is recorded only when your HR system explicitly says so.
This matters because records disappear for mundane reasons — a filter changed, a permission narrowed, a partial sync. Treating absence as termination would revoke access from employed people.
Rehires and status changes
Employment isn't one-directional. People go on leave and return; people leave and are rehired. Mesh reflects the latest state your HR system reports, with the timing that goes with it, rather than assuming status only moves one way.
What Mesh keeps
Mesh retains the original value your HR system reported alongside its own interpretation, for support and troubleshooting. Product screens show only the interpreted status, so what you see stays consistent across providers.