Custom roles - called Company Roles in 5Mins

Custom roles - called Company Roles in 5Mins - let you describe the jobs people actually do in your organisation and map the skills each one needs. You create and manage them in Admin → People & Teams → Roles.

🎬 Watch this as a short narrated video

Steps shown in this video

1. Roles live in Admin, under People & Teams, then Roles. A role describes a job and the skills it needs. It doesn't change anyone's access
2. The 5Mins Roles tab is a ready-made library. Click Copy on any role to add your own editable version to Company Roles
3. Your own roles are on the Company Roles tab
4. Click Create new role. A panel opens at Step 1 of 2
5. Enter a role name. It has to be unique, including against the 5Mins library
6. Tick This is a leadership role if you want AI to suggest management and coaching skills
7. You can add a description too. It's only used to suggest skills with AI, and isn't saved to the role
8. Add Skills With AI builds a skill list from the name and description, and you remove anything that doesn't fit
9. Or click Add Skills Manually to choose every skill yourself
10. At Step 2 of 2, search for a skill
11. Then pick it from the list to add it
12. Add as many as the role needs
13. Click Create Role. Your new role now shows in Company Roles
14. Each row has icons to duplicate, edit or delete the role. To give someone a role, open their menu on the People page and choose Edit user profile

Important: roles are not permission levels. A role in 5Mins is a job role (Scala Developer, Revenue Operations Analyst) with skills mapped to it. It does not control what someone can see or do in the admin area. Admin, Team Manager and Subject Expert access is separate - see Admins, Managers, and Subject Experts for that.

Where to find Roles

1. Open the Admin area.
2. In the left sidebar, go to People & Teams → Roles.

The page header reads "Roles — Manage the roles in your company and the skills mapped to each." You'll need admin access to reach this page.

5Mins Roles vs Company Roles

The Roles page has two tabs, and the difference matters:

Both tabs show the same columns - Role name, Skills (how many skills are mapped) and Learners (how many people hold that role) - plus a Search for roles box and an Export Roles button.

The 5Mins Roles tab also has a Function filter ("Function is All functions") to narrow the library down.

Creating a custom role

1. Go to the Company Roles tab.
2. Click Create new role. A panel opens on the right at Step 1 of 2.
3. Enter the Role name (required) - for example Software Developer.
4. Optionally tick This is a leadership role. As the form explains, this makes the AI suggest management and coaching skills.
5. Optionally add a Description, such as "Owns forecasting, pipeline hygiene and CRM reporting for the sales org."

   ⚠️ The description is used to suggest the most relevant skills with AI. Not saved to the role. It's a prompt for the skill suggestions, not a field that sticks around.

6. Choose how to add skills:
   • Add Skills With AI - 5Mins suggests a set of skills based on the name and description.
   • Add Skills Manually - you pick every skill yourself.
7. At Step 2 of 2, build the skill list:
   • With AI, you get a ready-made list headed "Skills — remove or add as needed" - for a Revenue Operations Analyst, that might be Revenue Operations, Data Insights, Data Tools, Operational Planning & Analysis, Sales Process and more. Remove anything that doesn't fit.
   • Either way, use the Search and add skills box ("e.g. Negotiation, Leadership, Salesforce…") to add more.
   • A role can hold up to 12 skills. Once it's full, other skills in the search show Limit reached - remove one to make room.
8. Click Create Role to save, or Cancel to discard.

Role names must be unique

If you pick a name that already exists - including one from the 5Mins library - the form blocks you with:

"A role named 'Data Analyst' already exists in 5Mins roles. Change the name to continue."

Both Add Skills With AI and Add Skills Manually stay greyed out until you change the name.

Starting from a 5Mins role instead

1. Open the 5Mins Roles tab.
2. Either click Copy on the role's row, or click the role to open it and choose Copy To Company Roles.

The role lands in Company Roles as your own copy, where you can edit its skills freely.

Managing existing roles

On the Company Roles tab, every role's row has three icon buttons on the right. Hover any icon to see its label:

• Duplicate role - makes a copy you can adapt.
• Edit role - change the role's name and its mapped skills.
• Delete role - remove it permanently.

Click any role to open a side panel listing its mapped Skills.

Deleting a role

Deleting asks you to confirm deliberately. The dialog warns "This action is permanent and cannot be undone" and asks you to type Delete to confirm - the Delete Role button stays disabled until you do. Cancel backs out safely.

You can't delete a role that people still hold. If anyone is assigned to it, you'll see "Unable to delete role!" with the number of learners on that role. Click Download list to get a CSV of who holds it, move them to a different role (see Giving someone a role below), then try again.

Giving someone a role

1. Go to People & Teams → People.
2. Find the person, open the ⋯ menu on their row and choose Edit user profile.
3. In the Edit profile panel, use the Role field and its Edit Role control.
4. Click Update Profile.

You can also set a role when you first invite someone - the invite form includes a role field alongside team, region and manager. A person's current role shows in the Role column on the All People list.

FAQ

Do custom roles change what someone can access in 5Mins? No. Roles describe the job and its skills. Admin, Team Manager and Subject Expert permissions are managed separately from a person's row on the People page.

Can I edit a 5Mins role from the library? Not directly. Copy it to Company Roles first, then edit your copy.

Why won't the form let me continue past the role name? The name is already taken by another role - including roles in the 5Mins library. Choose a different name.

Does the description I typed get saved? No. The form states it is used only to suggest skills with AI, and is not saved to the role.

How many skills can a role have? Up to 12. When a role is full, the skill search marks the rest as Limit reached.

Why can't I delete a role? People are still assigned to it. Use Download list in the warning to see who, give them a different role, and then delete it.

What does the Learners number mean? It's the count of people who currently hold that role.

Can I get the list out of 5Mins? Yes - Export Roles on either tab exports the role list as a CSV.