HR platform: Importing employees via CSV

Overview

Within your organisation, you may have times where you will need to update your employee records in bulk. This process is time intensive if the only avenue is to update the records one at a time, however a CSV Uploading feature can streamline this process, saving you time and ensuring your platform has the correct data loaded.

The Import Employees feature is our CSV Uploading tool that allows you to choose from a pre-prepared template or your own CSV file and then upload this data into your platform. This feature also includes a CSV column to HR Platform Field Mapping feature, meaning that you can choose where the data fields in your CSV will update within your platform.

Availability

HR Plan:

Free

Standard

Premium

Platinum

User Access:

Employee

Manager

Admin

  This is the default access level per user and whether they have  view,  edit and  delete access, excluding any changes made via our Custom Security feature.

Getting started

The below premises will walk you through how to download a CSV template and then how to re-upload the template onto your HR platform.

Download a sample template

1. Click the   Personnel menu.
2. Click the Import Employees menu.
3. Click on one of the following sample templates:
   • Update employee employment details.
   • Update employee pay details (Xero and MYOB).
   • Update user pay details (Employment Hero Payroll, KeyPay, QuickBooks Online).
   • Advanced Import Employees (Including pay details).
   • Quick import employees.
   • Update employee custom fields.
4. Choose at least one of the checklist options:
   • Include existing user information.

   Helpful Hint

   Check this box for all current employees.

   • Include terminated users.

   Helpful Hint

   Check this box for all terminated employees.

   Important

   Leaving both boxes with no tick will provide you with a blank template.

5. Click the Download button.
   

Upload a CSV file

1. Click the   Personnel menu.
2. Click the Import Employees menu.
3. Click or drag the desired file onto the Upload tile.
   
4. Click the Yes button.
   
5. Choose what columns in the CSV file to map to what field in the HR platform.
6. Click the Continue button.
   
   
   

   Helpful Hint

   You will now see the Imported Successfully page, where you can see the number of employee records created or updated. You can also click the Go to Employee Page button to view the new or updated employee records.

   

Further information

How do I get the most out of this feature?

We would recommend using the pre-prepared sample CSV templates available. We have listed some tips on how to best use these templates and ensure a successful upload of your data below:

• We recommend adding a personal email in the Account Email column. This means that employees will still be able to log in to access their read-only employee information after they leave your organisation. 
• Do not use a generic email for your employees, for example, [e-mail]. 
• If you receive any error messages during your upload, the error message always corresponds to the following row. For example, an error in row 1 means the error is in row 2, and so on. 
• Fields with an asterisk are mandatory fields, and you must complete these fields.
• Please follow all naming conventions referenced in the column headers of your CSV. For example, if an employee is in multiple teams, you must separate them with a | i.e. HR | Admin | Payroll.
• In the Update Employee Employment Details csv, Start Dates and Job Titles are interdependent. You can not complete one field without the other. 
• In the Advanced Import Employees (including Pay Details) csv, Salary and Pay Details effective date are interdependent. You can not complete one field without the other. 
• Downloading the Advanced Import Employees (including Pay Details) csv removes the leading zeroes from sort codes and account numbers. You must reformat these columns by making the column custom and adding six zero's for sort codes and eight zero's for account numbers. 

Where to use the clear feature: Personal details

You can only use the <<clear>> feature in the following Personal Details columns:

• Address_Country.
• Address_Postcode.
• Address_State.
• Address_Street.
• Address_Suburb.
• Date of birth [dd/mm/yyyy].
• Gender [Female | Male | Non-binary | Prefer not to say].
• Home phone.
• Marital status [Single | Married | In a Relationship].
• Middle name.
• Nationality.
• Personal mobile number.
• Preferred name.
• Title [Mr | Ms | Mrs | Miss | Dr | Mx].

Where to use the clear feature: Employment details

You can only use the <<clear>> feature in the following Employment Details columns:

• Company email.
• Company landline.
• Company mobile.
• Length of probation.
• Payroll code.
• Primary cost centre.
• Primary manager email.
• Secondary manager's email.
• Team [separate multiple teams with ' | ' e.g. Accounts | Engineering | Sales].

Where to use the clear feature: Emergency contacts

You can only use the <<clear>> feature in the following Emergency Contact columns:

• EmergencyContact1_Name
• EmergencyContact1_Relationship
• EmergencyContact1_Phone (daytime)
• EmergencyContact1_Phone (after hours)
• EmergencyContact1_Mobile

What are the mandatory CSV fields

CSV Column Name.	Platform Field Location.	Notes.
First name.	Personal details.
Last name.	Personal details.
Account email.	Personal details.
Location.	Employment details.

What are the fields I cannot leave blank 

CSV Column Name.	Platform Field Name.	Notes.
Primary cost centre.	Employment details.
Additional cost centres.	Employment details.	Separate additional cost centres with a |.
Primary manager email.	Employment details.
Industrial instrument.	Pay details: Salary history.
Classification.	Pay details: Salary history.
Pay rate template.	Pay details: Salary history.
Pay schedule.	Pay details: Salary history.
Pay category.	Pay details: Salary history.
Leave allowance template.	Pay details: Salary history.

CSV fields that need updating together: Bank accounts

If you need to update the bank account details stored on your HR platform in bulk, you will need to update all the following fields together:

• BankAccount1_AccountName.
• BankAccount1_AccountBSB.
• BankAccount1_AccountNumber.
• BankAccount1_AllocatedPercentage (Not applicable for Xero payroll).
• BankAccount1_FixedAmount (Will always hold the remaining balance. Please enter 'Remaining').

You can only have one of the below columns in a row:

• BankAccount1_AllocatedPercentage (Not applicable for Xero payroll).
• BankAccount1_FixedAmount (Will always hold the remaining balance. Please enter 'Remaining').

CSV fields that need updating together: Employment history

If you need to update the Employment History details stored on your HR platform in bulk, you will need to update all the following fields together:

• Employment type (Full-time | Part-time | Casual).
• Job title.
• Start date (dd/mm/yyyy).

CSV fields that need updating together: Superannuation

If you need to update the Superannuation details stored on your HR platform in bulk, you will need to update all the following fields together:

• The mandatory columns will depend on the Super Choice
  • Super Choice [Regulated | SMSF | Company nominated].
• If you chose the Regulated or Company nominated option, the below columns are mandatory:
  • Super Fund Name.
  • Super Fund ABN.
  • SPIN/USI.
  • Super Member Number.
  • Super Account Name.
• If you chose the SMSF option, the below columns are mandatory:
  • Super Fund Name.
  • Super Fund ABN.
  • ESA.
  • Super Member Number.
  • Super Account Name.
  • SMSF Contact Email.
  • SMSF Account Name.
  • SMSF BSB.
  • SMSF Account Number.

CSV fields that need updating together: Pay details

If you need to update the Pay details stored on your HR platform in bulk, you will need to update all the following fields together:

• Industrial instrument.
• Classification.
• Pay rate template.
• Salary.
• Salary option (Annum | Month | Fortnight | Hour | Day).

You will need to enter data into the CSV column Pay details - Effective from, If you update any of the of the following columns:

• Industrial instrument.
• Classification.
• Pay rate template.
• Anniversary date (dd/mm/yyyy).
• Salary.
• Salary option (Annum | Month | Fortnight | Hour | Day).
• Override template rate.
• Pay schedule.
• Pay category.
• Leave allowance template.
• superannuation (%).

Author recommended

So you have now imported your employees via CSV and you are now wondering what next can I do. There are two recommendations I would make on this front and they are:

• HR Employee File FAQ: How Do I Assign Admin Access This FAQ answers a common question we receive around how do I assign an employee admin access to our platform?
• HR FAQ: How Do I Apply a Superannuation Rate Rise? This FAQ answers a common question we receive around how do I apply an employee superannuation rate rise?