Import employees in bulk

When you’re moving from another HR system or onboarding a large group at once, the Import Employees flow saves you doing the wizard 50 times.

Open the import

1. Sidebar then Employees.
2. Top right, Import employees.

Pick a template

The page offers two download options:

• Full template. Every column the platform supports. Useful when you have rich data and want to bring it all across.
• Custom template. You pick the columns you have data for. Useful when you only have name, email, and a few details and don’t want to fight blank columns.

Download whichever fits.

Fill in the spreadsheet

Required columns (these must always be present and filled):

• employee_id. Your internal ID. If you don’t have one, generate any unique string per employee.
• first_name
• last_name
• email (work email, this becomes their login)

Other columns map to standard fields (job_title, department, employment_type, etc.) and to any custom fields you have configured.

Tips:

• Dates: use ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD).
• Boolean: use TRUE / FALSE.
• Empty cells are fine, the platform leaves those fields blank on import.
• Don’t change the column header names. The mapping step relies on them.

Upload and map

1. Drag the file into the upload area.
2. The platform parses it and shows you the field mapping.
3. Review each column’s mapping. Locked columns (employee_id, names, email) can’t be remapped. Optional columns can be remapped or ignored.
4. Validate.

Validation flags:

• Missing required fields
• Invalid email format
• Duplicate emails
• Unknown department or job title (you’ll be prompted to create them on import)
• Date format issues

Fix in the spreadsheet and re upload, or accept the warnings and proceed.

Import

1. Confirm import.
2. The platform creates the records in batches. A progress bar shows how many have processed.
3. When complete, you see a summary: created, skipped, errored.

What happens after import

• All imported employees default to Active status. They are NOT sent platform invites automatically.
• The new starter onboarding workflow does NOT fire (because they’re marked Active, not Onboarding).
• Their leave balances are zeroed, not pro rated. Use Import leave balances next if you need to bring balances across.

Send platform invites

When you’re ready for them to log in:

1. Sidebar then Employees.
2. Filter to recently imported.
3. Select rows.
4. Send invite.

See Invite an employee to the platform.