Adding Employees

There are three ways to add and onboard new Employees using HR Partner:

  1. Add each Employee individually,
  2. Import your Employees via a CSV spreadsheet,
  3. Automatically add Employees using an external payroll system.

Let's walk through each method:

Method 1 - Adding Employees One by One

To add employees individually, click on the Employees link on the left hand menu, then click on All Employees.  This will show you a list of all current employees that have been entered into the system. If you do not have any current employees, the screen will not show any employees.

At the top right, there will be a button that says 'Add A New Employee'.  Clicking this will bring up the employee 'quick add' window, as shown below:

NOTE: When entering employees individually, it is important to ensure that the Employee Code is unique across your system. Normally you would use your payroll system code for easier cross referencing, but if want to create new codes, please ensure that you do not use the same code for more than one employee.

At the bottom of the 'Quick Add Employee' screen, there is a checkbox asking you if you want to 'Open employee record immediately after saving'.  This option is selected by default, which will open that Employee's record once you click Add Employee. If you are entering multiple new Employees at once, we recommend de-selecting this option to continue adding Employees.

Method 2 - Importing From CSV (Spreadsheet)

To import your employees via a spreadsheet, go to Employees > Data > Import CSV.

On this page you can:

  • Download a Template spreadsheet to use
  • Import your CSV spreadsheet
  • Read through all of the instructions.

Download the Import Template

We recommend that you download a copy of the CSV Import Template and use this template when adding your own Mandatory and Special fields. This template was specifically designed for importing employee data.

If you choose to use your own CSV document, please follow the instructions listed on this page to ensure that the upload will be successful. And don't forget to include all of the Mandatory and Special fields that you want included in HR Partner.

We have another article to help! Please read through all of our best practice guidance here: Importing Data via CSV - Best Practice.

Field Reference & Formatting Notes

Before you import any spreadsheet, we highly recommend that you read through all of the formatting notes and instructions in the Field Reference & Formatting Notes section.

This section has a list of instructions on how to use the Import CSV function with minimal errors. You can find a list of the mandatory fields that must be included when you import and a list of other importable fields that you can include in your CSV.

NOTE: All date fields in the CSV must use the format MM/DD/YYYY. Using the wrong date format will result in import errors.


Mandatory Fields

Mandatory Fields are are required to import an employee record. They are:

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Employee Code
  • Gender

The Employee Code field is a field specific to HR Partner and must be unique for each employee. Feel free to use a coding sequence that is already familiar or used within your Company. For example, perhaps your payroll system has a similar coding sequence or identifier that you want to mimic in HR Partner. The Employee Code is great for keeping consistency across other systems that you use already.

The  First Name and  Last Name fields must be unique when combined; no two employees are able to have the same full name. When importing, these fields must be separated into two columns for proper importing.
The Gender field must be listed as either M or F, or Male or Female.

Special Fields & Importable Fields

All other fields are optional and can be added at a later time if you choose.

Special Fields

Special Fields are Department, Location, Group, and Employment Status.  Each of these fields will be specific to your Company and must be matched with what is already entered in your system under the Setup > Categories section.
  • Department - This field must be one of the existing department names in your HR Partner company.  If you don't specify it, any new employee will be added to your company default department.
  • Employment Status - This field must be one of the existing status names in your company.  If you don't specify an employment status, the employee will be given a status of '(not specified)'.
  • Location - This field must be one of the location names that you have created in your company, otherwise if you do not specify a location in the import file, all new employees will be given the location '(not specified)'.

Other Importable Fields

At the bottom of Employees > Data > Import CSV is a list of all other Importable Fields. This list of fields can vary across each Company. Adding these importable fields into your spreadsheet will result in less time importing your employee information overall.

Note: If you are importing information for the "Reports To" fields, you must use the Employee Code for that Employee's Manager.

You can import up to two sets of addresses (i.e. home address and postal address) for each Employee. When mapping the fields in HR Partner, you can specify which of the address fields in the import CSV file belong to the home or postal address.
Don't forget to export your spreadsheet as a CSV file when you save!

Method 3 - Importing From Payroll

If you are using Xero Payroll and want a quicker way to add employees to your system will be to import them from your existing payroll system.  At the moment we only support the following payroll systems:

  • Xero Payroll (Australia, New Zealand)
  • Xero Payroll (UK)

We are constantly adding more payroll systems over time, so please check back regularly.

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