Adding Employees

There are three ways to add and onboard new employees using HR Partner: Import them from a spreadsheet, automatically add them using an external payroll system, or add them in one by one. 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 green button that says 'Add A New Employee'.  Clicking this will bring up the employee 'quick add' window, as shown below:

Tip

You can simply press the ' +' key as a quick way to add new employees. Keyboard shortcuts like these can save time when doing bulk entries.

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 screen, there is a checkbox asking you if you want to 'Go straight to employee edit screen after adding'.  By default, this box will be unchecked, but you can choose to check this box and complete major editing of each employee after you add them into the system.

Otherwise you will be taken back to the employee list with the newly added employee highlighted.

Tip

At the bottom of the screen, you'll have the option to send an Onboarding Checklist to the new employee. This defaults to the last selection you chose, so if you're entering multiple employees, the same checklist can be sent. Of course, if you don't want to send a checklist, just set this to "do not send a checklist now". 

Method 2 - Importing From CSV (Spreadsheet)

To import your employees via a spreadsheet so that you don't have to individually enter data into HR Partner, first go to Employees > Import > Import CSV. This page has a list of instructions on how to use the Import CSV function and the mandatory fields that must be included when you import this way.

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.

Mandatory Fields

Mandatory Fields are  First Name, Last Name, Employee Code, and Gender. These fields are required in your spreadsheet for the import to be successful.

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

The Employee Code field is must be unique to each and every single employee that you enter into HR Partner. Feel free to use a coding sequence that is already familiar or used within your organization. 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

Special Fields are Department, Employment Status and Location.  Each of these fields will be specific to your organization 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)'.

Importable Fields

Here are all of the fields you can import to HR Partner. Note: Not all of these are required. To view mandatory fields, view the list above.
Employee Code, First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Tax Number, Date Commenced, Date Terminated, Portal Username, Reports To, Department, Position, Employment Status, Location, Phone, Mobile, Email, Address Line 1, Address Line 2, Suburb/City, State, Post/Zip Code, Country.

Note

If you are importing information for the "Reports To" field, this needs to be the Employee Code of the person they report to.

Note that you can have up to two sets of addresses (i.e. home address and postal address).  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

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.

Please visit our Integrations & API section to learn more about how our Integration options can work for you!

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