Import employees

Use a spreadsheet to load multiple employee records. The import has three stages: upload, review validation, and import results. Validate first so you can correct problems before records are created or updated.

Access needed

Access depends on your assigned permissions and workflow scope.

Download the template, validate, import, and inspect job results: employees.import
This is separate from ordinary employee creation or editing. Import limits and duplicate-handling rules still apply.
Role and permission labels
Typical responsibility: HR import administrator. Role names alone do not grant access.
Import employees

Demo screenshots may show broader access than your account.

Before you start

You need employee-import access. From the directory, choose Add Employee → Bulk upload. If that option is unavailable, ask your workspace administrator to review your access.

Use a non-empty Excel .xlsx file, no larger than 10 MB.
Keep each file to 5,000 employee rows or fewer. Split larger datasets into separate files; rows beyond the limit are not included.
Check existing employee numbers and decide whether matches should be skipped or updated.
Confirm departments, positions, and managers before including their identifiers. Do not put display names into identifier columns.

Employee import page showing upload, validation and results stages — Download the template before preparing your spreadsheet.

1. Download and complete the template

Select Download template. Keep the supplied column headers and enter one employee per row on the Employees worksheet. Use the accompanying notes in the workbook for field formats and optional columns.

Required column	What to enter
EmployeeNumber	A unique employee identifier, preserving prefixes and leading zeros. This is how the import matches an existing record.
FirstName and LastName	The employee's correct first and last names.
Email	A valid email address that does not belong to a different employee.
DateOfBirth	The correct birth date. Use an Excel date or an unambiguous date such as `1992-04-15`.
Gender	The employee's recorded value, following the template guidance.
HireDate	The correct hire date, using the same date format consistently.
EmploymentStatus	The exact supported value: `Active`, `Suspended`, `ContractEnded`, or `Terminated`.

For Terminated or ContractEnded rows, include TerminationDate. Do not include a termination date for other statuses. Review any termination reason against the template's allowed values. Bulk import is not the workflow for creating pre-hires.

Leave optional columns blank when you have no information to record. Unknown column headers produce warnings and are ignored, so do not rename a field or invent a new column expecting it to be saved. Photo links have additional workspace restrictions; leave PhotoUrl blank unless your administrator confirms an approved source.

2. Upload and choose how to handle matches

Select Choose file, or drop the completed spreadsheet onto the upload area. Check its filename before continuing.

Under Existing employee numbers, choose deliberately:

Choice	Effect
Skip existing employees	Matching employee numbers are skipped. Existing records are kept. This is the default.
Update existing employees	Matching records are overwritten with imported information. This can also reactivate former employees when the row gives them an active status.

Use Update existing employees only after reviewing the file against the records you intend to change. A matching name is not the matching rule; the employee number is.

Employee import upload showing a fictional workbook and Skip existing employees — Check the filename and duplicate policy before validation.

3. Validate and correct the file

Select Validate file and wait for Review validation. Validation locks the selected file and duplicate policy for this attempt.

Read the validation summary
Check the row counts and any warnings. A file-level error means the workbook could not be read or accepted; row-level errors identify specific values to fix.
Inspect each issue
Use the Row, Field, and Issue columns. View all errors opens the full messages. For example, an Email issue on row 2 points to that row in your spreadsheet, including its header row.
Correct the spreadsheet
Make the correction in your local file and save it. Select Start over, confirm the reset, upload the corrected workbook, and validate again. Resetting does not repair the spreadsheet for you.

Import validation showing one invalid email on spreadsheet row 2 — Validation does not save employees. Correct the spreadsheet and validate again.

Validation errors dialog explaining an invalid email on row 2 — Use the row and field to locate the correction in your workbook.

Validation successful means the file passed this check. It does not mean the employees have been imported. Records are checked again during processing, so conflicts or employee limits can still cause a later failure.

Import validation successful with one row ready to import — This sample passed validation but was not submitted for import.

4. Start the import and monitor results

When you have reviewed the validated file and duplicate policy, select Import validated employees once. The page moves to Import results when the job is accepted.

Check the job status and the processed, succeeded, failed, and skipped counts. Processed does not mean succeeded.
Use Refresh progress to request an update. Keep the page's URL so you can return to the same job after leaving.
Read failed-row messages and the overall error summary. A completed job can still contain failed or skipped rows.
Check a sample of the saved records in the employee directory, using employee numbers to identify them.

If processing takes longer than expected, keep the job URL and ID and contact your administrator. Avoid submitting the same file while the job is still pending. There is no cancellation action in this workflow.

For partial failures, review what already succeeded before preparing a retry file. Correct the failed rows and choose the duplicate policy carefully; uploading the entire original workbook with Update can overwrite records that already succeeded.

Start over safely

Start over clears the selected file and validation results so you can choose a corrected file or a different duplicate policy. It does not undo an import that has already completed. A running import must finish before you can reset this workflow.

Start a new import confirmation explaining that reset does not undo completed imports — Reset clears the selected file and validation results.

On a phone

The same stages stack vertically. Scroll down to read validation messages and review the action before submitting. For editing many spreadsheet rows, use a device where you can comfortably inspect the workbook.

Mobile employee import showing successful validation for a fictional row — Review the summary before selecting the import action.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
The workbook cannot be opened	Download a fresh template and save it as a genuine .xlsx workbook. Renaming another file's extension does not convert it.
Validation finds errors	Correct the listed rows locally, Start over, and validate the corrected file.
An employee was skipped	Check whether its number matched an existing record and Skip was selected.
A duplicate row fails	Check whether the employee number belongs to an archived record, or the email or national ID belongs to a different employee.
The workspace's employee limit blocks import	Ask your administrator to review its allowance. Processing checks the limit again, even after validation succeeds.
A job stays pending or processing	Refresh progress, keep its URL and job ID, and contact your administrator. Do not assume it failed or submit another copy.

Bulk import does not create sign-in accounts. It also does not start the new-hire journeys used by individual employee creation. Coordinate any separate account setup or onboarding tasks with the responsible administrator.