Importing employees from CSV

You can import employees from a CSV file to create draft employee profiles in bulk, without the need to do it individually one by one. If you have an HRIS system in place you can export your employee data and follow the below steps to import them into Workable. 

 

Import steps

To get started navigate to the Employees tab of the main menu, click 'Add employee', and then the option Import from CSV.

A full-page modal will open from where you can import employee data through a four-step wizard.

1. Upload CSV

Upload your CSV file and indicate whether the first row of the file is a header and includes field names (recommended). The CSV file size limit is 1 MB. If your file is larger, you'll need to split your data into two files.

• Download this example import template you can use as a reference: Employee Import Template (Excel) 
• Check our formatting rules

💡How to use the import template?

1. Download the template and open the file in Excel

2. Edit the existing fields or add new ones to the document by adding new columns for each extra field you wish to capture. Note: Any extra employee profile fields you add should already exist under the default profile template. 

3. A sample data set is provided in the third row so that you can better understand what should be included in each column.

4. Please delete the instructions (column A and rows 2 and 3) before uploading the file

5. When your file is complete, save it as a CSV and upload it in Workable. To save as a CSV:

• Click File in the main menu
• Click Save As
• Select "CSV" from the "Save as type" drop-down menu
• Click Save

2. Map employee profile fields

Here you will map the fields found in the file with employee profile fields. Leaving a field empty means that the data in this column won't be imported to Workable. 

• [Recommended] If you indicated that there are field names in the first row (checkbox), then those field names will be presented as a list.
• If the file doesn’t have a header with field names, then the fields will be listed as Column1, Column2, …., ColumnX, where X is the number of columns in the uploaded file.

To create draft profiles, you need to map at least the following profile fields:

• First name
• Last name
• Email
• Job title
• Start date

Next time that you upload the same or a similar CSV file, the mapping will be pre-filled in if the system recognized similar field names. In the above example, the system auto-mapped the Job title field. 

After clicking the Next button, if any errors are detected in the CSV file, they will be displayed. You have the option to either correct the errors and restart the process or proceed anyway with the employee data that do not contain any errors.

3. Map drop-down values

Here you will see all fields in the file that have been mapped to a dropdown employee profile field. If there are no such fields this step will be skipped. You need to map values from the csv columns to values of employee profile fields e.g. the value Single from the csv is mapped to the value Single of the employee profile.

4. Select employees to import

Here you will select which employees you want to import and which profile template you would like to use for each one of them. The default profile template will be pre-selected but you can change this selection. 

 

Click the Import employees button on the right to start the import process. You have the option to either wait for the process to complete or to receive a notification email when it is finished.

Once the import is complete the user initiating this will receive an email including the number of successfully imported employees as well as the number of the ones that failed to be imported. 

If not all employees were imported, you will see a link to download a CSV file that will only contain rows with errors to review, fix and re-upload.

 

Import guidelines for the Manager field

Setting the Manager of an employee during the import will ensure a correct org chart upon profile publication. Follow these guidelines when filling out the Manager field in your import template:

• If managers of imported employees don't exist as employees in your account, make sure you include them in the CSV file. This will ensure that both the employee and their manager profiles will be created in Workable with a single import. 
• If managers of imported employees exist as employees in your account, make sure you use the exact same name as the one in their employee profile, e.g., if it's William Smith in the profile and Will Smith in the file, then an error will occur. 

Check the next section for the accepted format of the Manager field.

 

Formatting rules

When importing employees using a CSV file, you must stick to the specific formats that Workable can recognize. Download this example import template and modify it to ensure you don’t encounter any issues when importing your employees.

When reviewing your CSV file, ensure that each field follows the rules below:

Field	Accepted format
Start Date, Hire Date, or other date fields	mm-dd-yyyy, yyyy-mm-dd, mm/dd/yyyy, yyyy/mm/dd❗Don't add characters in date fields. If needed, you can leave a field blank.
Work Email	<string>@<domain> (eg. johnsmith@gmail.com)
Mobile	Accepted characters: '0-9', '(', ')','+', '-', '.'
Manager	Both “First Name Last Name” and “Last Name First Name” formats (eg. John Smith). ❗There should be no comma added between the names.
Salary Pay Rate	Numerical values are only supported without ','
Salary Pay Currency	Must be a valid ISO 4217 currency code
Entity	Location or site level of an entity (e.g. London, England, United Kingdom); do not add the entity name

 

FAQs

Can we add more fields/extra columns to the import template?

Yes, you can add extra employee profile fields as columns in the import template. Ensure these fields already exist under the default profile template to map them in step 2 of the process. 

⚒️ What are some common CSV import errors and their solutions?

Below are the most common errors you may face when importing your employees via CSV and how to fix them.

Error	Solution
Manager does not exist	1. If the Manager doesn't exist as an employee in your account, make sure you include them in the CSV file. 2. If there is a comma between the first and last name, remove it.
Value is required for column x	This means that the field is required, so you will need to provide a value.
Email already exists in the account	This means there is already an employee with the same work email, so you can remove this employee if it's a duplicate.
Invalid date format for column Start Date	Ensure that your date format is supported: mm-dd-yyyy, yyyy-mm-dd, mm/dd/yyyy, yyyy/mm/dd
Contains entity that doesn't exist in your account	Ensure that you add the location or site level of an entity exactly as it is set under your Entity settings (e.g. London, England, United Kingdom). Do not add the Entity name.