How do I import Employee Data into WorkForce?

The Employee Import function that can be accessed from the left-hand side menu in WorkForce, allows you to import CSV files (packaged in a ZIP file) that would need to contain the necessary data to populate WorkForce with employees.

Uploading A CSV

Start by selecting the products that you want to link the employees with, followed by selecting the ZIP file containing the CSV files to upload.

Note: To use the template, first download the Template and populate it. After that, select the ‘Use Template’ option to set the fields for the import accordingly. The ‘Use Template’ option will automatically link all employees to Payroll, it is advised that the Leave option is also selected in order to avoid having to link each employee to the Leave module separately.

Continue by specifying the first line to import (to avoid any headings in the file). The delimiter is to be set to the character that separates values.

Also specify whether all values are surrounded with double quotation marks (e.g. “John”, “Doe”).

Note: It is recommended that CSV files have their values surrounded with double quotation marks in order to avoid complications with the import. This also includes the headings in the CSV file.

Editing and manual formatting CSV files

You can open the CSV template files using Microsoft Notepad or Notepad++ to see how the CSV file should be formatted before being imported.

Next, you can open the CSV files with Microsoft Excel to edit them (Avoid using commas or quotation marks in any of the data), and finally, you will need to reformat the CSV files using Microsoft Notepad or Notepad++, in order to have quotation marks before adding them to a ZIP file and uploading them.

Please note that making further adjustments in Microsoft Excel will remove the formatting from the CSV files which would require reformatting before upload.

Finally, here is where you define where the values are located in your file. This is done by specifying the order placement of the columns for each field, on the left hand side. Fields in yellow are required, meaning you have to specify the order of the column of your file, and all rows need to have a value.

If your file has the “Employee Number” located as the 7th column, you input “7” inside the order box. Some fields such as “Gender” are pre-defined, therefore they need to match to values of your file.

To do this, simply specify how the value is represented in your file for each option.

Example: If the “Gender” field represents males with an “M”, you input it in the box next to “Male”, and so on…

You can leave the box empty if your file does not have a representation of the value. Click ‘Proceed’ when ready to preview your changes.

What is the least possible information that can be imported per employee?

WorkForce will allow you to import employees’ basic information in order to allow for the data population process to be easier. This process will not link employees to any of the software modules.

Here are the basic details required in order to be able to import employees:

CSV Sheet 1 – Employee Data:

• Employee Number
• First Name
• Last Name
• ID Card Number
• Gender

CSV Sheet 2 – Employment Periods:

• Employee Number
• Engagement Date

Note: Please visit the Employee Import section in WorkForce to see what other information can be imported together with the fields listed above.

What is the least possible information that can be imported per employee that needs to be linked to WorkForce Payroll?

As Payroll requires particular information in order to be processed, below we have listed all of the required fields that need to be included with an employee import, for employees to be imported and linked to Payroll:

CSV Sheet 1 – Employee Data:

• Employee Number
• First Name
• Last Name
• ID Card Number
• Gender
• Date of Birth
• Civil Status
• Spouse Name (If Civil Status is set as Married)
• Spouse ID Card Number (If Civil Status is set as Married)
• National Insurance Number
• Employment Type
• Employment Terms
• Position
• Average Weekly Hours
• Commission Rate (Can be left as 0 if not applicable)
• Overtime Rate (Can be left as 0 if not applicable)
• Self-Employed N.I Amount (Can be left as 0 if not applicable)
• N.I. Reimbursements (%) (Can be left as 0 if not applicable)
• Tax Reimbursements (%) (Can be left as 0 if not applicable)
• Previous Emoluments (Can be left as 0 if employee was hired in previous year)
• Previous Tax (Can be left as 0 if employee was hired in previous year)
• FSS Exemption Yearly Amount (Can be left as 0 if not applicable)
• Payroll Frequency
• FSS Status
• Is Arrears Tax a Rate (Can be left as False if not applicable)
• Arrears Tax Amount  (Can be left as 0 if not applicable)
• Fixed Tax Rate (%) (If there are no values to enter, enforce tax rate is set to false)
• Pays Tax (True or False)
• Pays N.I. (True or False)
• Pays Maternity (True or False)
• Enforce 10% N.I (True or False)
• Paid Mondays (Should be set as True for normal working conditions)
• Paid Tuesdays (Should be set as True for normal working conditions)
• Paid Wednesdays (Should be set as True for normal working conditions)
• Paid Thursdays (Should be set as True for normal working conditions)
• Paid Fridays (Should be set as True for normal working conditions)
• Paid Saturdays (Should be set as False for normal working conditions)
• Paid Sundays (Should be set as False for normal working conditions)
• Paid Bonuses (True or False)
• Is a Director (True or False)
• Calculate Part-Time Leave Pro-Rata (True or False)

CSV Sheet 2 – Employment Periods:

• Employee Number
• Engagement Date

CSV Sheet 3 – Fixed Payroll Data (This sheet can be left empty, but needs to be included with import zip file):

• Employee
• Data Field
• Amount
• Is the Amount a Rate?  (True or False)

CSV Sheet 4 – Fringe Benefits (This sheet can be left empty, but needs to be included with import zip file):

• Employee Number
• Benefit Category
• Benefit Type
• Description
• Amount
• Is Taxable

CSV Sheet 5 – Salary Details:

• Employee Number
• Date Applicable From
• Is Salary an Hourly Rate
• Salary Amount

Note: Please visit the Employee Import section in WorkForce to gain an understanding of what is required for each fields and to see what other information can be imported together with the fields listed above.

Is there a template that can be used to import employee data for WorkForce Payroll?

A template can be downloaded by visiting the Employee Import section within WorkForce.

To search for more information on how to use WorkForce, please visit: https://workforce.com.mt/documentation/