Adding and Importing Employee Data into Buddy

Adding Employees

One of the first steps after setting Company Settings is to add your employees to Buddy.

For smaller companies, we recommend adding this one by one through the Add New Employee function to get accustomed to Buddy's user interface and the available settings (see Adding a New Employee for instructions).

Importing Employees using Spreadsheet

When dealing with larger amount of data, we suggest import the employees in bulk, especially if you already have the data exportable to a spreadsheet.

Importing Employee Data by Mapping Original Export

One of the options is to use your original export file and map these onto Buddy

Using this method, you will not do any work on templates outside of Buddy as long as they contain all the required information. 

Uploading your Sheet

1. Go to People
2. Click Import Employees
3. Upload your sheet
4. Select Employee Details (Any Excel/CSV) for initial import, or the type of subset (e.g. Salary Details) if re-importing/updating data.
5. If you have previously configured a template, select that template, or otherwise use Auto-AI
6. Click Verify Field Mapping

While mapping details, you will see 4 columns:

• Header
  This is the column title within your original file
• Mapping
  The assigned Buddy value. This may be automated where expected names match, but you may need to individually map items
• Sample
  Shows the values of the first 5 rows to better understand your Headers
• Status
  Informs the current status and validity of the current mapping

For items that are multi-choice, like Gender, you will be requested to map values (e.g. F -> Female, M -> Male)

After reviewing the details, click Save Template to store changes in case you require to import using the same template.

Then, click Import Employees.

Re-Importing to Amend Employee Data

When importing data to update existing employees, you will require to map an Employee field.

This can be matched by:

• Full Name
• Employee Reference
• ID Card

Ensure that each employee is mapped to avoid creating duplicating employees.

Editing/Adding Import Templates

Bureau accounts can manage their Import Templates from the Advisor Menu. This allows to:

• add custom templates
• edit existing templates
• deleted templates

Importing Employees using Buddy Templates

Another option would be to use Buddy's templates and fill in the data as per the below instructions.

Downloading the Template

First, make sure you have updated the Company Settings with any custom Overtime Rates or Allowances. The template will reflect these custom options.

Then:

1. Go to People
2. Click Import Employees
3. Download the Excel Template
4. Open the template in your preferred spreadsheet editor

Uploading Your Data

Once you have the data completed and saved in the template, you can then re-open the same modal:

1. Click Import Employees
2. Click Upload File
3. Select the spreadsheet saved on your local drive
4. Confirm Buddy Format
5. Tick whether you want to overwrite existing employees
6. Confirm by clicking the Import button
7. If there are any errors, download the error report (or view the errors in the modal), correct the data, and repeat from Step 1

Importing Using Buddy Template

How to Fill in the Spreadsheet Template

Below, find a list of the required fields, as well as information on how to fill in each section of the import template.

Required Fields

The following fields are required:

• ID card
• Given Name
• Family Name
• Date Of Birth
• Date Of Employment
• Role Name
• Salary Amount
• Salary Frequency
• Employment Type
• Tax Status

Note: When inserting dates, double-check and confirm that you are using a consistent date format, as this can lead to incorrect inputs.

Section 1: Personal Details

The first section includes details of personal information, including legal names, ID numbers, address, Date of Birth, and other data.

Key Information

• Legal Details, like names, tax numbers, and addresses will feature in legal documents, such as payslips and FS3s
• Date of Birth is used to calculate Social Security Category
• Personal email address will be used when Inviting Employees or Sending Payslips from Buddy
• Employee Reference Code is an optional field; when importing timesheets through a synced punch clock or .csv, this code will be used to identify the employee.

Section 2: Role Details

The second section features vital information on the employee's role, engagement and potential termination. 

Section 3: Salary Details

Salary Details and Schedule

The first portion of the salary details will determine how much the employee is paid, as well impact bonus and leave entitlements

• Pay Schedule determines the pay period the employee will be paid.
• Salary Amount is the rate of basic pay, based on the frequency
• The Salary Frequency determines the period for which the basic pay is set, i.e. if the rate inserted is hourly, weekly, monthly, yearly, or other.
• Salary Type determines if the basic (and allowance included) are to be calculated at Gross Rates, or in Net Pay (see: Net Pay Top-Up for Employees on Net Pay)
• OT Tax Opt Out should be inputted as Yes if the employee is a manager or opting out (on their FS4) out of the overtime tax rates
• Variable Hours should be inserted as Yes if the employee does not have any fixed hours
• Weekly Hours and Working Days need to be included for all the employees on fixed-hour contracts. This will impact both the pro-rata salary calculations, as well as leave entitlements and functoinailty
• Hours Worked in Q4 refers to the number of hours the employee worked between October and December of the previous year. This is used to improve the accuracy of the Weekly Allowance bonus if the two following criteria are reached:
  • The company's first pay on Buddy is between January to March
  • The employee is an employee on Variable Hours

Recurring Allowances and Eligible Overtime Rates

The second part of the Salary Details includes default standard allowances (like Car Allowance), as well as any custom allowances created during the setup.

• For recurring allowances, insert the amount paid each pay period. This means if your payroll is monthly, include the monthly amount.
• For hourly or multiplicative allowances, insert the rate at which these will be paid per hour or instance.
• For overtime rates, simply input Yes or No, depending on whether the employee is eligible for that overtime rate.

Section 4: Tax Details

The tax details will determine the FSS and impact the SSC deductions that will be calculated.

• Refer to Table of Social Security Statuses for any employee not paying standard Social Security rates; should be left empty if standard rates apply.
• Employee Pays Minimum (10%) National Insurance will apply a lower rate if the employee's SSC category is determined to be at Category B.
• Tax Rate should be filled-in as per FS4 and determines the tax rate. An Other tax rate can be set if custom tax amounts are to be calculated
• Sick Benefit Rate determines at which rate the Sickness and Injury benefit rates will apply (see: What are the Sickness Benefit and the Injury Benefit?

Section 5: Previous Earnings (in a previous employment)

Previous Earnings section refers specifically to income earned in previous employment. This means that it is only applicable to employees who were engaged with the company during the year.

This data should be filled in based on the FS3 that the previous employer hands, but may come from other sources (such as employee or final payslip). 

Note that the Paid Car Allowance should denote the full amount, including the non-taxable portions. 

Section 6: Bank Details

The final section includes bank and payment details for the employee. Although this is optional, it is necessary to Send Employee Payments from Buddy through Fyorin, or to download a SEPA File.