Employee Import

If you'd like to import your employees into PayHero you can fill out the spreadsheet attached to the bottom of this article and send it to support@payhero.co.nz. If needed, we can also import your employee's pay history with our Pay History Import support article.

Before loading your employees, ensure your company settings are set up the way you'd like them. In particular, details such as the default KiwiSaver Employer Contribution Rate and Payslip Type (both found in your Payroll Settings) are best set before importing.

If you have already added employees to your PayHero account their details will be updated if they are included in the Employee Import - their Display Name will just need to be an exact match in the spreadsheet to their Display Name in PayHero.

Many of the details will have an ongoing impact on how your employees' pays are processed in PayHero, so make sure you check the following to make sure you understand what's required in each column and what effect that will have.

Mandatory Employee Details

These details are required for each employee:

Display Name - The display name that will be shown for the employee throughout PayHero. Usually the employee's first and last name, but may be a nickname if preferred.

First Name - The employee's first name.

Last Name - The employee's last name.

Start Date - The date the employee's contract began with you. Must be formatted as DD/MM/YYYY.

Birth Date - The employee's birth date. The format must be DD/MM/YYYY. This field is not currently mandatory.

Tax Code - The employee's Tax Code. Must be a valid IRD tax code from the following list: CAE, EDW, M, ME, M SL, ME SL, ND, NSW, S, SB, SH, ST, S SL, SB SL, SH SL, ST SL, STC

IRD Number - The employee's IRD number. Must be a valid IRD number.

Annual Salary* - The employee's annual salary. Only enter this figure if the employee is paid on a salary basis. Don't include a dollar sign or commas.

Normal Rate* - The employee's normal pay rate. Don't include a dollar sign.

*Important note: Either Annual Salary or Normal rate must have a value but only one is required, depending on whether the employee is paid an annual salary or an hourly rate. If both are entered the salary will be used.

Work Pattern

The employee work pattern is a critical part of ensuring your employee leave entitlements are able to be correctly calculated in PayHero. You can learn more about the Work Pattern options here.

The options available are shown in order of priority - first Hours per Day, then Hours per Week, then Days per Week. You only need to enter one of the three options. If you enter multiple, the highest priority one will be used.

Hours Per Day - If you know exactly how many hours per day your employee works each week enter the hours for each day of the week.

Hours Per Week - If you know the total Hours per Week the employee works enter those. If the employee works Monday to Friday enter Yes in the Monday to Friday field. Important: Entering Yes in Monday to Friday will assume the employee works equal hours each day. E.g. an employee on 40 Hours per Week with Monday to Friday set to Yes will be assumed to work 8 hours per day Mon-Fri.

Days Per Week - If you know the days and hours the employee works each week, enter the Days per Week and Hours per Day.

If no options are entered the employee will be assumed to have No Regular Week.

Payment Details

General details that are useful for paying your employees, but are not mandatory.

Second Rate - The employee's second pay rate, if applicable. Don't include a dollar sign.

Third Rate - The employee's third pay rate, if applicable. Don't include a dollar sign.

Bank Account - The employee's primary bank account number that wages are to be paid to. Must be formatted as 01-1234-1234567-123.

General Details

General employee details that are not mandatory.

Email - The employee's email address. This is where payslips will be sent, if the Email Payslips setting has been activated.

Email Payslips - Whether the employee should receive their payslips by email. Enter either Yes or No.

Gender - The employee's gender. Available options are Male, Female, Gender Diverse.

Phone - The employee's phone number.

Address - The employee's address.

Suburb - The employee's suburb.

City - The employee's city.

Post Code - The employee's post code.

Emergency Name - The name of the emergency contact for the employee.

Emergency Phone - The phone number of the emergency contact for the employee.

Pay Cycle Name - The Pay Cycle that the employee will be in. This needs to be an exact match to the name of the Pay Cycle in PayHero, which you'd need to setup prior to the import. It is simple to add employees to a pay cycle after the import if preferred.

Team Name - The primary Team that the employee will be in. This needs to be an exact match to the name of the Team in PayHero, which you'd need to setup prior to the import. It is simple to add employees to a team after the import if preferred.

Can Edit Time - Enter Yes or No depending on whether the employee will have access to enter their own timesheets. An employee needs to have a Team Name entered for this to take effect.

Default Work - The default Work that should be applied to the employee for their timesheets to be recorded against. This needs to be an exact match to the name of the Work in PayHero, which you'd need to setup prior to the import. This is optional and can be added to the employee later if preferred.

Note - a text field for any additional notes you want retained for an employee.

Leave Details 

Enter the leave balances and settings for your employees. While these are optional for the import to work successfully, if your employees do have opening balances it's a good idea to enter all of these details. You can enter these into PayHero manually if preferred. 

Next Holiday Anniversary - The employee's next leave anniversary. Formatting needs to be DD/MM/YYYY. If left blank this will default to the next anniversary of their employment start date.

Holiday Earnings - The employee's gross earnings to date since their last holiday anniversary. This figure is required to calculate the employee's Holiday Pay.

Holiday Pay Percent - The employee's holiday pay percentage. Must be a whole number, without symbols or decimals e.g. 8 if the employee Holiday Pay Rate is 8%. If left blank this will default to 8%.

Holiday Paid In Advance - The dollar amount of holiday pay that has been paid on an as-you-go basis. Do not include a dollar sign.

Holiday Pay As You Go - Indicate whether the employee is on Holiday Pay As You Go - enter Yes or No.

Holiday Weeks Due - The employee's total balance of annual leave that is currently due, in weeks (if your balances are currently stored in a unit other than weeks, our guide on Converting Annual Leave to Weeks may help). Holiday Weeks Due should be the balance of leave that has become due to the employee from previous anniversaries, less any leave they've taken. Don't include leave accrued in the current holiday year as PayHero will calculate that separately.

Annual Sick Leave Entitlement - The employee's annual sick leave entitlement in days. This will default to the legal minimum of 10 if not entered.

Max Sick Leave Entitlement - The maximum the employee's annual sick leave entitlement can accrue to if unused. This will default to the legal minimum of 20 if not entered.

Next Sick Anniversary - The employee's next sick leave anniversary. This will default to their 6 month anniversary if excluded. Needs to be entered in format DD/MM/YYYY.

Sick Leave Available - The number of days sick leave the employee currently has available.

Alternative Leave Due - The number of days alternative leave (also known as days in lieu) the employee currently has due.

KiwiSaver Details

The employee's KiwiSaver details. If left blank the employee will be excluded from KiwiSaver.

KiwiSaver Existing Member - Whether the employee is a KiwiSaver member. Enter Yes or No. If Yes, then the deduction rate is mandatory.

KiwiSaver Savings Suspension - Enter Yes if the employee is currently on a KiwiSaver Savings Suspension, or No if they are not.

KiwiSaver Employee Deduction Rate - The employee's KiwiSaver contribution rate - 3, 4, 6, 8 or 10. Must be a whole number, not a percentage or decimal e.g. 3 if the employee deduction rate is 3%.

ESCT Rate - The rate at which ESCT should be deducted. Valid options are 10.5, 17.5, 30, 33. Don't include a % symbol.

Download the template here: