What can I learn from this page? | How to set up your employee data file for upload |
Who is this guide for? | Account Admins |
In this support guide we will explore how to prepare your employee data file for import!
Note:
If you plan on using 1-on-1 conversations or are a Performance customer please reach out to support@cultureamp.com via email or ask to speak with a specialist during your live chat conversation after uploading your file. Ask for assistance in mapping your performance demographics.
To fully unlock the 1-on-1 functionality, ensure your user file includes Manager Email, Department, and Job Title. The mapping process, a one-time task performed by our support team, guarantees that your demographic data appears in the Performance section of the platform and the 1-on-1 conversation tool.
For Performance customers, we also offer the option to map Job Title level, Gender, Location, Business Unit, Division, Country, and Employment Type.
Prepare Your Employee Data File
Use our Employee Data File Template. Make a copy and follow these steps to format it correctly.
1. Include Required Demographics:
Column A (Name): Required. Please use the recommended format "First Last."
Column B: (Preferred Name): Optional but adds a personal touch to communications.
Column C and D (Employee ID or Email): Required. Include one or both. This creates a unique user in Culture Amp.
2. Unlock Functionality with Recommended Demographics:
Column F (Start Date) and G (End Date): Required for People Analytics. Leave End Date blank for current employees.
Column H (Language): Optional. Specify a preferred platform language. If blank, it defaults to English. For non-English speakers, use language codes.
Column I (Manager Email): Required for Perform and 1-on-1s. Helps build your organizational hierarchy. Leave empty for the head of your company (CEO/Owner).
3. Custom Demographics
Columns J-U: Add your custom demographics by inserting new columns. Examples provided. Remove examples that are irrelevant to your company.
Roll-up Demographic: For small groups (typically 5 or less), add a roll-up demographic to enhance visibility in reporting.
š”Tip: Hover over the column headers in the Employee Data File Template to see additional data guidelines!
Formatting Notes and Tips
Most organizations include all active employees in their data file, excluding any terminated employees and employees on extended leave.
Demographic values with the same characters but different capitalization (e.g. āMelbourneā and āmelbourneā) will be merged using the first value provided.
For any demographic columns you add, use consistent formatting for the headers as demographic titles are case sensitive in the platform. If you use inconsistent naming conventions, you will create duplicate demographics (e.g. āPerformance ratingā and āPerformance Ratingā will each be a separate demographic).
The order of the columns will be reflected in the employee's Demographics page, so grouping similar fields together is advisable (e.g. Division, then Department, then Team).
When updating employee data via partial import, you only need to include the employees needing updates in your file, along with the relevant demographic columns and values you've changed. For instance, if updating the department for 5 employees, include the Name, Email, and/or Employee ID columns in your file to identify them, along with the Department column containing the updated values for each user.
Dates in Culture Amp are stored in the format mmm dd, yyyy. Please import dates either in this format, or in the alternative acceptable formats MMM DD YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD. See instructions for customizing the date in Excel and Google Sheets.
If you load language codes into Column H, reach out to our Product Support team to enable these languages for your account.
Your file to be uploaded can only have one sheet, e.g. if you used more than one sheet to pull your employee data together with pivot tables, etc, these will need to be removed (or just copy your final data set to a new file)
The file name can't contain any special characters or punctuation, or you will get an Invalid data format. Please make sure you have followed the required order error.
The file can't have a password
The file can't have any hidden columns
The file header row (first row) can only contain Text characters, no invisible control characters (like Shift-In)
Save Your Employee Data File
Once your file is complete, save it as a CSV (with UTF-8 encoding and the separator a comma) or an XLSX file. XLSX (Excel workbook format) tends to handle formatting better. If you created the file in Google Sheets, click File > Download and select the file format youād like to download.
See also: