Importing Holiday Hours

This article provides guidance on importing holiday hours for employees using BambooHR. It outlines the purpose of accurately recording holiday hours, which ensures proper payroll processing. Key sections include steps for importing holiday hours, differentiating between hours paid for holidays worked and non-worked, and setting up holiday pay rates in the system. Users must ensure that holiday hours align with configured settings to avoid errors during import. The article also addresses FAQs regarding potential errors, the combination of holiday hours, and locating the importing template. The hours importer feature is available to specific user roles within the system, facilitating a smooth payroll cycle. Overall, it emphasizes the importance of proper setup and accurate data entry for effective holiday hour management.

  • Jul 2, 2026
  • Knowledge

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Importing Holiday Hours
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Importing holiday hours

If you do not use BambooHR® Time Tracking, you can import your employees' worked hours into BambooHR for a smooth payroll run. Since holiday hours work differently from regular hours, take the necessary steps to ensure that hours worked or awarded on holidays are imported correctly into your account.

The hours importer feature is available to the Account Owner, Full Admin users, Payroll Admins, and custom access level users with the Manage Hour Imports permission.

When setting up a holiday in Settings, designate whether your employees will receive holiday pay hours for the holiday or an alternate pay rate for hours worked on the holiday. If you have employees who fall into both scenarios, create two holidays—one for each designated setting—and follow the steps for each.

Hours paid for holidays - non-worked

Screenshot of the Edit Holiday settings page for New Year’s Day. The option “Employees receive the following holiday hours for this holiday” is selected. Two rows specify the allotment: 8 hours per day for Full-Time and 4 hours per day for Everyone Else. The configuration area is outlined in orange, with Save at the bottom.

Do not include holiday hours for employees who only receive holiday pay (non-worked hours) in your import. The system will automatically pull awarded holiday pay hours into payroll based on the hours designation in holiday settings.

Hours paid for holidays - worked

When employees receive a multiplied rate for work performed on holidays, establish this designation within Settings. Again, if you have employees who fall into both categories of worked and non-worked holiday pay, set up two events in Holiday Settings to differentiate between the two scenarios.

Screenshot of the Edit Holiday settings page. The holiday is again labeled New Year’s Day. The selected option reads: Employees receive the following pay rate for any hours worked on this holiday. A field below shows 1.5x the normal base rate. An orange outline highlights the pay rate multiplier field. A green Save button appears at the bottom.

To set up the holiday for employees working on it, check the box next to "Add holiday hours or set a special pay rate multiplier for this holiday?" and then select the option "Employees receive the following pay rate for any hours worked on this holiday." Next, enter the pay rate multiplier in the box below. This multiplier only applies to hourly employees. The system will pull salaried employees' full salary into payroll, regardless of the holiday.

Now that you have set up your holiday multipliers, add the holiday hours worked to the import hours template as you normally would for any other hours. 

The image shows the Holiday Importing template customers will use to import holiday hours. It highlights the Employee # and Hours Worked Date to associate with information below: that the day must match the date of the holiday you set up in holiday settings. It then highlights the Rate Type column to correspond with a description below: the rate type will be REG for holidays, even if you are paying your employees with a multiplier. Finally, the Holiday Name column is highlighted to correspond with a description below: the holiday name must exactly match the holiday name you determined in holiday settings.

For holiday hours, ensure the following:

  1. The Hours Worked Date column on the import template must match the date of the holiday you set up in Settings.
  2. If you are using a pay rate multiplier, leave the Pay Rate column (Column C) blank.
    • Leaving this column blank will pull the employee's current pay rate from their Compensation table and multiply it by the holiday rate multiplier in Settings. If you enter a pay rate into the template, this rate will override the holiday pay settings.
  3. The Rate Type for holidays is "REG", even if you pay your employees with a multiplier.
  4. The holiday in Column I (Holiday Name) must exactly match the name specified in Settings.

Holiday hours in Payroll

This image shows the different ways holiday will show up in BambooHR Payroll. The example shows an employee who received 8 hours of time off on the holiday and was paid their regular salary. It shows another employee who is paid hourly, but received time off on the holiday and therefore did not receive a pay multiplier. It then shows a third employee who worked on the holiday and received a pay rate multiplier.

If your employee has non-worked or worked holiday hours in a payroll run, you will see a pay type that differentiates between the two. Non-worked hours will be displayed as "Holiday," and worked hours will be displayed as "Worked Holiday xx (rate multiplier)."

Importing holiday hours FAQ

1. Will I encounter an error if I try to import holiday hours without first setting up the holiday in Settings?

Yes, currently, you can only import worked holiday hours through the hours importer, and they must correspond to an existing holiday you configured in Settings.

2. If I set up a holiday in Settings and also import the hours as hours worked, will the system add the holiday hours to payroll?

Yes, the employee would receive the non-worked holiday hours, as well as the hours you included in the import.

3. Where can I find the holiday hours importing template?

You will use the same template that's used for importing regular hours.

  1. Navigate to Settings > Account
  2. Click Import Hours
  3. Select New Hour Import
  4. On the Import Employee Hours page, click the template file link to download the template
An image that shows the process of finding the holiday hours importing template. From the BambooHR home screen, the cursor clicks Settings in the left-hand menu.Inside Settings, the cursor selects Account.The submenu expands, and the cursor clicks Import Hours.On the Import Hours page, the cursor selects New Hours Import.The page loads an import screen, where a link labeled Template File is clicked to download the import template.
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