Importing Hours Worked

The article provides a comprehensive guide on importing hours worked for employees into BambooHR. It outlines the necessary steps, including uploading a properly formatted CSV file, matching fields between the import file and BambooHR, and reviewing the data before finalizing the import. Key features include the requirement for specific fields such as Employee Number and Hours Worked Date, as well as optional fields like Pay Rate. The article also addresses scenarios involving project tracking, payroll integration, and how to handle incorrect imports. Additionally, it clarifies that imported hours do not override employee-tracked time and that employees cannot view their imported hours directly. For further assistance, users are encouraged to explore BambooHR's resources and support.

  • Jul 2, 2026
  • Knowledge

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Importing Hours Worked
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If you use BambooHR® Time & Attendance, hours worked will automatically sync with your time off policy based on hours worked. You do not need to use the hours importer.

The Import Hours feature is available to the Account Owner, Full Admin users, Payroll Admin users, and Custom Access Level users.

Import Hours

Screenshot of the Settings → Account → Import Hours page. An orange outline highlights the New Hour Import button at the top-right of the table, which lists prior imports with columns for File Name, Date, and Status.

Navigate Settings and select Account on the left side. Click Import Hours. To start a new import, click New Hour Import.

1. Upload File

First, download the template file to ensure all information is organized correctly before importing. Once you have completed setting up the template file, be sure to save it as a CSV to import. Then, click Choose File to upload. After its upload, click Next Step to move on to match the fields.

What are the fields in the template file?
Screenshot of the overlay window titled Required vs Optional Fields. The window contains two columns: Required fields on the left (e.g., Employee #, Date, Hours) and Optional fields on the right (e.g., Notes, Project, Task). A close button appears in the corner.

The template file requires the following fields:

  • Employee #: The employee number must match with an existing employee record.
  • Hours Worked Date: When importing dates, you should always use mm/dd/yyyy format in your spreadsheet. If you have a different date format in your BambooHR account, the date will automatically switch to match your default date format.
  • Rate Type (REG, OT, or DT): This determines if the hours worked are regular, overtime, and double-time hours. The entries in this column must match exactly, i.e., REG, OT, and DT, and they must be in all caps.
  • Hours Worked: Enter hours worked. Special characters, negative amounts, more than five numbers, and more than four decimal places are not accepted.

Previously, an admin needed to import Holiday Hours to BambooHR, but not anymore! Now, you can determine holiday hours via holiday settings.

If you are not using BambooHR Time Tracking and you need to import holiday hours worked for payroll, use the Holiday Name column on the importing template to designate which holiday the employee worked.

Optional fields

The Pay Rate field is optional in the template file. Please note that entering the Pay Rate in the template will override what is in the Compensation Table. 

If you use BambooHR® Payroll, this field will not sync over to Payroll (and will pull the pay rate from the imported template). The best practice is to remove this field from the template file before importing. Please also be aware that this field has a maximum of five numbers and no more than four decimal points. 

If you use BambooHR® Payroll and do not use Project Tracking in BambooHR, please be aware that our importer does not support listing multiple rates for the same rate type (REG, OT, DT) for a single employee. The importer will use the higher rate for all of the hours pulled into payroll.

2. Match Fields

If you have downloaded the template file to organize your data, the fields will automatically match up with the fields in BambooHR. Otherwise, you will need to match the column name in the Import File Column with the correct BambooHR Field. The Sample Data column gives you an example of which data in your spreadsheet maps to each field in BambooHR.

If you are not importing into an optional field and you have included it in your spreadsheet, click the X next to the field name to exclude it from the import. Once you have matched the fields, click Next Step to review your import data.

3. Review

Screenshot of the Review screen. Rows of imported data are shown in a table. Some cells are outlined in red with error messages (e.g., “Employee not found” or “Invalid date”). A dropdown in a red highlighted cell offers correction options.

1. The top section will show a red highlight in any fields of data that have errors. Click into the field to select a correct value or enter an accepted value. Once the row of data no longer has any errors, the page will move down to the bottom section automatically.

2. If you decide that you do not want to import a specific line of data, select the X on the left. This will remove only that line of data, and you can proceed with the rest of the import.

3. Fields highlighted in red show any data that needs attention. The importer will automatically fix some errors but some may need to be manually fixed before upload.

Once you have reviewed your data, select Import Hours to complete the import.

Which fields will be autocorrected?

Employee #

No corrections applied

Hours Worked Date

If date can be detected it will change to MM/DD/YYYY format

Pay Rate

Rounded to four decimal places

Remove currency symbols 

Rate Type (REG, OT, or DT)

REG - if the value starts with “reg” (case-insensitive), convert it to REG.

Examples that would be corrected:

reg

Reg

regular

regulatory

reg12345

Examples that would NOT be corrected:

RG

rge

REF

refular

[empty]

OT - if the value starts with “ot” (case-insensitive) OR “over” (case-insensitive), convert it to OT.

Examples that would be corrected:

ot

Ot

other

Overtime

Over-time

Over Time

Examples that would NOT be corrected:

o

TO

Obertime

time over

[empty]

DT - if the value starts with "dt" (case-insensitive) OR "double" (case-insensitive), convert it to DT.

Examples that would be corrected: (Corrected to Double Time)

Double time

double Time

DouBle Time

Examples that would NOT be corrected:

Doube Time

Extra Hours

[empty]

Hours Worked

Rounded to four decimal places

What if I am using Project Tracking to track hours with multiple rates of pay?

A Project Name and Task Name field will be added to the importing experience.

Screenshot of a sample import table for those using project tracking with multiple rates of pay. Two additional columns are highlighted: Project Name and Task Name. Example entries include generic project and task labels. Orange outlines highlight the columns.

The downloadable template will include these two fields for you to fill out. You must match the Project/Tasks names to exactly how they are set up in BambooHR through Project Tracking settings. The process for importing will remain the same as outlined in this guide. 

Do you need to add these hours to BambooHR Payroll?
creenshot of the Payroll dashboard. The Payroll card shows the payroll cycle with a highlighted box showing 0 Timesheets Approved. Dates of the payroll period are displayed in a calendar layout. The Continue Payroll button is green on the right.

Once you import your employees' hours into BambooHR, hours worked within the pay period will automatically pull into your scheduled payroll when you click Start Payroll on the Payroll tab. Please keep in mind that imported hours will not sync with off-cycle payrolls. 

Hours added in BambooHR will automatically pull into Payroll.

No hours will sync for salary-exempt employees. You can add any additional hours as extra pay while running payroll one by one per employee.

What if I import incorrect hours using BambooHR Payroll? Can I override these hours with a new import? 

If you import over hours that have already been imported for a specific date, sometimes the hours will stack rather than override the current hours in payroll, even if you delete the import and start over. For this reason, if you have imported inaccurate hours, we suggest creating a new template with the difference in hours and reimporting the new template. 

Can I view previous hours worked imports?
Screenshot of Settings → Account → Import Hours with the table listing past import dates, row counts, and imported by. The Import Date link is highlighted with an orange arrow. Below, details of a specific import are shown: a table with rows of employee names, pay rates, hours worked, project names, and holidays.

Navigate to view the history of imports. Then, select the date of the import you'd like to view.

Screenshot of the Hours Import page showing a multi-row table with employee names, hours worked, pay rates, rate types, and optional fields such as project, task, shift differential, and holiday. Buttons for Delete Import and Close appear on the screen.

You can then view the import results of that specific hours import. If you want to see more detailed employee information regarding previous imports and filter them by date range, check out the Approved Hours report.

Need to delete a previous import? 

Select Delete Import in the top-right to remove the entire import. If you need to remove specific lines of data, select the lines you want to delete, and then choose Delete Rows. If you use BambooHR Payroll, please see this section above before deleting the import. 

Will my employees be able to see a timesheet of their imported hours?

No. Admins can revisit hours using the Approved Hours report or by reviewing their import data, but employees will not be able to see imported hours in BambooHR. If you're interested in timesheets employees can view or edit, consider testing out BambooHR Time Tracking with our free two week trial!

Does importing hours worked override time tracked by the employee?

No. Importing hours and time tracked in BambooHR are treated as separate entries. For example, if an employee tracked 8 hours on August 1st, then you imported 7 hours on August 1st for that employee, only 8 hours would show on the employee's timesheet, but the Approved Hours report would show 15 hours. If you need to adjust timesheet entries for employees, you will need to do so manually.

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