How can I bulk update employee data in Global Payroll?

If you need to make updates to your employees’ profiles in Remote, like adjusting job titles, updating personal information, or changing payroll details, you can do it all at once using the bulk updater tool. This guide explains how you, as a Global Payroll customer, can upload these changes from a spreadsheet and review everything before submitting.

💡 This tool helps you manage updates across multiple employees without editing each profile one by one.

How to update employee data in bulk:

1. Go to the bulk updater tool

In Remote, head to the Team overview section. From there, select Bulk data edits, then click Edit employee data.

2. Choose the employee type

Since you're updating employees hired under your own legal entity, choose My company’s entity.

3. Upload your spreadsheet

Pick the legal entity the updates apply to. Then upload your CSV file with the changes.

You can upload a file in any format, but keep in mind:

• Any empty cells in your file will be treated as deletions.
• You’ll be able to review and change anything later in the “Review’ step of the process.

4. Map your columns

After uploading the file, you'll match the column names in your spreadsheet to the corresponding fields in Remote.

Here's what to keep in mind:

• Employee identifier is mandatory. This field tells Remote which employee’s data you’re updating.
• All other fields are optional but must be mapped correctly if you want them to appear in the review step.
• You must map at least one field besides the identifier to continue.
• Each column in your spreadsheet can only map to one Remote field i.e you cannot have more than one “Column title in your file” map to the same “Field title in Remote”.

5. Review the data

In this step, you'll check for errors and confirm that the updates are correct before submitting.

Here’s how to understand the color codes:

• White = no changes from what’s already in Remote.
• Green = new or updated information.
• Red = there's an error you need to fix.
• Gray = this cell can’t be edited for that employee.

If an employee (row) contains changes to Contract details fields like salary, working hours, or job title, this might count as contract amendments. If that’s the case, you’ll need to add an Effective date for those changes. If an employee (row) does not contain any Contract details fields, the Effective date column will be disabled for that row.

A few other things to know:

• Any cells you left blank in your original spreadsheet will also appear blank in the review step. If you want to keep any information, make sure it’s filled in.
• Some fields depend on other fields (like pension contributions in the UK). Even if you didn’t include the parent field in your spreadsheet, Remote will pull it into the review for context.

For example, UK employees have “Employer pension contribution” and “Employee pension contribution” fields on their Profile. The ability to customize these amounts depends on choosing “Customize contribution settings” instead of “Use default amounts” in the parent “Contribution settings” field. Even if your spreadsheet didn’t contain a “Contribution settings” column, it will appear in the Review step.

6. Submit your changes

Once everything looks correct, submit the changes for processing.

Here’s what happens next:

• Give your bulk update a name (for example, “July salary adjustments”). This is what will appear in the bulk edit history table.
• Review all the changes in the table one last time. If any fields are being removed, Remote will show a “Will be deleted” message next to them.
• Click Submit changes.

You’ll get a summary once the upload is complete. If some updates couldn’t be applied due to errors, they’ll be saved as a draft so you can fix and resubmit later.

7. View your bulk update history

To see past or in-progress bulk edits:

• From Team overview, go to Bulk data edits and click View bulk edit history.
• Or, if you're in the middle of a bulk update, you can click View draft if there are employees with errors.

In the bulk edit history:

• Click on any Completed update to see a summary of the changes.
• Click on a Draft to return to the review step and finish editing.