How to move HR off WhatsApp and spreadsheets in two weeks

Your employee list is the foundation. If it is messy, everything built on it will be messy too.

Put everyone into one spreadsheet, one row per person. For each person, check:

• Employee ID. Is it unique? Do two people share one? Are old IDs reused?
• Full name, spelt the way the person spells it.
• Work email and mobile number, in one consistent format (for example, all mobiles starting +880).
• Department and designation, using the same words every time. "Accounts", "Account" and "A/C" should become one name.
• Manager. Who does each person report to? Write the manager's employee ID, not just their name.
• Joining date, in one date format.
• Status. Remove people who have left, or mark them clearly.

Expect surprises. People who left last year, duplicates with slightly different spellings, two people called "Rahim" in the same department. Fix them now.

Write down the leave rules you already follow, then decide the gaps. For each leave type, agree:

• Who it applies to, and how many days.
• Whether the balance is given at the start of the year or builds up month by month.
• Whether unused days carry over, and if so, how many.
• Whether half days are allowed.
• How much notice is needed.
• Whether sick leave needs a document, and after how many days.

Then decide each person's opening balance: how many days they have on the day you switch. This is the most common source of arguments later, so agree it with the owner and keep a copy.

Leave rules vary between businesses and sectors. Check your own policy and your local labour law, and take advice if you are unsure.

Draw your approval path on one page. A common pattern is: employee → line manager → HR. Then answer:

• Who approves when the manager is on leave?
• Who approves the managers' own leave?
• Do attendance corrections follow the same path as leave?
• Who handles requests such as salary certificates or bank letters?

Keep it simple. One path that everyone understands beats a clever one nobody remembers.

Write down:

• Your working week (for example, Sunday to Thursday with Friday and Saturday off, or a six-day week).
• Start and end times for each shift, and who works which shift.
• Grace time: how many minutes late before someone is marked late.
• What counts as a half day.
• This year's holidays, including the ones your company adds on top of public holidays.
• Your work places: office, factory, warehouse or site addresses, if you want check-in to confirm location.

Enter everything into your new system: company, working week, holidays, leave types, approval path, then import the employee list. A good import tool will show you problems and duplicates before anything is saved. Fix them in the spreadsheet and import again rather than patching records one by one.

Then test with a small group: the HR officer, one manager and two or three staff. Apply for leave, approve it, reject one with a reason, check in, request a correction. Fix anything that feels wrong.