Bulk import workers | OneForce Care Help

Setting up more than a handful of workers one at a time is slow. Import brings many in at once from a single spreadsheet, SCHADS pay classification included, all checked before anything is saved. Imported workers are created without a login; you add sign-in access for each one afterwards, from their profile.

Open Import

Go to Workforce ›Workers and select Import at the top right, just to the left of Invite worker. The dialog opens, titled Import workers.

Note

Import is available when your role can create workers, the same permission Invite worker needs. If your role can’t, neither button appears on the page.

Download the template and fill it in

Select Download template to get workers-import.xlsx. Unlike the participants import, which spans several sheets, this is a single sheet, Workers. See The Workers sheet below for the full field list, including the SCHADS pay columns.

Required columns carry a trailing * in the header.
Enum columns (like State or Worker category) are real Excel dropdowns.
Hover over a column header for notes on its format and rules, for example “7 or more digits” on NDIS Worker Screening ID.
Two grey, italicised EXAMPLE rows sit under the header, already filled in as a worked example. Leave them, delete them, or type over them: the import skips any row whose first cell starts with “EXAMPLE”, so an untouched template can never import sample data by accident.
Columns are matched by their header text, not by position, so you can delete columns you don’t need, as long as every required header is still there and reads the same.

Upload your file

Back in the dialog, select Browse and choose your filled-in file. Uploading starts checking it immediately: while it runs, the file control is disabled. When it finishes, you land on either an issues list or a ready summary.

If the file is over 5 MB, you’ll see “That file is over the 5 MB import limit.” and the file is cleared. If it can’t be read as a workbook (wrong format, corrupted, or not really .xlsx/.csv), you’ll see “Could not read that file. Save it as .xlsx or .csv and try again.”

Fix issues, or import

Issues found: you’ll see “1 issue must be fixed before importing.” or “N issues must be fixed before importing.”, with a scrollable list, each line starting with Row N (or File for a file-level problem) and the message. Select Download issue report for a CSV with a Sheet, Row, Column and Problem column for every issue. Fix your file and select Browse again to re-run the checks; there is no partial re-check.
Ready to import: you’ll see “Ready to import.” with the row count, “Workers: N rows”, plus a reminder that the import is all-or-nothing: if anything fails, no rows are saved.

Select Import. It stays disabled until every issue is cleared and there is at least one row.

See the result

Once the import runs, the dialog shows “Import complete.” with “Workers: N created”. The Workers register refreshes in the background as soon as this happens, so the new workers are already there when you close the dialog, each showing Account: No login until you create one for them. Select Close to finish.

If the import itself fails (for example a database problem after the checks already passed), nothing is saved and you’ll see an error toast, “The import failed. Nothing was saved.” Fix it and upload again.

The Workers sheet

Personal, contact and address

Column	Required	Notes
First name	Yes
Middle name	No
Last name	Yes
Email	Yes	Also becomes the worker’s login email if you create a login later. Must be unique within the file, and not already used by another worker for your provider
Phone	Yes	Australian format, e.g. 04XX XXX XXX or 0X XXXX XXXX
ABN	No	11 digits
NDIS Worker Screening ID	Yes	7 or more digits. Must be unique within the file, and not already used by another worker for your provider
WWCC number	No	State WWCC or equivalent, e.g. NSW WWC1234567E, QLD 12345/1, VIC 1234567A
Default travel vehicle	No	Standard vehicle, or Modified vehicle or bus. Used for travel planning and the per-km vehicle allowance
Address line	Yes
Suburb	No
State	Yes	NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, NT or ACT. The worker’s residential state
Postcode	Yes	A valid Australian postcode, e.g. 2000

SCHADS pay classification

Watch out

SCHADS stream, Employment type, Classification level, Pay point, Work state and Worker category are all-or-none: fill in all six together, or leave all six blank and classify the worker later on their Payroll tab.

Column	Notes
SCHADS stream	Social and Community Services (SACS), Home Care: Disability, or Home Care: Aged Care. Sets which pay table applies
Employment type	Full-time, Part-time or Casual. Drives minimum engagement, weekly overtime and the casual loading
Classification level	1 to 8. SCHADS Schedule B classification by the duties actually performed
Pay point	1 to 4, within the classification level
Work state	The state whose public holidays apply to this worker’s pay. Can differ from their residential State above
Worker category	Day worker (work outside 6am-8pm is overtime, cl. 28.2) or Shift worker (the afternoon/night shift loading applies to the whole shift instead, cl. 29.3)

Pay and travel

Column	Required	Notes
Agreed weekly hours	Sometimes	Required when Employment type is Part-time. Maximum 38
Agreed hourly rate	No	Leave blank to pay the SCHADS award rate (it follows the annual sync)
Travel pay	No	Y when the worker is paid for provider travel time. Payroll counts travel minutes, and scheduling plans travel legs, only when this is Y

Watch out

On a fully SCHADS-classified row, an Agreed hourly rate below the SCHADS award minimum for that exact classification is rejected: “Pay rate too low: $[rate]/h is below the SCHADS minimum of $[award rate]/h.” This is the same rule the Payroll tab’s Agreed hourly rate enforces on Save.

Reading the issue list

Most issues name the field and the rule, for example “First name is required.”, “State must be one of: NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, NT, ACT.”, “Agreed weekly hours must be at most 38.” or “Agreed weekly hours is required for part-time workers.” Format checks (email, phone, ABN, NDIS Worker Screening ID, WWCC, postcode) show the same message you’d see filling in the field by hand, for example “Enter a valid email address.” or “Enter a valid Australian postcode.”

A few issues are file-level rather than row-level, and show against File instead of a row number:

“The “Workers” sheet is missing.” if the workbook has no sheet by that name.
“The “Workers” sheet is missing the ”…” column.” if a required column’s header was renamed or deleted.
“The “Workers” sheet has more than 500 data rows (limit 500 per import).”
“Unsupported file type. Upload a .xlsx or .csv file.” if the extension isn’t .xlsx or .csv.

Watch out

Every issue in the file must clear before Import turns on. The import is all-or-nothing, so a single bad row blocks the whole file rather than being skipped or imported partially.

Tip

Only need a handful of workers? Invite them one at a time instead; Import is for bringing in a batch.