Your HR spreadsheet is doing a database's job badly.
The problem is not that spreadsheets are primitive. It is that a shared grid cannot be the record, workflow, permission model and employee portal at the same time.
What goes wrong with HR spreadsheets?
HR spreadsheets fail when several people need different views, calculations depend on working patterns, private fields need tight access, or employees must update and act on their own information.
Version history helps with edits, but it does not create role-aware self-service, approval workflow, document controls or an explainable HR record.
What matters
One grid, too many audiences
The person approving leave should not automatically receive pay, health or identity information.
Formulas hide assumptions
A leave balance can be arithmetically correct and still wrong because the working pattern or effective date changed.
Attachments escape
Contracts and evidence drift into email, drives and local folders, separate from the row that supposedly represents the person.
When is a spreadsheet still fine?
For a tiny, non-sensitive planning list with one owner and no self-service, a spreadsheet may be perfectly sensible. The line is crossed when it becomes the only authoritative copy of employee data or a workflow several people depend on.
How do you move without over-engineering?
Choose a simple system, clean the data before import and keep the first process narrow: employee record, working pattern, leave, sickness and documents. Do not recreate every historic column on day one.
- Freeze one canonical source
- Import a varied test group
- Verify calculations and private access
- Invite the team
- Retire the parallel live spreadsheet
Questions people ask
At what headcount should we stop using a spreadsheet?
There is no universal number. Move when permissions, self-service, calculation history or version control become operational risks; that often happens between 5 and 20 people.
Is HR software safer automatically?
No. Safety depends on architecture, access controls, operations and vendor behaviour. Ask how the product scopes organisations, protects sensitive fields, handles backups and lets you export.
Can HollyHR import our spreadsheet?
Yes. HollyHR supports CSV import for core people data, with early-access help available for mapping and reconciliation.
Proper HR, without the big-system palaver.
HollyHR is free for up to 10 active people. We're onboarding early-access teams one at a time.
Keep reading: Move off spreadsheets · People records · Security