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HRIS Integration: Absences

Workforce

The integration of deskbird with your HRIS (Human Resource Information System) automates absence tracking and improves data accuracy. It helps reduce duplicated effort and ensures your workplace schedule reflects real-time availability.

💡 We are partnering with Merge to deliver and support these integrations.

  1. Why sync absences
  2. Supported HRIS
  3. How synced absences work
  4. Set up the integration
  5. SFTP setup (on request)
  6. User experience

1. Why sync absences

Without the integration, users who use both deskbird and their HRIS tool track their absence periods in both platforms, resulting in duplicated efforts and potential data inconsistencies. Our HRIS Integration solves this by automatically transferring absence periods (e.g., sick days and holidays) from the HRIS to the Plan page in deskbird as the "Absent" status.

This automation saves time and ensures accurate data for workforce and office analytics.

HRIS Integration Graphic

2. Supported HRIS

No developer input is required. deskbird supports seamless integration with the following HRIS tools: UKG, ADP, Factorial, BambooHR, Personio, SAP SuccessFactors, PeopleHR, HiBob, HRWorks, BreatheHR, Charlie, Lucca, Workday, and Sage HR.

3. How synced absences work

💡 Approved absence periods (e.g., sick days, holidays, or any absence defined in your HRIS) are automatically synced into the Plan page in deskbird.

If a user is marked “Absent,” all existing bookings on that day will be automatically canceled, except meeting room bookings.

Half-day absences: Personio, HiBob, Factorial and HRWorks sync half-day absences as half days. They appear in the schedule as First Half (morning) or Second Half (afternoon) with the default "Absent" status. In HRWorks, for example, a multi-day absence can start in the afternoon of the first day and end in the morning of the last day, with full days in between.

  • Half-day absences are only synced as half days when half day scheduling is enabled for your company (see Workforce settings). If it is turned off, they are synced as a full-day "Absent" status.
  • Other HRIS tools sync half-day absences as a full-day "Absent" status. If your HRIS sends a single-day absence of less than 8 hours, deskbird compares its start and end times with the office mid-time and shows it as a first-half or second-half absence.

💡 Users cannot manually edit their synced absence status. To cancel an absence, they must update it in the HRIS, which will then be reflected in deskbird.

For more details on which absences are synced and when, see the HRIS Integration FAQ.

4. Set up the integration

Before you start: You need the Global administrator role, Workforce and API credentials generated in your HRIS.

  1. Go to Admin > Integrations.
  2. Select your HRIS tool and enter the API credentials (these are generated in your HRIS). Follow the on-screen steps.
  3. Make sure Absences (Automatically mark users as absent based on HRIS data) is turned on.
  4. The system will begin syncing all future absences and approved absences from the past 3 months.
  5. You can continue working while the sync happens in the background.
  6. For more info, see our FAQ.

💡 Tip: To change what is synced later, go to Admin > Integrations, select Manage on your HRIS and update the settings.

HRIS Setup Dialog Integration Panel

5. SFTP setup (on request)

In special cases where no direct HRIS integration is supported (via Merge), deskbird offers a secure absence sync option via SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol). This method is only available upon request and must be enabled by our team. If your HR system isn't listed under our native integrations, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager to explore this option.

💡 If required, we can offer technical assistance for this setup via our trusted third-party integrations partner.

⚠️ This method is used exclusively for syncing absences – it does not support Users & Groups provisioning.

Available SFTP upload methods

There are two ways to transfer your CSV files to deskbird via SFTP. While the automated approach is preferred for long-term use, a manual upload can be helpful for initial testing or smaller teams.

  1. Scheduled SFTP Push (recommended)
    Most companies automate this process using a scheduled job that regularly pushes the CSV to our SFTP server, typically on a daily or weekly basis.
    • deskbird provides:
      • SFTP hostname
      • Username
      • SSH key or password
    • The company generates a CSV from their HRIS or export tool and uploads it to the correct folder on the SFTP server.
    • ⚠️ The uploaded file must follow the exact CSV format defined below.
  2. Manual Upload (for testing or small-scale use)
    HR or IT administrators can manually export the CSV file and upload it to the assigned SFTP container using tools such as FileZilla or Cyberduck.
    • This is especially useful during the test phase or when the customer’s size doesn’t justify automation.

CSV format and syncing rules

Absence data is synchronized from a CSV file, which serves as the single source of truth for offdays in a defined timeframe.

💡 You can download an example .csv file below this article.

CSV structure:

"email","start_date","start_on","end_date","end_on" 
"john.doe@deskbird.io","2023-10-04","am","2023-10-06","pm" = 3 days absence
"jane.doe@deskbird.io","2023-10-06","am","2023-10-06","am" = 0.5 day absence (morning)
"john.doe@deskbird.io","2023-10-06","pm","2023-10-06","pm" = 0.5 day absence (evening)
"jane.doe@deskbird.io","2023-10-09","pm","2023-10-10","pm" = 1.5 days absence
  • Date window: Only absences between D–6 weeks and D+12 weeks (where D = file creation date) will be processed.
  • Source of truth: The file must include the full and final list of absences for all users in the relevant timeframe.
  • Creation: Absences listed in the CSV but not yet in deskbird will be added.
  • Deletion: Absences already in deskbird but missing from the file will be removed.
    If the most recent file no longer includes a past absence, it will also be removed from deskbird.
  • No partial updates: Any missing entries will be treated as deletions.
  • Half days: SFTP supports half-day absences. am is shown as a morning absence (First Half) and pm as an afternoon absence (Second Half). For half-day absences from a direct HRIS integration, see How synced absences work.
  • Modify manually: Absences from SFTP cannot be modified by users (or admins) manually.

Find an example .csv file for the SFTP setup below this article.

6. User experience

  • Users will see their synced status in the Personal feed and Colleagues view on both web and mobile.
  • Email notifications are triggered when an absence status is updated via HRIS.
  • Users will also be notified if a synced absence results in a canceled booking.
  • Group managers, managers, office administrators and global administrators can view absence statuses of their team members to help coordinate attendance and workspace needs.
  • The HRIS sync runs once a day (during night hours). For Personio, it runs every hour.

⚠️ Note: When absences are pulled via the integration setup, users can manually resync absences if they are displayed incorrectly. To do this, users select their initials or profile picture at the bottom left, then Profile settings, and click Resync HRIS absences under Privacy & security on the Account tab.

This option is not available when using SFTP.

Need more help? Contact us here.

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