Migrate from Folks HR to BambooHR

Folks HR employee profiles (contact info, job title, department, start date, employment status, salary history, dependents) map to BambooHR Employee records. The mapping uses email as the primary dedupe key. Job title maps to BambooHR's jobTitle field; department resolves via the Departments lookup. Employment status (active, inactive, terminated) maps to BambooHR's hireDate, terminationDate, and employmentHistoryStatus fields. Salary history is sensitive data; we transfer only the most recent compensation figure unless the customer explicitly requests full history and confirms compliance with their data retention policy.

Folks HR leave requests (type, start date, end date, status, approver, notes) map to BambooHR Time Off Requests. The leave type from Folks HR (vacation, sick, personal, etc.) maps to the corresponding BambooHR time-off type configured in the destination. Approved, pending, and denied statuses transfer directly. We link each request to the employee record via email-based lookup resolution.

Folks HR does not expose accrual transaction history via API—only the current balance snapshot per employee per leave type. We export those snapshots and write them as initial balance values in BambooHR's time-off module. Because BambooHR has its own accrual engine, we set the initial balance and enable the accrual rule going forward rather than trying to replicate server-side accrual logic. We document this gap in the migration checklist so HR admins can validate year-end carry-forwards against source records before BambooHR's engine takes over.

Folks HR time entries (date, hours, cost code, employee) map to BambooHR time tracking entries. Cost code assignments from Folks HR become cost code custom fields in BambooHR. Historical timesheet records transfer with full date, hours, and cost-code fidelity. We batch time entry imports to stay within the Folks HR 60 requests per minute limit using exponential backoff across multi-session exports.

Folks HR performance review cycles, review forms, ratings, and reviewer comments map to BambooHR Performance Reviews. The reviewer assignment (manager, peer, direct report for 360-degree reviews) migrates to BambooHR's review participant model. Review status (draft, in-progress, completed) transfers directly. We preserve the review cycle name and review period dates as metadata on the BambooHR review record.

Folks HR candidates (application status, resume, interview scores, hiring stage) map to BambooHR Job Applicants if BambooHR ATS is in scope. If the customer does not license BambooHR ATS, candidates migrate as Employee records with a custom candidate_status field preserving the last pipeline stage. Resume files are retrieved individually from Folks HR (no bulk download endpoint) and uploaded to BambooHR as Employee Files. We sequence candidate migration after employee records to resolve the hire/no-hire outcome against existing employee IDs.

Folks HR employee documents (contracts, tax forms, certifications) and recruitment attachments (offer letters, signed agreements) migrate as BambooHR Employee Files. Each file must be retrieved individually from Folks HR via its file ID—no bulk download endpoint exists. For large archives (hundreds of files), we implement a sequential retrieval loop with backoff and surface file count to the customer during scoping so they can prioritize high-value documents (most recent contracts, active certifications) first. We preserve the original filename and MIME type.

Folks HR departments (name, code, manager assignment) map directly to BambooHR Departments. The manager assignment resolves by matching the manager's email against the employee lookup we build during the employee migration phase. Department codes transfer as a custom field if BambooHR's native department model does not include a code field.

Folks HR custom fields on employee profiles map to BambooHR custom fields created via the BambooHR Custom Field Builder. Field type mapping requires review: Folks HR dropdown options become BambooHR dropdown lists, date fields map to date fields, and text fields map to text fields. We pre-create all destination custom fields before the employee import phase so the import does not fail on unknown field errors. Any Folks HR custom field without a clear BambooHR equivalent becomes a text field with the original value preserved.

Folks HR user accounts with role-based permissions (admin, manager, employee) map to BambooHR user accounts with corresponding access levels. The email address is the primary lookup. We preserve the role assignment as a custom field during import and configure BambooHR's permission set structure post-migration. Note that role naming conventions differ between platforms; an admin in Folks HR maps to an employee with full BambooHR admin access, not a specific role name match.

Folks HR expense reports with line items, amounts, and approval status export via the API. Receipts must be downloaded individually (no bulk download). BambooHR does not have a native expense report module in its core product; expense data migrates as a CSV attachment to the employee record or as a separate spreadsheet handoff depending on whether the customer uses a third-party expense tool post-migration. We flag this gap clearly and recommend a dedicated expense management integration if the customer's finance team requires receipt-level expense tracking.