Managing Demographic Data in Surface

How do I update my HRIS data?

You can sync your HRIS to Surface through the Company Context Library and determine a cadence for data to update automatically.

Click “Company Context Library” on the left-hand toolbar, and click “Sync.” From here you can also configure the frequency of data pulls.

If you cannot sync your HRIS, you can upload new data at any point via .csv upload. You can do this by clicking “Manual HRIS Data Upload” in the top right corner of the Company Context Library.

All of your previous columns and data field selections will be saved.

The data fields and variables in Surface don’t match my data. What do I do?

We’ve pre-selected a range of data fields and variables to allow organizations to benchmark their data. Do your best to match your fields and variables to those listed in Surface (we provide examples to help with this). If some of your data fields do not match the Surface options, you can select, “Not applicable/Do not import.”

Can I customize my data fields or variables, or add my own?

At this point, we do not allow customization of data fields or variables. If your data does not match the Surface options, you can select “Other” or “Not applicable/Do not import.”

I plan to upload new data every month - do I have to retake the Talent Practices Inventory, too?

You do not have to redo the Talent Practices Inventory every time you upload new HR data. While each organization is different, most choose to update their inventory with a full reassessment 1-2 times a year, while data tends to be updated more frequently (anywhere from weekly to quarterly). In between full inventory updates, you can track your progress using the “Completed Actions” function.

What if I don’t have an HRIS system - can we still upload data?

Yes! If you have a spreadsheet that lists all employees in your organization along with variables like job level, function, gender, etc., you can upload your data to Surface via .csv upload. Just remember to remove any personally identifying information (e.g., names, employee IDs).

Why do I need to include active and terminated employees?

Including both current and terminated employees allows us to analyze attrition patterns.

What happens if we have a lot of missing demographic data?

Missing data will either be omitted from the denominator or captured as “Undisclosed.”

I’m getting an error when I upload HR data via .csv. What’s going on?

Please double check to make sure:

• You’ve uploaded the file as a .csv (Excel or Numbers files, for example, won’t work)
• The date format is accurate (e.g., mm-dd-yyyy)
• There are no empty columns in the data