HR software vs spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are where almost everyone starts - and for a while, that's fine. Here's an honest look at when they stop being enough, and what changes when you move to a real system.
A spreadsheet is a fine way to track a handful of people; it's a risky way to run HR for a growing company. The moment more than one person needs the data, sensitive information needs protecting, or leave needs calculating and approving, spreadsheets start costing more time and risk than they save. Most teams outgrow them somewhere between ten and thirty people.
Where spreadsheets still make sense
Let's be fair to the humble spreadsheet. For the right job it's brilliant - free, familiar and instant:
- A very small team. Five people, one shared holiday tab - a spreadsheet does the job.
- One-off analysis. Modelling a headcount plan or crunching a quick number is exactly what a spreadsheet is for.
- No sensitive data at rest. If it isn't holding personal, sickness or salary information that others could see, the risk is low.
If that's you, don't let anyone rush you. The question isn't "are spreadsheets bad?" - it's "have we outgrown them?"
Where spreadsheets break
As a company grows, the same cracks appear - and they're the expensive kind, because they involve people's data and their trust:
- No single source of truth. The "real" version lives in someone's inbox, three tabs disagree, and a broken formula goes unnoticed until payroll.
- Weak privacy and access control. A file with everyone's salary or sickness record is one careless share away from the whole company. There's no per-field permission, and no way to keep HR-only data HR-only.
- No audit trail. You can't see who viewed or changed what. For sensitive records, "we're not sure who's seen it" is a real problem.
- Manual leave maths. Working days, part-time pro-rata, carry-over and bank holidays all get calculated by hand - and get argued about.
- Nothing chases anyone. No approval flow, no reminders, no return-to-work prompts. It all relies on someone remembering.
- GDPR gets hard. Subject access requests, retention limits and secure handling are difficult when personal data is scattered across files with no deletion process.
- The human stuff vanishes. Recognition, honest feedback and real 1:1s never live in a spreadsheet at all.
Spreadsheets vs HR software at a glance
| Spreadsheets | HR software (CoDash) | |
|---|---|---|
| Single source of truth | Versions drift across tabs and inboxes | One record everyone works from |
| Access control for sensitive data | All-or-nothing file sharing | Role-based; HR-only data stays HR-only |
| Audit trail | None | Who viewed or changed what, logged |
| Leave calculations & UK bank holidays | Manual, error-prone | Automatic, with approvals |
| Reminders & workflows | Rely on memory | Approvals, nudges, return-to-work built in |
| GDPR tooling (SARs, retention) | Manual and risky | Subject-access exports, retention, anonymise-on-exit |
| Self-service for employees | None | Book leave, update details, see the team |
| Recognition, feedback & 1:1s | Don't exist | Community, kudos, surveys and performance |
| Cost | Free, but pays in time and risk | From £99/month incl. 10 people |
Signs you've outgrown the spreadsheet
- You've lost track of who's off next week, or double-booked cover.
- Someone's salary or sickness data has been seen by a person who shouldn't have seen it.
- You dread being asked for a leave balance because you have to work it out by hand.
- A new starter's setup depends on one person remembering a mental checklist.
- You couldn't confidently answer a GDPR subject access request in a week.
If two or three of those ring true, the spreadsheet is already costing you more than software would.
Moving off spreadsheets, without the project
The usual fear is a six-month implementation. It doesn't have to be. CoDash imports people and teams straight from your existing spreadsheet with a CSV importer - per-row error checking, optional invitation emails - so most companies are live in a day, no consultants required. From there you get time off that calculates itself, privacy and GDPR tooling built in, and the human parts - recognition and honest feedback - that a spreadsheet could never hold. And the pricing is public, so there's no surprise at the end.
Frequently asked questions
Is it OK to run HR on spreadsheets?
For a very small team, yes - a shared sheet can track a few people and their holiday. The problems grow with you: no single source of truth, weak access control over sensitive data, manual leave maths, no audit trail and rising GDPR risk. Most companies outgrow spreadsheets between roughly ten and thirty people.
What are the risks of using spreadsheets for HR data?
Personal data in spreadsheets is hard to secure and easy to over-share. There's usually no access control, no record of who saw or changed what, and no retention or deletion process - which makes GDPR duties like subject access requests difficult. Versions drift, formulas break silently, and sensitive data can reach the wrong people.
How hard is it to move from spreadsheets to HR software?
With CoDash it's usually a day, not a project. A CSV importer creates people and teams in bulk from your existing spreadsheet, with per-row error checking and optional invitation emails - no consultants, no long implementation.
Prices and features move. Everything here was checked on the date shown against each vendor's own published pricing, and we link to it so you can confirm rather than take our word for it. If we have a detail wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
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