What HRIS sync does
HRIS sync brings two kinds of data from your HR system into ReFresh:
People (User Sync): your employees: name, work email, job title, department, manager/reporting line, employment status, location, and working hours.
Org structure (Group Sync): your departments, sites/locations, and teams, mapped into ReFresh's group hierarchy (company → region → location → department → team).
Why this matters in ReFresh: Groups scope everything. Your imported org structure determines who receives which surveys, how psychosocial results break down by team and location, which compliance frameworks apply in each jurisdiction, and how incidents and tasks are routed. Getting your HRIS data in cleanly is the foundation for the rest of the platform.
Direction and safety
Sync is one-way: HRIS → ReFresh. ReFresh reads from your HR system and never writes back to it. Your HRIS stays the source of truth.
Nothing changes without your review. Every sync is preview-first: you see exactly what will be added, updated, or removed before anything is applied.
Manual changes are protected. Anyone you added manually in ReFresh is tagged as such and won't be removed by an automated sync.
Before you start
You need to be an Admin in ReFresh.
You need administrator access (or an API token / marketplace-install permission) in your HR system. Requirements differ per provider; see the provider's own doc.
Supported providers
ReFresh supports HiBob, BambooHR, Deel, and Employment Hero for HRIS sync. Each provider gets its own step-by-step setup guide as it goes live; the first is:
HiBob: imports both your people and your org structure.
Identity providers (Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra) can also act as a user source for basic identity, but they are not full HRIS sources; they don't carry employment data or org structure. If you use both, your HRIS should take priority (see Multiple sources and priority).
Where sync lives
The sync workspace is where you connect providers, preview changes, and apply them.
Where to find it: The sync workspace sits under SSO / the user menu rather than as a main item in the Settings nav. Your connected people and directory sources are managed from the same set of surfaces.
Setup sequence
Do these in order: group structure should exist before users are placed into it.
1. Connect your provider
Open the Integrations page, find your HR system, and connect it. The exact steps (and what you'll authorize) are provider-specific; see the provider's doc, e.g. Connecting and managing HiBob.
2. Import your org structure (Group Sync)
On the Groups tab, run a preview. ReFresh reads your departments, sites, and teams and shows you the group tree it will create. Review it, adjust if needed, then apply.
3. Import your people (User Sync)
On the Users tab, run a preview. ReFresh matches employees to your groups and shows who will be added, updated, or removed. Review and apply.
4. Review the org chart
The Org Chart tab shows the reporting structure built from manager relationships in your HR data. Confirm reporting lines resolved correctly.
Managing an ongoing connection
Multiple sources and priority
You can connect more than one people source (for example, an HRIS plus an identity provider). When two sources disagree on the same field, the source with the higher priority wins.
Give your HRIS the highest priority so employment data is authoritative.
Priority is set per integration in its sync settings.
Managed fields (field locking)
When a provider manages a field, that field is locked in ReFresh and shows it's controlled by the integration, so a sync doesn't get silently overwritten by a manual edit. By default an HRIS manages core fields like first name, last name, job title, and department. You can override which fields a provider manages.
Automatic sync options
Per connection you can enable:
Auto-sync: ReFresh keeps people and groups current on a schedule instead of you clicking "Sync now".
Auto-deactivate: when someone leaves your HR system, they're deactivated in ReFresh automatically.
Privacy and consent
ReFresh limits what personal information it stores from your HR system. By default, only First Name, Last Name, Email, and Job Title are retained. Any additional personal information (e.g. phone, address, date of birth) requires explicit employee consent before it's stored.
Consent gates storage, not use: Not consenting never blocks someone from using ReFresh; it only limits which personal fields are retained.
No HRIS? Use CSV import
If you don't have a supported HR system, you can add people manually or import them in bulk via CSV from Settings → Employees → Import from CSV. See Importing and exporting data.
Troubleshooting
Common issues (users or groups not appearing, fields not updating, someone not deactivating) are covered in Troubleshooting HRIS sync.