Worker database in Excel: why isn’t it as useful as you think?

15 of April, 2025

The employee database in Excel is a tool that many companies currently use. There are multiple human resources departments that use this software to generate their databases, guided by tradition and custom.

However, we must mention that, currently, databases in Excel do not have the same efficiency level as a human resources management system. The truth is, digital transformation continues to advance, and with it comes the invention of better software, with many other functions or with greater simplicity in its applications.

What is a employee database in Excel?

A template of an employee database in Excel is, basically, a file that allows the registration of all the personal data and of high importance of the workers, which also ends up benefiting control of incorporations.

Once everything is properly registered in an Excel database, any information stored there can be easily located when the need to look for specific data arises.

The Excel employee database, in general terms, should have the following data:

• Employee number.
• Entry date to the company.
• Name and surname.
• Date of birth.
• Address.
• Email and phone.
• Contact person: name, relationship with the worker and phone.

Why is Excel not so useful as a database?

As we mentioned, so far we have shown you the good side of Excel, but now we must say why this program is not so efficient to be used as a database…

• Abstraction: Creating an Excel sheet is easy; you just write according to your needs and configure a tool that is useful for what you need. But the entities that make up your model and the existing relations between them are not properly analyzed. With an Excel sheet, you omit the analysis of the entities that make up the data model, its properties, and its relationship.
• Enclosure: Basically, Excel is a table. Nothing prevents a user from mistakenly writing in the wrong cell or data crossing when moving or copying information. This could mess up all your work and cause the information to be confused.
• Effectiveness: Excel’s speed does not come anywhere near the efficiency you can obtain through software like Sesame. For example, operations such as searching among several thousand rows (which are limited in Excel), can be easily executed in software like the one already mentioned.
• Poor data management: Excel sheets can be very large and capable of storing huge amounts of data. But they do not compare with what can be stored in a database. Excel can store many data, but it does not manage them in the right way. Searches are often slow and it is also easy to make a mistake and get wrong results.
• Workflow: An Excel sheet is not capable of performing any action, it is passive. It doesn’t inform you of anything and you can only enter, consult and fill in data. Normally a modern software, develop different actions. For example, warning notifications when a problem arises.

The best employee database in Excel

What we mentioned above is just one of the many guidelines for why Excel is not so useful as a database. Unlike what many people think, the human resources software that can currently be obtained on the market is a very convenient alternative to leave behind the problems with these calculation sheets.

In this case, Sesame will be able to help you forget all your problems that you may have with the employee database in Excel. You will also be up to date with technology and you will be able to optimize multiple processes in your hr department. You will save a lot of time!

Human resources management software

Up to now, we have only highlighted the most seen side of the database in Excel. But, as we already mentioned earlier, there are also programs that work much better than this software to create a database and store information in it.

At this point, we must talk about the hr software of Sesame, a totally digital program that has the advantage of having a very visual and highly intuitive design. Through this work tool, you will be able to create the employee database of your company and register all the relevant information in it.

The best of all, is that you will have various options for the maintenance of this database. You will be able to keep it always updated and have at your fingertips at all times the most relevant information of each employee. In short, Sesame will be able to meet each of your expectations and optimize the processes of the functions that your hr department performs.

Iris Serrador

People Partner | LinkedIn | | Web | +post

Customer-oriented, both internally and externally, specializing in the definition and implementation of HR policies, as well as talent management, recruitment, and retention. Strong leadership, communication, negotiation, organization, and team coordination skills. Over 12 years of experience in Human Resources.

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