How Do You Assign Employee Numbers in a New Company Setup? Seeking Advice!

Hi All,

I need to know how we assign employee numbers or employee codes to the employees of the company. I have just joined a new setup and need to give each employee an employee code. Please help.

Regards, Supriya

You may choose any number of your choice, whether 4 digits or six digits. For example, you can start from 100001. Employee numbers are assigned based on their date of joining. Prepare an employee list based on the date of joining. The person who joined first should be given the first number. If two people joined on the same date, then you may consider their date of birth for assigning the number.

Dear Supriya,

Employee ID can be given based on the date of joining (DOJ). Differentiation can be done based on location. For example, CHN, BLR can be added. However, if there are going to be frequent transfers, it is better not to differentiate based on location. You can start with a four-digit number, say 1001.

Employee Number (EMP No) will always be a unique number given to an employee. Even after they resign or retire, the EMP No should not be allocated to another person. The EMP No can be used as a reference to access old records, and allotting the same number to more than one person creates unnecessary confusion.

Regards,
Veena

Dear Supriya,

Employee numbers are given based on DOJ; actually, it's a primary key (unique number) if you have a HRIS (each employee has a unique EMPID), it is automatically generated. In your case, you can keep a record book where numbers can be entered incrementally so that it won't create any problems. Also, keep in mind that no employee should be given a retired EMPID because it may create problems when some employees are involved in a case or if the company has any labor issues.

If you know MS Access, MS SQL Server, or Oracle, design a database either opting for the auto option so that the next record number (EMPID) will be created automatically. Choose either Numeric or Varchar as the property of the field. If you choose a numeric value, EMPID can only be numeric data like 1241 or 4120. If you choose varchar as the data field, then you could use names like 142BGLR, 142CHN, etc.

Think about your company's future growth and choose a 4-digit or 5-digit format.

Thank you.