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Syncing your HR system lets you automate onboardings and offboardings, build IT policies based on HR data (teams, roles, entities), and keep your employee directory accurate without manual work. If you don’t use an HR system, import employees via CSV.

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Connect your HR system

You can connect one or several HR system sources to the same account — useful if your organization uses different HR tools by country or legal entity.
1

Go to Settings > HR System

2

Click Connect an HRIS

The catalogue of supported HR systems opens. Use Search to find yours.
3

Select your HR system provider

Click its tile to connect it now. If someone else manages your HR system, click the copy icon on the tile instead to copy a setup link and send it to them. They don’t need a Primo account, and the link stays valid for one year.
4

Select which data to sync

Primo needs a few core fields to function: first name, last name, professional email, start and end dates, team, and manager.You can turn off synchronization for the following fields if you prefer not to share personal data:
5

Apply filters

You can restrict which employees are synchronized:
  • Selected legal entities
  • Specific contract or employment types
  • Selected teams
Filters help ensure only relevant employees are managed. You can change them later with Edit filters.
6

Follow the authentication steps

Once you finish, the connection appears under Connections with the First sync in progress status, then Connected when the first synchronization is done.
Once connected, employees sync with their associated metadata (contract dates, teams, roles).

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Manage a connection

Each connection under Connections shows its last sync, its number of employees, and its status. Open its … menu to:
  • Sync now, or Retry sync after a Sync failed status.
  • Edit filters to change which employees are synchronized.
  • Rename the connection.
  • Disconnect the HR system. Primo stops reading people from it, and the employees, onboardings, and offboardings already created stay.
When a connection needs attention, its status says why: If someone else manages your HR system, click Copy the reconnection link in the connection’s … menu instead of Reconnect. Send them the link: they don’t need a Primo account to reconnect. After a reconnection, the status updates after the next sync. To import people from a CSV file instead, click Import from CSV. See Import employees.

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Connection guides

Primo uses Kombo to connect to HR systems. If you’re looking for a step-by-step connection guide for your specific provider, Kombo maintains detailed guides for every supported integration at help.kombo.dev.
Direct links to the most commonly used providers:

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Lucca

To sync upcoming onboardings and offboardings from Lucca, enable these permissions on the Lucca API key:
1

Log in to your Lucca administrator account

2

Go to Settings > API Keys

3

Edit the permissions associated with the API key

Screenshot: Lucca API key permissions
4

Enable View future employees and View departed employees

Screenshot: Lucca required permissions
Without these permissions, Primo doesn’t receive onboarding and offboarding data from Lucca.

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Synchronization frequency and modes

Once you connect your HR system, Primo synchronizes its data every hour. You don’t need to do anything. To choose how each field syncs, go to Settings > HR System and click Per-field sync settings under Settings. The section appears once a connection has started its first sync. For each field and each connected HR system, choose:
  • Import once: the field is set on first sync and can then be managed manually.
  • Sync continuously: the field stays in sync with the HR system and cannot be edited manually.
A field can be kept in sync from several HR systems. Examples:
  • Contract start and end dates → sync continuously
  • Job title → import once, then maintain manually
For automated offboarding to work correctly, the Offboarding date field must be set to Sync continuously.
On the first synchronization, every synced field overwrites the existing employee data, whatever its mode. After that, only fields set to Sync continuously are overwritten by HR system updates.

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Handle past start and leave dates

Your HR system can add someone after their start date has passed, or report a departure after the leave date has passed. Two settings under Settings > HR System > Settings decide what Primo does with them. They apply to every connection. The window counts back from the day of the sync:
  • Onboardings for past start dates: Primo creates an onboarding when the start date falls inside the window. Earlier hires are created as active employees, without an onboarding. Changing this setting opens a confirmation; click Save and sync to save it and start a synchronization with your HR system. Onboardings that have not started and have no ticket are removed if they now fall outside the window. Onboardings already started or with a ticket stay as they are.
  • Offboardings for past leave dates: Primo creates an offboarding when the leave date falls inside the window. With Never, Primo only offboards employees whose leave date hasn’t passed yet. The setting saves as soon as you pick an option.

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Handle external employees

Some HR systems include individuals outside your core workforce (contractors, consultants). To exclude them from your employee directory:
1

Hide the employee

Open the employee profile and click Hide.
2

Ignore the onboarding

If they appear in the Onboardings list, you can also Ignore the onboarding. This hides the employee without fully deleting the record.
Hidden employees are excluded from employee management workflows.

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Understand which data is retrieved

Before you connect an HR system, you see the list of data Primo accesses through Kombo. Review it before you authorize the connection. Typical data retrieved includes:

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Complete list of data retrieved from the HR system

Legal Entities
  • Name
  • Address
Work Locations
  • Name
  • Address
Employees
  • Employee number
  • First name
  • Last name
  • Job title
  • Work email
  • Personal email (optional)
  • Mobile phone number (optional)
  • Employment status
  • Work location ID
  • Legal entity ID
  • Manager ID
  • Home address (optional)
  • Start date
Employments
  • Employee ID
  • Employment type
  • Effective date
Groups
  • Name
  • Type
If a data field is not listed above, it is not retrieved. Kombo does not access banking details, salary information, or leave balances.

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GDPR and data processing

For details regarding Kombo’s GDPR compliance and data processing practices, refer to Kombo’s Trust Center.

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Troubleshoot HR sync

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Investigate missing onboardings and offboardings from Lucca

The Lucca API key is probably missing the View future employees or View departed employees permission. See Lucca.

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Investigate a missing onboarding employee

1

Check the start date

Verify the employee exists in your HR system with a start date set.
2

Search the employee lists

Check both active employees (including hidden) and the Onboardings list. Remove all filters.
3

Review what Kombo retrieved

Go to Settings > HR System, open the … menu of your connection, and click Edit filters. Use the filter preview to see which employees are included.
  • Included — the employee is in the sync. Search by last name in active employees, onboardings, and offboardings.
  • Excluded — Kombo shows the reason (often a filter). Update filters to include the employee.

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Investigate a missing offboarding employee

If an employee doesn’t appear in the Offboardings view:
1

Open the HR System settings

Go to Settings > HR System.
2

Review the end date field

In Per-field sync settings, check the mode of the Offboarding date field. See Synchronization frequency and modes.
3

Check the past leave dates setting

If the leave date had already passed when the employee synced, check the Offboardings for past leave dates setting. See Handle past start and leave dates.