Questions
The things worth knowing before you open an employee file here.
Is it really free?
Yes. There’s no account, no email sign-up, no trial, no ads and nothing to buy. Every tool works fully the first time you open it.
Is it safe to open real employee data here?
Your file never leaves your computer. Every tool reads it inside your browser, and nothing you open is sent anywhere. The site has no accounts, no database and no analytics, and its security settings stop your browser from sending data to any other server. The privacy page shows how to check this yourself in ten seconds, by turning off your Wi-Fi. You should still follow your organization’s own rules about where employee data may be opened.
Which files work?
Excel (.xlsx, .xls, .xlsm, .xlsb), OpenDocument (.ods), and CSV or tab-separated text, including the awkward exports HR systems produce. For a report with title rows, page headers and totals mixed in, the Export Fixer turns it back into a clean table. A password-protected workbook can’t be read: the tool will tell you, and you can save an unprotected copy to use here. Every tool has a sample to try first.
Is this legal, tax or employment advice?
No. The tools calculate, check and compare. They don’t know employment law, tax rules or your policies. Where a rule matters, such as a waiting period or how often training renews, you set it, and the tool applies exactly what you set and shows it in the result. There are deliberately no tools that decide legal questions such as overtime classification, leave eligibility or final pay deadlines. Those belong with the people accountable for them.
Can I share results without exposing employees?
Three tools are built for this. The Employee Data Pseudonymizer replaces names and IDs with consistent aliases and tells you how many people could still be singled out from what’s left. The Survey Comment Redactor removes names and personal details from comments. The Roster Splitter gives each manager a file with only their own people. Removing names alone doesn’t make a file anonymous, which is why the Pseudonymizer shows what’s still identifiable.
Are these tools certified or endorsed by SHRM or HRCI?
No. Nothing here is affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by SHRM, HRCI or any other body, and no outside body has reviewed these tools. Each tool page sets out its method, its assumptions and what it does not do, so you can judge it for yourself.
How do I know the numbers are right?
Every figure shows its work: the inputs, the formula and the assumptions sit beside the answer. Where two figures are both defensible, such as turnover measured two ways, you see both side by side, with the difference explained. Before a tool goes live, its arithmetic is checked against worked examples with known answers, and the date it was last checked is at the foot of its page. The methodology page explains how.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, every page works on a phone. For large files, a computer is more comfortable.
Who runs the site?
HR Utilities is built and run by Curt Zilbersher. There’s more on the About page.
Something looks wrong, or there’s a tool I wish existed.
Email hello@hrutilities.com. Please describe the problem rather than attaching an employee file, because the whole point is that your files stay with you.