When you try to add an employee manually in Sage HR, you may get the following error:
'Email already taken, if you think this has happened by mistake please contact support.'
This 'email already taken' error occurs if the employee has used this email address for another company before that uses Sage HR.
Below are your options for what to do if you get this error.
📎NOTE: (UK Only) - 'Email already taken' is not the same error as 'This email address is already in use'. That is a different error that comes up when uploading a payslip from Sage 50 Payroll. To resolve that error follow the steps in our Sage 50 Payroll guide.
Upload a payslip (Sage 50 Payroll integration only)
Upload a payslip (Sage 50 Payroll integration only)
📎NOTE: This is only possible if your Sage HR company is integrated with Sage 50 Payroll (UK only). If it's not, you must use one of the other resolutions below.
You can resolve this error by adding the employee by uploading a payslip instead of adding them manually.
This bypasses the 'Email already taken' error, and creates a Sage HR profile for them.
📌TIP: If the employee doesn't have a payslip yet to upload, you have two options:
Wait until they do have a payslip
Upload a 'dummy payslip'
EXAMPLE: You upload a payslip with a value of 1p to import your employee from Sage 50 Payroll into Sage HR Online Services. Your employee is added to Sage HR Online Services. You then delete the 'dummy' payslip.
Request a company link
Request a company link
If the email address is taken by one of your sister companies that also uses Sage HR, you can request a company link. This links your companies together and allows you to use the same email address for employees in both companies.
How do I request a company link?
An admin user for both companies must contact Sage HR support, pass security questions, and request the company link. Once linked, you won't get the 'Email already taken' message unless the email is used by a different company. For example, an employee's ex-employer.
📎NOTE: If the email address is used for another company not associated with your own, then a company link won't resolve this error message for you, and you must use the resolutions below.
Employee provides a different email address
Employee provides a different email address
If your employee has another email address, you can add the employee using that email.
Employee contacts their previous employer
Employee contacts their previous employer
Your employee can contact their previous employer and ask them to delete their previous profile. After they're deleted, you can then use this email address to add them.