diff --git a/src/lib/agent/people-match.test.ts b/src/lib/agent/people-match.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30e93d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/agent/people-match.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
+import { matchPeople, type EmployeeRecord } from "./people-match";
+
+const existing: EmployeeRecord[] = [
+  { id: "e1", name: "Jabulani Nkosi", employee_no: "E-901" },
+  { id: "e2", name: "Sipho Dlamini", employee_no: "E-902" },
+  { id: "e3", name: "André van der Merwe", employee_no: "E-903" },
+  { id: "e4", name: "Nomvula Nkosi-Dlamini", employee_no: "E-904" },
+  { id: "e5", name: "Thabo Zulu" },
+  { id: "e6", name: "Thandi Zulu" },
+];
+
+describe("matchPeople", () => {
+  it("matches on employee number first, even if the name differs", () => {
+    const [result] = matchPeople([{ name: "J. Nkosi", employeeNo: "e-901" }], existing);
+    expect(result.confidence).toBe("exact");
+    expect(result.match?.id).toBe("e1");
+  });
+
+  it("matches on normalised full name (case and spacing)", () => {
+    const [result] = matchPeople([{ name: "  sipho   dlamini  " }], existing);
+    expect(result.confidence).toBe("exact");
+    expect(result.match?.id).toBe("e2");
+  });
+
+  it("matches an accented name regardless of accents typed or not", () => {
+    const [withAccent] = matchPeople([{ name: "André van der Merwe" }], existing);
+    const [withoutAccent] = matchPeople([{ name: "Andre van der Merwe" }], existing);
+    expect(withAccent.match?.id).toBe("e3");
+    expect(withoutAccent.match?.id).toBe("e3");
+    expect(withAccent.confidence).toBe("exact");
+    expect(withoutAccent.confidence).toBe("exact");
+  });
+
+  it("treats a hyphenated double surname the same as a spaced one", () => {
+    const [hyphenated] = matchPeople([{ name: "Nomvula Nkosi Dlamini" }], existing);
+    expect(hyphenated.match?.id).toBe("e4");
+    expect(hyphenated.confidence).toBe("exact");
+  });
+
+  it("falls back to surname + first initial as a likely match", () => {
+    const [result] = matchPeople([{ name: "J Nkosi" }], existing);
+    expect(result.confidence).toBe("likely");
+    expect(result.match?.id).toBe("e1");
+  });
+
+  it("never guesses between two people sharing a surname and initial", () => {
+    const [result] = matchPeople([{ name: "T Zulu" }], existing);
+    expect(result.confidence).toBe("none");
+    expect(result.match).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("reports no match for a genuinely new person", () => {
+    const [result] = matchPeople([{ name: "TEST Someone New" }], existing);
+    expect(result.confidence).toBe("none");
+    expect(result.match).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("never creates a worker who already matches exactly (confidence signal for the caller)", () => {
+    const results = matchPeople(
+      [{ name: "Jabulani Nkosi" }, { name: "TEST New Person" }],
+      existing,
+    );
+    expect(results[0].confidence).toBe("exact");
+    expect(results[1].confidence).toBe("none");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/agent/people-match.ts b/src/lib/agent/people-match.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4928130
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/agent/people-match.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/**
+ * Matches names from any list (a typed list, a spreadsheet column, OCR
+ * off a photo) against existing `employees`, so Ask can tell a genuinely
+ * new worker from one who's just spelled differently on the sheet. Pure.
+ */
+export interface IncomingPerson {
+  name: string;
+  employeeNo?: string;
+  idNumber?: string;
+}
+
+export interface EmployeeRecord {
+  id: string;
+  name: string;
+  employee_no?: string;
+}
+
+export interface MatchedPerson {
+  incoming: IncomingPerson;
+  match: EmployeeRecord | null;
+  confidence: "exact" | "likely" | "none";
+}
+
+/**
+ * Case/accent/spacing-insensitive normalisation. Collapses hyphens to
+ * spaces so "Nkosi-Dlamini" and "Nkosi Dlamini" compare equal — common
+ * across Afrikaans and Zulu double surnames — and strips diacritics
+ * (e.g. "André" -> "andre") so OCR/typing variance doesn't split an
+ * otherwise-identical name into two people.
+ */
+function normalise(name: string): string {
+  return name
+    .normalize("NFD")
+    .replace(/[\u0300-\u036f]/g, "") // combining diacritical marks, post-NFD
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .replace(/[-_]/g, " ")
+    .replace(/\s+/g, " ")
+    .trim();
+}
+
+function normaliseEmployeeNo(value: string): string {
+  return value.trim().toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, "");
+}
+
+/** Last space-separated part of a normalised name — the surname. */
+function surnameOf(normalised: string): string {
+  const parts = normalised.split(" ").filter(Boolean);
+  return parts[parts.length - 1] ?? "";
+}
+
+/** First character of the first part — the first initial. */
+function firstInitialOf(normalised: string): string {
+  const parts = normalised.split(" ").filter(Boolean);
+  return parts[0]?.[0] ?? "";
+}
+
+/**
+ * Matches on employee number first, then normalised full name, then
+ * surname + first initial as "likely". The first exact match wins; a
+ * "likely" match is offered but never auto-applied — the plan's own
+ * recipe asks the user before creating anything from a "likely" row.
+ */
+export function matchPeople(
+  incoming: IncomingPerson[],
+  existing: EmployeeRecord[],
+): MatchedPerson[] {
+  const byEmployeeNo = new Map<string, EmployeeRecord>();
+  const byName = new Map<string, EmployeeRecord>();
+  const bySurnameInitial = new Map<string, EmployeeRecord[]>();
+
+  for (const e of existing) {
+    if (e.employee_no) byEmployeeNo.set(normaliseEmployeeNo(e.employee_no), e);
+    const n = normalise(e.name);
+    byName.set(n, e);
+    const key = `${surnameOf(n)}\u0000${firstInitialOf(n)}`;
+    const list = bySurnameInitial.get(key) ?? [];
+    list.push(e);
+    bySurnameInitial.set(key, list);
+  }
+
+  return incoming.map((person) => {
+    if (person.employeeNo) {
+      const byNo = byEmployeeNo.get(normaliseEmployeeNo(person.employeeNo));
+      if (byNo) return { incoming: person, match: byNo, confidence: "exact" };
+    }
+
+    const normalised = normalise(person.name);
+    const exact = byName.get(normalised);
+    if (exact) return { incoming: person, match: exact, confidence: "exact" };
+
+    const key = `${surnameOf(normalised)}\u0000${firstInitialOf(normalised)}`;
+    const candidates = bySurnameInitial.get(key) ?? [];
+    // Ambiguous (more than one same surname + initial) is safer reported
+    // as no match than guessed — the user is asked, not the coin flip.
+    if (candidates.length === 1 && surnameOf(normalised) && firstInitialOf(normalised)) {
+      return { incoming: person, match: candidates[0], confidence: "likely" };
+    }
+
+    return { incoming: person, match: null, confidence: "none" };
+  });
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/agent/tools-actions.test.ts b/src/lib/agent/tools-actions.test.ts
index 006e8aa..3e660f7 100644
--- a/src/lib/agent/tools-actions.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/agent/tools-actions.test.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@ vi.mock("./gateway", () => ({
   proposeChanges: (...args: unknown[]) => proposeChangesMock(...args),
 }));
 
+const loadEmployeesMock = vi.fn();
+vi.mock("./load", () => ({
+  loadEmployees: (...args: unknown[]) => loadEmployeesMock(...args),
+}));
+
 const parseAttachmentMock = vi.fn();
 const previewForModelMock = vi.fn<(...args: unknown[]) => unknown>((p: unknown) => p);
 vi.mock("./attachments", () => ({
@@ -281,3 +286,62 @@ describe("propose_changes", () => {
     expect(result).toMatchObject({ actionId: "log1", status: "awaiting_confirmation" });
   });
 });
+
+describe("match_workers", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    requireSiteMock.mockReset();
+    loadEmployeesMock.mockReset();
+    requireSiteMock.mockResolvedValue({ ok: true, site: { id: "site1", name: "The Hills" } });
+    loadEmployeesMock.mockResolvedValue([{ id: "e1", name: "Jabulani Nkosi", employee_no: "E-901" }]);
+  });
+
+  it("matches typed names against the site's employees", async () => {
+    const tools = actionTools(ctx);
+    const result = (await tools.find((t) => t.name === "match_workers")!.handler({
+      names: ["Jabulani Nkosi", "TEST New Person"],
+      site: "The Hills",
+    })) as { site: string; matches: { confidence: string }[] };
+    expect(result.site).toBe("The Hills");
+    expect(result.matches[0].confidence).toBe("exact");
+    expect(result.matches[1].confidence).toBe("none");
+    expect(loadEmployeesMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ siteId: "site1" });
+  });
+
+  it("relays an unknown site as an error", async () => {
+    requireSiteMock.mockResolvedValue({ ok: false, error: "No site matches" });
+    const tools = actionTools(ctx);
+    const result = await tools
+      .find((t) => t.name === "match_workers")!
+      .handler({ names: ["A"], site: "Nowhere" });
+    expect(result).toEqual({ error: "No site matches" });
+  });
+
+  it("reads names from an attachment's sheet when no names are typed", async () => {
+    getOneMock.mockReset();
+    fetchMock.mockReset();
+    getOneMock.mockResolvedValue({ id: "a1", file: "workers.xlsx" });
+    fetchMock.mockResolvedValue({
+      ok: true,
+      headers: new Headers({ "content-type": "application/octet-stream" }),
+      arrayBuffer: async () => new ArrayBuffer(4),
+    });
+    parseAttachmentMock.mockResolvedValue({
+      kind: "sheet",
+      sheets: [
+        {
+          name: "Workers",
+          columns: ["Name", "Employee No"],
+          rows: [{ Name: "Jabulani Nkosi", "Employee No": "E-901" }, { Name: "TEST New", "Employee No": "" }],
+          rowCount: 2,
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+    const tools = actionTools(ctx);
+    const result = (await tools.find((t) => t.name === "match_workers")!.handler({
+      attachmentId: "a1",
+      site: "The Hills",
+    })) as { matches: { name: string; confidence: string }[] };
+    expect(result.matches.map((m) => m.name)).toEqual(["Jabulani Nkosi", "TEST New"]);
+    expect(result.matches[0].confidence).toBe("exact");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/agent/tools-actions.ts b/src/lib/agent/tools-actions.ts
index 9ec4176..e7035fd 100644
--- a/src/lib/agent/tools-actions.ts
+++ b/src/lib/agent/tools-actions.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import { ALLOWED_MIME, MAX_FILE_BYTES } from "@/lib/purchase-order-schema";
 import { QuerySpec, runQuery, getCachedResult } from "./query";
 import type { ChartSpec, ChartKind, ValueFormat } from "@/lib/reports/chart-spec";
 import { proposeChanges, type AgentOp } from "./gateway";
+import { matchPeople, type IncomingPerson, type EmployeeRecord } from "./people-match";
+import { loadEmployees } from "./load";
 
 /** Fetches an ask_messages attachment row's stored file bytes fresh from PB. */
 async function loadAttachmentFile(
@@ -92,6 +94,62 @@ async function readAttachment(input: {
  * logic directly against PocketBase (rather than a same-process HTTP
  * call, which has no reliable base URL to call back into itself with).
  */
+/** Best-guess column pick for a name/employee-no/id-number sheet, by header text. */
+function findColumn(columns: string[], pattern: RegExp): string | undefined {
+  return columns.find((c) => pattern.test(c));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Wraps `matchPeople` with the actual source of incoming names (typed,
+ * or a previously-uploaded sheet) and the site's existing employees.
+ */
+async function matchWorkers(input: {
+  attachmentId?: string;
+  names?: string[];
+  site: string;
+}): Promise<unknown> {
+  const siteResult = await requireSite(input.site);
+  if (!siteResult.ok) return { error: siteResult.error };
+
+  let incoming: IncomingPerson[];
+  if (input.names && input.names.length > 0) {
+    incoming = input.names.map((name) => ({ name }));
+  } else if (input.attachmentId) {
+    const { bytes, fileName, mime } = await loadAttachmentFile(input.attachmentId);
+    const parsed = await parseAttachment(bytes, fileName, mime);
+    if (parsed.kind !== "sheet" || parsed.sheets.length === 0) {
+      return { error: "That attachment isn't a sheet of names — read it first with read_attachment." };
+    }
+    const table = parsed.sheets[0];
+    const nameCol = findColumn(table.columns, /name/i) ?? table.columns[0];
+    const noCol = findColumn(table.columns, /emp(loyee)?.{0,3}no|staff.{0,3}no/i);
+    const idCol = findColumn(table.columns, /id.{0,3}(number|no)\b/i);
+    incoming = table.rows
+      .map((row) => ({
+        name: String(row[nameCol] ?? "").trim(),
+        employeeNo: noCol && row[noCol] ? String(row[noCol]) : undefined,
+        idNumber: idCol && row[idCol] ? String(row[idCol]) : undefined,
+      }))
+      .filter((p) => p.name.length > 0);
+  } else {
+    return { error: "Provide either names or attachmentId." };
+  }
+
+  const employees = (await loadEmployees({ siteId: siteResult.site.id })) as unknown as EmployeeRecord[];
+  const matched = matchPeople(incoming, employees);
+
+  return {
+    site: siteResult.site.name,
+    matches: matched.map((m) => ({
+      name: m.incoming.name,
+      employeeNo: m.incoming.employeeNo ?? null,
+      matchId: m.match?.id ?? null,
+      matchName: m.match?.name ?? null,
+      confidence: m.confidence,
+    })),
+  };
+}
+
 async function sendToPoPipeline(input: {
   id: string;
   site: string;
@@ -226,6 +284,18 @@ export function actionTools(ctx: AgentContext): AgentTool[] {
       handler: async (args) =>
         readAttachment(args as { id: string; sheet?: string; offset?: number }),
     },
+    {
+      name: "match_workers",
+      description:
+        "Matches names (typed, or from a previously read attachment's sheet) against the site's existing employees: exact (employee number or full name) or likely (surname + first initial) — never guessed when ambiguous. Use before proposing any worker creates so an exact match is updated, not duplicated.",
+      schema: {
+        attachmentId: z.string().optional(),
+        names: z.array(z.string().min(1)).optional(),
+        site: z.string().min(1),
+      },
+      handler: async (args) =>
+        matchWorkers(args as { attachmentId?: string; names?: string[]; site: string }),
+    },
     {
       name: "query_records",
       description:
diff --git a/src/lib/chat/system-prompt.test.ts b/src/lib/chat/system-prompt.test.ts
index 90c93b6..7a9e031 100644
--- a/src/lib/chat/system-prompt.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/chat/system-prompt.test.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ describe("buildSystemPrompt", () => {
     expect(p).toContain("read_attachment");
     expect(p).toContain("send_to_po_pipeline");
   });
+  it("carries the worker-loading recipe", () => {
+    const p = buildSystemPrompt(new Date());
+    expect(p).toContain("match_workers");
+    expect(p).toContain("Never create a worker whose row already matched exactly");
+  });
   it("embeds the formatted memories block when given", () => {
     const p = buildSystemPrompt(new Date(), "- [shared] The Hills works 45-hour weeks");
     expect(p).toContain("- [shared] The Hills works 45-hour weeks");
diff --git a/src/lib/chat/system-prompt.ts b/src/lib/chat/system-prompt.ts
index ac374a1..f961a8e 100644
--- a/src/lib/chat/system-prompt.ts
+++ b/src/lib/chat/system-prompt.ts
@@ -71,6 +71,14 @@ For any question the other tools don't answer directly, use \`query_records\` 
 ## Files
 When the user attaches an Excel/CSV/PDF/photo/text file, read it with \`read_attachment\` before answering about it. If a PDF or photo is a purchase order or delivery note, offer to send it to the pipeline with \`send_to_po_pipeline\` rather than trying to read its line items yourself.
 
+## Loading workers from a list
+When the user gives a list of names for a site — typed, a spreadsheet, or a photo/PDF:
+1. \`read_attachment\`, or use the typed names directly.
+2. \`match_workers\` against that site.
+3. Ask only for the missing required fields (site is already known); default \`worker_type\` from the user's own words ("casuals" -> casual, otherwise ask or default permanent).
+4. \`propose_changes\` with creates for the new workers and updates (e.g. a site change) for existing ones.
+5. Never create a worker whose row already matched exactly — a "likely" match is offered to the user, never assumed.
+
 ## What you remember
 ${memoriesBlock || "Nothing yet."}
 When the user tells you a lasting preference, fact or rule, call \`remember\`. Don't store one-off questions or figures that change.