diff --git a/services/comms/synapse-user-seed-job.yaml b/services/comms/synapse-user-seed-job.yaml
index ea0dc49..083f72e 100644
--- a/services/comms/synapse-user-seed-job.yaml
+++ b/services/comms/synapse-user-seed-job.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 apiVersion: batch/v1
 kind: Job
 metadata:
-  name: synapse-user-seed-1
+  name: synapse-user-seed-2
   namespace: comms
 spec:
   backoffLimit: 1
@@ -56,14 +56,18 @@ spec:
               def get_cols(cur):
                   cur.execute(
                       """
-                      SELECT column_name, is_nullable, column_default
+                      SELECT column_name, is_nullable, column_default, data_type
                       FROM information_schema.columns
                       WHERE table_schema = 'public' AND table_name = 'users'
                       """
                   )
                   cols = {}
-                  for name, is_nullable, default in cur.fetchall():
-                      cols[name] = {"nullable": is_nullable == "YES", "default": default}
+                  for name, is_nullable, default, data_type in cur.fetchall():
+                      cols[name] = {
+                          "nullable": is_nullable == "YES",
+                          "default": default,
+                          "type": data_type,
+                      }
                   return cols
 
               def upsert_user(cur, cols, user_id, password, admin):
@@ -73,14 +77,18 @@ spec:
                       "password_hash": bcrypt.hashpw(password.encode(), bcrypt.gensalt()).decode(),
                       "creation_ts": now_ms,
                   }
-                  if "admin" in cols:
-                      values["admin"] = admin
-                  if "deactivated" in cols:
-                      values["deactivated"] = False
-                  if "shadow_banned" in cols:
-                      values["shadow_banned"] = False
-                  if "is_guest" in cols:
-                      values["is_guest"] = False
+                  def add_flag(name, flag):
+                      if name not in cols:
+                          return
+                      if cols[name]["type"] in ("smallint", "integer"):
+                          values[name] = int(flag)
+                      else:
+                          values[name] = bool(flag)
+
+                  add_flag("admin", admin)
+                  add_flag("deactivated", False)
+                  add_flag("shadow_banned", False)
+                  add_flag("is_guest", False)
 
                   columns = list(values.keys())
                   placeholders = ", ".join(["%s"] * len(columns))