Gilmour Space Technologies: Scaling at rocket speed with Employment Hero

From manual processes to a scalable HR System

Gilmour Space Technologies is at the forefront of Australia’s aerospace industry, pioneering the development of innovative rocket technology. As the company went through a rapid period of growth in recent years, it was clear that their HR processes needed to evolve. What started as a 60-person team was projected to grow to over 150, and manual HR systems simply weren’t sustainable.

“When I joined four years ago, we were doing everything manually – timesheets, onboarding, performance reviews. We knew we couldn’t keep running payroll with a manual system,” says Carly Allen, HR Manager at Gilmour Space.

Carly’s first major project? Implementing an HRIS that would scale with the company. After reviewing several options, Employment Hero stood out as the best fit.

“Nothing integrated seamlessly with payroll like Employment Hero did,” Carly explains. 

Onboarding at the speed of growth

With rapid expansion comes frequent hiring, and a seamless onboarding process is critical to ensuring new starters hit the ground running. As HR Coordinator Jade Little describes, Employment Hero made onboarding easy and efficient.

“We have a lot of new starters coming through. The onboarding process is really streamlined – everything is entered into the system, and a link is sent out for them to complete their details. It’s quick, easy, and keeps everything organised.”

While fast-paced hiring can be overwhelming, the automated workflows help Gilmour Space Technologies’ HR team stay on top of internal movements and new hires. “Tracking and updating employee details is super simple, especially as we scale,” said Jade.

More time spent building rockets, less on admin

One of the biggest challenges of Gilmour Space’s old system was timesheet management. Previously, employees had to print, complete, and manually submit their timesheets – a slow process that took valuable time away from their core work.

“Now, staff can just pull out their phone, fill in a timesheet, or request leave. Before, they had to print a sheet, get it signed by their manager, submit it to HR, and then we’d have to pass it to finance for payroll processing. Employment Hero has streamlined the entire process,” said Carly.

The estimated time savings? “Easily 10 minutes per employee per day,” Carly says. A time saving that quickly adds up.

Performance management made simple

Managing employee performance in a fast-growing company is no small task. Before Employment Hero, Gilmour Space relied on Word documents and spreadsheets to track performance reviews – an inefficient system that made identifying high performers difficult.

“Before, we had to manually enter ratings into an Excel spreadsheet, analyse everyone’s performance metrics, and then present that to the CEO. Now, with the performance management feature, we can just download a spreadsheet straight from the system. Everything is in one place,” said Carly

This level of visibility has been a game-changer for leadership. “If the CEO wants to see performance data, he can access it directly instead of waiting for HR to compile reports,” Carly says. 

Training for compliance and leadership

In the aerospace industry, compliance is paramount. Gilmour Space uses Employment Hero’s training modules extensively for safety training, leadership development and compliance education.

“All our new starters complete mandatory safety training through Employment Hero. We also use it to roll out new compliance training, like bullying and harassment education, when legislation changes,” Jade explained.

Beyond compliance, the company runs monthly leadership training through the platform, ensuring managers have the skills they need to guide teams effectively. “It’s been really valuable for ongoing development. We’re also looking at incorporating more technical training in the future,” Jade said. 

Empowering employees with simple mobile access

With a workforce primarily made up of engineers and technicians, easy access to HR tools is critical. Many employees don’t have regular access to a computer, making the Employment Hero Work App a standout feature.

“Our technicians like that they can do everything from their phone. Submitting timesheets, and applying for leave – it’s all quick and easy. They don’t have to be at a computer to handle admin tasks,” said Carly. 

A future-proof HR solution

For Gilmour Space Technologies, Employment Hero has been a crucial tool in supporting their rapid growth. From streamlining onboarding and payroll to improving performance management and compliance training, the platform has delivered significant time savings and efficiency gains across the business.

“Having information readily available, streamlining processes, and saving time – those have been the biggest benefits for us,” Carly summarises. 

As Gilmour Space continues to push the boundaries of aerospace innovation, Employment Hero ensures their HR team stays focused on what matters – supporting their workforce and fuelling growth.

If you’re interested in skyrocketing your HR and payroll processes like Gilmour Space Technologies, book a demo with one of our business specialists today and discover the difference.