Employment Hero in July: smarter AI, simpler payroll

Last Updated Aug 14, 2026

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Every month we’re working to take more manual work off your plate. In July, that meant giving Hero AI the ability to answer your toughest people, performance and hiring questions in seconds — and making Canadian payroll more self-serve than ever. Here’s what evolved in July and why it matters.

Hero AI gets smarter about people, reports and hiring

This July, Hero AI expanded across three key areas: surfacing people insights in one conversational interface, making custom report building accessible to everyone and bringing candidate intelligence directly into the ATS: no tab-switching required.

People and performance tools

Hero AI now surfaces insights across happiness surveys, learning progress and performance reviews; all in one place, all privacy-scoped to your permissions.

Ask about happiness survey scores, response rates, trends and comment themes
Query learning courses, due dates, overdue training and team-wide compliance
Surface recurring themes, strengths and development areas across review cycles
Type @ to tag a colleague from a dropdown — no more ambiguity with similar names
When opened from a 1:1 page, Hero AI automatically focuses on the relevant employee

Why it matters: Manually digging through survey reports, learning profiles and performance data is time-consuming. This brings it all into one conversational interface so managers and employees get answers instantly — about the right person, every time.

Report builder

A new AI-powered assistant lets anyone build custom reports in plain English — no need to navigate 60+ data modules manually.

Launch the report assistant directly from the custom reports list page
Get plain-language suggestions on which fields and modules to use
Hero AI checks for existing reports that already answer your question before building a new one
Reports open with recommended fields, name and description prepopulated
Refine recommendations in the same chat with multi-turn follow-ups

Why it matters: Building custom reports used to require deep product knowledge across hundreds of fields. Now anyone can describe what they need and get a configured report in seconds.

Hero AI in recruitment

Hero AI is now deeply integrated into the ATS, helping recruiters evaluate, compare and progress candidates faster: all without leaving the platform.

Ask questions about a candidate and get answers sourced directly from their CV and screening responses
Get a real breakdown of a candidate’s score against your hiring criteria, with clear reasoning
@ mention candidates to compare two or three side-by-side, each with their current hiring stage
Generate personalized interview questions and email invites ready to send in one click
Ask who’s completed their video interview or why a candidate scored low on a specific question
Surface completed interviews awaiting review, expiring invites and candidates with no scorecard submitted

Why it matters: Manual profile review and chasing evaluation status is time-consuming and easy to get wrong. Hero AI consolidates candidate intelligence and evaluation insights so hiring decisions are faster and better informed.

Four payroll updates worth knowing before your next pay run

July brought a set of meaningful updates to Canadian payroll — from more control over what employees see on their paystubs to direct ROE submission with Service Canada.

Paystub configuration

Admins can now customize what appears on employee paystubs via a new Paystub Configuration page under Settings → Payroll. Five toggleable elements: Vacation Pay Balance, Base Pay Rate, Rate for Annual Earnings, Alphabetize Income Types and Line Notes & Cost Centers.

Learn more here

General timesheet importer

A new self-serve wizard lets Canadian admins bring in daily shift data from any external time-tracking system. Map your file columns, let the validation engine catch format issues or overlapping shifts and import clean records immediately — no more manual reconciliation during time-sensitive pay cycles.

Tiered leave evidence enforcement and retroactive uploads

Admins can now configure document requirements per leave type across three tiers — Optional, Recommended or Mandatory, so you’re never stuck chasing medical certificates during a pay run. Employees can submit requests and attach supporting documents retroactively, while “Awaiting Evidence” badges surface any outstanding compliance gaps before payroll is processed.

ROE direct submission to Service Canada

Canadian payroll admins can now submit Records of Employment directly to Service Canada via Secure Automated Transfer (SAT); no manual download or upload required. ROE status and Serial Numbers update automatically in the ROE Management dashboard and amendments can be submitted straight from eOS.