Employment Hero in September: Native mobile onboarding, contractor payments and unified mobile support

Welcome to our September product roundup! This month, we’ve focused on delivering features designed to save you time and eliminate friction across both HR and payroll operations. Below, you’ll find a detailed breakdown of everything new on the platform this month, complete with what’s changed and why it matters for your team.

Platform updates: Native mobile onboarding and unified support hub

Native ESS Mobile Onboarding (Canada)

We’ve completely rebuilt the employee onboarding flow in the Employment Hero Work app for Canadian teams, replacing the legacy WebView experience with a lightning-fast, fully native mobile experience.

• Complete onboarding on mobile: New hires can complete all required forms, including personal details, SIN, bank details and medical disclosures, entirely within the Work app.
• Frictionless experience: Eliminates visual inconsistencies and multi-step web views, significantly reducing mobile drop-off rates during onboarding.
• Step-level analytics: Provides HR teams with end-to-end visibility into onboarding progress to help identify friction and optimize the funnel.

Why it matters: First impressions count. Giving new Canadian hires a sleek, native mobile onboarding experience means fewer incomplete forms, faster time-to-productivity and far less manual follow-up for HR teams.

Unified support, notifications and settings in the EH Work App

We’ve consolidated support entry points across the app into a single, intelligent Support and Help hub accessible right from My Profile.

• Conversational AI search: A new Hero AI-powered search bar lets employees ask support questions in plain language and get instant, accurate answers sourced directly from our knowledge base.
• Smart suggestions: Displays 5 curated, highly frequent starting questions on load (driven by 60 days of real usage data) and updates search recommendations in real-time as employees type.
• Dedicated money support: Dedicated access for Help Centre, financial wellness support and bill management in one tap.
• Direct feedback line: Bug reporting and platform feedback remain directly accessible from the hub screen.

Why it matters: Employees no longer need to figure out which tab or category holds the answer to their question. One unified hub means faster self-service, fewer repetitive HR tickets and a better support experience for everyone.

Payroll updates: Integrated contractor payments, custom union dues deductions

Integrated Contractor Payments (Canada)

Contractor payments are now fully integrated into Canadian payroll, allowing admins to manage contractors and full-time employees within a single platform.

• Unified pay runs: Onboard contractors, manage compensation details and process contractor payouts directly alongside employee payroll runs.
• Automatic T4A compliance: Earnings automatically map to CRA-compliant T4A tax slips at year-end and generate Earning Statements — removing manual spreadsheets and third-party tax tools.
• Self-service contractor portal: Contractors receive a self-serve onboarding link to upload banking details, SIN, and business registration numbers (BN/GST) and can view their payment history on demand.

Why it matters: Managing contractors through separate tools or manual bank transfers creates unnecessary admin work and year-end tax headaches. Bringing contractors into your standard pay run keeps your workforce management in one place and makes T4A season effortless.

Percentage-based deductions: Custom earnings basis for union dues (Canada)

Introducing Phase 2 of percentage-based deductions for Canada. Canadian payroll admins can now configure Union Dues deduction categories with a custom earnings basis, selecting exactly which income type categories (e.g., Regular Pay Hourly, Commission) count toward dues.

• Custom earnings basis: Pick specific income type categories that count toward the deduction. All income types within those categories are included automatically.
• Business-level default rate: Set a default rate on the category that propagates to every assigned employee. Updating it triggers a confirmation flow that preserves any individual overrides.
• Per-employee overrides: Override the rate per employee when a specific arrangement requires a different rate.
• Locked calculation basis: Calculation basis is locked at the employee level — only the rate is adjustable there, preventing accidental misconfiguration.
• Fixed-amount option: Union Dues categories can also be set to a fixed amount for unions charging a flat rate per pay run.

Why it matters: Union collective agreements often dictate precise earnings types that qualify for dues. Defining these rules once at the category level guarantees accurate, consistent calculations every single pay run without manual per-employee maintenance.

Streamline employment for your business today

Curious what Employment Hero could look like for your business? Our team would love to show you around!