KiwiSaver enrolment is now part of our onboarding

Starting a new job comes with a lot of paperwork. For most New Zealand employees, that has always included a separate, manual KiwiSaver enrolment step involving IRD forms, provider websites and a KS2 form to track down. Employment Hero is changing that.

We’re rolling out a native KiwiSaver enrolment step inside our onboarding workflow for New Zealand businesses. When a new employee works through their onboarding in Employment Hero, they’ll now complete a KiwiSaver enrolment check right where it belongs, the moment they’re most likely to act on it.

The problem with how KiwiSaver enrolment works today

KiwiSaver is one of New Zealand’s most important financial tools. With over three million members, it’s the main way Kiwis save for retirement. Despite this, the sign-up experience has remained a manual paper-based process that sits awkwardly outside modern onboarding systems.

The result is that employees delay enrolment, make hasty choices without real information or default to whatever fund their employer happens to mention. HR teams are left managing paper trails during an already busy onboarding period. Neither outcome is good for anyone.

How it works

When a new employee completes their onboarding in Employment Hero, they’ll see a new KiwiSaver step that guides them through enrolment in minutes.

1. A featured KiwiSaver fund is presented. Employees are shown a featured fund option (Mercer is our initial partner) with clear, factual information to help them understand what they’re signing up to.
2. Their details are pre-populated. Name, date of birth, IRD number, address and contact details are all collected during onboarding. They’re automatically transferred into the application form, so there’s no re-entry required.
3. They choose their contribution rate. Employees select their preferred rate (3.5%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10%) and digitally sign their enrollment declaration inside the platform.
4. The application is submitted securely. Enrolment data is sent to Mercer via encrypted file transfer. Employers receive a clean digital audit trail without chasing paper forms.

Employees who are already enrolled in KiwiSaver, or who choose not to enrol, can indicate that during the same step, so the system works for everyone.

What this means for HR teams and employees

For HR administrators, there will be much less back-and-forth. There are no paper KS2 forms to track down, no directing new hires to external websites mid-onboarding and every enrolment decision is captured in Employment Hero with a full digital audit trail.

For employees, the timing matters. Presenting KiwiSaver at the moment of hire, when someone is engaged and paying attention, gives them a better chance of making a considered decision rather than putting it off until later. Application data flows directly to Mercer via secure SFTP transfer, so there’s no manual data entry and no risk of information being lost.

A note on compliance and financial advice

This feature has been built with careful attention to New Zealand’s regulatory requirements. Employment Hero presents fund information and does not provide financial advice. Nothing in the onboarding flow should be read as a recommendation or endorsement of any specific KiwiSaver provider.

Employees remain entirely free to choose any KiwiSaver provider. Mercer handles all identity verification (AML/KYC) requirements on their side and all enrolment communications comply with the Financial Markets Conduct Act and KiwiSaver Act.

This is just the beginning

The initial rollout launches with Mercer as the featured KiwiSaver fund partner but this is just the start of what we’re building in Employment Hero. Upcoming phases include a fully digitised KS2 form, accessible from the employee profile, contribution rate change notifications and analytics dashboards to give HR teams better visibility of KiwiSaver participation across their workforce.

Ready to simplify your onboarding?

If you’re already running Employment Hero in New Zealand, the KiwiSaver enrolment step will appear automatically as part of your standard onboarding flow with no configuration required. If you’re not yet on Employment Hero and want to see how the full onboarding experience works, from employment contracts through to KiwiSaver, we’d love to show you around.