Product Update: January 2026
Welcome to the January 2026 product update from the Employment Hero team. We’ve got lots to share around Custom Forms, the EH Work App, Recruitment and more.
Contents
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HR
Recruitment & Talent Acquisition
SmartMatch scoring improvements
Available to all subscription tiers
SmartMatch scores are now smarter, factoring in pre-screening answers like certifications and work rights. This means fewer unqualified applicants with high scores, boosting your screening efficiency and helping you find the perfect hire faster.
Enhanced AI evaluation for video interviews
Available to all subscription tiers
Our Recruitment Agent now delivers transparent, evidence-backed insights for every video interview. You’ll see exactly why a candidate scored the way they did, with clear pros and cons highlighted. Plus, you can now give us feedback to help our AI get even smarter.
Streamlined Recruitment email notifications
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve consolidated application and hiring stage alerts into clean daily summaries, so you stay informed without the inbox clutter. Plus, new template previews give you full visibility into exactly what’s being sent. It’s all about making your hiring process smoother and more focused.
Source candidates directly with Job Search
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited
Our new Job Search uses your active job descriptions to serve up a ranked and scored list of highly relevant candidates. By bringing SmartMatch insights into the sourcing stage, you can proactively discover top-tier talent before they even hit “apply.”
Smart conditional approvals for hiring requisitions
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
Our new conditional approvals let you build smart workflows that trigger only when specific criteria (like pay scale or entity) are met. Combine that with new hiring group restrictions, and you’ve got a foolproof system that keeps your approvals accurate and your data clean.
Auto-generate job descriptions in seconds
Available to all subscription tiers
Our new Automatic JD Generation tool turns your job details into a polished description the moment you finish the required fields. It’s the ultimate shortcut to a “Next Page” click, helping you publish faster and find your perfect match sooner.
Shortlist faster with advanced ATS filtering
Available to Premium, Platinum and Unlimited subscription tiers
Our new ATS search and filtering tools let you pinpoint perfect candidates in seconds. Whether you’re filtering by screening answers, sliding for top SmartMatch scores, or searching for specific skills, you’ll find exactly who you need without the manual scroll.
Core HR & Employee Management
Certification follow-ups with new triggers
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
We’ve boosted Compliance Workflows with new certification triggers. Now, you can automatically send reminders when a certification is submitted, approved, declined, or expires. This powerful automation saves HR hours and keeps your team compliant with less manual effort.
New: Probation Report
Available to all subscription tiers
Introducing our new Probation Report, which lets you track probation start and end dates, monitor progress statuses, and export data via CSV. Whether someone is just starting or finishing their trial period, you’ll have the visibility you need to support your team’s growth.
Employee file change approval history
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
Ever wonder exactly where a file change request is stuck in the pipes? We’ve added new approval level labels to give you total clarity. Whether your approvals are sequential or parallel, you can now see exactly who has signed off and who’s up next, making complex workflows a breeze to manage.
Primary Groups updates
Available to Premium, Platinum, Plus and Unlimited
We’ve added Primary Group support to our bulk importer, making it easier than ever to keep your team structures updated in seconds. You can also use an employee’s Primary Group or Group Leader to automatically send file changes to the right person.
Automated induction content Workflows
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited
Take the stress out of onboarding with our new automated induction Workflows. You can now automatically assign, track, and follow up on mandatory content based on specific triggers. It’s a total game-changer for staying compliant, helping you ensure every new starter has what they need from day one.
Notice period variables now available in contracts
Available to all subscription tiers
You can now use notice period variables to auto-populate your employment contracts. By pulling information directly from employee records into the new document editor, you’ll save time and ensure your contracts are always accurate. It’s a small change that makes a big impact on your workflow.
Deeper insights with enhanced turnover reporting
Available to Premium, Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
Dive deeper into your people data with our latest Turnover Report upgrades. We’ve added a sleek new table view and CSV exports, making it a breeze to analyse and share retention insights. Plus, with custom date ranges and new filters for tenure and managers, you have everything you need to build a winning retention strategy.
New Mandatory Fields switch for onboarding employee details
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited
Our new Mandatory Fields settings page gives you the power to decide which information is a “must-have.” From emergency contacts to cost centres, you can now ensure your team provides the exact data your business needs to stay compliant and organized.
Enhanced audit tracking for emergency contacts
Available to all subscription tiers
Our enhanced audit trails now include emergency contacts, so you can track every update, addition, or deletion. It’s all about giving you peace of mind and crystal-clear visibility into your team’s most vital information.
Policy templates now default by country
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve made policy management even easier by defaulting template searches to your specific country. Now, the most relevant templates find you first, cutting down on manual filtering so you can keep your compliance on track without the extra clicks.
Rostering, Time & Attendance
SSO support for Hero Time Clock
Available to Platinum, Lite, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
We’ve added SSO support to Hero Time Clock, meaning your team can now tap in using their familiar Microsoft, Okta, or Google accounts. It’s all about making your morning clock-in as secure and friction-free as possible.
Public holiday icons for Rostering
Available to all subscription tiers
Rostering around public holidays just got a whole lot brighter. Look out for the new umbrella icon on your rosters; it’s there to help you spot holidays at a glance. Now you can plan ahead for penalty rates and staffing shifts, making holiday scheduling stress-free and budget-friendly.
Public holidays now visible in Leave calendars
Available to all subscription tiers
You can now view public holidays directly within your leave calendars, appearing as handy shaded background cells tailored to each employee’s location. Want to stay organised? Use our new custom color coding to make those holidays pop and manage team availability with total clarity, accessible from the Public Holidays settings page.
Smarter rostering with new sales data insights
Available to Platinum, Lite, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
Sales Data Import and Visualisation bridges the gap between sales performance and labour planning by bringing sales, rostered hours, timesheet data, and labour budgets together in one view. By importing past and forecasted sales data via CSV into Employment Hero, you can track how sales are performing against labour metrics across your work sites, identify variances, and spot trends over time. This clearer connection between demand and staffing helps you make more informed rostering decisions, optimise workforce allocation, and improve overall efficiency and profitability.
Greater control over Timesheet email notifications
Available to all subscription tiers
Take the wheel with your timesheet communications. Our latest update brings all timesheet-related emails into your central settings, allowing you to preview, manage, and toggle notifications with ease. It’s never been simpler to ensure your team gets the right information at the right time.
Manage leave requests with Hero AI chat commands
Available to all subscription tiers
Our HR Agent can now handle leave approvals, rejections, and cancellations via simple chat commands in Hero AI. People managers can now take action on team requests instantly within the chat, making leave management faster and more conversational than ever before.
Customise your roster’s week start day
Available to all subscription tiers
You can now customise the start day of your work week to perfectly match your payroll cycles. From budget tracking to scheduling rules, your entire roster view will now stay in sync with how you actually run your business.
New visual badges for public holidays
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve added handy public holiday badges to the leave request screen. Now, when you’re booking that long weekend, the system clearly labels the holiday for you. It’s a simple visual boost to help you plan your downtime with total confidence.
Self-serve time reporting for managers
Available to all subscription tiers
Our new worksite-based reporting allows managers to pull their own time reports without waiting on a Global Admin. It’s secure, scoped to their specific locations, and designed to save everyone time—giving your leadership team the insights they need, exactly when they need them.
Workflows & Custom Forms
Enhanced Custom Form Workflow email notifications
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
Custom Form Workflows now feature an automated ‘Send Email Notification’ action. Keep stakeholders instantly informed when a form is submitted, approved, or declined. Save hours and eliminate communication gaps.
Automated task creation for Custom Forms
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
Ready to put your HR workflows on autopilot? You can now trigger automated tasks directly from your Custom Form submissions. Whether it’s alerting IT for a new equipment request or reminding managers of next steps, these automated actions keep your operations moving smoothly while saving you heaps of manual coordination time.
Track form completions with ease
Available to all subscription tiers
Our new Form Assignment Status tab gives you an instant bird’s-eye view of who has tackled their forms and who needs a nudge. With clear “Pending” or “Completed” statuses, managing your team’s documentation is now organized, automated, and totally stress-free.
Performance & Engagement
Learning on the go with the EH Work App
Available to Learning Management System (LMS) powered by Go1 users
Your team can now tackle their training anytime, anywhere, directly from the EH Work App. From checking due dates to finishing courses on the commute, progress stays perfectly synced across all devices. It’s a faster, more flexible way to keep your team’s skills sharp and up to date.
Smarter company feed and milestone notifications
Available to all subscription tiers
We’re helping you reclaim your inbox. By turning individual Company Feed posts and milestone alerts into helpful daily summaries, we’ve cut out the noise without losing the connection. You’ll still get all the birthday and anniversary reminders you love, just in one neat, easy-to-read daily digest.
Granular access control for 1:1 reports
Available to Platinum and Unlimited subscription tiers
Our new 1:1 Report permissions give you total control over data visibility. You can now confidently empower your managers with the reports they need for their specific teams, while keeping company-wide 1:1 data secure and private. It’s a smarter, safer way to manage your coaching insights.
Easier access to 9-Box Talent Grid
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
Our 9-Box Talent Grid has a new home. Now found directly under Performance, this move makes talent mapping faster than ever. You can also correct rating errors on the fly and toggle exactly what your team sees. It’s talent management made simple, visible, and way more flexible.
Rich text and AI for Management Notes
Available to Platinum and Unlimited subscription tiers
Management notes just got a major upgrade, adding rich text formatting, bulleted lists, and file attachments. Plus, with our new integrated AI assistant, you can draft clear, professional notes in seconds.
Platform, Security & API
Consolidated daily task emails
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve combined seven task notifications into one sleek daily summary. Now, you can catch up on all your upcoming deadlines and new assignments in one go. It’s the same great visibility, just with way fewer pings, giving you more time to actually tackle that to-do list.
Granular permission updates for Core HR
Available to various subscription tiers
Our latest update introduces granular controls for custom profile fields and document management. Please note: any notes created or unedited before January 12 will maintain their original visibility settings. However, all new notes created from January 12 onwards will follow the new note-by-note sharing model. This ensures historical data remains consistent while giving you precision control over all future communications.
Expanded self-service with Hero AI
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve supercharged our AI to handle everything from checking your team’s time zones to pulling up employment history and roster details. It’s the ultimate shortcut for those quick questions, giving your team instant answers and giving your HR department their time back.
Shareable custom reports for Admins
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
You can now share your custom report templates directly with other Admins in your organisation. Whether you want to keep a report private, share it with a specific group of Admins, or make it public for the whole Admin team, our new visibility settings ensure everyone stays on the same page with a single source of truth.
Granular permissions for individual people reports
Available to Platinum and Unlimited subscription tiers
You can now hand-pick exactly which people reports your managers and teams can access. No more “all or nothing” permissions, now you have precise, granular control that keeps your sensitive HR data secure while giving your team the specific insights they need to succeed.
Brand consistency extended to email notifications
Available to Platinum and Unlimited subscription tiers
We’ve linked our advanced branding tools to your email notifications, so your custom colors now flow seamlessly from the platform to your team’s emails. It’s automatic, instant, and keeps your company identity front and center with every notification sent.
New delegated access for SSO settings
Available to all subscription tiers
With our new SSO Configuration permission, you can safely hand the technical reins to your IT experts without giving away the keys to the kingdom. It’s all about working smarter and keeping your security tighter by giving the right access to the right people.
OpenAPI updates for timesheets and webhooks
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited
OpenAPI now handles worksites and positions, giving you more granular data for your custom workflows. Plus, with our new real-time webhooks, your third-party apps stay perfectly in sync the moment a timesheet is touched or a team member clocks out. It’s seamless, automated, and ready for action.
New max data limits for Leave page APIs
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve introduced new data limits for Leave pages, making our platform more resilient against system overloads and automated attacks. It’s a behind-the-scenes win that ensures your HR tools stay fast, stable, and secure for everyone, everywhere.
New API support for organisational structures
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
Streamline your organisational management with our latest API expansion. You can now automate the creation and editing of departments and positions across your worksites. It’s a major win for tech-forward teams looking to keep their HR data perfectly in sync without the manual heavy lifting.
Improved security for offboarding API
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
We’ve aligned our offboarding API with standard platform permissions, ensuring your data stays protected during every stage of the employee lifecycle. It’s a small change with a big impact on maintaining a secure, streamlined HR ecosystem.
Experience & Interface
New email previews for organisation notifications
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve added live previews to your most-used email notifications, from onboarding welcomes to payslip alerts. Now, you can see exactly what your team sees, ensuring your communications are always clear and professional. It’s a simple way to gain more confidence in your automated workflows.
Standardised filters for Core HR reports
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve standardised the filters across 12 of your favorite Core HR reports, from Probation to Policy. Now, you’ll enjoy a consistent, familiar experience every time you dive into your data, helping you find exactly what you need without the guesswork.
Faster, cleaner navigation for EH Work app
Available to all subscription tiers
Our new “smart scroll” headers give you more screen space, while global search across every pillar means you’re never more than a tap away from what you need. With a cleaner dashboard and updated Quicklinks, the EH Work app is now snappier and more intuitive than ever.
New filters for faster reporting
Available to all subscription tiers
We’ve rolled out a sleek, modern filter design that makes navigating your data a breeze. Starting with Reports and Custom Forms, this new look cuts out the clutter and ensures a smooth experience across all your devices. Keep an eye out as it pops up across the platform.
Payroll
New API endpoints for pay conditions
Available to Premium and Plus subscription tiers
We’ve opened up new endpoints for pay condition rule sets, making it easier to automate your payroll workflows. You can now clone entire rule sets in seconds—copying over every individual rule automatically—so you can spend less time on manual setup and more time on high-level strategy.
Enhanced security for banking API endpoints
Available to Platinum, Plus and Unlimited subscription tiers
We’ve aligned bank details and leave categories with our standard platform permissions. It’s all part of a broader update to give you more precise control over who can access your most sensitive data.
Jump into the Employment Operating System today
Employment doesn’t have to be hard. Streamline every step of the employment lifecycle so you and your team can run ahead. Our world-first all-in-one Employment OS integrates HR, Payroll, Recruitment and Workforce Management to make employment easier for everyone.
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