About the business

Thermosash Commercial Group is a 53-year-old, family-owned New Zealand business, specialising in the design, manufacture and installation of façade systems for commercial and residential buildings.

With more than 550 employees across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Its teams deliver both major high-rise developments and smaller construction projects, working with developers, government organisations, architects, designers and engineers.

Despite its scale, Thermosash’s HR function is run by a team of just two: Craig Gillett, Group General Manager, People & Capability, and Liz Tibbutt, HR Manager.

The challenge

Before Employment Hero, HR processes at Thermosash were fragmented across regional businesses. Documentation was paper-based, processes differed by location and compliance relied heavily on manual oversight. Craig spent time travelling the country retrieving employee files from boxes and storage spaces, while performance conversations often went undocumented.

In 2023, a board-led strategic reset created a mandate for one consistent way of working across the entire business. Thermosash needed a platform that could standardise HR across multiple business units and employment types while remaining simple enough for site managers to use on active construction sites.

Recruitment was another major pain point. Highly specialised roles attracted hundreds of applicants, while an eight-step manual recruitment process consumed up to 10 hours of HR time per candidate and often delayed hiring for six to eight weeks.

“The biggest drag of not having a system like Employment Hero is you can’t see how things fit together. If you don’t have a system that can give you a report, you’re kind of just going on word of mouth.”— Liz Tibbutt, HR Manager

The solution

Employment Hero became the operating backbone of Thermosash’s people strategy. It provided a single platform spanning the full employment lifecycle, from first job application through to annual pay reviews and everything in between.

Creating one source of truth

The team spent six months digitising paper records, standardising documentation and training site managers to use the platform consistently.

With reliable data in place, Thermosash introduced structured talent and succession planning for the first time in the company’s history, including nine-box grid assessments across more than 300 senior and specialist employees.

Performance reviews also moved into Employment Hero, allowing managers to document goals, competency frameworks, performance conversations and improvement plans directly in the platform.

This gave HR stronger visibility, improved compliance confidence and reduced legal risk through accurate, timestamped records.

“For the first time in the company’s history, we went out right across the group, ranked all of our people, identified our key successors and created maps where at a glance you can see where everybody’s sitting — now, 12 months, 24, 36 months out.”— Craig Gillett, Group General Manager — People & Capability

Real time reporting and communication 

Employment Hero also transformed reporting and internal communication across the business.

Craig can now generate workforce reports in minutes. The HR team can now report on demographic, tenure and talent insights, helping leadership make faster, data-backed decisions.

The platform has also become Thermosash’s primary internal communications channel, supporting announcements, organisational updates and employee recognition across every site.

“If I’m asked a question I don’t know the answer to, within two or three minutes I can have it simply by using the reporting. Being able to have those quick real-time reports has transformed my credibility at the top table.”— Craig Gillett, Group General Manager — People & Capability

AI recruitment 

The biggest operational shift came from Employment Hero’s AI recruitment agent.

What previously took up to 10 hours per candidate can now be completed in under 20 minutes for 10 applicants. The platform generates tailored STAR-methodology video interview questions and provides AI-powered candidate summaries and scoring at scale.

This dramatically reduced administrative workload while improving consistency and candidate quality.

“I can hand on heart say there has been a transformative lift in the quality of people we’re recruiting. Ultimately, it’s a tool — but it gives you the best insights to make a better decision faster.”— Craig Gillett, Group General Manager — People & Capability

“We’re taking around 20 days from advertising to making an offer. It probably used to take six weeks, sometimes two months. It’s buckets easier to use Employment Hero than doing it manually.”— Liz Tibbutt, HR Manager

Ali Adnan, Head of Manufacturing, uses the AI recruitment tool independently, reviewing AI-generated candidate summaries and scores across large shortlists rather than navigating hours of raw video content.

“The AI recruitment function probably saves around 15 minutes for each candidate — which adds up to around 50 hours for a 100-person shortlist. I can utilise that time on the most important parts of my role.”— Ali Adnan, Head of Manufacturing

For a deeper look at how Thermosash uses Employment Hero’s AI recruitment agent, including the 8-step process, STAR methodology setup and candidate experience insights, read the Thermosash AI Recruitment case study. 

Upcoming: Employment Hero Payroll

Thermosash is currently migrating to Employment Hero Payroll, completing the final piece of a fully integrated people and pay system. For the first time, time-logging on construction sites, salary management in the office and leave approvals will all connect through one platform — eliminating the manual handoffs that currently create compliance risk.

“For the first time in the company’s history, everything is going to be done the same way. If I put my risk hat on, it means we get things right the first time.”— Craig Gillett, Group General Manager — People & Capability

The ROI

Employment Hero enabled Thermosash’s two-person HR team to support more than 550 employees without adding additional headcount.

Key outcomes include:

• $150,000–$180,000 in estimated annual savings through automation and self-service
• Hiring timelines reduced from 6-8 weeks to around 20 days
• Around 50 hours saved per 100-candidate recruitment round through AI screening
• Real-time reporting and workforce visibility across the business
• Audit-ready documentation for disciplinary and performance processes
• Structured succession planning introduced for the first time in the company’s history

“There’s no way we could be producing the quality service that we do without Employment Hero. We would need another two or three entry-to-mid-level HR people to get through what we do in a given week.”— Liz Tibbutt, HR Manager

Why it matters

Thermosash proves that even a complex, multi-site manufacturing and construction business, with a specialised workforce and a 50+year legacy of doing things its own way, can modernise HR operations and increase efficiencies. 

The transformation isn’t just operational. It’s cultural. Managers now confidently document performance conversations, leaders rely on real-time workforce data and hiring managers can engage candidates faster and more consistently.

For Craig and Liz, Employment Hero created the infrastructure to scale both the HR function and the quality of the workforce, with a team of two.

“Every business thinks they’re special, every business thinks they’re unique. We’ve been able to adopt virtually every part of Employment Hero to fit how we operate.”— Craig Gillett, Group General Manager — People & Capability