By Allaina Smith, Founder and Managing Director, Jigsaw HR. Last updated 24 September 2026.
Jigsaw HR is a registered Employment Hero implementation partner. That means we set the system up for clients, not just recommend it. We’d also tell you if it wasn’t the right fit.
If you run a business with 6 to 50 staff, your “HR system” is probably a mix of things. A payroll app. A spreadsheet of leave balances. Contracts in a folder somewhere. Rosters in a group chat. It works, until the week it doesn’t.
This post covers three things. Why the mix stops working as you grow. What a system like Employment Hero actually does, in plain English. And how we set it up for you, as a registered implementation partner, so it runs without you.
Part 1: Why the spreadsheet stops working
Most owners don’t decide to build an HR system. They inherit one, piece by piece, as the crew grows.
At 6 staff you know everyone’s leave balance in your head. At 15 you’re chasing timesheets on a Sunday night. At 30 you have a part-timer on a different award, two casuals who might now be permanent, and a super payment that has to land inside a week.
That last one is new. Since 1 July 2026, super has to reach each employee’s fund within 7 business days of payday. The old quarterly cycle is gone, and so is the ATO’s Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (ATO, About Payday Super). We wrote about what that means for your pay run in Payday Super: what to do before 1 July 2026.
Here’s the pattern I see. The admin gets done, mostly. But it gets done by the owner, at night, from memory. And memory is where the mistakes live: the wrong pay rate after a July award increase, an onboarding form that never got signed, a super batch that went out on the 28th because it always has.
A system doesn’t make you a better employer. It takes the remembering off your plate so you can be one.
Part 2: What Employment Hero actually does
There are a few good HR and payroll platforms in Australia. We work mostly with Employment Hero because it covers the whole lot for a small business in one place: hiring, onboarding, payroll, super, leave and the paperwork in between. Here’s what that looks like in practice, using the features Employment Hero lists for its Australian payroll product (Employment Hero, Payroll software).
Onboarding without the paper chase
A new starter gets a link. They enter their own details, tax file number and super fund, sign their contract and policies, and it all lands in their file. Employment Hero checks the tax file number and looks for a stapled super fund during that self-setup (Employment Hero, Payday Super). No more “can you send me your super details again” three weeks in.
Award interpretation
You tell the system which award and classification each person is on. It applies the base rate, penalties, overtime and allowances when you run pay. When rates change on 1 July, the update flows through. You still need the classification right to begin with. That’s a person’s job, and it’s the one we do most often for new clients.
Payday Super, built in
Super is calculated on every pay run and paid through Employment Hero’s own clearing house, HeroClear, which uses real-time payments so contributions can arrive inside the 7 business day window (Employment Hero, HeroClear). If you were using the ATO clearing house before July, this is the piece that replaces it.
Single Touch Payroll reporting
Payday Super changed what gets reported to the ATO. Employers now report both qualifying earnings and the super liability through STP (ATO, About Payday Super). Employment Hero’s payroll does STP Phase 2 reporting as part of the pay run, so this happens without a separate step.
Leave, timesheets and rosters in one place
Staff request leave in the app. You approve it on your phone. Balances update. Timesheets and rosters feed straight into pay. The Sunday night chase goes away.
Employee self-service
Payslips, leave balances, contracts and policies are in the employee’s own app. Fewer questions to you, and a clear record if anything is ever queried.
What it doesn’t do
It won’t pick the right award for you. It won’t tell you whether a casual should now be permanent. It won’t have the hard conversation with the person who keeps turning up late. That’s the HR part. The system handles the admin so the HR part gets your attention.
Part 3: How we set it up so it runs without you
Buying the software is the easy bit. The setup is where it works or doesn’t. Jigsaw HR is a registered Employment Hero implementation partner, which means the setup is done by HR people who know awards and contracts, not by a help desk. This is the order we do it in.
- Award and classification check first. Every role mapped to the right award and level before anything is loaded. This is the step that stops underpayments.
- Contracts and policies loaded as templates. New starters sign the right documents automatically. Existing staff get updated ones where needed.
- Payroll and super configured for Payday Super. Pay cycle, HeroClear, STP reporting and the July rate changes, all checked against a test pay run before it goes live.
- Leave and roster rules set to match how you actually work. Shift patterns, part-time hours, RDOs, whatever your business runs on.
- A 30-minute handover with you and whoever does the admin. Then we stay on hand.
For clients on a Strategic People Partner retainer, the system becomes the place we work from together. We see the same leave balances, the same contracts and the same pay runs you do, which means questions get answered faster and problems get caught earlier.
“The businesses that get the most out of a system are the ones that let it do the boring work. Leave, payslips, super, onboarding forms. Once that’s running, the owner finally has room to think about the people, not the paperwork.”
— Allaina Smith, Founder of Jigsaw HR · 20+ years in HR including Jetstar, Boeing and RSPCA
Is it worth it for a business your size?
Usually, yes, from about 6 staff onwards. Below that, a good payroll app and a tidy folder can be enough. Above that, the time you spend on admin starts costing more than the subscription, and the risk of a missed super payment or wrong rate is real money.
The honest answer depends on your setup, and we’ll tell you if you don’t need it yet.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to use Employment Hero if I work with Jigsaw HR?
No. We work with what you’ve got. Employment Hero is our default recommendation for businesses that don’t have a system yet, because it covers HR and payroll together, and because we can implement it for you ourselves.
We already use Xero payroll. Do we need to change?
Not always. Xero handles payroll well for a lot of small businesses. The gap is usually the HR side: contracts, onboarding, policies, performance records. We’ll look at what you have and tell you straight.
Does the system handle the 1 July award increases?
Employment Hero updates award rates in the system. You still need each person on the correct award and classification for the right rate to apply. We check that as part of setup.
What happens to the super we used to pay quarterly?
Under Payday Super, contributions have to reach the fund within 7 business days of each payday (ATO, About Payday Super). Employment Hero calculates and pays it with each pay run through HeroClear.
How long does setup take?
For a business with 6 to 50 staff, a few weeks from first meeting to first live pay run, depending on how tidy your records are. The award check is the slowest part and the most important.
What does a registered implementation partner actually do?
We scope the setup, configure Employment Hero for your awards, contracts, pay cycle and Payday Super, load your people, run a test pay, and hand it over with training. You deal with one HR team from start to finish, and the same team is there afterwards if you want ongoing support.
Talk to us today about Employment Hero
If your HR runs on spreadsheets and memory, talk to us about Employment Hero. As a registered implementation partner, we’ll look at what you’ve got, tell you straight whether it’s the right fit, and set it up so it runs without you. Book a free call today.
Allaina / Jigsaw HR / Building Strong Teams Piece by Piece