You had staff records to manage. Someone started and there was nowhere proper to put their contract. Leave requests came through text messages and nobody was sure what the balance was. You needed a place to keep employee details, track annual leave, and store documents. Something everyone could access. Something you could trust.
You searched for HR software. Employment Hero came up. It is well known in Australia. You signed up.
The records work. The leave management works. But you are also paying for HeroPayroll, a benefits marketplace, learning and development modules, a recruitment pipeline, engagement surveys, and a performance review framework. None of those get opened. The bill arrives every month.
The Two Things Your Business Actually Opens
The employee directory. The leave requests.
That is the job most small businesses hired Employment Hero to do. And Employment Hero does both.
It also processes payroll through HeroPayroll, handles STP lodgement with the ATO, manages an employee benefits marketplace, runs learning and development modules, posts jobs through a recruitment pipeline, runs engagement surveys, and provides a performance review framework. You pay for all of it. Most small businesses open two things.
- HeroPayroll integration and STP lodgement
- Employee benefit marketplace
- Learning and development modules
- Recruitment pipeline and job board posting
- Engagement surveys and culture tools
- Performance review framework
- Compliance document library
- Workers compensation and insurance add-ons
- Employee directory with contact details
- Leave requests and approvals
- Document storage per employee
- Employment status and start dates
Who Employment Hero Is Actually Built For
Employment Hero is a serious platform for Australian businesses that want HR, payroll, and compliance under one roof. Companies with a dedicated HR function managing engagement, learning, and performance at scale. Businesses where payroll and HR are integrated and managed by the same team.
If your business is a small team with a handful of staff, Employment Hero is built for a different customer. You are using the records and the leave. The payroll module, the benefits marketplace, the learning tools, the recruitment pipeline: none of those are part of your week. You are paying for a full HR department's toolkit to get a staff directory and a leave calendar.
A Note on Payroll and Compliance
This is important to be clear about. A custom Merebase staff records app covers HR admin: employee records, leave requests, and document storage. It does not process payroll, lodge STP, or calculate Fair Work obligations.
If you need payroll processing, you need payroll software. Employment Hero provides that, and if payroll is genuinely the reason you are there, that is the right tool for the job. The question is whether you need everything else that comes with it.
Many small businesses handle payroll through their accountant, their bookkeeper, or a standalone payroll tool like Xero Payroll or KeyPay. Their Employment Hero subscription exists for one reason: staff records and leave. For those businesses, they are paying platform pricing for a records problem.
The Cost of Paying for the Platform You Do Not Use
Employment Hero's HR platform runs around A$8 to A$15 per employee per month. For a business with 12 employees at A$10 per head, that is A$120 a month. Over three years, that is A$4,320 to access an employee directory, leave management, and document storage inside a platform built for a much larger HR function.
Consider a small services business. Twelve staff. The team uses the employee directory and puts leave requests through the platform. The payroll runs separately through the accountant. Employment Hero exists so the office manager knows where the contracts are and can approve leave without a text message. That is a records problem. It has a records-sized price.
What a Merebase staff records app Includes
A Merebase staff records app is built for the job your business actually has. You describe the fields you track, the leave types you use, the documents you store per employee, and the approval workflow that fits your team. The app is built to do exactly that.
What a Merebase staff records app includes:
Employee directory with custom fields. Leave requests and approval workflow. Document storage per employee. Start and end date tracking. Employment status. Search and filter. Data export. Unlimited records. A$499 once. You bring your own hosting. A basic plan runs A$5 to A$20 a month. This covers HR admin. Payroll processing is outside scope.
There is no benefits marketplace you will never open. No learning module. No recruitment pipeline. The app does the records job. Nothing else takes up space on the screen.
Your Records Are Already in Employment Hero
This is the most common reason businesses stay. The employee data is in Employment Hero and moving it feels like a project.
Employment Hero lets you export your employee data. The records belong to you and always have. A custom Merebase app can take that data and continue from where Employment Hero left off. Your employee history, leave balances, and document links come with you.
Once the data is in your own app, it stays there. No platform can reprice access to it, change the terms, or hold it if you decide to leave.