Unclaimed: Are you working at Employment Hero?
Employment Hero Reviews: 4.5/5 — Highly Rated
Employment Hero is a comprehensive cloud-based platform designed to simplify and automate human resources (HR), payroll, and employee engagement processes for businesses of all sizes. It offers a suite of tools that cover the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding to performance management and payroll processing. By integrating various HR functions into a single platform, Employment Hero aims to enhance efficiency, ensure compliance, and improve employee satisfaction.
| Capabilities |
API
|
|---|---|
| Segment |
Mid Market
Enterprise
|
| Ease of use |
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
|
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Mobile Android, Mobile iPhone |
| Support | 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
Employment Hero Pros and Cons
- Comprehensive all-in-one HR and payroll solution
- User-friendly interface with intuitive navigation
- Scalable pricing plans suitable for businesses of various sizes
- Integration with popular accounting and productivity tools
- Regular updates and feature enhancements
- Pricing may be higher compared to some competitors
- Certain advanced features require higher-tier plans
- Limited customization options in lower-tier plans
- Potential learning curve for users new to HR software
- Customer support response times can vary
Employment Hero publishes two prices — $10 and $14 — and payroll is in neither of them. It appears once, in Employment Unlimited, which is Custom. So a buyer arriving for payroll software cannot get a number from the pricing page at all. If instead you take the Managed Payroll add-on, that is $20 per employee per month — twice the entire HR Essentials plan.
- What it is: An all-in-one HR, payroll and recruitment platform, strongest in Australia and the UK.
- Best for: Small and mid-sized employers replacing spreadsheets with one HR system.
- Pricing: $10 or $14 a month on published tiers; payroll tiers are quote-only. Verified August 2026.
- The honest catch: The plan cards never say whether the price is per employee.
What Is Employment Hero?
Employment Hero calls itself an Employment Operating System — HR, payroll, recruitment and benefits in one platform rather than four. It is an Australian company with regional sites for the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and Canada, and it positions itself for “organisations with 10 or 2,000 employees”.
The HR core covers leave management, employee records, document management, onboarding and offboarding, and policies and compliance tools — the spreadsheet-replacement layer.
Above that sits engagement and development: recruitment, expenses, performance management (reviews, 1:1s, feedback), learning management and advanced HR features including Hero Points, assets and reports. Higher still are talent development (workforce planning, compensation management, goals, 360 reviews), advanced analytics, workflows and enterprise security.
A separate offering, HeroForce, is an employer-of-record service: Employment Hero “acts as the legal employer of record”, with AI candidate matching against a stated 2.5M+ candidate pool.
Around the plans sit eight per-employee add-ons — chat, rostering, managed payroll, HR advisory, two learning products and two tiers of employee assistance programme.
How Employment Hero Works
- Four tiers, two priced and two quote-only.
- Payroll sits only in the top, unpriced tier.
- Eight add-ons, all charged per employee.
- The plan cards do not state their unit.
- HeroForce is a separate employer-of-record product.
- Regional sites with region-specific pricing.
Employment Hero Pricing
Prices as served on the Australia site. No currency is marked on the cards.
| HR Essentials | HR Engage | HR Elite | Employment Unlimited | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $10 /month* | $14 /month* | Custom | Custom |
| Leave, records, documents, onboarding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Policies & compliance, chat support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Recruitment, expenses | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Performance management, LMS | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Talent development, 360 reviews | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced analytics, workflows | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced security & integration | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Payroll | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| EAP, priority support, HR advisory | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Add-ons, all stated per employee per month: Chat $2, Rostering & Time and Attendance $4, Learning 10-Course Bundle $8, EAP Standard $8, EAP Premium $10, HR Advisory $14, LMS Plus $17, Managed Payroll $20.
What actually decides your cost:
- Payroll is not in any priced plan. It appears in the feature list of Employment Unlimited only, and that tier reads “Custom — Speak to sales”. For a platform whose category is payroll, that means the published prices tell you nothing about the thing you may have come for. The alternative route is the Managed Payroll add-on at $20 per employee per month, which is a managed service — “a dedicated Employment Hero payroll specialist” — rather than the software tier, and costs twice HR Essentials on its own.
- The plan cards never state whether $10 is per employee or per account, and the asterisk explains nothing. The cards read ”$10 /month”* and ”$14 /month”. The only footnote on the page is ” Conditions apply”. Meanwhile every add-on on the same page is explicitly labelled “per employee/month”*. We checked the rendered cards, the underlying markup and every tooltip attribute; the phrase “per employee” appears only in the add-on section. Given the platform serves organisations of up to 2,000 people, per-employee is the near-certain reading — but Employment Hero does not say so where the prices are, and a reader could reasonably take $10 for a flat account fee.
- Four of the eight add-ons cost as much as or more than a plan. Managed Payroll $20 is double HR Essentials. LMS Plus $17 exceeds both published tiers. HR Advisory $14 equals HR Engage, and EAP Premium $10 equals HR Essentials. So the software subscription can easily be the minority of the bill: HR Essentials plus payroll and rostering is $34 per employee per month, with the plan itself under a third of it.
- The two priced tiers are HR only, and the gap between them is narrow. $10 buys the records-and-leave layer; $14 adds recruitment, expenses, performance management, learning management and advanced HR reporting. A $4 difference for that much is unusually good value, and it makes HR Engage the sensible default — the ladder’s real jump is not between them but between them and the two quote-only tiers above.
- Everything enterprise-shaped is unpriced. Advanced analytics, workflows, talent development, advanced security and integration, SSO-adjacent controls, priority support, EAP and HR advisory all require HR Elite or Employment Unlimited, both quote-only. That is two of four tiers with no published number, and they contain most of what a mid-sized employer would actually shortlist on.
- Regional pricing means these figures may not be yours. The site served us the Australia version and offers UK, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and Canada alternatives. No currency is stated on the cards. Anyone outside Australia should read their own regional page rather than these numbers, and confirm the currency before comparing.
- HeroForce is a different product with different economics. It is an employer-of-record service where Employment Hero becomes the legal employer, with AI candidate matching against a 2.5M+ pool. That shifts legal employment risk off you, which is a substantial commercial decision — and it is priced separately from everything above, with no figure published.
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The affiliate link goes to a demo request, not a signup.
/go/employment-heroreturns 200 and lands onemploymenthero.com/request-a-demo/with the PartnerStack parameters intact, setting the full cookie set —_ps_partner_key,_ps_xid,_grsmpk,growSumoPartnerKey,gsxidandpscd— with a 90-day window. Tracking is fine; note only that the destination is a sales form rather than a trial.
Who Should Use Employment Hero
- Australian and UK small employers. The product is strongest in its home markets and built around local compliance.
- Teams leaving spreadsheets. HR Essentials at $10 is genuinely aimed at that transition.
- Employers wanting one system. HR, recruitment, learning and payroll under one contract is the pitch.
- Companies hiring across borders. HeroForce’s employer-of-record model removes local-entity requirements.
It fits poorly for buyers who need a payroll price before talking to sales; for anyone comparing total cost, since add-ons can exceed the plan; and for US-centric employers, where the regional focus is weaker.
Honest Pros and Cons
Strengths
- HR Engage adds a great deal for $4 over HR Essentials.
- Genuinely broad scope — HR, recruitment, learning, payroll, benefits, EOR.
- Modular add-ons let you buy only what you need.
- Regional compliance across six markets.
- HeroForce offers employer-of-record without a separate vendor.
- Chat and rostering add-ons are cheap at $2 and $4.
Limitations
- Payroll is only in the unpriced tier.
- The plan cards omit their pricing unit and the asterisk says only “Conditions apply”.
- Managed Payroll costs 2x the entry plan, per employee.
- Two of four tiers are quote-only, including everything enterprise-grade.
- No currency is stated on the pricing cards.
- The affiliate route is a demo request, with no self-serve trial.
Employment Hero Alternatives and How It Compares
- Deel is the stronger choice for genuinely global payroll and contractor management.
- BambooHR focuses on HR records and performance, with clearer published pricing.
- Rippling covers HR, IT and payroll together, aimed at US-centric companies.
- Gusto is the simpler US small-business payroll option if that is your only requirement.
The Verdict
Employment Hero has real breadth. HR records, leave, onboarding, recruitment, expenses, performance management, learning, payroll, employee assistance and an employer-of-record service under one contract is a genuine consolidation story, and in its home markets — Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada — the local compliance work behind that is the hard part competitors often skip.
The pricing page is where the difficulty lies, and it has two specific problems worth naming.
The first is that payroll is not in either priced plan. It appears only in Employment Unlimited, which reads “Custom — Speak to sales”. For a product filed under payroll, that means the two published numbers — $10 and $14 — describe the HR half and tell you nothing about payroll cost. The other route is the Managed Payroll add-on at $20 per employee per month, which is a managed service with a dedicated specialist rather than the software tier, and which on its own costs twice the entire HR Essentials plan.
The second is that the plan cards do not state their unit. They read ”$10 /month”* and ”$14 /month”, and the only footnote anywhere on the page is ” Conditions apply”. Every add-on on that same page is explicitly labelled “per employee/month”*. We checked the rendered cards, the page markup and all tooltip attributes — “per employee” appears only in the add-on block. Given the platform is sold to organisations of up to 2,000 people, per employee is almost certainly what is meant, but a reader could reasonably interpret $10 as a flat monthly fee, and the difference between those two readings is enormous.
Once you know the unit, the HR ladder is well priced: $4 a month separates HR Essentials from HR Engage, and that $4 buys recruitment, expenses, performance management, learning management and advanced HR reporting. HR Engage is the obvious default. The real cliff is above it — HR Elite and Employment Unlimited are both quote-only, and between them they hold advanced analytics, workflows, talent development, enterprise security, priority support, EAP, HR advisory and payroll. Two of four tiers unpriced is a lot in a category where competitors publish more.
Finally, model the add-ons before the plan, because four of the eight cost as much as or more than a published tier: Managed Payroll $20, LMS Plus $17, HR Advisory $14 and EAP Premium $10. A realistic configuration — HR Essentials plus payroll plus rostering — is $34 per employee per month, of which the subscription is under a third. That is not unusual for HR software, but it does mean the headline $10 is close to meaningless as a budgeting figure.
The practical advice is straightforward: go into the demo with three questions written down — is $10 per employee, what does payroll cost for my headcount, and which add-ons am I being assumed to take. None of the three can be answered from the website.
FAQ
How much does Employment Hero cost?
Two tiers publish prices: HR Essentials at $10 a month and HR Engage at $14, both marked with an asterisk resolving only to “Conditions apply”. HR Elite and Employment Unlimited are Custom — speak to sales. Eight add-ons are priced per employee per month: Chat $2, Rostering & Time and Attendance $4, Learning 10-Course Bundle $8, EAP Standard $8, EAP Premium $10, HR Advisory $14, LMS Plus $17 and Managed Payroll $20. Figures are from the Australia site; no currency is stated on the cards.
Is Employment Hero’s $10 plan per employee or per company?
The card does not say. It reads ”$10 /month”, and the only footnote on the page is ” Conditions apply” — while every add-on is explicitly labelled “per employee/month”*. We checked the plan cards, the page markup and all tooltip attributes, and the phrase “per employee” appears only in the add-on section. Since the platform is marketed to organisations of up to 2,000 employees, per employee is the near-certain reading, but confirm it before budgeting.
Does Employment Hero include payroll?
Not in either priced plan. Payroll appears only in Employment Unlimited, the top tier, which is quote-only. Alternatively there is a Managed Payroll add-on at $20 per employee per month, but that is a managed service with a dedicated payroll specialist rather than the software tier. Either way, no payroll price is available without contacting sales.
What is the difference between HR Essentials and HR Engage?
$4 a month, and quite a lot of product. HR Essentials covers leave management, employee records, document management, onboarding and offboarding, policies and compliance tools and chat support. HR Engage adds recruitment, expenses, performance management (reviews, 1:1s, feedback), learning management and advanced HR features including Hero Points, assets and reports. For most employers HR Engage is the sensible starting tier.
What is HeroForce?
An employer-of-record service, distinct from the HR plans. Employment Hero “acts as the legal employer of record”, uses AI candidate matching against a stated 2.5M+ candidate pool, and pre-vets candidates — so you take on staff without bearing local legal employer risk or setting up an entity. It is priced separately and no figure is published, so it requires its own conversation.
Compare Employment Hero with other popular tools in the same category.
We've been able to consolidate eight disconnected business systems and many more operational processes into one platform. Easy UX and easy to configure.
Have not come across anything to dislike. We have raised many suggestions for improvements, which were received and raised by our implemetnation team. Staff have asked for bigger retail discounts.
Consolidation of multiple business systems into one integrated system is reducing manual data transfer between systems and data quality issues that result. This, in turn, will improve payroll accuracy for staff and provide greater operational insights to the executive.
I greatly appreciate Employment Hero for its user-friendliness and the streamlined recruitment process it offers. The platform is intuitive, making it effortless to teach others. The implementation was straightforward, and integrating it with Employment Hero Payroll was seamless. I was especially impressed by the prompt response time to any enquiries I had. Our team utilises this system daily, and it has significantly increased the efficiency of our record-keeping and recruitment processes.
My only concern with Employment Hero is regarding the reference checking via SWAG. The absence of a template option means I have to manually input all of my questions, which can be time-consuming.
Employment Hero has been pivotal in addressing two major challenges for us. Firstly, it streamlines the tracking of the necessary NDIS certifications and qualifications, ensuring our compliance and reducing administrative overheads. Secondly, it adeptly manages the large volume of applicants we receive from job ads, making the recruitment process more efficient and effective. With Employment Hero, we're not only ensuring that we meet industry standards but also optimising our talent acquisition efforts.
It is the best platform for our organization I liked many of Employment Hero's features few are as follows: This Platform simplifies our onboarding process by automating tasks from document collection to training and also ensures a smooth transition for new hires. I liked its Payroll tool which ensures accurate calculation, tax deductions, and timely payments and also reduces errors and employee satisfaction. I liked its integration capabilities that enhance its functionality by syncing with other HR Systems and tools that help us. I also liked the performance management tool that helps us manage the overall performance of the organization by enabling goal-setting, progress-tracking fostering employee development.
I find it very helpful as such there is no reason to dislike this platform It helps in managing the overall HR process and helps us in every vertical. This software has no difficulty in processing payroll also it ensures with the HR law and regulations it is very compliant. It also has good analytic features that help us to make informed decisions. For a long time, we used Employment Hero and have had no complaints.
Employment Hero solves many problems in our organization such as providing one platform that simplifies all tasks for us from onboarding to payroll and compliance. Using the Employment Hero platform automates the onboarding process that ensures a smooth transition for the employee before the Employment Hero we were doing it manually which was taking more time. It also helps in managing Performance to set clear goals and track progress this helps in employee development and improves the overall organization's performance. Its reporting capabilities provide valuable insights into HR metrics. This approach informs our decisions and also helps us to identify areas for improvement. This platform has been helpful in integrating with other HR Platforms this way process becomes easy for us. I also refer some of my industry friends to use the same software.
how easy it is to use, the general set up phase, how easy it is for staff to use and Hero dollars are super cool!
the template phase, creating a totel new one has been difficult.
the paper usage, easily able to track where stuff is at.
employment hero has great rewards and features
nothing i dislike. its very easy to use.
communication :)
The website and app are very intuitive and user friendly. Our team love being able to see all of their employment documents in one place along with being able to access great benefits.
I would like additional admin functionality in the app. The app is good from an employee perspective but as an admin and hiring manager I cannot use the recruitment and other functions through the app, which is disappointing.
Employment Hero is allowing us to better on-board staff, provide access policies and give staff access to all of their relevant employment documents. It is also allowing us to provide benefits to staff that we otherwise could not afford to provide.
It is user friendly, easy to navigate, convenient
Leave requests are not synced into payroll system automatically which is not convenient. Please create a feature that allows the sync
Being able to maintain employee records accurately was an issue before but now it is easy with employment hero
I like how easy it is to use and how the tutorial videos are set up.
I think it would be useful to have an easier way to contact Employment Hero, such as a contact number.
I was happy there was an update to allow us to allocate or remove Hero Dollars for staff.
The onboarding is easy for new staff and streamlines the process so much for HR. I love being able to issue documents for signature, have welcome videos and gather ID and qualifications all in one package.
Employment Hero is constantly being developed, so what I disliked 2 years ago has been fixed! I'm always going to want more, but Hero is constantly delivering.
Compliance has become so easy with Employment Hero, I can check license expiry dates, competencies achieved and assign training in just a few minutes. Being in a highly regulated industry, this is incredibly important to us.
, love the employee happiness survey which has been valuable for our business, the hero dollars is great and the automated onboarding workflows and integration with xero etc and recruitment platforms.
the menu to the left is a bit overwhelming and feel that sometimes things are hard to find/not intuitive.
Pulse checks of staff culture, automating rewards programs, automating onboarding which has streamlined the onboarding process and also taken paper forms out of the equation (ATO etc). Reminders for anniversaries, birthdays etc are also automated now too.
Employment Hero has everything a company needs to manage the life-cycle of an individual. The Dashboard provides the snapshot, the recruitment module is fantastic, and being able to upload documents and create templates provides consistency and streamlines practices across the business.
I'm a big supporter of Employment Hero. I have even provided a demo to an external company on how our company use it.
The Recruitment and Selection process in Employment Hero has been a massive time saver for our business. Employment Hero has also streamlined our approval process for things such as increasing headcount, re-advertising for a position and sending employment contracts.
The Resource Hub is comprehensive and easily accessible. The user interface is easy to use and makes sense. There are so many fantastic tools that are employee-centric and focus on engagement and reward and recognition.
I'm not sure how to make goals work in terms of the company strategy - there seems to be a layer missing for strategy and vision. It would be such a powerful tool if it integrated with a strategy management platform.
Our ability to run and track performance management and employee engagement in one place that can be stored for years. It is also currently assisting us with our Working With Children Checks.
Employment Hero has transformed our induction and onboarding process. We also use the Company Feed to communicate with the business rather than filling up inboxes with emails. Last year we also delivered our 12monhtly reviews in the EH space, which was both successful and less paperwork.
Id like some more formatting options for the company feed (colours, larger font, spacing), and I would like to be able to easily re-arrange documents in the Files.
Induction and onboarding are easier. Timesheets and leave are now digitised Incident management is easier Less emails in inboxes company wide
Easy to use and offers professional organisation of our people processes.
The connection with Xero could be better
Helps our record management and policy management
So user friendly, nicely laid out. I also use HeroPay and love how the systems work, as an employee or an employer I find the system really easy to use. Also any troubleshooting is great, the team are so helpful and knowledgable.
No downsides for me so far, a very positive experience using the system.
Helping us with our staff certifications - great for uploading, very user friendly. Great for leave, uploading and approving. Love the happiness survey - gives us an insight to how employees are feeling Payroll is also very user friendly
Employees are able to update personal detail in Employment Hero and the updated data will flow through to payroll processing software without any additional manual work
The lack of functionality for recording TOIL
Employment Hero makes onboarding process paperless. Employees find it very easy to use. It also makes payroll work much more convenient.
It has cut our payroll process by hours. Our staff appreciate the ease of use and are more engaged with the workplace given EH's capacity. The HR system is amazing, particularly with regard to employee contracts.
I understand that for security purposes, you need double authentication to log into the Payroll system, so this can be unpleasant, albeit it is a protection mechanism.
Minor issues initially with Award specifics, but the system works seamlessly now.
Having an HR program that can be automated has saved us tens of thousands on costs related to HR. Employment Hero saves us time, offers a more consistent HR service and allows us to look like rockstars when onboarding!
There is nothing that I dont like ........
Employment Hero saves us time, offers a more consistent HR service and allows us to look like rockstars when onboarding!
I like the usability and compliance elements of the system. It supports workflows and alerts for management to effectively monitor staff checks.
While the guides are great, sometimes having a call centre would be helpful.
Monitoring staff compliance checks & alerts for annual expiry dates.
The ease of onboarding new staff is fantastic, shout-outs & recognitions engage the staff consistently & everyone loves Hero Dollars! I also like the fact that it puts the onboarding process and other HR stuff
Initial setup takes a bit of work, but the effort is worth it in the end. Some of the integration with Xero is a little clunky - mainly to do with staff leave requests (any amendments or cancellations can require manual intervention)
It has assisted us to promote better team management and involvement in the initial stages of new employee engagement. Our next step is the implementation of the EH KPI management system which will remove the use of old/manual documents
I love that employees can fill in all employment documents before commencement and can log in at any time to update their details. It saves the HR team so much time with little requests.
I wish there was a bit more customisation available at the basic level. I would like the onboarding section to have 1 or 2 questions that you can write yourself thateither have a drop down answer box or just a text box for the answer from the new staff member.
Having templates for everything that you know have already been looked over by a lawyer. This saves so much time in trying to come up with the perfect wording for policies, letters, performance documents.
It's easy to navigate your way around the system and i like that benefits are incorporated in the system.
It's not as customisible as I would like and it can sometimes be slow.
Having a digital organisational chart and digital files.
The Help Centre is easy to access and the step by step guides provided to assist with problem solving or training are great. When I've had to email the Support Team to clarify any information that was not included in the FAQ's they were quick to respond.
It would be great if there was a single sign on between the HR platform and the Help Centre. I do use this facility a bit and although it doesn't take long to log into the Help Centre it would be great to have a link which took you straight there from the dashboard.
Central repository for all our staff documents, leave, policies and using onboarding and offboarding is also proving to be a useful tool.
The ease of using the platform and uploading data once the CSV file accepted
Not so much dislike there can be a few changes to make the experience smoother. E.G. being able to switch between employee profiles quicker without having to go back to the Employee tab and auto show all employees
Having one source of truth of data for the staff and having one platform that does it all holidays, files, docs, learnings.
Awesome UX, Amazing Service, Time Saving
No JD Templates, No Training Questionairs
Removed the need for paper onboarding. Reduced payroll processing time by automating most of our payroll process via 'Rules'. Great for Reward and Recognition.
Hero dollars, employee recognitions and the leave approval process would be the biggest benefits of moving to EH. Having employees create and submit their own leave requests gives creates efficiencies for both them and the admin team. Also, the ability to recognise team members with both recognition notifications and hero dollars in real time is great for team building and culture.
We are new to Employment Hero so have not utilised all areas to their full potential but I am yet to find a process I dislike. If there was a way to hold the off-boarding process until a future date that would be beneficial where a person is working through their notice period.
With leave balances clearly visible, the process of submitting a leave request is a lot more efficient as it reconciles the request back to the available leave. This assists the employee to understand in real time if they have paid leave available to them, and if they need to consider other options. Having employees access their own details for updating any time, and integrating that back into Xero creates efficiencies in admin with no double handling. Previously for employee recognitions we would use physical gift cards but with hero dollars it is simple, easy and efficient, and the list of hero dollar options is extensive. Employees can be recognised and awarded hero dollars with the click of a button. A win for everyone.
Streamlines the onboarding process, and the pay roll module is brilliant as well!
Just having 2 different log ins is a bit confusing, be great if it was all in one.
Keeping track of staff coming & going, and bringing pay roll back in house has been the best thing we have ever done!
Managing the onboarding process is made very easy with EH. Running a national business is hard enough. Onboarding new employees is so easy and paperless.
You have to pay per employee rather than a set monthly fee
No need to chase paperwork - can easily update policies and track that they have been read and accepted
One workspace to manage our People and Culture function
One minor complaint, and it's a tedious one at best however the system does log me out regularly (multiple times during the day) which can be frustrating.
Process efficiency and organisation visibility and consistency
It's easy to use for all users and having the ability to utalise the app is very convenient for the majority of our staff. EH is not complicated, it is set out in a very user-friendly platform. The online education is relevant, knowledgeable and very convenient.
No phone support unless you are on the platinum version.
Employment Hero enables our senior staff to manage their departmental employees on one user-friendly platform. The recruiting platform creates streamline recruiting across multiple recruting platforms, enabling relevant staff to have input in applicants.