Here are our product releases for Week 50 of 2025, which includes December 8-12, 2025.

Automations

Support Send Email Action in Custom Form Workflows

Release Date: 08/12/2025

Target Users: Global Forms and Workflow users (EU, Employment Plus and Platinum)

Problem: After a form is submitted or fully approved/declined, Custom Form Workflows cannot send additional automated email notifications, meaning HR, Payroll, IT, and other stakeholders do not receive timely updates unless someone manually notifies them. This creates gaps in follow-up actions and communication. Stakeholders miss key updates, operational teams don’t know when to act, and admins are forced to manually chase outcomes for every form, leading to delays, errors, and inconsistent processes.

Product features:

• Add Send Email Notification as a workflow action for Custom Forms.
• Support sending emails on Form Submitted, Form Approved, and Form Declined triggers.
• Allow selecting relational roles, teams, or specific employees as recipients.
• Provide dynamic fields for both Subject and Content (form data, submitter info, recipient info, organisation info, links).
• Support immediate or delayed email delivery with before/after offsets.

Workflow Engine Parity – Employee File Change Dynamic Approver Types

We’ve introduced two new dynamic approver types—Admins and Owners—to the Request Approval action for Employee File Changes (EFC). These options ensure full parity with legacy approval routing and enable accurate migrations for organisations relying on admin-only or owner-only workflows. They also give customers more targeted control, reducing unnecessary approval noise.

What’s New?

• New Dynamic Approver Types (EFC Only)
  • Workflows can now route EFC approvals to:
    • Admins — Only users with the Admin role
    • Owners — Only users with the Owner role
    • Any admin or owner — Existing option
  • These appear exclusively in EFC workflows (although we plan to extend to other workflow modules in future).
• Improved Routing Accuracy
  • Matches legacy admin-only and owner-only behaviour 1:1 on the WF engine
  • Reduces noise for users by directing approvals to the correct audience
  • Supports accurate migration for the last 50 organisations (next gen and platinum, premium still tbd) using these legacy patterns

Release Date: 11/12/25

Target Users: Global, Platinum, EU+ and EU

Core HR

Tasks Widget – One-click Approvals

Description: We’ve introduced a new Tasks Widget on the Home Dashboard to streamline Leave, Timesheet, and Expense approvals. Admins, Owners, Managers, and Employees with CSS permissions can now approve these tasks with one click, directly from the Home Hub - reducing time and clicks to get work done, and boosting efficiency for everyday tasks. Once approved, tasks are automatically synced with the To Do List in the HR Platform, collapsing if already actioned in-app.

To keep things user-friendly:

• If there are 10 or fewer tasks in a category → users see individual approval cards on the Home Dashboard
• If there are more than 10 tasks for a category → users see a summary card for that category

Only tasks created from 18 November 2025 onwards will display in the widget and sync across.

Release Schedule: 8/12/2025

Target Users: EH Work Managers, Admins, Owners, Employees with CSS Permissions

Allow Due Dates to be Set for Certifications for All Organisations

Description: This change improves compliance control by allowing users to optionally set a due date for certifications. This update is not just for HeroForce, but also an improvement available for all customers using certifications.

Key Features

• Due date can be set relative to the date a certification is assigned to a user
• An email will be set to the employee one day before the due date if certifications are still outstanding
• If multiple certifications are due on the same day, one email is sent which summarises the certifications due the next day
• Certification will be tagged 'Overdue' in the employee profile after due date has passed. This can be used for future reporting
• Added organisation email setting for certification due date notifications to allow control

Release Schedule

Release Date: 11/12/2025

Introduce Bulk Reminder Notifications in the GT Portal

What’s new: We have released bulk reminder notifications in the Reports and Documents module of the Global Teams Portal. GT Admins can now send reminder notifications for overdue Policies and Induction Content, Certifications, and other supported compliance items directly from their respective reports. This gives Global Teams a faster way to follow up on outstanding items across all PEO organisations and removes the need for manual reminders outside the platform.

Admins can remind all personnel, remind selected individuals, or trigger one off reminders for a specific row, all from within the same reporting view. This brings consistency to compliance workflows across HeroForce and improves completion rates for time-sensitive items.

Key improvements

• Bulk reminders available in Policies and Induction Content, Certifications, and supported report types
• Remind all personnel and Remind selected personnel actions added above each report
• Per row Remind action for content types that support acknowledgement
• Certification reminders now notify the employee and the host organisation manager
• Updated reporting UI aligned with the HeroDesign system

Release date: 12/12/2025

Performance Management

Certifications – Notification Improvements

Objective: To reduce notification noise and give HR Admins greater visibility and control over Certification-related emails, while improving the experience for employees and employers receiving these notifications.

Description: Users frequently received multiple emails on the same day for certificate assignments, approvals, or expiries, creating a perception of spam. HR Admins also lacked the ability to preview email templates, understand triggering rules, or adjust delivery controls. With this uplift, we’ve improved both the experience and the manageability of Certifications notifications:

1. Redundant emails have been reduced. Expiry emails are now consolidated into a single daily summary, instead of separate sends for each certificate event. They will be sent at the start of each day for the following emails:

• You are required to obtain new certifications
• You are required to review an employee's certification
• Your certification has been approved
• Certification reminders: team members requiring action
• Certification reminders: expiring soon or expired

2. All Certifications-related emails are now available in the Organisation Emails section of the Notification Control Centre, each with:

• A clear name and purpose
• Trigger and recipient details
• An on/off toggle to control whether the notification is sent
• A template preview with placeholder data so Admins can understand the exact email content

These improvements give HR Admins better oversight and control while ensuring employees receive fewer, more meaningful notifications.

Release date: 12/12/25

Target Users: Global

Recruitment

Unified Talent Search: Slice 1

Objective: Introduce Talent Search in the ATS as the single, faster entry point to SmartMatch candidates, giving hirers a clearer path to discover talent and increasing SmartMatch-led placements. We've launched Talent Search in the ATS. This foundational release is the first step toward consolidating our hiring tools, creating a faster, more intuitive search experience, and establishing the new entry point for sourcing talent with SmartMatch. This feature currently sits alongside the existing SmartMatch dashboard and sets the groundwork for future unification in upcoming releases.

Key Features

• Talent Search: Integrated directly into the ATS via the Recruitment menu, evolved from Free Hiring.
• Natural Language Search: Enter descriptive phrases (e.g., “Accountant in Sydney with Xero experience”), parsed into structured search criteria.
• Quick Start: Suggested organisation roles to launch a search quickly.
• Global Talent Access: Search without a location to reach global talent.
• Invite Candidates: Invite candidates to an existing job or create/post a new job for them to apply.
• 1-Click Job Posting: Create a job directly from search with an upgraded AI-generated JD.

Release Date: 9/12/25

Target Users: Global (orgs with access to SmartMatch, users with admin and hiring manager permissions)

Talent Marketplace

Improving SmartMatch Scoring with Pre-Screening Answers

Target Users: Recruiters using SmartMatch

Objective: Make SmartMatch scores more accurate by ensuring BOY scoring takes candidate pre-screening answers into account.

Description: We’ve improved the SmartMatch model so it can now factor in key eligibility signals from pre-screening questions—things like work rights, availability, and required certifications. This means SmartMatch scores will better reflect whether a candidate meets the basics before you even open their profile.

• More reliable scores: Fewer cases where candidates who clearly don’t meet requirements receive high scores.
• Better screening efficiency: Recruiters can trust SmartMatch scores earlier in the process and spend less time weeding out obviously unqualified applicants.

Automated Screening Question Reminders for SM, FMI, and Job Alert Applications

Description: We have introduced a new automated reminder system to increase the completion rate of mandatory Screening Questions (SQs) for job applications. Previously, 30-40% of applicants who expressed interest in a job failed to complete the required SQs, leading to automatic disqualification by employers and reduced efficiency.

• Automated Reminders: Users who apply but don't complete SQs now receive action-oriented reminders and one click into screening questions page.
• Mandate screening questions: Only send to applications to the recruiter when screening questions have been completed

Improving Job Descriptions with AI-Suggested Additions

What’s New: Recruiters on Platinum and Unlimited plans will now see AI-powered suggestions that help improve the quality of their Job Descriptions. When a JD contains enough content, the system detects opportunities for improvement and surfaces an “AI Suggestions” button in the JD editor. Suggestions can include:

• Missing requirements commonly found in similar roles
• Clearer or more action-oriented phrasing
• Additional details that help attract better-matched candidates

Why This Matters: High-quality JDs = better SmartMatch scores and more relevant applicants. This update helps recruiters quickly fill gaps, strengthen requirements, and produce stronger job ads without needing to rewrite the JD from scratch.

Key Features in This Release

• AI Suggestions button appears when improvements are detected
• Each suggestion shown has “add” and “regenerate” options
• “Add All” applies every suggestion at once
• Changes are highlighted and can be undone immediately
• Clear messaging shown if no improvements are available