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Assign and manage reporting-line managers for HeroForce employees

Updated
Available for the following HR Classic plans: All plans
Available for the following plans: Lite, Plus, Unlimited HR, Essentials, Engage, Elite, Unlimited HR+Payroll
Available for the following users: Admin

When HeroForce (HF) employees are placed at your organisation, they need a clear reporting line so that their leave requests and other approvals are routed to the right person. As a host org admin, you can assign a manager to each HF employee — either during onboarding or at any time afterward from the employee's profile — and update those assignments in bulk using the employee CSV importer when managers change.

This article explains how to:

Assign or change a manager for an HF employee

You can assign or update a reporting-line manager for an HF employee directly from their profile at any time. Once saved, the assigned manager becomes the approver for that employee's leave requests. If the employee already has a manager assigned, following the same steps lets you update the assignment — any pending leave requests will automatically re-route to the new manager.

Steps to assign or change a manager for an HF employee
  1. Log in to Employment Hero and navigate to your host organisation.
  2. Go to the HF employee's profile.
  3. Locate the manager field and select a manager from the picker. The list is sourced from your host org's employee list, so you can assign any employee in your organisation — including those who are not themselves HF employees.
  4. Click Save.
  5. The HF employee is now shown as reporting to the selected manager, and future leave requests will route to them for approval.

Helpful Hint

If you try to save without selecting a manager, a validation message will prompt you to make a selection before the assignment can be saved. If the save fails, an error message will appear with a retry option — your previous assignment will remain unchanged.

Assign a manager during HF employee onboarding

If you know who the HF employee's manager will be at the time of onboarding, you can assign them directly within the onboarding flow — no separate follow-up step required. If the manager isn't known yet, you can skip this step and assign one later from the employee's profile.

Steps to assign a manager during HF employee onboarding
  1. Log in to Employment Hero and begin the HF employee onboarding flow from your host organisation.
  2. Proceed through the onboarding steps until you reach the manager-assignment step.
  3. If the manager is already identifiable, select them from the manager picker and save. The manager is recorded immediately — no additional follow-up is needed.
  4. A note on this step confirms that the manager can be changed at any time afterward from the employee's profile.

Helpful Hint

If onboarding completes without a manager assigned, an indicator will appear on the employee's profile reminding you that a manager still needs to be assigned.

Bulk-update reporting-line managers via CSV import

When a manager leaves or changes location, you can update the reporting-line manager for multiple HF employees at once using the existing employee CSV importer — rather than updating each employee one by one.

Steps to bulk-update reporting-line managers via CSV import
  1. Log in to Employment Hero and navigate to your host organisation.
  2. Prepare your employee CSV file. For each HF employee whose reporting-line manager you want to update, populate the reporting-line manager column with the correct manager's details.
  3. Navigate to the employee CSV importer and upload your prepared file.
  4. The import runs and updates each HF employee's reporting-line manager to match the values in the CSV.

Helpful Hint

If you omit the reporting-line manager column from your CSV entirely, existing manager assignments are left unchanged — only rows where the column is populated will be updated.

Further information

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Who can assign managers to HF employees?

Only host org admins can assign and update reporting-line managers for HF employees. This capability is not available to admins in the PEO organisation — host org admins maintain these assignments themselves.

What happens to pending leave requests when a manager is reassigned?

If an HF employee has a leave request that is still awaiting approval when you reassign their manager, the pending request is automatically re-routed to the new manager for approval. No action is needed from you beyond saving the new manager assignment.

What happens if an HF employee submits a leave request before a manager is assigned?

If an HF employee submits a leave request before a manager has been assigned, the request cannot be routed for approval. You will see a message indicating that a manager needs to be assigned before the request can proceed. Assign a manager from the employee's profile to resolve this.

What happens if a manager value in my CSV can't be matched to an existing employee?

If a row in your CSV specifies a manager that cannot be resolved to an existing employee in your host org, that row will be flagged as failed with a clear reason. All other rows in the same import that can be resolved will still be updated successfully — a single unresolvable row does not stop the rest of the import from completing.

Can I assign a manager who is not an HF employee?

Yes. The manager picker is sourced from your host org's employee list, which includes all employees in your organisation — not just HF employees. This means you can assign any host org employee as a reporting-line manager, even if they are not placed through HeroForce.