Platform admins automatically have access to all the features on the Employment Hero platform. Other user types, like employees and managers, do not have the same access to everything. Their default access is limited to the features that they have to use regularly.
Admins can grant custom access to certain features through Permission Settings. To do that, you have to create a custom security group, define who has access to what data, select the specific permissions needed, and assign the appropriate people. This article shows you how to do that. To learn which features you can give permissions to, please refer to this article: Features that managers and employees can be given access to.
Give your employees' permissions
Creating a permissions group is guided through a step-by-step process that makes it easier to understand what access you are granting and to whom.
- Log in to Employment Hero.
- Click the Settings menu option on the left-hand side navigation.
- In the Security & Access Control section, click Permissions.
- Click the Add Permission button to create a new security group.
-
Detail & Access: Complete the following fields:
- Group name: Give your security group a descriptive name that clearly explains its purpose (e.g., "Payroll Admins" or "HR Managers").
- Description: Add an optional description to provide more context about this group's purpose.
-
Whose data can this group access: Define the scope of employee and contractor data this security group can access:
- Employee Access: Choose from All employees, Direct reports only, Teams, Locations, Worksites, or No employees
- Contractor Access: Choose from All contractors, Reporting contractors, or No contractors
Click Next to continue.
-
Employee Permissions: Configure which actions this security group can perform on employee data. Permissions are organised by modules to make them easier to find:
- Use the search bar to quickly find specific permissions (e.g., search "leave" to find all leave-related permissions)
- For each module, select the appropriate access level: View, Modify, Delete, or Use
- Hover over the information icons to understand what each permission allows
Click Create to continue.
- Contractor Permissions: If you selected contractor access in Step 1, configure the permissions for contractor data. Click Next to continue.
-
Step 4 - General Permissions: Select any platform-wide permissions that do not relate to specific employee or contractor files, such as:
- Leave calendar access
- Recruitment management
- API access
- Announcement posting
Note: General Permissions provide a general level of access across the platform. These features are not restricted by the employee or contractor access levels (such as "Reporting Employees Only") defined in Step 1.
Click Next to continue.
-
Review: Review your security group setup before finalising:
- Check the group name and description
- Verify whose data this group can access
- Review the permissions summary, which shows both full and partial permissions
- Use the Edit buttons to return to previous steps if changes are needed
Click Next to continue.
- Select Members: Choose which users will be assigned to this permissions group. You can search for specific employees by name.
- Click the Save button to create your permissions group.
Understanding Permission Types
In the Review step, you will see permissions categorised as:
- Full permissions: When you have selected all available actions for a specific module
- Partial permissions: When you have only selected some actions for a module (e.g., only viewing employee files but not modifying them)
Permissions that can be granted to employees
Employee-related permissions
Here are the modules and actions you can grant your selected group access to perform, relating to employees.
- Custom reports.
- Documents.
- Employee File (Financial details).
- Banking Details.
- Tax and NI Details.
- Pension Details.
- Employee File (Non-Payroll details).
- Personal Details.
- Employment History
- Uploaded Documents.
- Emergency Contacts.
- Work Eligibility.
- Management Notes.
- Audit Trail.
- Certifications.
- Medical Disclosure Statement.
- Forms.
- Additional Information.
- Employee File (Payroll details).
- Employment Details.
- Employment History.
- Position Details.
- Pay Details.
- Benefits.
- Payroll Errors.
- Uploaded Documents.
- Time Off Requests.
- Goals and OKRs.
- Company Level.
- Team Level.
- Personal Level.
- Expense Claims (Expense Management).
- Time Off Requests (Time off management).
- Blackout Period (Override validation).
- Time Off Categories (Sensitive time off).
- Offboarding for Employees (Non-Payroll Details).
- Employee Deletion.
- Reports (Engagement report).
- Reports (Compliance Reports).
- Certifications Report.
- HR Documents Report.
- Policy Report.
- Induction Content Report.
- Safety Incident Report.
- Work Eligibility Report.
- Reports (People reports).
- Audit Trail Report.
- Headcount Report.
- Probation Report.
- Tenure Report.
- Termination Report.
- Turnover Report.
- Workforce Planning Cost Report.
- Workforce Planning Headcount Report.
- Workforce Snapshot Report.
- Reports (Performance Reports).
- Disciplinary Cases Report.
- Reports (Time Reports).
- Lateness Report.
- Line View Report.
- Roster Report.
- Roster vs Timesheet Report.
- Timesheet Report.
- Roster Contracted Hours Report.
- Reports (Development Reports).
- 1:1 Report.
- Bradford Factor Management.
- Reports (Assigned Learning Report).
- Rota Management.
- Live Rota View.
- Who's In.
- Late & No Show Details.
- Rota Shift & Timesheet Costs.
- Tasks for Employees.
- Timesheets.
- Benefits Management.
- Benefits.
- Health Insurance.
- Hero Points.
- Hero Points Management.
- Hero Points Purchase.
- Post to Company Feed.
- Regular Post.
- Shoutout.
- Announcement.
- Birthday.
- Anniversary.
- Safety Incident Management.
Contractor-related permissions
Here are the modules and actions you can grant your selected group access to perform, relating to contractors.
- Independent Contractors (File details).
- Offboarding for contractors.
- Independent Contractors (Document details).
- Tasks for contractors.
- Safety Module (Incident Report) for contractors.
- Payroll Errors.
- Reports (Development Reports) for contractors.
General permissions
Here are the other modules and actions you can grant your selected group access to, in addition to the employee-related and contractor-related permissions above.
- Recruitment.
- Recruitment Settings.
- Recruitment.
- People.
- Onboarding (Onboarding employees).
- Onboard employees.
- Quick add employees.
- Onboarding (Issue employment contracts).
- HeroForce Onboarding and Offboarding.
- HeroForce Create Bonuses / Allowances.
- Trigger Onboarding Checklists.
- Re-activate Employees.
- Onboarding (Onboarding employees).
- Compliance.
- Asset Register - Manage.
- Asset Register - View.
- Induction Content.
- Knowledge Base.
- Policies.
- Document Management.
- Template Management.
- Uploaded Document.
- Time.
- Time Off Calendar.
- Time Off Requests (Time Off Calendar).
- Payroll.
- Payslip Management.
- Engagement.
- Exit Interviews.
- Custom Surveys.
- Happiness Surveys.
- Performance.
- 1:1 Management.
- 360 Review Management.
- 360 Reviews (Request Feedback).
- Performance review Settings.
- Performance Review Responses.
- Benefits & Perks.
- Earned Wage Access Overview.
- Workforce Planning.
- Employee requisition management.
- Employee submission management.
- Vacant position management.
- Onboarding approval management.
- Create onboarding approvals.
- Settings.
- General Settings.
- Onboarding Checklist Settings.
- Offboarding Checklist Settings.
- Certifications.
- Single Sign-On (SSO) Settings.
- Two-Factor Authentication Device Memory.
- Public Holidays.
- General Settings.
- Other.
- API - Access to Developer Portal.
- Webhook - Access to Webhook.
- Workflows.
- Forms.
- Learning Administrator.
- Manage Compliance Document Tags.