Here are our product releases for Week 14 of 2026, which includes May 25 - 29, 2026.

AI

• Employees, managers, and admins can now ask Hero AI natural-language questions about goals to get quick insights into progress, risks, and priorities without manually navigating the goals experience. (Released: 22 May 2026)

Automations

• Added real-time current and projected leave balance conditions to the workflow engine so HR teams can automate approvals, escalations, and declines for leave requests with greater policy control. (Released: 26 May 2026, HR Managers and Leave approvers)

Core HR

• Added contractor support to the Termination Report, including a new Personnel Type filter to make workforce reporting more complete and flexible. (Released: 20 May 2026)

Finance Ops - Expenses

• Expanded expense management permissions so admins can give managers access to expense claims across their full reporting line, including indirect reports. (Released: 22 May 2026, Admins and people managers)

Finance Ops - HeroForce

• NZ employers can now add HeroForce Local employees through a self-serve flow with localised employment settings including New Zealand-specific leave, residency, and KiwiSaver details, reducing the need for manual operational support after the first hire. (Released: 18 May 2026, NZ HeroForce Clients)
• Managers can now see payroll costs for HeroForce employees directly in timesheet breakdowns, improving labour cost visibility for HeroForce-related work. (Released: 15 May 2026, HeroForce clients)
• Managers can now see HeroForce employee shift costs directly on the roster and in budget totals, helping make labour planning more accurate. (Released: 15 May 2026, HeroForce clients)

HR Rostering & Timesheets

• Introduced roster and timesheet quality-of-life improvements including sticky headers and action buttons, plus better employee ordering for certified shifts to speed up scheduling tasks. (Released: 27 May 2026, Advanced rostering and timesheets users)

ITOps & Security

• Existing job seekers using magic-link sign-in are now being prompted to set up passwords, creating a more consistent login experience and unlocking stronger security options such as MFA and passkeys. (Released: 28 May 2026, Job Seekers)
• Payroll users with permission can now export a CSV version of their user security overview to support audit and record-keeping needs. (Released: 26 May 2026, Payroll Users)
• Removed email-based 2FA in the EH Work App for payroll users and added in-app account recovery flows to create a more consistent and secure mobile sign-in experience. (Released: 26 May 2026, Payroll EH Work Users)
• Expanded the vetted admin MFA reset rollout with email notifications for eligible admins, organisation member filters, and clearer visibility to help streamline secure account recovery. (Released: 26 May 2026)
• Improved permissions enforcement for Goals and OKRs so goal creation, editing visibility, and available UI actions now match each user’s actual access. (Released: 22 May 2026)

Leave & Time Off

• Added a Leave Balance API so supported customers and developers can retrieve and update leave balances programmatically, reducing manual reconciliation with external systems. (Released: 27 May 2026, OpenAPI users, HR Standalone subplans, and AIO plans)
• Enhanced leave workflow automation with smarter auto-approval conditions for team coverage and probation status, helping organisations tailor leave decisions more precisely. (Released: 25 May 2026)

OpenAPI & Developer Experience

• Added new OpenAPI endpoints for Employment Hero Forms so developers can retrieve member form responses and form assignments programmatically. (Released: 27 May 2026)
• Added new OpenAPI endpoints for Custom Forms so developers can list, create, update, and delete reusable form templates programmatically. (Released: 27 May 2026)

Payroll

• Added automated piece-rate versus minimum wage compliance checks for New Zealand payroll so employees are paid whichever daily calculation is higher. (Released: 13 May 2026, Payroll Admins, NZ only)

Performance Management

• Added recurring review cycles so HR admins can automatically schedule and launch ongoing performance reviews without manually recreating each cycle. (Released: 27 May 2026, Global plans including Premium, Platinum, Plus, Unlimited, Engage, and Elite)
• Improved Chat discoverability and notifications by adding a new navigation entry point, quiet-hours visibility inside conversations, and catch-up nudges when notification schedules resume. (Released: May 2026, Employment Unlimited and Chat add-on customers)

Platform Experience

• Added a customisable email editor for Tasks and Milestones so customers can update template content and formatting while preserving the existing logic behind those emails. (Released: 27 May 2026, Premium, Platinum, Unlimited, Engage, and Elite customers)

Recruitment

• Recruiters can now bulk upload up to 25 CVs directly into Talent Pool, making candidate intake faster for high-volume workflows. (Released: 27 May 2026)
• Added a job match preview popover on the jobs table so recruiters and hiring managers can quickly preview matched candidates and jump straight to their profiles. (Released: 25 May 2026, Recruiters and Hiring Managers)
• Completed the migration from SmartMatch to Find Talent, consolidating customers into the newer talent discovery experience and automatically migrating saved candidates. (Released: 26 May 2026)

Recruitment & AI

• Added Google Calendar and ATS event sync so interview changes made in Google Calendar automatically flow back into the ATS, helping keep scheduling and AI Notetaker sessions accurate. (Released: 20 May 2026, Closed beta)

Time & Attendance

• Managers can now create approved leave directly from a shift in the roster, automatically removing the employee from the shift and leaving the shift open for reassignment. (Released: 26 May 2026)