Choosing an HRIS or recruitment platform is one of the most significant investments a People leader will make. When you look at Employment Hero pricing, you are often met with various tiers – such as Standard, Premium, and Platinum – each offering different levels of automation, compliance, and payroll integration. For mid-sized businesses with 60 to 1,000 staff, the complexity grows as you add modules for performance, engagement, and learning.
The problem many HR leaders face is not just the sticker price, but the risk of 'feature creep' or paying for tools your team might not actually use. We have seen many organisations invest heavily in software only to find that the technology does not quite capture the human element of their workforce. At Compono, we believe that software should do more than just store data; it should provide deep insights into how your people actually work together.
To truly understand if a platform is worth the investment, you need to look beyond the basic pricing table. You need to consider implementation time, user adoption rates, and whether the tool helps you solve specific cultural challenges. After all, a cheaper platform that fails to engage your employees is far more expensive in the long run than a strategic investment that reduces turnover.
Employment Hero typically operates on a per-employee, per-month (PEPM) model. This is standard for modern SaaS platforms, allowing your costs to scale as your headcount grows. However, the exact investment depends heavily on which 'hero' you need: HR, Payroll, or the combined 'all-in-one' solution. For many Australian businesses, the appeal lies in the integrated payroll and compliance features, which can reduce manual admin work for busy HR teams.
When evaluating these tiers, it is helpful to ask: what is the core problem we are trying to solve? If your goal is purely administrative – like digital onboarding and leave management – the lower tiers might suffice. But if you are looking to drive performance and culture, you will likely find yourself looking at the Premium or Platinum levels, where features like OKRs, 360-degree feedback, and advanced reporting live.
It is also important to factor in the 'hidden' costs of any HR tech transition. This includes the time spent cleaning your data, training managers to use the new system, and the change management required to ensure your staff actually engage with the platform. While Employment Hero provides a robust suite of tools, the true ROI comes from how those tools are utilised to improve the daily experience of your workers.
While administrative efficiency is vital, modern businesses are increasingly looking for 'intelligence' rather than just 'infrastructure'. This is where the conversation shifts from simple pricing to strategic value. Are you paying for a digital filing cabinet, or are you paying for insights that help you build a better team? This is a question we often discuss at Compono when helping leaders optimise their culture, engagement, and performance model.
For example, you might have a team of Doers who are exceptionally efficient at executing tasks but might struggle if the software they use is overly complex or lacks clear direction. Alternatively, Pioneers in your organisation will want tools that allow for innovation and flexible thinking. If your HR platform doesn't account for these different work personalities, you might find that engagement drops regardless of how much you paid for the software.
At Compono, we have spent over a decade researching what makes teams thrive. Our People Intelligence Platform is designed to sit alongside your core systems to provide the 'why' behind the 'what'. By understanding the natural work preferences of your team, you can make better decisions about hiring, development, and team design – insights that go far beyond basic HR record-keeping.
To justify Employment Hero pricing to your executive team, you need to move the conversation from 'cost' to 'return'. ROI in HR tech usually comes from three areas: time savings, risk mitigation, and improved retention. Time savings are the easiest to measure – how many hours a week does your team save by automating onboarding or leave requests? Multiply those hours by your team's hourly rate, and you have a clear starting point.
Risk mitigation is equally important, especially in the complex Australian regulatory environment. Automated compliance checks and award interpretation can save a business thousands in potential fines or back-pay issues. However, the 'holy grail' of HR ROI is retention. Replacing a mid-level employee can cost up to 150% of their annual salary. If your chosen platform helps you identify disengagement early and keeps your best people for just six months longer, the software effectively pays for itself.
This is why we focus so heavily on engagement at Compono. Using a tool like Compono Engage allows you to look deeper than a standard pulse survey. It helps you understand the underlying sentiment of your workforce, ensuring that your investment in people leads to actual performance gains. When you combine robust HR admin with deep people insights, you create a powerful engine for business growth.
Ultimately, the best HR platform for you depends on your current maturity and your future goals. If you are a rapidly scaling startup, you might prioritise the ease of 'all-in-one' Employment Hero pricing to get your foundations in place quickly. If you are a more established mid-market firm, you might be looking for more sophisticated ways to develop your leadership and refine your team dynamics.
Don't be afraid to ask for a detailed breakdown of implementation costs and ongoing support fees. Many vendors offer discounts for annual billing or for larger headcounts, so there is often room for negotiation. Most importantly, involve your 'power users' – your line managers and employees – in the trial process. If they find the interface clunky or the features irrelevant, your adoption will suffer, and your ROI will vanish.
Remember that technology is an enabler, not a silver bullet. Whether you choose Employment Hero or another solution, the success of the platform will depend on your commitment to building a culture of transparency and growth. Use the data you gather to have better conversations, not just to generate prettier reports. That is how you turn a software expense into a strategic advantage.
Most modern HR platforms, including Employment Hero, use a subscription model where you pay a fee based on the number of active employees in your system each month. This allows the cost to fluctuate naturally as your business grows or undergoes seasonal changes.
Beyond the subscription fee, you should budget for implementation support, data cleansing, and the internal time required for training. It is also worth considering the cost of any integrations you might need with existing accounting or recruitment tools.
Many providers allow you to choose specific modules, but the greatest efficiency usually comes from an integrated approach. If you keep your HR and payroll data in separate silos, you risk manual entry errors and inconsistent reporting across your organisation.
Evaluate the specific features in the higher tiers against your business goals. If your priority is building a high-performance culture, features like OKR tracking and advanced engagement surveys often justify the higher investment by reducing turnover and increasing productivity.
While an HRIS handles the 'who' and 'what' of your workforce, Compono provides the 'how'. By adding layers of people intelligence and work personality insights, we help you understand team dynamics and cultural fit, making your existing HR data more actionable and strategic.