Managing people in Australia comes with unique obligations — Fair Work Act compliance, modern award interpretation, National Employment Standards (NES), leave entitlements, and workplace health and safety. Trying to handle all of this with spreadsheets and email is a recipe for costly mistakes. HR software automates the compliance-heavy work so you can focus on actually managing your team.
We've compared five HR platforms used by Australian businesses. We focused on Fair Work compliance, award interpretation, leave management, onboarding, employee self-service, and integration with Australian payroll systems. Here's how they stack up.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Employment Hero | BambooHR | Rippling | Sage HR | KeyPay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price (AUD/mo) | Free / $8/ee | ~$10/ee | ~$12/ee | $8.50/ee | $4/ee |
| Fair Work Compliance | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Award Interpretation | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Leave Management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Onboarding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Performance Reviews | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Built-in Payroll | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Employee Self-Service App | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Australian-Made | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Our Score | 9.3/10 | 8.5/10 | 8.2/10 | 7.8/10 | 8.0/10 |
ee = per employee. Prices approximate in AUD and may vary by plan and team size.
Employment Hero is the standout HR platform for Australian businesses — and it's not even close. Built in Sydney, it's designed from the ground up for Australian compliance. Fair Work obligations, modern award interpretation, National Employment Standards, compliant employment contracts, and workplace policies are all baked into the platform. You don't need to configure Australian compliance — it's the default.
Beyond compliance, Employment Hero offers comprehensive onboarding (digital contracts, tax file number declarations, super choice forms), leave management with automatic entitlement calculations, performance reviews, goal tracking, and an employee self-service app called Swag. Swag gives employees access to payslips, leave requests, company policies, and even financial wellness tools like InstaPay (on-demand pay) and retail discounts.
Add the payroll module and you have a complete HR and payroll platform — STP Phase 2, super management, and award-compliant pay calculations all handled in one system.
Pros
- Built for Australian compliance (Fair Work, NES, awards)
- Comprehensive onboarding with digital contracts
- Employee app with financial wellness features
- Optional integrated payroll (STP Phase 2)
- Free plan available for small teams
Cons
- Per-employee pricing adds up for larger teams
- Interface can feel cluttered with all features
- Full value requires HR + Payroll bundle
- Some advanced features only on premium plans
Best for: Any Australian business that needs an HR platform built for local compliance — from startups to mid-size companies.
Visit Employment Hero →BambooHR is one of the world's most beloved HR platforms, and for good reason — it's beautifully designed, intuitive, and genuinely pleasant to use. If user experience matters to you (and it should, because your whole team will use it), BambooHR is hard to beat. Its onboarding workflows, leave management, employee directory, and reporting are all polished and thoughtful.
For Australian businesses, BambooHR handles general HR functions well — employee records, leave tracking, performance management, and onboarding. However, it doesn't include Australian-specific compliance features like Fair Work award interpretation or NES tracking out of the box. You'll need to configure leave types and policies to match Australian requirements. It also doesn't include payroll — you'll need a separate Australian payroll solution like KeyPay or Xero.
Pros
- Best-in-class user experience
- Excellent onboarding workflows
- Strong performance management
- Beautiful reporting and analytics
- Employee self-service portal
Cons
- No Australian Fair Work compliance built in
- No award interpretation
- No built-in payroll for Australia
- Pricing not publicly listed
Best for: Australian businesses that prioritise user experience and have separate payroll — especially professional services, tech companies, and offices.
Visit BambooHR →Rippling is an American platform that's rapidly expanding its Australian offering. Its unique value proposition is unifying HR, IT, and Finance in one system — when you onboard an employee, Rippling can set up their payroll, provision their laptop, create their email account, and assign them to the right software tools, all in one workflow. For tech-forward Australian businesses, this level of automation is compelling.
Rippling now supports Australian payroll (with STP Phase 2), and its HR module handles onboarding, leave management, time tracking, performance reviews, and workforce analytics. If you have employees across multiple countries — Australia, US, UK, and beyond — Rippling's global payroll capabilities are a significant advantage over local-only platforms.
Pros
- Unified HR, IT, and Finance platform
- Powerful automation (onboard everything at once)
- Global payroll for multi-country teams
- Australian payroll with STP Phase 2
- Modern, polished interface
Cons
- No Australian Fair Work or award features
- Modular pricing can get expensive
- Australian features still maturing
- Overkill for small, local-only businesses
Best for: Tech companies and businesses with global teams who want HR, IT, and payroll unified in one platform.
Visit Rippling →KeyPay is primarily known as a payroll platform (and it's excellent at that — see our payroll comparison), but it also includes HR features that make it a compelling lightweight HR solution. Employee self-service, leave management, document storage, rostering, and timesheets are all built in. And because it's Australian-made, award interpretation and Fair Work compliance come standard.
Where KeyPay differs from Employment Hero is scope — it doesn't have onboarding workflows, performance reviews, or the broader people management features. Think of KeyPay as payroll-first with useful HR add-ons, rather than a full HR platform. At $4 per employee per month, though, it's remarkably affordable and covers the essentials well.
Pros
- Very affordable ($4/employee/month)
- Award interpretation and Fair Work compliance
- Excellent payroll with STP Phase 2
- Built-in rostering and timesheets
- Integrates with Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks
Cons
- Limited HR features (no onboarding, no performance)
- Not a full HR platform
- Interface can feel complex
- No employee engagement or wellness features
Best for: Businesses that need award-compliant payroll with basic HR — especially hospitality, retail, and shift-based workplaces on a budget.
Visit KeyPay →Sage HR (formerly CakeHR) is a clean, modular HR platform that excels at the basics — leave management, shift scheduling, timesheets, expense tracking, and employee directory. Its leave management is particularly well-designed, with a visual calendar, automated approval workflows, and configurable leave types that work well for Australian entitlements.
Sage HR's modular pricing means you only pay for the features you need. The core leave and people management module is affordable, and you can add shift scheduling, timesheets, expenses, and recruitment as needed. It integrates with Sage accounting products and other third-party tools. Like BambooHR, it doesn't include Australian-specific compliance features — you'll need to configure leave policies and connect a local payroll solution.
Pros
- Excellent leave management with visual calendar
- Modular pricing — pay for what you need
- Clean, modern interface
- Good shift scheduling module
- Affordable for small teams
Cons
- No Australian Fair Work compliance
- No award interpretation or payroll
- Smaller ecosystem than BambooHR
- Limited reporting on lower plans
Best for: Small businesses that need solid leave management and basic HR without the complexity of a full-featured platform.
Visit Sage HR →Understanding Australian HR Requirements
HR in Australia is governed by the Fair Work Act 2009, which sets out minimum employment conditions through the National Employment Standards (NES) and modern awards. Here's what your HR software should help you manage:
- National Employment Standards (NES): 11 minimum entitlements including maximum weekly hours, annual leave (4 weeks), personal/carer's leave (10 days), parental leave, and notice of termination.
- Modern awards: Industry or occupation-specific instruments that set minimum pay rates, penalty rates, overtime, allowances, and other conditions. Award interpretation software automates these calculations.
- Leave management: Accurate tracking of annual leave, personal leave, long service leave, and other entitlements. Software should calculate accruals automatically based on employment type (full-time, part-time, casual).
- Onboarding compliance: New employees need TFN declarations, super choice forms, Fair Work Information Statements, and employment contracts. Good HR software digitises all of this.
- Record keeping: Employers must keep employee records for 7 years. HR software provides a compliant digital record-keeping system.
Choosing the Right HR Software
The best platform depends on your compliance needs and team size:
- If Australian compliance is your priority: Employment Hero. Built for Fair Work, awards, and NES.
- If user experience matters most: BambooHR. Beautiful, intuitive, loved by employees.
- If you have a global team: Rippling. Unified HR, IT, and global payroll.
- If you need payroll + basic HR affordably: KeyPay. Award interpretation at $4/employee.
- If you want modular, flexible HR: Sage HR. Pay only for the modules you need.