Employment Hero has launched HeroForce in the UK, a managed employment model for small and medium-sized businesses.
HeroForce lets businesses hire and manage staff while Employment Hero acts as the legal employer. The client business retains operational control over who is hired, how work is carried out and how long the engagement lasts, while Employment Hero handles payroll, tax and compliance.
The launch brings a model more commonly used for overseas hiring into domestic UK employment. HeroForce is positioned as an evolution of the Employer of Record structure, which businesses use to employ staff in foreign markets without setting up local entities.
In the UK, Employment Hero manages PAYE, National Insurance contributions, pension auto-enrolment and statutory payments including holiday pay, Statutory Sick Pay, and Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay. Workers employed through the arrangement keep their employment contracts and statutory protections under UK law.
Cost pressure
The launch comes as smaller employers assess the impact of changing employment rules and rising administrative costs. Employment Hero cited commissioned research showing that one in five SMEs planned to increase their use of contractors or temporary staff in response to the Employment Rights Act, while others had become more cautious about hiring.
The same research pointed to a broader burden on smaller firms, citing estimates that regulatory compliance costs SMEs £36 billion a year and accounts for 379 million working hours. That backdrop underpins the company's pitch for a model that shifts formal employment obligations away from the client business.
AI layer
HeroForce uses Employment Hero's in-house Hero AI system to automate compliance checks, payroll calculations and administrative tasks across the employment cycle. It also includes AI-assisted candidate matching and screening tools designed to help managers rank applicants against set criteria.
The service therefore covers both recruitment and ongoing employment administration. For customers, the proposition is not only about hiring workers but also about managing the legal and payroll framework once those workers are in place.
Employment Hero already provides HR, payroll and recruitment software, and says it serves more than 350,000 businesses and manages more than 2.5 million employees worldwide. HeroForce is available in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Kevin Fitzgerald, UK Managing Director, Employment Hero, said: "Employment is one of the world's oldest and most common legal contracts used by businesses. We all depend on it, yet the infrastructure behind it remains highly manual and fragmented. The EOR model transformed international hiring by simplifying complexity."
"HeroForce helps bring that same clarity to UK employment," said Fitzgerald.
"Today, compliance and cost risks, especially in light of the Employment Rights Act, are the number one concern for SMEs," added Fitzgerald. "Many are so worried about getting it wrong that they're resorting to workarounds or avoiding traditional employment altogether. HeroForce is built to help restore confidence and backed by Employment Hero's team of experts in payroll and employment law, so SMEs never have to navigate employment alone."
Market shift
The launch reflects a broader shift in how employment services firms are trying to support smaller businesses facing tighter labour regulation and higher administrative costs. Software suppliers and outsourcing groups are increasingly moving beyond HR systems alone towards models that take on more direct responsibility for compliance and payroll execution.
For UK employers, one attraction of these arrangements is the transfer of legal and administrative risk. Businesses can still direct day-to-day work and staffing decisions, but the formal employer assumes responsibility for statutory processes and documentation.
That distinction may matter most for smaller firms without in-house HR or employment law teams. It also creates a different competitive position for providers such as Employment Hero, which is seeking to combine software, automation and direct employment administration in a single offering.
According to the company, HeroForce operates as an employment business under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. Workers engaged through the model are entitled to key information documents and retain protections covering paid holiday, pension entitlements, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal.
Employment Hero says the system behind HeroForce has been built on 12 years of regulatory integrations, payroll infrastructure and employment law expertise. Its argument is that while the technology layer can reduce manual work, the core of the UK offering is the transfer of employer obligations from the SME to Employment Hero itself.