Employment Hero Payroll (formerly KeyPay) is a cloud-based payroll platform built around Australia's Modern Award system. Built on the robust KeyPay engine, it excels at automating complex calculations, interpreting award conditions, and managing rostering and timesheets in a unified system — making it a strong contender for industries like hospitality, retail, and healthcare. It is available as a standalone payroll product, or as the integrated payroll engine within the full Employment Hero HR platform.

■ Key Features

• Modern Award interpretation engine: Pre-loaded Modern Award templates automate calculations for base rates, penalty rates, overtime, allowances, and leave entitlements — including complex conditions such as higher duties, split shifts, and casual conversion rules. Supports EBAs alongside Modern Awards.

• Rostering & timesheet integration: Employees clock in and out via the mobile app; approved timesheets feed directly into the pay run — eliminating manual data transfer between time tracking and payroll.

• Multi-entity payroll: Supports multiple legal entities within a single account — allowing organisations with multiple ABNs, trading entities, or locations to manage payroll under one platform.

• STP Phase 2 & Payday Super: Automated ATO reporting on every pay run, SuperStream-compliant super payments, and Payday Super-ready compliance ahead of the 1 July 2026 legislative change.

• Employee self-service & earned wage access: Staff access payslips, submit leave, and update details via the Employment Hero Work app (Swag) — which also provides earned wage access (pay on demand) as an optional employee benefit.
  
  

■ Who It's Best Suited For

• Australian SMEs and mid-market businesses (typically 5–500 employees) in award-heavy industries — hospitality, retail, healthcare, aged care, and construction — where automated Modern Award interpretation meaningfully reduces underpayment risk

• Accountants and bookkeeping firms running payroll for multiple clients, seeking a flexible, API-rich payroll engine with bureau-friendly tools

• Businesses that want standalone payroll with strong award automation, without committing to the full Employment Hero HR platform
  
  

■ Integrates With

Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, Deputy, Tanda, Humanforce, Lightspeed, and 100+ apps. QuickBooks Payroll in Australia is powered by the Employment Hero Payroll engine.