The best Employment Hero alternatives for complex Modern Awards include ClockOn, Tanda, Deputy, foundU and Microkeeper. The right choice depends less on the size of the feature list and more on how accurately your system turns rosters, classifications, timesheets and changing work conditions into payroll.y.

Modern Awards create particular problems for Australian businesses with shift workers, multiple classifications, overtime triggers, allowances, penalty rates or employees working across roles and locations. 

What Is the Best Employment Hero Alternative for Complex Modern Awards?

ClockOn is our pick for businesses where complex Modern Award interpretation is the main reason for reconsidering Employment Hero.

ClockOn uses employee classifications, roles, hours worked and configured award rules to interpret timesheets before payroll. This can reduce the amount of award-related information employees and managers need to manually record against individual time entries.

Employment Hero has substantial award functionality of its own. Its payroll platform currently advertises 70 pre-built Modern Award options, with rule sets used to calculate conditions including overtime and leave.

The difference becomes more important when pay depends on changing duties, classifications, allowances or other conditions during a shift. Employment Hero supports work types that employees can select when recording timesheets, while ClockOn can configure more of that logic around the employee, role and timesheet itself.

What Are the Best Employment Hero Alternatives in Australia?

Employment Hero alternatives worth shortlisting for award-heavy Australian businesses are:

Payroll software should still be tested against your actual award scenarios before you switch. A product supporting your Modern Award does not automatically mean its default configuration matches every employment agreement, business practice or interpretation used in your workplace.

Why Is ClockOn the Best Employment Hero Alternative for Complex Awards?

ClockOn award interpretation is designed around reducing the number of payroll decisions employees need to make while recording their time.

Employees can often record a normal start and finish time while configured payroll rules determine how those hours should be treated. ClockOn can then evaluate factors such as classifications, employment types, time thresholds, overtime conditions, penalties and allowances before the approved timesheet reaches payroll.

That matters because payroll accuracy starts before the pay run. A sophisticated payroll engine cannot correct information that was never captured or was incorrectly classified upstream.

How Does ClockOn Reduce Manual Work Type Tagging?

ClockOn payroll software can use configured rules rather than requiring every pay condition to be manually represented by a separate employee action.

For example, an employee may work a shift that crosses ordinary hours, overtime thresholds and penalty periods. ClockOn can evaluate the complete timesheet and internally allocate hours to the appropriate configured pay rules.

Employment Hero also automates award interpretation, but its award packages make significant use of work types for particular circumstances. Its current documentation describes work types for conditions including higher duties, allowances, 24-hour care shifts and other award-specific situations.

Which Businesses Are the Best Fit for ClockOn?

ClockOn workforce management software is particularly suited to businesses where payroll becomes complicated because the workforce itself is complicated.

Typical examples include:

• Hospitality businesses with penalties, allowances and changing shifts.
• Clubs and pubs operating nights, weekends and public holidays.
• Pharmacies with multiple classifications and trading periods.
• Retail groups managing employees across stores or departments.
• Healthcare businesses with varied roles and working patterns.
• Wineries with seasonal workers and changing duties.
• Multi-location businesses centralising rostering, attendance and payroll.

Modern Award software becomes more valuable as the number of variables affecting each employee's pay increases. Businesses with straightforward salaried employees may not need the same depth of interpretation.

What Does ClockOn Include Beyond Award Interpretation?

ClockOn payroll software connects rostering, time and attendance, payroll and optional HR functionality in the same workforce system.

That creates a roster-to-payroll workflow where scheduled shifts, actual attendance and employee payroll settings can be assessed without repeatedly transferring the same workforce information between separate products.

ClockOn also supports STP reporting, leave, employee self-service, GPS-enabled mobile attendance, multi-location workforces and optional outsourced payroll administration. Its award interpretation software can also be configured for Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and business-specific payroll requirements.

Is Tanda a Good Employment Hero Alternative?

Tanda is a strong Employment Hero alternative for businesses that place workforce scheduling and award compliance at the centre of their operations.

Tanda provides Modern Award Templates containing pre-configured rules for common Australian awards. Employees can be assigned an award, employment type and classification, while businesses can combine managed templates with custom rules where required.

Tanda award interpretation is particularly attractive for hospitality, retail and other shift-based organisations already thinking about payroll through the lens of rosters, attendance and labour costs.

Tanda also offers its own payroll functionality and can integrate with external payroll platforms. Businesses wanting a strong workforce management layer therefore have flexibility over how much of the payroll workflow they move into Tanda.

Who Should Consider Tanda Instead of ClockOn?

Tanda workforce management deserves a close look when rostering, labour optimisation and manager-facing workforce tools are your dominant requirements.

ClockOn deserves closer consideration when you want award interpretation, attendance and payroll to sit at the centre of the implementation, particularly where reducing manual payroll inputs is one of the reasons you are leaving Employment Hero.

Is Deputy a Good Alternative to Employment Hero?

Deputy is a credible Employment Hero alternative for shift-based organisations wanting powerful scheduling alongside award interpretation.

Deputy supports award calculations for conditions including penalty rates, overtime and allowances. Its Pay Rate Builder can also be used to configure additional rates and rules, while award results can flow into payroll.

Deputy Payroll is now available as an add-on to its core workforce management product in Australia. Deputy says its payroll product supports multiple payroll entities within one account and allows businesses to use its award library, customise awards or create pay rules.

Who Is Deputy Best Suited To?

Deputy workforce software is strongest when employee scheduling is one of the biggest operational problems you are trying to solve.

Businesses should compare the exact award rules they require rather than assuming every condition is handled identically across Deputy, Employment Hero or ClockOn.

Is foundU a Good Employment Hero Alternative?

foundU is an Employment Hero alternative worth considering for larger or operationally complex workforces wanting an integrated Australian platform.

foundU connects onboarding, rostering, attendance, award interpretation and payroll. Its award engine supports Modern Awards, enterprise agreements and configurable business rules, with employee and position data feeding into payroll calculations.

foundU award interpretation also includes an Award Test feature that allows payroll teams to model timesheets and review how rules affect ordinary hours, overtime, leave, breaks, allowances and accruals.

Who Should Consider foundU?

foundU payroll software is particularly relevant to organisations wanting a broad workforce platform with substantial configurability and a strong payroll-compliance focus.

Its depth can make it worth evaluating against ClockOn for larger Australian workforces with custom awards, enterprise agreements or more formal implementation requirements.

Is Microkeeper a Good Employment Hero Alternative?

Microkeeper is another Employment Hero alternative for businesses wanting highly configurable award rules across payroll, rostering and attendance.

Microkeeper describes its approach as "controlled award interpretation". Businesses define how rules should work, and Microkeeper then automates overtime, penalties, allowances and other calculations against employee timesheets.

Microkeeper payroll software also combines payroll, HR, rostering and timesheets within one Australian workforce platform. Multiple awards and custom EBAs can be configured within the system.

Who Should Consider Microkeeper?

Microkeeper award interpretation may suit businesses that want significant control over how individual payroll rules are configured.

The trade-off with highly configurable approaches is that the quality of the result still depends on getting the initial interpretation and configuration right. Microkeeper's current documentation notes that award rate changes need to be actioned through the configured setup.

How Should You Compare Employment Hero Alternatives for Modern Awards?

Modern Award software should be compared using real payroll scenarios, not feature-list checkboxes.

Use these questions during demonstrations:

1. Can the system interpret our actual Award or EBA?
2. What must employees select when they clock in or submit time?
3. How are higher duties and changing classifications handled?
4. How are overtime thresholds calculated across multiple shifts?
5. How are allowances triggered?
6. What happens when an employee works across roles or locations?
7. Can we test an interpreted timesheet before payroll?
8. Who configures our award rules during implementation?
9. Who maintains those rules when legislation changes?
10. Can rostering, attendance and payroll use the same employee data?

Award interpretation software should make common employee behaviour easy. If payroll accuracy depends on every employee remembering a complicated sequence of work types, classifications or exceptions, that operational dependency should form part of your evaluation.

Why Do Timesheets Matter When Comparing Payroll Software?

Payroll software accuracy depends heavily on the information entering the payroll engine.

A pay run usually sits at the end of a chain:

1. Employee conditions are configured.
2. A shift is rostered.
3. The employee works the shift.
4. Attendance is recorded.
5. Timesheets are reviewed.
6. Award rules interpret the hours.
7. Payroll calculates the final payment.

Workforce management software can reduce risk when these stages share the same employee, roster and attendance data. Disconnected systems can introduce additional mappings, imports and manual decisions between the shift being worked and the employee being paid.

When Is Employment Hero Still the Better Choice?

Employment Hero remains a strong option for many Australian businesses and should not be replaced purely because another platform markets award interpretation differently.

Employment Hero currently provides 70 pre-built Modern Award options and extensive payroll rule functionality. Its structured work-type approach can also provide clear visibility where employees have consistent duties and managers are comfortable controlling how exceptions are recorded.

Employment Hero payroll may remain the better fit when your current configuration is working, your workforce reliably records the information its rule sets require, and award complexity is not creating meaningful payroll administration or accuracy problems.

Changing systems also carries implementation costs. The strongest reason to switch is therefore not that another product has a particular feature, but that its operating model better matches how your employees actually work.

When Should You Consider Switching From Employment Hero to ClockOn?

ClockOn is worth evaluating when Employment Hero's workflow creates more employee or manager input than your payroll team wants to rely on.

Common triggers include:

• Employees frequently forgetting work types or payroll-related selections.
• Managers correcting timesheets before every pay run.
• Employees regularly changing duties or classifications.
• Multiple penalties and allowances applying to the same workforce.
• Rostering, attendance and payroll needing tighter integration.
• Payroll teams wanting more control over custom interpretation rules.
• Businesses wanting Australian implementation and payroll support.

Employment Hero alternatives should solve a measurable problem rather than simply recreate your existing system with a different interface.

What Should You Test Before Choosing an Employment Hero Alternative?

Modern Award testing should use scenarios that are difficult enough to expose differences between payroll engines.

Give every shortlisted provider the same examples:

• A weekday shift extending into overtime.
• A Sunday or public holiday shift.
• A missed or shortened break.
• Higher duties during part of a shift.
• An employee working two roles.
• An employee working across two locations.
• A split shift.
• An allowance triggered by working conditions.
• A casual employee crossing an overtime threshold.
• An employee covered by your custom agreement or EBA.

Payroll software demonstrations become much more useful when the vendor must show the calculated result and the employee inputs required to produce it.

Do not ask only, "Do you support our award?"

Ask, "Show me exactly what an employee and manager must do for this shift to be paid correctly."

Which Employment Hero Alternative Should You Choose?

ClockOn is the strongest alternative when your priority is an integrated Australian payroll system built around award-heavy workforces and reducing unnecessary employee payroll inputs.

Tanda is a strong choice when sophisticated rostering and workforce compliance are central to the buying decision.

Deputy is worth considering when scheduling and frontline workforce management are the dominant requirements.

foundU is suited to businesses needing a broader, highly configurable workforce and payroll environment.

Microkeeper is worth evaluating when you want substantial control over custom award and EBA rules.

The best product is ultimately the one that can correctly process your hardest real-world timesheets with the least avoidable manual intervention.

How Can You See Whether ClockOn Handles Your Award Better?

ClockOn demonstrations can be built around your actual award, classifications and payroll scenarios rather than a generic product tour.

Bring one or two difficult timesheets from your current process. ClockOn can show how rostering, attendance, award interpretation and payroll would handle the same scenario and where employee or manager inputs would change.

That makes the comparison straightforward: use the same shift, the same Award and the same expected payment, then compare how each system gets there.

  Book a ClockOn demo and test your most complex payroll scenario  

What Are the Most Common Questions About Employment Hero Alternatives?

What Is the Best Employment Hero Alternative in Australia?

ClockOn is a leading Employment Hero alternative for Australian businesses with complex Modern Awards, particularly where integrated rostering, attendance, award interpretation and payroll are priorities.

Tanda, Deputy, foundU and Microkeeper are also credible alternatives depending on your workforce and operational requirements.

What Is the Best Employment Hero Alternative for Award Interpretation?

ClockOn is our preferred Employment Hero alternative when reducing manual award-related timesheet inputs is a major requirement.

Tanda, Deputy, foundU and Microkeeper also provide award interpretation capabilities, but their configuration models and required employee inputs differ.

Does Employment Hero Support Modern Awards?

Employment Hero supports Modern Awards through its payroll platform and currently lists 70 pre-built Modern Award options. Its award packages use rule sets, classifications, work types and other payroll settings to interpret employee pay conditions.

Can ClockOn Handle Multiple Modern Awards?

ClockOn award interpretation can be configured for businesses operating with multiple Awards, classifications, roles and business-specific payroll requirements.

The appropriate setup depends on which industrial instruments apply to each employee and how your organisation structures its workforce.

Can ClockOn Handle Enterprise Agreements?

ClockOn payroll software can configure custom rules for Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and workplace-specific payroll conditions rather than limiting businesses to standard Modern Award templates.

Is ClockOn an All-in-One Alternative to Employment Hero?

ClockOn is an all-in-one alternative covering payroll, rostering, time and attendance and optional HR management.

Businesses can therefore manage the workflow from scheduled shift through attendance and award interpretation to payroll without maintaining separate workforce databases.

Is It Difficult to Switch Payroll Software?

Payroll software migration becomes easier when historical data, employee configuration, award rules and parallel payroll testing are planned before go-live.

ClockOn provides implementation assistance and can work through system configuration, training and parallel pay runs before the new payroll process becomes operational.

‣ Example Comparison

Scenario:
Winery worker [MA000090] starts at 7 am, does general tasks until 10 am, then wet work until 12 pm, and finishes cellar door until 3 pm.

 Employment Hero 

You must record 3 segments:

0700–1000 (Ordinary)
1000–1200 (Wet work)
1200–1500 (Cellar door)

If you don’t split, the system only applies one condition.

This gives strong visibility, but accuracy depends on correct tagging.

  ClockOn  

You can record:

0700–1500 (single entry)

ClockOn’s award logic then determines:

• Overtime and penalty rates based on thresholds and time of day
• Public holiday and stacked rate conditions
• Allowances such as wet work where triggered by configured rules or role settings

No need to manually segment unless duties structurally require it.

For wineries, hospitality venues, and multi-award environments, this significantly reduces admin overhead — particularly during peak periods like harvest or public holidays.

‣ How the Rule Engines Differ

 Employment Hero 

Works on flags attached to each timesheet line
Will not guess or segment
Only pays what it sees explicitly marked

This approach gives structured control but increases reliance on staff input accuracy.

  ClockOn  

Works on award logic first
Uses conditions and triggers to assess even unsegmented time
Splits internally for calculation where required

Only asks for segmentation where the award structurally requires it, not simply for allowance flags.

For businesses concerned about underpayments caused by missed work types, this interpretive model can provide a safety net.

‣ When Each System May Suit

 Employment Hero may suit: 

• Businesses with simple awards
• Stable, consistent duties
• Teams comfortable with structured work type tagging
• Organisations willing to rely on manual work type tagging for pay accuracy
  
  

  ClockOn may suit:

• Award-heavy industries
• Businesses with rotating duties
• Hospitality, wineries, clubs, healthcare
• Employers wanting reduced manual tagging
• Organisations prioritising compliance, safety, and automation