Today we’ve released the biggest update to HR Partner since it first launched – a completely updated admin portal, a fully redesigned experience across devices, and a number of improvements that set us up for what comes next, including how we use AI across the platform.
When I started HR Partner almost ten years ago, the goal was pretty straightforward.
I wanted to build an HR platform that gave small and medium-sized businesses access to the kind of tools that were usually reserved for much larger organisations. Back then, it often felt like smaller businesses were choosing between expensive enterprise software or a patchwork of spreadsheets and disconnected tools.
It didn’t feel like a fair choice, so I started building something different.
A lot has changed since then. Technology has evolved, the product has grown, and HR Partner is now used by businesses around the world. I’ve been fortunate to stay close to the product through all of it – I wrote the first version, and I still spend plenty of my time writing code today.
Working on this latest version has brought back some of that early feeling. Late nights, lots of iteration, and that same mix of excitement and uncertainty about whether what you’re building will land the way you hope it will. It’s been a good reminder of why I started doing this in the first place.
Looking back, it’s hard to believe what started on my computer has become what HR Partner is today.
But while I wrote the first version, this stopped being a one-person project a long time ago. This release is the result of a team of people who care deeply about building something useful for our customers. Everyone’s played a part in getting us here, and I’m genuinely proud of what we’ve built together.
Our customers have been just as important. Over the years they’ve shared thousands of ideas, feature requests and pieces of feedback through support conversations, demos, surveys and reviews. Those conversations continue to shape the product in ways that aren’t always visible day to day, but are deeply present in how we make decisions.
This update is the biggest we’ve made since HR Partner launched. While the new admin portal is the most visible change, it’s really about setting a stronger foundation for everything we want to build next – and making the experience simpler and more consistent across the platform.
Even though a lot has changed over the last decade, the reason we build HR Partner hasn’t.
We’re still focused on solving real problems for small and medium-sized businesses. As a small business ourselves, we know every decision matters. Software needs to save time, reduce friction, and actually make work easier – not add complexity.
That’s something that sits behind every decision we make.
AI is a good example. It’s one of the biggest shifts we’ve seen in the industry in years, and we’re interested in where it can genuinely help. But we’re also being deliberate about it.
If AI helps customers get work done faster or better, we’ll use it. If it doesn’t, we won’t add it just because it’s expected. We’d rather build something useful than something noisy.
That approach has served us well for the past ten years, and I don’t expect that to change.
We’re still proudly Australian. HR Partner was founded in Darwin, and today we’re a fully remote company, with people across Australia and around the world. In many ways, we’re the kind of business we originally built HR Partner for.
This year has also been a meaningful one. Alongside launching this update, we were recognised by G2 as one of its Top 50 Products. That recognition is always appreciated, but it really reflects the work of the team and the customers who’ve helped shape the product over time.
And we’re not stopping here.
The new admin portal gives us a strong foundation for what comes next, and we’re already working on more improvements, features, and ideas that have come directly from customer feedback.
After almost ten years, I’m still just as excited about what we’re building next as I was when I wrote that first line of code.
Subscribers can log into the platform now to see what’s new.
If you’re a small business looking for a HR solution, why don’t you give us a try. You can start a free 14-day trial or speak to one of our excellent Customer Success team members, and they’ll give you a personalised walk-through of the platform.