Latest news with #Humi
Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Why HR is burning out and the Toronto tech company offering relief
Toronto-based technology company Humi says it has developed the antidote to the high level of burnout the human resources sector is experiencing in the new hybrid work world. The company's suite of HR technology tools helps employers manage everything from onboarding new hires and managing benefits to payroll and scheduling time off. It's a break from the current fragmented approach to HR, says Humi co-founder and chief executive officer Kevin Kliman. '[We've been] managing people through disconnected systems. . . people inevitably make super costly mistakes,' says Mr. Kliman, who launched the business in 2016 with co-founder David Tong. 'Having a unified system to hire somebody and manage from end to end is such a massive benefit for businesses.' The HR environment was irreversibly changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Workforces dispersed, shifting to remote setups before settling into hybrid work environments. It's left a lasting effect. A recent survey by employment agency Robert Half of 1,500 professionals across Canada found that those in the legal and HR fields reported the highest level of burnout (59 per cent). Heavy workloads and long hours were the top factors contributing to their workplace fatigue. 'A lot of HR teams are quite lean post-COVID-19. . . the scope of the job has grown so much,' says Justin Bergeron, a senior HR consultant with Salopek and Associates in Calgary. 'It's not just about hiring and policies now. There's culture, mental health, hybrid work, engagement, deeper learning and development – HR teams are trying to support these increasingly complex employee needs with tools that weren't really designed for that world.' Humi has built its platform to serve this new version of reality for HR professionals. Originally created for bootstrapped startups with fewer than 10 employees, Humi is now used by more than 150,000 employees across 4,000 A Canadian businesses of all sizes. 'Over time, we continue to stack on capabilities to the platforms to handle bigger companies [and] a more diverse set of companies within the platform,' Mr. Kliman says. The company was acquired by Australia-based Employment Hero in January 2025 for a reported $100-million, but Mr. Kliman says Humi remains focused on the nuances of the Canadian market. 'There are a zillion SaaS companies that sell to the Fortune 500 and different companies across the world,' he says. 'We only sell to Canadian companies. . . all the logos that we bring in are businesses that you recognize in your neighbourhood.' One of those clients is Golf Canada, the sport's governing body, which started using Humi in early 2024. Given the rising popularity of its youth programs, Golf Canada has grown from 50 to 130 staff nationally. About 75 per cent of its staff are dispersed around Ontario and across the country, making its HR work more complex, says its chief people officer, Niki da Silva. 'One of our challenges is [ensuring] that we're servicing employees with the same level of professionalism and access to information, whether they're sitting next to us in the office or not,' she says. 'My team's not growing significantly, so we had to figure out a way to free up some capacity of the people and culture team.' Ms. da Silva says Golf Canada uses Humi for various tasks such as recruiting, onboarding, vacation, performance management. Humi also works with a network of 1,500 golf courses across Canada, which Mr. Kliman says is an example of how it's incrementally bringing on larger customers with more complex hiring needs. He envisions Humi reaching more than a million people on the platform within five to six years, up more than 500 per cent from today. Humi also recently launched a job marketplace called Employment Hero. 'For the last decade or so, people have relied on job boards to go out and find people to apply to their business,' Mr. Kliman says. 'With Employment Hero, we're actually going out and finding applicants' A 2025 Manpower Group survey found that 77 per cent of Canadian employers struggle to find the skilled talent they need. 'When you look across businesses, it's one of the largest costs,' Mr. Kliman says. 'If we can solve that problem, it's going to help in a massive way.' Humi taps into the ever-expanding role of HR professionals by focusing on the employee experience from hiring through to offboarding, says Mr. Bergeron of Salopek and Associates. 'These tools are not about replacing HR; it's about allowing HR to focus more on the human part of their work, be proactive, engage with their employees and offer that support that employees are looking for,' he says. Moving forward, Humi's challenge will be ensuring it can integrate with legacy systems and not overwhelm already time-strapped HR teams with complex onboarding processes. 'The best HR tech is almost invisible,' he says. 'It lets people do their jobs without adding extra friction.'
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump, U.S. tariffs muting Canadians' desire to move to America for their career: Survey
Many Canadians who have considered moving to the United States for career purposes are having second thoughts because of the election of U.S. President Donald Trump and the trade war he has since unleashed, a new survey says. The survey, commissioned by human resources software company Humi, found just over half of those who have thought about working in the U.S. were less likely to consider it due to Trump's election. Around half also say the tariffs imposed by the U.S. lowered the likelihood of making a move. The trends 'present a unique opportunity to reverse the brain drain to Canada's gain,' a media release from Humi says. The survey found that 16 per cent of respondents had considered moving to the U.S. for their career in the past five years. The figure is higher for Gen Z (29 per cent) and millennials (23 per cent), and also higher among those with at least a university degree (21 per cent). Among those who say they had considered moving, 31 per cent say their main motivation was higher compensation, while 29 per cent say it was lower taxes. Higher compensation stood out especially among the subset with at least a university degree, with 42 per cent citing it as the biggest motivator. 'Unfortunately, these findings don't come as a surprise as the Canadian government and companies have long struggled to reverse the trend of brain drain,' Kevin Kliman, Humi's co-founder, is quoted as saying in the release. Although Trump's election made 52 per cent of those who had considered moving to the U.S. less likely to consider it, it also made 30 per cent more likely to consider it. The tariffs were less polarizing, causing 51 per cent to say they were less likely to consider a move but only 17 per cent to say they were more likely to do so. Those polled were also asked about a third consideration, that is, the exchange rate between the U.S. and Canadian dollars. That factor made 42 per cent more likely to consider moving, and 29 per cent less likely to consider doing so. In the release, Kliman says that to capitalize on the lower enthusiasm for a U.S. career move, Canadian employers 'need to focus on retaining the talent they win over, elevating their employment experience and investing in their people.' Humi says several strategies can help Canadian businesses with these aims, including offering 'competitive benefits packages,' investing in modern, user-friendly technology and talking more openly with staff about how their career goals align with business needs. Kliman notes that the brain drain is also a policy issue and steps must be taken at that level as well. 'As a co-founder in the Canadian employment space, I also know first-hand that some aspects driving the brain drain are out of companies' hands, so we must work alongside policymakers to drive change,' he said. The online survey polled 1,515 Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum between April 7 and 9. The release says "for comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/-2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20." John MacFarlane is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jmacf. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Employment Hero Surpasses $200M ARR, Plans to Bring New Technology to Canadian Employment Solutions
Employment Hero celebrates this milestone on the heels of acquiring Canadian employment platform Humi. TORONTO, February 06, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Employment Hero, the global leader in employment management solutions, today announced a major milestone in its growth journey, surpassing $200M (CAD) in annualized recurring revenue. This comes on the heels of Employment Hero expanding its global footprint to Canada at the start of 2025 with the acquisition of Humi, a Canadian-based HR and payroll company. Today, over 300,000 businesses globally managing two million employees are using Employment Hero's employment operating system, helping drive job creation for local economies and GDP globally. The strong momentum comes on the back of a huge investment in product innovation for the company in 2024, with a record-breaking 900 product releases made by the global product and engineering teams. Employment Hero and Humi will begin rolling out many of these products in Canada in 2025 to help simplify employment processes and open up the hourly workforce segment with time and attendance functionality, payroll, leave management and more. These new tools will help Canadian businesses focus on their goals, enable employees to thrive, and support job seekers in finding the right opportunities. Ben Thompson, CEO and Co-Founder of Employment Hero, said "Our results show the tremendous value our employment operating system offers our customers. We are excited to bring our tools and technology to Canadian businesses that solve real, everyday employment challenges." About Humi Humi is the only employment platform for Canadian businesses. We know running a business is more than just paperwork and tasks – we make it easy to care for businesses and those who bring them to life. We're the best choice for supporting Canadian businesses in being better employers with a unified payroll, HR, and benefits solution. To learn more about Humi, visit About Employment Hero Employment Hero is the global authority on employment, offering a world-leading Employment Operating System (eOS) that simplifies and optimizes every stage of the employment process. Its award-winning platform combines HR, payroll, recruitment, and employee engagement tools with the groundbreaking employment superapp, Employment Hero Jobs, which integrates career management and financial wellbeing. Serving over 300,000 businesses and managing more than 2 million employees worldwide, Employment Hero reduces administrative burdens by up to 80%, enabling organizations to focus on their goals and create more productive, engaged teams. By revolutionizing the employment marketplace, Employment Hero is making employment easier, more valuable, and rewarding for everyone. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts Media Inquiries Anne-Marie TrembleSenior Account Manager, Talk Shop Media613-914-3551annemarie@ Sign in to access your portfolio
