MHR launches updated People First platform to provide leaders and employees with control in an evolving workplace

MHR, the specialist provider of HR, payroll and finance software, has today launched an updated version of People First, an AI-enabled platform that unifies people, pay and finance, so customers can turn organisational data into better business decisions. The launch was announced at World of Work 2026, MHR’s national event bringing together some of the sharpest minds in leadership, behavioural science and tech to explore the forces reshaping the way we work.

The platform addresses the everyday inefficiencies that slow organisations down, including fragmented workflows, decisions based on stale data and the challenge of evidencing productivity. With new capabilities across finance, skills and expenses, People First empowers organisations to operate more efficiently while giving managers and employees greater control over their working day. Finance forms a key part of the platform’s evolution, extending People First beyond people processes to help organisations understand their wider business value. By connecting information previously hidden across the organisation, People First turns data into insight, and insight into impact.

Anton Roe, CEO at MHR, said: “People’s expectations about what they want from workplace technology have changed, and we’re helping employers not only keep up with this evolution, but get ahead of it. People expect technology to anticipate what they need, with information, insight and guidance at their fingertips. 

People First is built around these needs, putting connected information and intelligent support directly in employees’ hands. People, finance and operations teams gain greater capacity to focus on strategic priorities, while employees get a working day with less friction and more opportunity.”

The People First platform introduces powerful new capabilities enabling businesses to:

• Put intelligence to work: A new embedded AI assistant brings connected, contextual guidance into the flow of work, helping employees find information, complete actions and make better decisions. It also enables HR teams to focus their expertise where it can have the greatest organisational impact. 
• Build a skills-based organisation: Teams can identify, track and grow workforce capability, using this insight to develop and deploy talent more effectively, supporting skills-based career development, internal mobility and workforce planning based on verified capabilities rather than job titles alone. 
• Connect people decisions to business impact: Finance teams can see the real-time impact of headcount decisions on the company’s bottom line, giving managers a transparent view of the cost and business impact of their people choices at the point decisions are made.
• Reduce friction across the business: Simplify expense management and approvals with real-time prompts in line with company policies at the point of submission, keeping managers and finance teams updated on costs moving in and out of the business, helping them act with confidence.
• Give every team the view they need: HR, payroll and finance work from the same central data, with each team seeing it presented in the way that suits how they work and on a device that works for them, including mobile.

The launch represents an evolution of MHR’s existing People First platform, seamlessly introducing enhanced AI-enabled capabilities with upgraded modules across HR, payroll, workforce management, recruitment, onboarding, talent management and learning. Each update reflects a shift in how people expect to interact with technology at work, moving beyond disconnected systems and manual processes towards a more intelligent, connected experience. By making insight and support easier to access, People First helps employees take greater ownership while enabling HR teams to focus on higher-value work. 

Roe adds: “People First is designed to put more accurate, real-time information in the hands of the people making decisions. The connected intelligence across the platform means managers can see the financial consequences of the choices in front of them, leaders can identify and develop the skills their organisation needs, employees can access the guidance and opportunities that help them perform at their best. Together, these capabilities unlock productivity and empower decision-making at every level, which is what sustains a high-performing business.”

The updated version of People First will be available globally from April 2027.