January marks an ambitious expansion of how we power global scale. In 2026, we’re amplifying Deel’s core capabilities into a high-performance people platform built to support every worker type, in every country, with greater speed and consistency.

Our focus this quarter is high-definition control. By unifying our HR data architecture, we’ve standardized how workforce and compensation data move across your global footprint.. Whether you are managing an advisor in London or a director in New York, these improvements ensure your operations run with less friction and more confidence.

This month’s updates are the first steps in this journey, strengthening the foundation behind Deel HR, Deel Payroll, and Deel IT. The result is clearer visibility, tighter compliance, and more automation where it matters most, helping you scale with confidence.

HR: Total Workforce Visibility

A global HRIS is only as strong as its data. Our January updates focus on standardizing your workforce architecture so you can stop managing via "workarounds" and start managing with total clarity.

The headlines

Allocate and track fixed salary budgets for managers

HR teams using Deel HR can now assign fixed compensation budgets during review cycles, ensuring managers stay within limits while HR and finance track total budget impact in real time.

Draft better performance reviews with AI assistance

To improve quality and reduce friction, managers using Deel Engage can generate high-quality feedback drafts from short prompts, ensuring more constructive growth conversations.

Manage approvals directly within Microsoft Teams

Deel HR is moving sensitive HR approvals into the flow of your team's work, allowing managers to handle changes in seconds without leaving their primary chat tool.

Automate identity verification for new hires

Strengthen your compliance perimeter by requiring Independent Contractors to finish identity verification before a contract is signed, ensuring no worker begins services until documentation is fully vetted.

More updates to support your team

• Measure real course engagement with active learning time: Deel Engage users can now track actual interaction time with learning content, excluding idle time for more accurate audits.

• Connect self-reviews to manager feedback: Create a more seamless review flow in Deel Engage by giving managers full context before starting feedback.

• Match performance scores to your internal rating scales: Performance insights now support custom scales (e.g., 1-5 or 1-10) or original "Actual Scores" to align perfectly with your company's unique rating culture.

• Integrate learning courses into employee development plans: Help your team close skill gaps faster in Deel Engage by embedding relevant training courses directly into their personal growth journeys.

• Add mandatory policy acknowledgments to courses: Ensure compliance in Deel Engage by requiring learners to check a native agreement block for policies or terms, creating a timestamped record for your audits.

• Tailor your reporting with custom org chart fields: Add specialized data points to your organizational hierarchy in Deel HR to track and report on the metrics that matter most to your business.

• Store termination records in a secure offboarding vault: Protect your legal records by automatically centralizing termination letters and documents in a secure, easy-to-access digital vault.

Finance & Payroll: High-Definition Treasury

Global finance requires more than just processing payments. It requires instant, actionable insight. This month, we are delivering features that turn payroll data into a searchable knowledge base and bring transparency to global spend.

The Headlines

Audit global spend instantly with AI-powered payslip search

Stop digging through manual files. Use natural language in Deel AI to surface insights like overtime trends or tax breakdowns directly from payslips.

Schedule contractor payments and adjustments in advance

Gain better control over month-end close by planning bonuses and one-off payments weeks ahead.

View clear breakdowns of contractor maintenance fees

We’ve made management costs fully transparent. Contractor maintenance fees are now productized and clearly categorized within your invoices, allowing for instant reconciliation without the guesswork.

More updates to support your team

• Bulk Edit for Calendar Milestones: Update global payroll due dates across multiple countries in one action.

• Tax Form Downloads: Reduce admin tickets by letting contractors self-serve their 2025 tax forms and export data directly from their dashboard.

• Unify Mass Create with PEO: A faster, consolidated onboarding experience for bulk hiring within PEO entities.

Global IT & Systems: Automated Operational Control

Scalability fails when it creates more manual work. In January, we are focusing on zero-click insights automating the procurement, security, and access management cycles so you can focus on growth.

The headlines

Automate app access with Google Workspace integration

Centralize identity and app access management in Dee ITl, with automatic revocation when contracts end. Especially valuable for SMBs that need stronger control without added complexity.

Centralize IT support with on-platform ticketing

Deel IT admins and workers can submit, track, and resolve support requests directly in Deel, keeping communication centralized.

Scale global hardware orders with a redesigned request flow

A redesigned, e-commerce-style experience that makes it easier to select, order, and track equipment for a global workforce. The improved UI helps Deel IT admins find the right devices faster and reduces shipping errors, so teams can get productive sooner.

Consolidate platform alerts into a streamlined Slack feed

Stay ahead of critical alerts by bundling payouts, security, and compliance notifications into a single Slack feed.

More updates to support your team

• Track asset delivery status in real-time in Deel IT: Provide full transparency by showing assigned equipment and live shipping status on worker profiles.

• Cancel hardware orders instantly before they ship: Save on unnecessary equipment costs by allowing admins to cancel hardware orders directly within the platform if plans change before fulfillment.

• View historical device logs for audit-readiness: Maintain a clear security audit trail with accessible logs detailing device assignments, recoveries, and support history for every asset in your fleet.

One Last Thing: Your Q1 roadmap

These updates are just the beginning of a massive Q1. Our north star for the quarter is a fully rebuilt mobile experience and proactive compliance intelligence that make global management frictionless.

We are rebuilding the Deel mobile app from the ground up using React Native, designed to deliver 90% faster performance and a more intuitive interface. Managers will soon handle approvals and time-sensitive tasks on the go with secure biometric access.

Beyond mobile, we are embedding proactive risk protection directly into your workflow. Our upcoming unified misclassification hub will automatically flag risk signals before they lead to legal friction, and we're expanding our AI to offer "Zero-Click Insights" for immediate answers on localized labor laws. Together, these investments give your team more control without sacrificing the guardrails needed to scale with confidence.

Stay ahead of the curve by bookmarking the in-app Changelog in your Knowledge Hub to track the improvements we ship every single day.