How can HR software help your company's bottom line?

By automating your HR processes, human resource software saves your HR team time that they would otherwise spend manually performing administrative functions. This gives your HR department more time to execute other important tasks. In addition, most HR software helps you comply with federal, state and local laws, which can reduce the possibility of costly legal issues.

What should you look for in an HR software package?

Making sure the solution has all of the functionality and features your team needs is of critical importance when looking for HR management software. Are you in need of a recruiting, applicant tracking and onboarding solution? Do you need payroll, time and attendance tracking, and benefits administration? Analyze your current HR process to determine which functions you want the HR software to manage.nnIf the HR software package is missing a few of the features you want, ask the vendors you're considering if the solution will at least integrate with other platforms that fulfill those needs. Additional features to look for in an HR software package are reporting and analytics capabilities to track your processes, a self-service portal for employees to access and manage their information, a mobile app, and great customer support.

How do you know when your small business needs an HR software solution?

If you are a small startup with a few employees or you can easily manage all of your HR tasks by hand, you may be fine handling all of your HR responsibilities manually. However, as soon as your HR functions take up too much time or you expand, it is time to invest in HR software.nnRegardless of how small or large your business is, HR software is a great way to streamline common core HR tasks like record keeping, payroll and talent management. It is also a great way to help your business maintain compliance with employment and labor laws.nnIf your business needs help with any of these functions, consider getting an HR software solution.

What do the best HR software solutions have in common?

The best HR software solutions automate and streamline your HR processes. Not only do they help with recruiting, onboarding, employee engagement, administrative tasks, time tracking, employee compensation, and benefits administration, but they also allow you to comply with employment and labor laws.nnThe best HR solutions are cloud-based and intuitive, they come with easy-to-use dashboards and mobile applications, and they provide quick and responsive customer support.

What special features can you add to HR software packages to customize them to your needs?

Many HR software solutions provide preset service plans; some companies let you add customizable features u2013 this is a great option for small businesses that only need specific HR management functions.nnFor example, you may be able to add on components like payroll, benefits administration, time tracking, performance management, learning management systems, advanced HR support and advisory services. Some providers even offer industry-specific HR software that is customized to each business's unique needs.

The Best HR Software for Your Business

HR software helps businesses of all sizes streamline their HR processes, including timekeeping, payroll and performance management.
HR software solutions are often designed with different business sizes, types and goals in mind, so it is important to shop around to find the right platform for your business.
HR software can also provide helpful reporting and analytics tools to give businesses a clearer view of their workforce.
This best picks page is for business owners who need help choosing the right HR software platform for their business.

The best human resources (HR) software can streamline functions such as recruiting, employee onboarding, time and attendance tracking, payroll and benefits administration, employee performance management, and legal compliance. These platforms integrate seamlessly into hiring and operational workflows so that HR management is easy not only for HR leaders but all employees. To help you choose the best HR software for your business, we examined the top HR applications, evaluating each platform on its price, ease of use and valuable features.

Compare Our Best Picks

Company	Editor’s Score	Best For	Free Trial	Staring Price by Plan	Integrations	Mobile App	Payroll Included	Customer Service
Gusto	96/100	Payroll	Payment not due until first payroll is run.	$40, plus $6 per employee	185+	Yes	Yes	Phone, email, live chat
Rippling	96/100	Employee Onboarding	None	$8 per employee	500+	Yes	Yes	Phone, email, live chat
BambooHR	94/100	Performance Management	7-day free trial	Custom pricing only	Open API	Yes	Priced as add-on	Phone, email, live chat
GoCo	94/100	Automation	None	$5 per employee	30+	Yes	Yes	Phone, email
Paychex Flex	94/100	Remote Teams	None	$39, plus $5 per employee	235+	Yes	Yes	Phone, live chat
Paycor	92/100	Reporting and Analytics	14-day free trial	$99, plus $5 per employee	145+	Yes	Yes	Phone, email, live chat
Bambee HR	92/100	Risk Management	None	$99 per month	N/A	No	Yes	Phone, email, live chat
Namely	86/100	Midsize Businesses	None	Custom pricing only	65+	Yes	Yes	Phone, help tickets, live chat
Deluxe	90/100	HR Compliance	None	$45, plus $7 per employee	6+	Yes	Yes	Phone, email, live chat
Sage	84/100	Growing Businesses	30-day free trial	$5.50 per employee	70+	Yes	Yes	Phone, email, live chat
Zenefits	91/100	Benefits Administratiion	14-day free trial	$8 per employee	40+	Yes	Priced as add-on	Phone, email, live chat
Monday.com	88/100	Custom Workflows	Free plan	Free	Open API	Yes	No	Contact form, live chat

HR Software Costs

HR software often includes a base subscription fee and a per-employee fee. Base prices may range from $25 to $200 per month depending on the service and subscription level, and per-employee fees might range from $5 to $20 per employee per month.

When you’re shopping for HR software, it is important to pay attention to which services are included in the base packages and which require a subscription add-on. Many vendors aim to provide an all-in-one service with their subscriptions, but it is relatively common for services such as payroll to be charged as add-ons.

Many of the vendors on our best picks list do not charge implementation or setup fees, but some HR software vendors do. These can often range from $50 to $200 for standard implementation processes. However, services that provide more personalized support and build processes and policies from the ground up, such as Bamblee, may charge setup fees of $500 to $3,500.

Did You Know?

Some HR software vendors offer discounts to subscribers who choose annual, rather than monthly, subscriptions. If you are willing to pay in full for the year, you may be eligible for a discount.

HR Software Features

Feature	Description
Onboarding	Onboarding helps employers get their new hires set up and ready for their new roles. It includes onboarding paperwork, account setup and the issuing of devices, if applicable.
Payroll and taxes	Most HR software tools include payroll processing and automatic payroll tax calculations.
Benefits management	Employers can use HR software to select what plans to offer, facilitate open enrollment, and manage ACA compliance. Employees can then shop for and enroll in available benefits plans on the platform.
Performance management	Streamline employee reviews and performance management with review templates, performance reporting and helpful communication tools.
Integrations	Many HR software solutions can integrate with other software such as accounting programs, collaboration tools, project management software and more.

Onboarding

The onboarding process involves more than documentation for a new employee; it’s a powerful way to communicate your company culture and to show your true colors with the benefits, support and compensation you offer your employees. On the administrator’s side, this complex process means getting your newest team members ready with the right paperwork and equipment — for example, setting up software access, company-provided devices, payroll paperwork, benefits enrollment, and other critical operations. HR software tools streamline this process with automated workflows, taking as little as 90 seconds to give each new employee everything they need to succeed and feel comfortable in their new role from the moment they arrive for work on their first day, no matter where that happens to be.

Did You Know?

A poor onboarding process can reduce productivity, morale and retention. Use software to organize your onboarding and training process for new hires to help avoid these negative consequences.

Payroll and Taxes

Another daunting task that demands the highest degree of accuracy is paying your team. Today’s best HR software makes it easy to run accurate payroll for salaried and hourly employees and, more importantly, automatically calculates and files your local, state and federal payroll taxes on your behalf. Many of the best HR software options have even expanded into contractor payment and international payroll. Payroll compliance is not only an essential part of operating a business but also a way to help your business maintain a stellar reputation and attract the best talent.

Benefits Management

Financial and health benefits administration can be a giant headache for new and established HR teams alike. Whether you’re shopping for providers, enrolling new employees, or helping a team member navigate a life-changing event such as the birth of a child, benefits management is another area where you have to satisfy everyone. Most all-in-one HR software platforms have native integrations with thousands of benefits providers, or open APIs that allow you to keep your existing benefits packages but manage the data through your HR dashboard. Whichever case suits your company best, keeping all of your benefits data in one place that’s easy for employees to review will save time and greatly reduce your stress.

Performance Management

HR software can help employers streamline their performance review process and improve communication around performance between reviews. Most solutions offer customizable templates designed to simplify employee reviews. Many of the top HR software solutions also support 360 degree feedback where peers, manager, and subordinates can all be invited to submit feedback. HR software can also be used to view reporting on employee attendance, productivity, and other key performance metrics.

Integrations

Open APIs and marketplace integrations are the easiest ways for small and midsize businesses to tailor HR solutions to their teams. Finding an HR software platform that integrates with various other programs is important to keep your company agile and adaptable. For small companies, the software services you need will likely evolve as your business grows, so it’s important to know that you can mix and match your benefits, accounting systems, payroll solutions and other critical apps to meet the challenges you’re sure to face in the years to come. Most HR solutions designed for small and midsize businesses offer extensive opportunities for integrations, ensuring you always have access to the tailored solution you need.

Choosing HR Software

Here are a few easy ways to narrow your search when you’re sifting through the long list of potential HR software providers for your company.

1. Features

The most important step in shopping for HR software is to identify the features your company needs. Before you can effectively compare service providers and pricing, you have to know which features you want. That means taking a close look at every aspect of your current HR process — onboarding, offboarding and everything in between — to determine what’s working well and what’s not.

While most HR software platforms offer all-in-one packages to handle every task that falls to your human resources department, many platforms are highly customizable, so you can keep your existing health insurance and 401(k) benefits if that’s what you prefer.

2. Budget

Once you’ve decided on features, narrow your search by cost. If you’re looking for an all-in-one provider with standard pricing options, you can easily whittle down the field by eliminating the handful of companies without transparent pricing. On the other hand, if you’re searching for a tailored solution that will allow you to use some of your existing software partners while adding new tools, you can quickly eliminate many of the providers that only offer specific packages with set pricing.

3. Customer Service and Reviews

Once you have your desired features identified and the potential costs relatively even among your remaining options, it’s time to consider the level of support you expect. We’ve combined customer service and reviews into a single consideration because we think they tell the same story. While you always have to take customer reviews with a grain of salt — knowing that you’re most likely seeing the very best and very worst experiences rather than the average customer’s opinion — it’s still valuable to be able to judge a software provider based on its highest and lowest performance.

During the sales process, you’re likely to encounter incredibly friendly and helpful service, but will that positive experience continue a few months down the line? If not, customer reviews are where you’ll find that important piece of information. However, if you have an experienced HR team on staff, you may not run into the same issues other customers are having. If you don’t have access to full-time HR staff, you may want to prioritize access to a customer support manager who is dedicated solely to your company.

4. User Interface

We found all the HR software options that we selected as top picks to be relatively user-friendly, but they all offer a somewhat different user interface and experience. Some HR software vendors offer free trials or limited free plans that allow you to test out the platform for yourself. Many of the ones that don’t offer free trials have some form of interactive product tour, which will still let you explore the user interface. When reviewing each HR software’s user interface and navigability, think about the skill level and average experience of your employees. Certain HR softwares offer a lower learning curve for less tech-savvy teams or those new to HR software.

5. Integrations

Don’t forget about integrations. If there is a communication tool, time tracking program, accounting software, or any other supplemental HR tools that you’d like to use alongside the new software, double-check that they integrate with your top choices. Most of the top HR softwares integrate with the major business software programs like QuickBooks, Google Suite, Asana and Microsoft Office. However, each software has its own integration marketplace and it’s best to make sure before you commit to a specific HR software.

Advantages of HR Software

If you’re still managing your HR tasks through an Excel spreadsheet or on paper, then you’re spending too much time in the weeds and opening yourself up to costly mistakes. Today’s HR software platforms use intelligent workflows and easy-to-use automation to take many of the tedious and potentially troublesome tasks — such as filing your local, state and federal payroll taxes — completely out of your hands. In simpler terms, these are the main advantages of using HR software:

It improves productivity. An all-in-one HR software solution can boost your employees’ productivity by providing a single, centralized platform to complete their tasks.
It ensures compliance. Keeping all of your data in one place makes it much easier to adhere to evolving HR compliance requirements, with alerts that keep your team on top of critical regulatory tasks.
It supports your staff. Whether it’s administering financial and health benefits or enabling requests for well-deserved vacations, an intuitive HR software system can support your employees in ways that bring satisfaction to their careers.
It helps you make informed decisions. Many HR software providers offer performance management with reporting and analytics that provide actionable insights to improve employee satisfaction and performance while reducing turnover, all of which benefit your company’s bottom line and reputation as an employer.
It saves you money. If you currently handle all of your important HR tasks with a piecemeal solution from various service providers, chances are, you can find a much better price for everything you need by customizing a service through one or just a few providers. Even if you still use more than one service provider, you can often find integrations to bring all of your HR data into one useful dashboard.

HR Software Trends in [year[

The HR software market is always changing and growing as HR software vendors adapt to workforce trends, advancements in technology, and regulatory changes. Below are some of the top HR software trends to watch in 2023.

HR Software Market Growth

The global HR software market is projected to reach a value of $37.4 billion by 2029, according to a projection from Data Bridge Market Research. The research noted that the growth and expansion of HR software into different verticals such as banking, healthcare, retail and other core industries is helping to advance the space. Other factors driving this growth include greater awareness of the benefits of HR software and improvements in the automation capabilities of the software.

Global Payroll and HR Functionality

One new feature that we saw emerge this year is the expansion of globalized payroll functionality within HR software options. Rippling recently introduced its global payroll feature in five countries and has plans to expand to many more by the end of the year. Many of the top HR software options offer limited global payment functionality or only support global contractor payments at present. However, with Rippling leading the charge, we anticipate that more HR software vendors will start introducing global payroll solutions.

Use of AI and Regulatory Restrictions

Another ongoing trend in the HR software space is the use of artificial intelligence (AI). AI can be a powerful tool for recruiting, analytics, candidate and employee communications, and more. An increased emphasis on automation and data analysis in HR software means vendors are finding new ways that AI can serve businesses.

However, governments are cracking down on the use of AI. In April 2023, New York City will enforce a new law that requires any AI tools used in employment decision-making to undergo an independent audit to identify any potential biases in the system. With the increase in AI-driven recruiting tools that produce automated candidate scores or recommendations, this may impact a number of HR software vendors.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also launched an initiative focused on HR technology that uses AI or data algorithms for recruiting and hiring. “Bias in employment arising from the use of algorithms and AI falls squarely within the Commission’s priority to address systemic discrimination,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “While the technology may be evolving, anti-discrimination laws still apply.”

Vendor Changes and Emerging Competitors

Lastly, there will be some new vendors entering, re-entering and possibly leaving the HR software market. Freshworks is a software vendor that has been featured in our best email marketing software solutions guide and chosen as one of the best CRM services of 2023. Freshworks previously offered an HR software called Freshteam, a popular HRIS and applicant-tracking solution. However, the company recently paused Freshteam signups for new customers. Freshworks says it is reimagining its employee experience suite of products and will resume sign-ups when that process is complete.

Emerging vendors are also picking up steam, such as UKG, which was created in 2020 through a merger between Kronos and Unlimited Software. UKG also recently acquired Quorbit, a workforce planning software. The service continues to grow in revenue and market share, which makes UKG a top service to watch in the HR technology market.

HR Software FAQs

What do HR software platforms do?

HR software platforms offer an all-in-one solution for managing an organization’s HR activities. They provide employers with tools that can manage and automate payroll processing, new-hire onboarding, performance management, time tracking, benefits administration and other major HR processes.

Does HR software include payroll?

Yes, HR software typically includes payroll. The payroll capabilities vary by vendor, and with some subscriptions, payroll may be priced as an add-on.

Do HR software vendors offer mobile applications?

Yes, most HR software vendors make their platform available as a mobile application for iOS and Android. These apps often include limited versions of the administrator HR functions and employee self-service features, such as mobile timekeeping.

Are there any free HR software services?

Some HR software vendors, such as Zoho People, offer free plans. However, most of these free plans are capped at five or 10 employees.

Do you need an internal HR manager to use HR software?

No, organizations without an internal HR team can still benefit from HR software. Many HR software tools, like Bambee, can help organizations develop their HR processes from scratch. Some HR software platforms, like Rippling, offer professional employer organizations (PEOs) in addition to their software to help organizations without established internal HR departments.

What other tools integrate with HR software?

HR software typically offers a wide array of integration options. HR software can integrate with accounting and payroll tools like QuickBooks, as well as benefits supplier portals and more.

Our Reviews

Bambee HR Software: Best HR Software for Risk Management

Bambee HR Software

Bambee HR offers affordable plans geared toward startups that need more personalized guidance.

The system can help businesses develop compliant employee policies and HR processes to minimize risk.

Bambee HR charges a significant setup fee, which may make this vendor cost-prohibitive for some small businesses.

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Bambee HR is an HR solution geared toward small businesses. In fact, the service only supports businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Bambee HR subscribers are assigned a dedicated HR manager who can answer questions about compliance, terminations, the creation of company policies, and other HR concerns to help mitigate risk for employers. Bambee HR also offers guided payroll processing to help small businesses navigate employee classification compliance and payroll taxes.

Editor’s score: 92/100

Bambee’s dedicated HR manager guides new subscribers through the implementation process with an HR audit of the organization’s current HR policies and procedures. Then, they help employers create any new policies that are needed to ensure compliance with relevant labor laws and minimize potential risk. This HR manager is available as an ongoing resource for any questions. They can also help with document preparation and paperwork for terminations and other high-risk HR activities.

The service is fairly affordable, as there is no per-employee fee. However, the setup fees can run from $500 to $3,500, which is much higher than the fees charged by many other HR software vendors we reviewed. However, Bambee HR does offer a high level of personalized support, which makes it a great option for small businesses that aren’t quite ready to hire a full-time HR manager, but still want to create thorough HR policies and improve their risk management.

Read Bambee Review

Gusto HR Software: Best Human Resources Software for Payroll

Gusto HR Software

Effortless payroll features

Plans starting at $40 per month

9,000+ health plan options

Gusto is a modern, all-in-one HR software platform with a clean dashboard and extensive payroll features. For many companies, running payroll is a tedious and time-consuming process with the potential for costly mistakes and penalties. With Gusto, business owners and HR administrators can free themselves from the laborious process of calculating hours, rates, deductions, taxes, garnishments and more. For U.S.-based employees with direct deposit, you can initiate a regular payroll run in a few clicks from the easy-to-use dashboard. If your team is salaried with regular pay periods, you can automate the entire process and trust that Gusto will handle everything with accuracy.

Editor’s score: 96/100

Unlike other payroll providers, Gusto does not charge additional fees for running irregular payroll, adding special bonuses or making adjustments to a recent payroll run. Better yet, the software will automatically file all of your local, state and federal tax forms on your company’s behalf. You and your employees can electronically file, sign, fax and store all of your documents within your dashboard. Gusto also makes it easy for your employees to make the most of their earnings with paperless pay through Gusto Wallet and debit cards, as well as provides free financial tools to help your team members reach their goals.

Read Gusto HR Software Review

Rippling HR Software: Best HR Software for Onboarding

Rippling HR Software

New hires can be onboarded in the software in 90 seconds.

Rippling offers device management features that make it easy to assign and manage company-issued devices.

Rippling does not offer a transparent pricing structure and there is no free trial.

Rippling is a standout HR software platform with tons of automation features that make it a great choice for small and midsize businesses that want to onboard new hires efficiently. All it takes is 90 seconds for you to send an offer letter and new-hire paperwork, run background checks, electronically verify documents, add employees to payroll, enroll them in health insurance, order and ship computer equipment, and set up Google Workspace, Slack and Office 365 accounts. That would be an entire afternoon’s worth of tasks if you were to do them the old-fashioned way.

Rippling accomplishes this lightspeed productivity through highly automated workflows that are easy to set up and run from the dashboard, which is loaded with native and third-party apps. While the average company will need to spend a little over two weeks to implement the system, once it’s up and running, the time savings for onboarding alone will pay dividends the rest of the year.

If you have employees in other countries, you can easily set them up within Rippling’s global payroll system and pay them in their local currency. In addition to having an open API that functions alongside your existing business software and partners, Rippling integrates with over 500 third-party cloud-based applications to provide any HR tool or service your team may want to incorporate.

Read Rippling HR Software Review

Paycor: Best HR Software for Reporting and Analytics

Paycor

Paycor's hands-on implementation process will help ensure your HR software is fine-tuned to your company's needs.

Paycor's mobile app offers complete payroll functionality and other useful features for administrators and employees.

Smaller companies with the most basic requirements may find the service expensive compared with other HR software.

Paycor’s human capital management software streamlines payroll, talent acquisition, workforce management, benefits administration and, perhaps most importantly, your employees’ overall experiences. For over 30 years, the platform has helped business owners and managers across industries recruit, develop, compensate and retain their employees. Today, more than 40,000 organizations use Paycor to support their staff.

Paycor’s Report Builder tool offers customized reporting. Running and reporting on payroll is often a heavy lift for businesses, but Paycor can streamline those processes with automatic pay runs, payroll updates and alerts, intelligent tax recommendations, and tax compliance dashboard alerts. Paycor also offers extensive reporting and analytics features that allow business owners and HR managers to drill down into specific data about their employees, including feedback and surveys, diversity initiatives, and company culture expectations.

Paycor offers two main service bundles that differ based on company size, with a base fee ranging from $99 to $299 per month and a per-employee fee of $6 to $16 per month. The Paycor implementation team will ensure a seamless transition by working with you to establish timelines, share training resources, collect and review employee and customer data, and configure your database. While your team learns how to use the new technology, Paycor’s team will do the heavy lifting. Once your system is live, you’ll be introduced to your ongoing support team, who will prepare you for long-term success.

Read Paycor Review

Paychex Flex HR Software: Best HR Software for Remote Teams

Paychex Flex HR Software

As all-in-one HR software with easy desktop and mobile access to payroll, benefits, and HR compliance self-service, Paychex is highly convenient for remote teams.

You can keep close tabs on your remote workforce with niche, real-time analytics.

The lack of transparent pricing may be a deterrent to some business owners trying to compare services.

As the largest HR company for small and midsize businesses, Paychex knows how to support remote teams with integrated solutions for payroll, health benefits, financial benefits and all other HR requirements. The cloud-based HR software is used by more than 680,000 customers, which means Paychex has one of the most impressive footprints in the industry and the proven experience to handle anything your business may need.

Editor’s score: 94/100

Unlike many of its competitors, Paychex gives you the option to run payroll from any computer or mobile device. The software’s mobile-friendly approach to HR administration also means it’s great at supporting remote teams — something we can’t say for every HR platform we reviewed.

Paychex’s software includes guided digital forms, new-hire checklists, automated document collection and more. The totally paperless experience, paired with the confidence of E-Verify solutions, gives you all the tools you need to support your staff from anywhere they want to work. With Paychex’s centralized document management capabilities, you can seamlessly upload, secure and access important employee documents from any location. Users can upload multiple files at once, sign documents from their Paychex app, and pull real-time reports on uploaded documentation.

Employers can use Paychex Flex Time to seamlessly build employee schedules, track attendance, and manage time-off requests from any location. This helps ensure remote workers are paid properly. Additionally, Paychex recently aligned with Globalization Partners, so remote teams around the globe have access to international payroll and HR services.

Read Paychex Flex HR Software Review

Deluxe: Best HR Software for Compliance Support

Deluxe

Deluxe HR offers intuitive HR and compliance tools to help employers automate complex processes.

Deluxe HR easily integrates with third-party payroll and employee benefits solutions.

The service requires an annual contract.

Deluxe HR Solutions is a comprehensive HR and payroll software designed to meet the needs of small and midsize businesses. The platform allows organizations to streamline their HR processes, including onboarding, compliance, payroll, document management, and employee time and attendance tracking. The compliance tools included in the software are designed to help employers automate their practices for Affordable Care Act and payroll tax compliance. Deluxe HR also provides employers with the necessary labor law posters and notices.

Editor’s score: 90/100

Deluxe HR can help employers find benefits plans for their staff. You also have the option to bring your own employee benefits broker or request a benefits broker to assist in plan negotiation. Deluxe HR offers self-service features for employees to access their pay stubs, employee profile and documents, paid-time-off requests, and direct deposit requests.

One unique aspect of Deluxe HR we noticed is that the company has a wide range of software offerings. Whereas most other HR software providers offer HR, payroll, time and attendance, and related software tools, Deluxe includes HR software, digital marketing software, payment processing tools and branding software. This menu of options is ideal for small businesses that are looking for multiple solutions, although other business owners may prefer to go with a provider that specializes in HR.

BambooHR Software

BambooHR is great for small businesses that want to improve their company culture and productivity with stronger performance management processes.

BambooHR offers plenty of customization and third-party software integrations.

The lack of transparent pricing may make BambooHR a nonstarter for some business owners.

Small and midsize businesses that place a strong emphasis on their people will benefit from BambooHR’s features. This HR software focuses on five areas: people data and analytics, hiring, onboarding, compensation, and culture. Though the software excels in each of these areas, its biggest strength is helping companies understand and improve each employee’s performance.

BambooHR takes a three-pronged approach to evaluating an employee’s performance — through manager assessments and self-assessments, peer feedback, and goals — to provide a complete picture of how the employee is doing. The software asks brief, largely objective questions designed to improve productivity, not just to determine if someone is ready for a promotion or a raise. Goals are displayed in a card format with easy-to-view details like goal objectives, progress bars, due dates and shared participants. As employees determine their performance goals, they can create milestones within the platform to easily track their progress.

The platform encourages managers and HR admins to conduct regular internal surveys with anonymous submissions to improve company culture. However, BambooHR also ensures that digesting the data is not an intensive, time-consuming task. It accomplishes this seemingly difficult job by automatically assigning your company an Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) to monitor overall sentiment.

Another way BambooHR helps you manage employee performance is through employee well-being tools, which use consistent surveys to gain feedback on employees’ happiness, relationships, personal motivators and company motivators. Through the software’s academically created and tested survey questions, employers can gain insights and trends that lead to growth for their employees, teams and company.

Read BambooHR Software Review

GoCo: Best HR Software for Automation

GoCo

GoCo is flexible HR software that offers easy-to-use, time-saving workflows tailored to your business.

GoCo can automate almost any HR process, including workflows for travel, promotion and equipment requests.

Automation features may complicate navigation for small businesses without extensive automation needs.

For smaller companies with limited HR resources or larger enterprises experiencing strong growth, the ability to automate recurring tasks can save a lot of time and help ease their strained resources. GoCo’s automation tools can streamline everything on your daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly to-do lists. The simple dashboard offers quick access to easy-to-use templates to help automate for your onboarding, performance reviews, involuntary termination checklist, new-hire orientation, talent acquisition and much more.

Employers can use GoCo’s messaging capabilities to easily send out important notifications to employees and teams. In turn, these messages can be filtered by details like location, geography and department to allow you to streamline internal communication. GoCo also supports custom fields, with more than 100 useful reporting variables to build actionable reports based on any data being tracked in your system. With GoCo reports, workforce data can easily be filtered, sorted, grouped and visualized.

GoCo’s flexibility in reporting extends to other areas as well. The company encourages you to define all of your processes, policies and partnerships to help it design and implement an HR solution that fits perfectly with how you want to operate your business. For example, if you have a great retirement plan for your employees, GoCo will make it easy for your employees to access it through the software.

Namely: Best HR Software for Midsize Businesses

Namely

Using this software as your company's core system of record will save your managers and administrators a lot of time.

Namely offers employee engagement tools that can improve company culture and help reduce employee turnover.

The lack of transparent pricing will take Namely out of the running for some businesses.

Namely is a people operations platform for midsize companies. It’s designed to make life easier for everyone in the organization; the company says Namely saves its clients an average of 11 hours per week by keeping their payroll, benefits, compliance requirements and other HR tasks in sync. The company also touts its ability to get your employees using the platform regularly, meaning your HR team won’t have to field so many questions. You and your HR staff can use that newfound time to dive into the platform’s analytics and reports to better understand all the data about your employees and confidently make strategic decisions.

Editor’s score: 86/100

This people-focused platform has powerful tools for new-hire onboarding, custom review cycles, performance tracking and more. The enrollment wizard makes it easy for your employees to find the right benefits when they join your team or enroll in a new plan after a major life event, such as a marriage, with new deductions automatically synced to payroll.

Namely offers three bundled packages. The entry-level Basics plan provides extensive features, including reports, analytics, onboarding, performance and goals tracking, E-Verify, and time-off management. However, most companies will likely want to upgrade to the HR Complete plan, which adds important features such as payroll, benefits administration, time and attendance, recruiting, and compliance advice. The top-tier Enhanced Services plan includes managed payroll and benefits to remove the administrative burden on your team. Unfortunately, Namely does not provide transparent pricing for any of its services; you will need to reach out directly for this information.

Implementation typically takes six to eight weeks. While that may sound like a long time, the open API will allow you to connect the HR software to every system you use and turn Namely into your core system of record. Since Namely has dozens of integrations readily available, midsize employers can reap the benefits of streamlined operations. For example, Namely recently integrated with Slack, which allows you to automate internal messages through both platforms. Taking the time to set up Namely and its integrations properly can save you countless hours in the long run.

Sage Business Cloud: Best HR Software for Growing Businesses

Sage Business Cloud

Seamless integration with Sage Business Cloud accounting and payroll software makes this HR platform a natural fit for existing Sage users.

Support for English, Spanish, Russian, Latvian, Estonian, Czech, Polish and Thai is unique among HR software.

To get the most out of this software, you'll need to bundle it with other Sage Business Cloud products.

Sage Business Cloud is a complete solution for employee onboarding, with automated processes and reports that offer meaningful insights. It also offers a great deal of mobile functionality to let your company’s admins and managers remotely track, manage and engage with everyone on their team with ease. The software provides intuitive “recipes” for custom workflows to manage all of your critical HR tasks.

Editor’s score: 84/100

The standard features in the Core HR + Leave Management module include onboarding and offboarding, analytics, custom and scheduled reports, mobile apps, time and attendance, and Active Directory integration. From there, you can add feature-rich modules for performance, timesheets, shift schedules and expenses. Via a partnership with PlanSource, Sage created Sage People U.S. Benefits, which conveniently allows you to control benefits costs, automate administration, increase accuracy and provide personalized employee experiences.

Sage HR’s dynamic pricing tool makes it easy to shop for a plan. You simply adjust your modules, feature sets and number of employees to find your exact monthly fee in four currencies. Plans start at $5.50 per employee and businesses only pay for the number of active employees. Namely can accommodate businesses of all sizes, from one employee to enterprise businesses.

Sage offers a 30-day trial that includes all possible modules and plenty of sample employee data to give you a true feel for the product.

Zenefits: Best HR Software for Benefits Administration

Zenefits

Zenefits allows companies to shop for plans through the platform or integrate their own offerings for added flexibility.

The platform and benefits tools are very user-friendly and easy to navigate.

Businesses must pay for at least five employees, even if they have fewer employees at the time of enrollment.

Zenefits is a user-friendly HR software platform that offers strong features centered on benefits administration and HR support. Zenefits helps businesses shop for benefits packages and provides a great user experience for employee benefits self-service.

Editor’s score: 91/100

The Zenefits platform also supports payroll processing, performance management, employee onboarding and time-off tracking. The software makes open enrollment and benefits administration seamless for both employees and HR teams. Through the easy onboarding process, employees can sign offer letters, choose a benefits plan and complete onboarding paperwork within the platform.

Zenefits also displays an employee’s team and an organizational chart on the home page, which is helpful for new employees, especially remote workers who may have trouble putting faces to all the names in their inbox or Slack channel.

Businesses will enjoy the service’s transparent pricing and the flexibility to build a benefits package and onboarding process that fit the needs of their staff. Zenefits offers three reasonably priced subscription packages to choose from, as well as customized packages. While you’re shopping for HR software, it’s helpful to keep an eye on the add-ons. Zenefits charges an add-on fee for payroll services and for subscribers who want to use their own benefits broker.

Read Zenefits Review

monday.com HR Software: Best HR Software for Custom Workflows

monday.com HR Software

Custom workflows and views

Free plan available

Project management capabilities

Monday.com is not a traditional HR software, but the service can be used to manage your company’s HR workflows including recruiting, onboarding, performance management, and more. Where the service really shines is in its workflow customization and automation tools. Users can customize almost everything on monday.com, including automated workflows and how to view data.

Editor’s score: 88/100

Monday.com’s workflow customization features allows employers to customize and automate their onboarding, employee engagement and recruiting practices. Employers can even build job applications in monday.com’s form view and pull the applicant data seamlessly into an applicant tracking board. Users can build workflows from scratch and fully customize them, or use one of monday.com’s prebuilt automation recipes. Monday.com also supports multistep workflow automations, which allows companies to automate entire processes.

Monday.com also makes it easy to keep up with everything going on in your organization with helpful reporting dashboards. The platform’s customizable dashboards allow users to create summaries, custom reports, and analytics tables to keep up with different processes within the organization. Managers can pull in widgets from different workflow boards to get a high-level view of recruiting, employee productivity or other HR processes.

Read monday.com HR Software Review

Best HR Software for 2023

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