Applicant tracking, Scheduling and Shift Planning, Administration Benefits, Performance management, eLearning authoring, online learning and the bottom line – Cost Saving and Efficiency Boosting are great advantages that a Human Resource Software can bring to companies. Therefore, a large number of companies and firms apply this digital method to keep their employees and word process on track. However, lots of human resource software platforms are available, so which one is the most feasible solution – with reasonable price, but still function effectively? In this article I would like to recommend top 5 most popular human resource software platforms that I experienced in my company.
1. BambooHR
BambooHR is one of the most popular human resources software service designed for small and mid-sized businesses. It is an affordable and award-winning software that won a lot of well-known awards on Financereviews.com such as Expert’s Choice Award for 2106, the Best HR Management Software Award for 2016, Best Add-on and Integration Award for 2016, Customer’s Choice Award for 2015, Most Customizable Software award for 2015, Best Software Designed for Enterprises Award and Budget Friendly Ward for 2015 and many more due to a user-friendly platform where migrating data from complex spreadsheets to a modern Human Resource Information System (HRIS) that fits companies’ specific requirements. At the same time, firms can administer all aspects of the employee’s life cycle, and provide the necessary personnel visibility using strategic indicators such as retention and turnover.
The most important thing of BambooHR is the comprehensive feature suite with all relevant HR functions, personnel data modules, tracking capabilities, and advanced reporting opportunities. The system utilizes a stripped-down mechanism to follow performance, which makes it a very good choice for growing companies.
At the same time, BambooHR turns applicant tracking into an optional system, as it provides you the possibility to integrate it with more than 20 HR systems and business management apps. The Open Application Programming Interface is there to expand some of the most critical capabilities of this system, including expense tracking, reporting, and benefits administration.
Key Features
- Applicant tracking system: BambooHR makes hiring and employee management considerably easier and is better than most other HR systems. This is mostly because of its optional applicant tracking system. It displays job openings in a separate tab, where the user gets to see all applications, applicant leads, and select/eliminate applications as they arrive. We can also add new job openings with all relevant details such as salary, title, duration, contract type, etc by using a filtered dropdown menu or the system’s special text editor and to add a longer description. Once the list is ready and completed, the users can share it on all social networks or popular job boards to make sure applicants know about them.
- Great onboarding for new employees: When it comes to freshly hired employees, Bamboo HR does an outstanding job as well. New hires receive a special email containing training information, and access to all system files and corporate documents that may be relevant to them. This can save the manager a lot of time as the new user can import their personal information to the system, and establish connections with the other employees. Needless to say, they will also get to participate in every discussion, training, or event from the very first moment they log into the system.
- Role-based access to information: The main figures in the system are administrators and managers who are in charge of delegating competence to other users listed on their dashboard. The Employee section is placed right next to the Job Opening sections, joining a list of other tabs such as My Info, Files, and Reports. Basically, this system makes it possible to use your account and manage corporate activities from the very same eye-pleasant dashboard.
- Benefits management and performance administration: the centralized database contains the benefits for each employee, and allows the manager to track them down no time. There is an overall number of 12 benefit types applicable to all groups of employees, and it is employees who can change them upon every update in their status (health insurance, marriage, and much more). What is impressive here is that Bamboo HR offers a modifiable rate health plan, meaning that the user can easily track even age-based plans, and calculate automatically the variable amounts his employees have to pay. For the same operation, companies can choose third-party programs that are integrated with the system.
- Reporting features: The reports are based on files stored and categorized in the virtual database, and will automatically summarize and consider all applicable taxes.
Highlights
- Centralized Employee Database
- Accurate Reporting
- Easy to use system
- Applicant Tracking System
- Report Generation
- Smart Reminders
- Controlled Access
- Employee Onboarding
- HRIS Software
- HRMS Software
- Performance Management
Price: start from $99.00/ month
2. ZENEFITS – Zenefits Z2
Another human resource software program is ZENEFITS, a well-designed, intuitive user interface platform. It can integrate with well-known payroll processors and have built-in, best-of-the-bunch benefits administration.
Zenefits is best-in-class and earned our Editors’ Choice in benefits administration with HR App Directory, 27 partner integrations, an open third-party app developer platform, mobile apps and HR Advisor, a new HR-as-a-Service (HRaaS) app for small business owners and human resources administrators.
The Zenefits user interface (UI) is well-mapped with easy-to-understand instructions for completing basic HR tasks, and provides a quick way to connect with existing benefits plans including medical, dental, vision, long and short-term disability, and 401k retirement savings providers. If you’re starting a business and don’t have providers, you can fill out Microsoft Excel worksheets, get quotes, sign up, and get started.
The Z2 (the updated version of Z2) adds a host of new features that help to propel the tool closer to the top of its category. The 27 integrations that are enabled throughout the platform at launch include productivity, payroll and accounting, expense reporting apps, stock options, performance management, recruiting, and employee engagement apps. Zenefits Z2’s automated workflow dynamically updates all relevant documents and integrated apps—from Expensify, Google’s G-Suite, and Microsoft Office 365 at Microsoft to Salesforce, Slack, and Intuit QuickBooks at Intuit. Zenefits Z2 is best suited for small to midsized businesses (SMBs) in need of solid human resources platform. By delivering the basic framework and regularly adding new integration partners, Zenefits Z2 can provide a fairly long lived solution even for fast-growing companies.
Price: from $46.00/ month
3. Gusto
With excellent user interface, friendly employee self-onboarding, automatic payrolls, automatic calculating and paying payroll taxes with multiple accounting sites integration, benefits administration, free trial and affordable price, Gusto is also one of the most popular human resource software platforms.
Gusto provides a solid set of payroll features, an unusually well-designed user interface, and impressive innovation and automation, all at a good price. It can integrate some benefits functionality with its payroll software, but the company rolled out a new all-in-one HR service earlier this year to double down on benefits administration (BA) combined with 401k management, document management, and an employee directory.
Gusto’s benefits portal offers solid self-service functionality, which allows employees to choose their own health plans, add dependents, and schedule plan changes based on upcoming life events, without involving the company’s HR department. The most unique benefits features on the platform is lifetime employee accounts, which allow employees to access account information even after leaving or being terminated from their current company.
Gusto’s expanded benefits administration is a huge boon to its overall value as a combined payroll and HR platform.
Finally, capable, simple, usable and affordable are reasons why I recommend this human resource software to companies.
Price: start from $39/month
4. Sage People
This human resource software is highly configurable and can accommodate companies with multinational operations, offer applicant tracking, benefits administration, and other add-ons, especially integrate with third-party payroll and other outside vendors.
Sage People is one of the only HR management services I tested that uses dual portals, a “Workforce eXperience (WX)” interface for employees and managers, and a separate behind-the-scenes UI for high-level system administrators such as an HR director or HR information systems (HRIS) manager. Its system administrators access the separate UI to configure and manage the service using templates, checkboxes, and drag-and-drop features. They can create rules for onboarding employees in different countries or determine which class of employees has access to which features. Each can be configured with tabs the company refers to as “buckets” that are linked to part or all of the service’s major functions. Employees only see buckets related to their jobs or personnel files. Managers see separate bucket lists, one for themselves and one for their direct reports. Some of those buckets include Actions, Admin, Learning, My Documents, Onboarding, Org Chart, Performance, Personal Details, Search, Team, and Time. Clicking on a bucket opens drop-down menus for multiple sublevel activities.
The middle of the Sage People home screen is devoted to the Company Bulletin, a Facebook-like newsfeed that many core HR vendors now offer to keep employees inside the service as long as possible. This one can be set up to share birthdays, new hires, public recognitions, and maps of company locations (a handy shortcut for employees who regularly float between locations).
Sage People offers a solid performance management feature set focused on the 360 review paradigm, where performance reviews don’t just come from an employee’s manager but his or her immediate work circle, too. This capability is bolstered by Sage’s deep employee profiles that track not only work history, but also attendance, compensation, and benefits. Having all that information in one view can be invaluable for managers when ranking workers. Come performance review time, managers can use the Team > Performance bucket from the left-hand column or top navigation menu to set, review, or rate objectives, goals, and competencies for their direct reports. As with other parts of the suite, an HR manager or other system administrator can configure review components to include ratings systems, questions, peer reviews, or other components depending upon what a company wants to include. Department managers also can set objectives for direct reports from their accounts by clicking Performance > Current Objectives > Edit Goals, and drafting a goal (e.g., “Increase production by 20 percent in Q3”). The system also lets managers copy or “clone” goals and assign them to multiple team members.
Solid Benefits Administration: Employees can enroll in benefits through the platform’s Collaboration portal. Open enrollment includes medical, dental, and vision, along with options for basic and supplemental life insurance, dependent care spending accounts, and a 401k.
A Powerhouse HR Management Suite: The Sage People includes analytics an reporting, core HR, engagement and communications, off-boarding, performance management, talent management, and integration with outside payroll processors and even a native iOS app with all of the functions of the web-based service, and an Apple Watch version of the app in the higher-level enterprise.
Price: start from $9.00/month
5. Namely
Another human resource software program with highly configurable and clear aesthetically pleasing user interface with a wealth of HR functionality is all-in-one platform, Namely. Namely is a comprehensive human resources suite that unifies components of payroll, talent management, and benefits. The software has been the HR management platform of choice for about 400 companies and has handled more $2.5 billion in annual payroll and approximately 60,000 employees globally. Namely is a cloud-based program that enables companies to adhere and manage compliance and then streamline basic and complex HR processes, including payroll, benefits and talent management. The system is designed for mid-market companies and help them with stay on top of complicated processes of managing employee information or calculating paychecks that accurately shows deductions for taxes and contributions for benefits such as health insurance.
A ‘Springboard’ to Onboarding and Tasks: Namely homepage is well-organized and aesthetically pleasing with a main navigation bar across the top and a left-hand side column called “Springboard” that has a more detailed functions list. For an employee, the list might include Calendar, My Profile, Tasks, Teams, and Time Off. A manager’s springboard list might also include an Admin Tools section, with functions for onboarding new employees, conducting reviews, running reports, and exporting data to other programs. Navigating to a task is pretty straightforward. The right-hand column can be configured any number of ways, including to display a list of a worker’s department or project team members.
Employee data is stored on the employee profile page, and the information is immediately visible in the Directory, and Teams tabs from the main navigation bar. The Directory can be searched by any field the system administrator chooses, including by job title, location, or team.
Namely enables the 360-degree review paradigm to give a overall performance management and reviews where employees receive feedback from immediate co-workers as well as their managers. It focuses heavily on goal setting as a prerequisite for performance reviews, giving managers the ability to revisit goal tracking as often as they like along with the ability to adjust goals and job priorities as both the employee’s and the business’ needs change. Namely tracks employee skills via Competencies, allowing HR administrators to create Competencies, assign requirements, employee profiles, and surface those competencies when needed.
Powerhouse Benefits Admin and Expanded API: Namely’s new Connect portal lets you integrate your HR suite with to other systems, including 25 new partners, which enables the ability to maintain legacy systems while adding Namely to the mix, rather than having to decide between the two, or worse, having data live separate on multiple systems that don’t connect.
Namely offers medical, dental, and vision benefits as well as Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) spending account integration. It also offers 401k savings, and a variety of insurance policies that cover life, accident, and disability. Beyond the basic benefits packages, Namely also offers customizable benefits and insurance options that organizations can use to offer what the company calls “nontraditional benefits,” which can range from pet insurance to identity theft insurance. Benefits are also Affordable Care Act (ACA)- and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)-compliant.
A Rock-Solid HR Management Tool: In addition to partnering with several popular AT services, the company integrates with third-party vendors for time and attendance (Replicon), international payroll (Radius and iiPay), rewards and recognitions (Bonusly and YouEarnedIt), and health and wellness (Sherpaa and Jawbone’s UP for Groups), among others.
Key Features:
- 360 Degree Feedback
- Ad Hoc Reviews
- Appraisal History Tracking
- Cascading Goals
- Compensation Management
- Competency Tracking
- Custom Rating Scales
- Custom Review Forms
- Goal Setting / Tracking
- Individual Development Plans
- Peer Appraisals
- Review Cycle Tracking
- Review Form Templates
- Self Service Portal
- Self-Appraisals
- Weighted Performance Measures
Price: from $12/ employee/ month