Best HR Software 2021
- Sarah Creighton
- November 15, 2021
HR Software can provide an essential service to any small to large business. From onboarding to employee tracking, it enables management to easily streamline processes to better accommodate employees.
Throughout the following article we will look a little further into what HR software is, how it can be used, and the best HR software available in 2021.
What is HR Software?
HR software manages everything to do with employees and talent management. You might have heard the term HRMS which stands for human resource management software or HRIS, which stands for human resources information system – both terms refer to the HR software we’re talking about today.
Human resource software is not only for payroll and employee records, it’s also for employees to use as a self-service tool for booking vacations, requesting time off, managing their benefits and accessing information about their employment. This software frees up valuable time in your human resources department and allows them to focus on recruitment, performance, and company culture.
What's on This Page
What does a good HR software do?
HR software is a tool that can be thought of as the heart of the human resources department. The software can be accessed via a desktop, web browser or mobile app, and depending on the software, can offer the ability to do a variety of tasks. Some of the top platforms will let you tie into applicant tracking, scheduling platforms, e-learning platforms, administer benefits, and implement performance management tools. The best HRMS should be easy to use and should integrate with some of your other back-office tools like your ERP.
How do I choose an HR software?
In order to choose the best HR software for your company, you’ll first need to assess your business needs. To do this, you should get the relevant stakeholders together to discuss what success might look like when implementing an HR software. This will help you choose a software that has the right features for your business. You’ll want to make sure you find one that fits with your budget, and that is user friendly, since everyone at your organization – from the interns to the C-suite will be expected to use it for day-to-day tasks.
Top Rated HR Software Products
Workday
Best for Enterprise
Workday is a cloud-based software used for human capital management (HCM) to manage performance reviews, job profiles, career development, promotions and much more!
This tool was designed for enterprise companies, and offers solutions that will make your company more agile and efficient.
The platform and its training can be expensive and resource heavy for small and medium sized businesses. You’ll want to make sure you ask the right questions and have completed an assessment on the ROI of implementing the software before committing, especially if this is your first time using an HR solution like this.
The company offers great support for their customers. All customers can reach a live rep 24/7, and there is an extensive knowledge base and training material available to sort out common technical issues.
Pricing:
- Contact Workday for pricing.
Overall Ratings:
StackCompare.com
4.5 (Aggregate Score)
Capterra.com
4.4 (733 user reviews)
G2.com
4.0 (175 user reviews)
BambooHR
Best for Small and medium businesses
BambooHR is great for businesses with less than 1000 employees, and if you’ve never used an HR software before, this is a good one to get started with.
The service offers all the critical features for human resources, including onboarding tools, talent management, payroll, applicant tracking and performance management. It’s also easy for employees to use for self-reporting either on the web app or mobile app.
HR departments often get bogged down by data management and admin, and BambooHR does a great job at taking care of these tasks.
While the software is easy to get up and running, it can run more expensive than some competing products and the mobile app doesn’t have all the same features as the web app.
The user interface is clean and simple. It’s easy to navigate which means you will spend less time and money on training, and more time ensuring that the people who work at your company are fulfilled.
Pricing:
- Contact BambooHR for pricing.
Overall Ratings:
StackCompare.com
4.5 (Aggregate Score)
Capterra.com
4.5 (1216 user reviews)
G2.com
4.4 (675 user reviews)
Gusto
Best for User experience
Gusto is a newcomer to the HR software space, but they’ve made quite a splash! They’ve become known for their outstanding user experience, and intuitive interface. They’ve mastered the critical HR tools like payroll and continue to steadily roll out new features like benefits and contractor payments.
This tool is great for small businesses who are new to HR software. The software offers step-by-step guides when it comes to tasks like setting up payroll. Support teams are available via chat, email and phone for assistance.
Customized dashboards make reporting easier than before, and they can be downloaded for presentations and quarterly reporting.
This is a web-based application, so unfortunately if the internet goes down, so does your HR software.
Gusto offers four tier pricing:
- Core – $6/month per person + $39/month base price
- Complete – $12/ month per person + $39/ month base price
- Concierge – $12/month per person + $149/month base price
- Contractor – $6/ month per person
Overall Ratings:
StackCompare.com
4.5 (Aggregate Score)
Capterra.com
4.7 (2851 user reviews)
G2.com
4.3 (469 user reviews)
Monday.com
Best for Custom build
This platform allows you to build custom solutions for your HR team’s needs. The software offers a multitude of features that include time tracking, real time notifications and recruitment process tracking.
Pre-made templates makes it easy to onboard new employees and perform other repetitive tasks. The platform also easily integrates with Gmail and over 40 tools already used in business processes.
If you’re not sure whether Monday.com is the right platform for you, a 14-day free trial is available to give you a taste of how the platform works.
With such a vast offering, it can be overwhelming to get familiarized with all the tools, this may lead to a learning curve in the beginning. Be sure to invest the time and resources to make sure that all parties are comfortable using the platform so that you can experience all the benefits.
Teams can sign up for online training sessions, demos and tutorials with the company.
Monday.com pricing is tiered:
- Basic – $11/month (per seat)
- Standard – $14/month (per seat)
- Pro – $22/month (per seat)
- Enterprise – Contact for price
As the price goes up, more automation and integrations are available, and reporting becomes more detailed and complex.
Overall Ratings:
StackCompare.com
4.5 (Aggregate Score)
Capterra.com
4.6 (2290 user reviews)
G2.com
4.6 (2040 user reviews)
HubbubHR
Best for Customer support
HubbubHR has excellent customer service and has received rave reviews from both medium sized businesses and enterprise clients. The platform is intuitive for all levels of users and the company is known for their eagerness to assist customers.
Not only is the product easy to use for beginners, it’s also multilingual, serving as a solution for companies that work across multiple countries and/or languages.
The software integrates with other systems and applications, but can be difficult, and some clients have reported having to call in an external consultant to help them get up and running.
Pricing:
- Contact HubbubHR for pricing.
Overall Ratings:
StackCompare.com
4.0 (Aggregate Score)
Capterra.com
4.6 (10 user reviews)
G2.com
Not Available
Our Rating Process
We assessed each software based on features, ease of use, value for money, and support. We scored them each out of 5 points to help you in your decision process.
What features are important to you will depend on your business needs. After identifying what you need, like audit management, performance management, or complex analytics and reporting, you’ll be able to choose the right platform for your business. A software that offers more features will allow you to implement more functionality as your business grows.
HR software should be easy to use, because in many cases the entire organization will be using the self-service portal. The software should feel intuitive and be accessible with a limited amount of training.
Value for money matters because you need to be able to sustain your service. While platforms might feel expensive up front, they will save time and resources in the long run.
Customer support is important when it comes to your HR software because if you or your teams experience technical difficulties, there should be information and experts available to help them get through the process.
Product Comparison
Workday
- Enterprise solutions
- Cloud-based
- Customer support
BambooHR
- Small/Medium Business
- Payroll management
- Web & Mobile App
Gusto
- User experience
- Small business
- Customized dashboard
Monday.com
- Onboarding templates
- Free trial
- Customized dashboard
Alternative Options
Other Services
Frequently Asked Questions
HRIS (Human resources information systems) are centralized databases that track everything to do with employees. From applicant tracking functions to onboarding to employee demographics and more. At a high level, HRIS stands for the technology used in human resources.
Amazon uses Workday as their HR software. Workday is also used by Walmart and offers cloud-based HR solutions to many Fortune 500 companies.
The price of HR software depends on how many employees you have and what kind of features and services you need. HR software can be as cheap as $7/ month or as high as hundreds of dollars each month. Remember you will most likely pay a monthly fee per employee and in some cases there will also be a base price per month.
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