New HR software companies are continuously springing up worldwide and competition has never been higher. However, in a congested market, some companies manage to stand out above the crowd.
Here’s our pick of the ten best HR software companies on the market today to help you with your HR tasks.
1. BambooHR
The mission of BambooHR software is to improve the lives of its users through its workforce management solutions. The company’s founders, Ben Peterson and Ryan Sanders didn’t set out just to make money. Instead, they wanted to make a product that would improve their customers’ work lives and, by extension, their personal lives.
BambooHR isn’t best suited for large companies, but this means they’re experts in their niche of small and mid-sized businesses. In particular, BambooHR is a great option for small companies concerned about performance management tracking. BambooHR software can track key metrics, measure performance, and even create custom reports for your small business.
What software does BambooHR offer?
BambooHR offers two human resource information system (HRIS) packages, Essentials, and Advantage. Both packages include core HR solutions like employee data processing, employee self-service tools, and customer support features. However, the Advantage package also includes hiring and onboarding tools like an applicant tracking system (ATS), data sharing capabilities, and other advanced components, including increased customization. Besides the two main packages, BambooHR offers add-ons like payroll processing, time tracking, and performance management software.
2. Gusto
ZenPayroll launched in 2012 and later changed its name to Gusto. Today, they serve more than two hundred thousand businesses in the United States. Gusto HR software processes tens of billions of dollars of payroll every year, not to mention the other Gusto support features.
Gusto’s mission is driven by its values, which include having a customer service mindset, embracing the business owner mentality, and building with humility.
What software does Gusto offer?
Gusto offers four different plans for different kinds of businesses. Their cheapest plan is oriented toward small businesses, but they offer more services to larger companies at a higher cost.
One of the reasons Gusto stands out among HR software companies is their Select plan, which scales with growing companies over time. This advanced plan requires a minimum of twenty-five employees, but it includes every feature from their other plans, a full-service Gusto payroll solution, direct access to a dedicated customer success manager, waived fees, and health insurance broker integration.
3. Zenefits
Zenefits, founded in 2013, understands the disproportionately large struggles that small and mid-sized companies face, and their mission is to level the playing field. In 2014 Zenefits was one of the fastest-growing software tech companies in history. In that year alone, they grew from 15 to more than 470 employees. They also received $15 million from venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Maverick, and Venrock.
Today, Zenefits software is used by more than 10,000 companies and 400,000 employees. As one of the fastest-growing and most promising HR technology companies, Zenefits delivers the complete HR management package.
What software does Zenefits offer?
Like most human resource software companies, Zenefits offers different levels of support. Their base package includes the essentials, like Zenefits payroll, onboarding, and employee scheduling software, but it also includes their benefits administration package. This is one of Zenefits' most distinct and popular features due to its accessible mobile app, automated system, and streamlined digital platform.
4. Namely
Unlike BambooHR, Zenefits, and Gusto, which target both small and mid-sized businesses, Namely specifically targets just mid-sized businesses.
Founded in 2012, Namely has seen no shortage of awards. In 2021 they received three Comparably awards, for Diversity, Leadership, and Career Growth. The HR experts at Namely also launched an anonymous employee reporting solution to create a safer workplace.
What software does Namely offer?
Namely offers just two different HRIS plans, but they also provide several enhanced services that can be added to your company’s plan. Their HR Fundamentals package offers many of the core HR solutions that other software companies incorporate in their base plans. These include employee self-service, onboarding, direct deposit, employee engagement, labor cost, and HR analytics. However, Namely also includes unique features like a company news feed and their anonymous reporting tool.
5. SAP SuccessFactors
SAP is one of the largest companies on this list. SAP was founded in 1972 by five German entrepreneurs who saw the business potential of the software.
SAP ERP solutions are well known, but SAP SuccessFactors solutions are just as significant in the modern work world. The SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite was renamed the HXM (human experience management) Suite to reflect its focus on serving employees first.
What software does SAP SuccessFactors offer?
SAP SuccessFactors customers don’t have the choice of different plans, unlike with many other types of HCM and HRIS software. Instead, the SAP HCM includes a variety of services for purchase, ranging from SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central to Employee Experience Management.
Unlike some of the smaller HR tech start-ups on this list, SAP HR serves large companies with tens of thousands of employees, like American Airlines and EY.
6. Paycor
Founded in 1990, Paycor is one of the oldest human capital management (HCM) companies and one of the most well-known HR leaders on this list. Today, Paycor serves more than forty thousand small to mid-sized companies. One of Paycor’s largest priorities is improving diversity, equity, and inclusion within their customers’ businesses. They do this through transparency in Paycor analytics and Paycor payroll.
Related Read: What Does DEI Really Mean And How Can You Approach It?
What software does Paycor offer?
Paycor HR software focuses on small and mid-sized businesses, and their HR services vary based on which kind of business you have. They offer four different packages for small businesses, ranging from their basic plan to the full Paycor HCM suite.
The basic plan includes payroll tax services, their mobile app, online reporting, OnDemand pay, and HR and compliance services. The next three small business plans are pricier but include more features, like onboarding, a professional support center, and powerful analytics for business owners.
7. Deputy
Deputy’s mission is to streamline and simplify employee scheduling software. Today, they serve over 250,000 businesses worldwide.
Deputy specializes in shift scheduling software, and they offer some of the most affordable workforce management tools in this blog. They even have a completely free Starter plan with up to one hundred timesheets a month, and their Premium plan is as cheap as four dollars per user (billed annually).
What software does Deputy offer?
Deputy offers two plans for small businesses, Starter and Premium. The Starter plan doesn’t include much compared to the other beginner plans in this blog, but it is free! The Premium plan offers many more features, like auto-scheduling and payroll integration.
In addition to their small business plan, Deputy offers their Enterprise plan for businesses with more than 250 employees. This plan includes everything in the Premium plan along with advanced demand planning, reporting, and workforce analytics, and a variety of customizable features.
8. Oracle HR
Like SAP, Oracle is a large company that has a variety of human resources software and targets large global companies. They have well over one hundred thousand employees. The Oracle HCM Cloud includes some of the most advanced features of any HR platform to date.
The Oracle HCM Cloud serves companies like Adventist Health, illycaffè, and Baylor University. As a global HR software provider, their HCM is accessible in more than 190 countries and 26 languages.
What software does Oracle HR offer?
Oracle HCM HR technology offers everything a global company needs to manage its employees. The Oracle HCM Cloud includes core HR software services, employee benefits integration, a networking directory, workforce predictions, security controls, and a unique experience design studio.
The Oracle Cloud HCM is the most competitive and enticing part of the Oracle HRMS. This cloud platform unifies Oracle Human Resources, Talent Management, Workforce Management, and Oracle HCM Payroll. Oracle claims businesses using their cloud have seen an overall 11 percent increase in workforce efficiency, a 29 percent decrease in legacy system costs, and a 62 percent increase in reporting productivity.
9. ADP
ADP is another of the largest names on this list, serving over nine hundred thousand companies. ADP stands out as one of the most versatile HR software companies, providing options for small, medium, and large companies. They even offer ADP TotalSource, a PEO HR solution with all of the advantages of in-house HR manager services.
ADP is more than seventy years old, and as of 2021, Fortune had named them one of the “World’s Most Admired Companies” for fifteen years straight. Their mission is to provide solutions to human resource challenges and change the professional world, whether by adapting their software to specific industries’ issues or improving their popular ADP Workforce Now software.
What software does ADP offer?
ADP offers one of the largest varieties of core HR management services on this list. They have packages geared toward both small and medium companies. The most popular ADP payroll software for small companies is their Enhanced package, offering ADP payroll, ADP tax services, and HRM tools. ADP clients also get access to their own ADP agent, which essentially provides human resources concierge service.
ADP Workforce Now packages are available for any mid-sized company. The Hiring Advantage package is ADP’s most popular HR and ADP payroll service for mid-sized companies, and it includes onboarding, talent management, performance management, and other enhanced HR professional tools. ADP also offers optional add-ons for every ADP Workforce Now package.
10. UKG
Ultimate Kronos Group, or UKG, is all about serving people, and this couldn’t be better displayed than by their actions. In 2021 they started their Close the Gap Commitment, which dedicated $3 million to close the gender wage gap in the United States.
If this commitment isn’t impressive enough, UKG was ranked sixteenth on Fortune magazine’s 2021 list of Best Workplaces for Women and named as one of AnitaB.org’s Top Companies for Women Technologists.
What software does UKG offer?
UKG’s HR service delivery is just as impressive as its philanthropy. Some of their clients include Tesla, Marriott, Yamaha, Samsung, and Peet’s. They offer HR software solutions for any size of the company, but their popular UKG Pro software is a full-service HCM package for global mid-sized and large companies. UKG Ready is a similar package, but it is designed for smaller companies focused on simplifying the efficiency of HR, talent, and payroll.
UKG specializes in performance management software, included in both their UKG Ready and UKG Dimensions packages. Oriented toward larger companies, UKG Workforce Dimensions includes timekeeping, employee scheduling software, PTO, and advanced analytics—all on a modern cloud-based platform.
11. Workable
Nikos Moraitakis and Spyros Magiatis founded Workable in 2012 in Athens, Greece. It’s a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that helps manage and support the hiring funnel through ATS (applicant tracking system) and recruitment solutions.
Workable is one of the leading hiring platforms globally and has been trusted by almost 27,000 companies to hire over 1.5 million employees. But what sets it apart is its massive library of 1000+ job description templates, 390+ sample interview kits, 50+ HR and hiring templates, tutorials, and advice.
What software does Workable offer?
Workable is a secure, automatic, enterprise-grade hiring software that can be used to hire just one or 200 new employees. Its ease of use and mobile app make it a great choice for businesses of all sizes across industries.
Workable boosts your online presence so that you can target your potential employees exactly where they are. Its AI Recruiter technology helps you source and attract candidates relevant to the job role you’re looking to fill. Additionally, it lets you post jobs from 200+ sites with a single click.
You can also collaborate with hiring teams to evaluate promising applicants and decide who’s the best fit for the role.
12. Deel
Founded in 2018 by MIT graduates Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang, Deel is an all-in-one HR platform that offers hiring and payment solutions to businesses that hire employees and contractors globally.
Trusted by over 15,000 companies to manage their global teams compliantly in around 150 countries, Deel is free for businesses with less than 200 employees. It has its team spread across 45 countries to empower work irrespective of borders.
What software does Deel offer?
Deel helps individuals, SMBs, and enterprises build teams globally within minutes. Its comprehensive HRIS (human resources information system) lets you manage employee data, time off, expenses, reporting, and performance through a single HR platform.
Deel ensures that your employee documentation is up-to-date so that you can avoid unwarranted legal expenses and don’t have to worry about understanding and complying with local laws.
Moreover, you can leverage Deel to pay all your employees on time with a single click, no matter their place of residence. This software also lets you provide your employees with local benefits to help you streamline the onboarding process.
13. Rippling
Rippling was established in 2016 by Parker Conrad and Prassana Sarkar to help businesses unify their IT, HR, and Finance-related tasks. Through Rippling, businesses can automate most of the manual tasks they engage in to make employee changes, such as onboarding new employees, to save valuable time.
This San Francisco-based company has raised $700 million from the best investors globally and snagged the twelfth spot in Forbes’ list of America’s best startup employers. Additionally, the San Francisco Business Times awarded Rippling the title of the fastest-growing private business in the Bay Area.
What software does Rippling offer?
Rippling is one of the best workforce management platforms, perfect for small businesses based in the US or global enterprises with a distributed workforce that can seamlessly onboard new employees and contractors, pay every employee in their local currency, comprehensively manage HR, IT, and Finance, and automate their global compliance requirements.
You can also explore Rippling’s library of pre-built templates to take advantage of automated workflows and reporting.
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14. Personio
Founded in 2015, Personio is a German people operating system. This HR software is perfect for small and medium-sized businesses whose employee count ranges between 10 to 2,000. With offices in Munich, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, London, Dublin, and Amsterdam, Personio’s aim is to automate HR processes, so that HRs can focus on people.
Backed by a second Series E funding of $200 million and worth over $8.5 billion, Personio is undoubtedly one of the most valuable tech businesses globally and startups in Europe.
What software does Personio offer?
As an HR software, Personio is dedicated to simplifying HR processes, consolidating all personnel data in a unified place, and offering a seamless and hassle-free recruitment process.
Personio’s unified dashboard helps keep track of absenteeism, attendance, and time registration. Its automated processes and updates will assist you in accessing personnel files to process payroll quickly. It also lets you generate evaluations and provides timely reminders for essential deadlines, so that HRs don’t spend more time than necessary taking care of administrative tasks.
15. UZIO
Sanjay Singh founded UZIO in 2009 with the aim of enabling US businesses to perfect their employee experience. UZIO is a cloud-based SaaS platform offering HR solutions, payroll benefits management, and time tracking and attendance registration.
UZIO partners with 150+ partners, comprising PEOs, CPAs, ASOs, benefits brokers, other consultants, 1700+ employers, and 50000+ employees, to revolutionize people operations.
What software does UZIO offer?
UZIO is an intuitive platform that can be used by businesses of all sizes. This HRIS solution automates all HR processes and efficiently collects, classifies, processes, stores, and distributes the necessary information to manage an organization’s human capital. Additionally, its payroll automatically syncs with the HR data to ensure that online payroll processing takes less time and is painless.
You can take advantage of UZIO’s benefits administration and time tracking features to manage employee benefits centrally and easily calculate payroll calculations. It also makes tax administration simple and helps you sync your employee’s 401(k) benefits and any salary changes with payroll.
Further resources
No matter what size of business or sector, efficient HR software is essential in the modern workplace.
When you’re selecting an HR software solution, inquire whether the vendor has experience with your industry or can provide references from previous clients in your field or niche. Most importantly, make sure they offer support after you purchase their software.
Some further resources to help you select the best HR software for your needs:
- 10 Best HRMS for Human Resource Management
- 10 Best Learning Management Systems (LMS)
- 10 Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) for Recruiting
- 10 Best Recruiting Software
- 10 Best Online Payroll Software
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