20 Best Employee Management Systems of 2023: Reviewed & Compared

Connecteam is an employee management app that allows HR people, employee managers, and business owners to communicate, operate, and train deskless employees.

Why I picked Connecteam: The software is divided into three main modules: operations, communications, and HR & skills. The software is available on mobile, desktop, or as a kiosk app for tablets, and it’s intended for organizations where employees don’t spend their working time in the office. Connecteam can adapt to the needs of a variety of industries, including retail, restaurants, manufacturing, construction, field services, and healthcare.

Connecteam Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include Connecteam's dedicated employee communication channel with targeted updates, team engagement features, surveys, polls, and a suggestion box to collect employee feedback. Their platform also includes a searchable company directory, organizational charts, training and onboarding capabilities, a company library, time management, digital forms and checklists, quick tasks, and more.

Their comprehensive platform is designed for out-of-office use, and it’s easy to use, customizable, and quick to set up. You can leverage their wealth of features to automate daily procedures, improve team communication via direct messaging, and help boost employee engagement.

Integrations include Google Calendar, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, and others.

Deel is a global employee management platform that enables hiring in over 150 countries. You can hire full-time employees from anywhere in the world and manage their payroll, compliance, and administration from one single platform.

Why I picked Deel: Deel's platform includes management features for both contractors and employees. For employees, Deel works as the employer of record, handling payroll and benefits, so you don’t need to open up a foreign entity. Their full-featured UI also includes features such as contract management, expense reimbursements, and off-cycle payroll adjustments too.

Deel Standout Features and Integrations:

Compared to other employee management systems, Deel stands out with several new offerings over the past year, including global payroll, global mobility support, integrated Slack tools, and advanced integrations. The global mobility service helps companies with visa sponsorship, allowing them to bring in new employees from abroad. The Slack plugins can be used to create an accessible organizational chart, provide self-service PTO management, and even track applicant referrals.

Deel also complies with SOC2 and ISO 27001 security standards, meaning it follows international guidelines for securing your data.

Integrations are available with major HR and accounting platforms, including Ashby, BambooHR, Expensify, Greenhouse, Hibob, NetSuite, Okta, OneLogin, QuickBooks, Xero, Workday, and Workable. The software’s open API can support additional custom software integrations.

TalentReef is a talent recruitment and management system that covers candidate sourcing, hiring, and onboarding, as well as monitoring employee engagement on an ongoing basis.

Why I picked TalentReef: This platform has everything you need to recruit and hire hourly workers. You can post jobs, parse through resumes, and schedule interviews through the system. Plus, you can set up automated onboarding workflows to get new hires up and running quickly.

But the main reason I included this software on my list is for its retention tools for your existing staff. Once you've hired a highly skilled team, you can keep them engaged with the goal setting, feedback exchange, and recognition tools. You can also set up training and learning modules with the platform, and provide an employee self-serve portal for assessments, evaluations, and more.

TalentReef Standout Features and Integrations:

Some of the standout features in this platform are its performance management tools. You can conduct check-ins, set and track goals with employees, and conduct performance evaluations. This includes self-evaluations, so employees have a chance to highlight their hard work.

Integrations include payroll systems, candidate assessment tools, background check providers, and learning management systems, though individual platforms are not specified.

Lattice’s people management platform is designed to help HR teams and managers get the most out of their employees through its primary focus on performance and goal management. It's cloud-based system is also accessible on mobile devices too.

Why I picked Lattice: Their platform is designed to help organizations develop employees into high performers with tools to help them set, monitor, and achieve their personal and professional goals. In addition to their performance management module, Lattice also offers integrated solutions to manage objectives and key results (OKRs) and goals; employee engagement tools like surveys, pulses, and eNPS ratings; and employee growth tools that help staff and their managers develop career growth plans and track skill competencies.

Lattice Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features in Lattice's employee management software include modern continuous performance management features such as continuous loops, one-to-one templates, and 360-degree feedback. This means performance reviews prepared within Lattice incorporate a blend of feedback sources from managers, colleagues, direct reports, and the employees themselves, creating a well-rounded profile of how each employee is performing. Lattice also supports project-based reviews too.

Integrations are available with many commonly used human resource information systems (HRIS), including ADP, BambooHR, Namely, Personio, Rippling, Workday, and Zenefits, as well as other popular software platforms such as Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and others.

Paycor is a comprehensive employee management system that helps businesses manage payroll, employee hours, HR, and benefits.

Why I picked Paycor: I included Paycor in this list for several reasons. First, its ability to track employee time and attendance helps employers identify patterns of absenteeism and tardiness, allowing them to take steps to improve employee productivity.

Second, I appreciate how the software includes a dashboard to help managers track the progress of each new hire, as well as a set of tools for creating and managing employee files. It also includes a built-in e-signature function, which allows new hires to sign their employment contracts electronically.

Its integrated payroll software offers a range of features, including flexible pay options like direct deposit, earned wage access, pay cards, and automatic tax filing. Paycor also provides a mobile app that allows employees to access their payroll information on the go with features that enable them to view pay stubs, request time off, and check accruals. 

In addition, managers can track employee performance using customizable templates, goal-setting tools, real-time feedback, and 1-on-1 sessions.

Paycor Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features for Paycor include their detailed analytics covering employee pay and benefits. By tracking this data, employers can identify trends and make informed decisions about compensation strategies. You can also generate reports that show employee pay by job title, location, or department. Additionally, you can analyze data on employee benefits usage, such as vacation days and health insurance coverage.

Integrations include HireTech, Emburse Certify, Zillion, Points North, FMLA, Tapcheck, Instant Pay, Sterling, Wageworks, Ignite, and other digital workforce tools.

Businesses can choose from various pricing plans based on the number of employees and the level of service required.

monday.com is marketing mainly as a workflow tool for scaling organizations, but they’ve also built in several HR features, many of which can be used well for employee management.

Why I picked monday.com: The platform has features to build collaborative workflows and schedules, assign tasks and projects to your team, track time, report on key performance indicators (KPIs), solicit feedback from your staff, and send automated reminders for important to-dos.

Their platform is also a good choice for organizations with heavy document-processing needs thanks to their workflow management tools for deadlines and built-in communication features like commenting, approvals, @-tagging, notifications & alerts, a built-in inbox, social media-esc 'likes,' and email integration.

monday.com Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include customizable reports and dashboards that you can set up to capture the valuable metrics needed for proper employee management: capacity limitations, progress tracking, time management, budget totals, and missed deadline warnings.

Part of managing your employees is making sure they aren't bogged down in admin and data entry when they could best be using their skills elsewhere. monday.com offers automations that can handle basic, recurring tasks without live intervention, freeing up your people for more creative and complex work.

Integrations include project management apps like Slack, Google Workspace, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform, and many more, accessible through a paid plan with Zapier.

Trinet offers HR software and services to help businesses manage various HR functions, including payroll and employee benefits, employee performance and learning, and workplace analytics. The software's features cover the entire employee lifecycle, from hiring and onboarding through to offboarding.

Why I picked Trinet: Their performance management module has cascading goals, performance evaluation templates, and real-time employee feedback. Managers and their team members can track goal progress and connect employee milestones to their performance reviews. Plus, Trinet also gives you access to over 500 courses to help employees learn on the job and train for their roles.

Employee time tracking and scheduling can also be managed through the software. As you manage employee time, you can also manage employee pay and benefits. Payroll and tax filings can be conducted in several countries, making this a good option for global businesses.

Trinet Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features for Trinet, in addition to those mentioned above, include their workforce analytics capabilities. You can customize their dashboard to track key metrics like your headcount, turnover rates, employee tenure, new hires, and terminations.

Integrations are available with BambooHR, Bob, Carta, ChartHop, Compt, Greenhouse, Lattice, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, Xero, and many others.

Insperity is an all-in-one employee management system designed to help businesses streamline their key HR processes, from onboarding and payroll to benefits and retirement planning.

Why I picked Insperity: I included Insperity in this list because of its comprehensive set of features for employee management. Their software combines a wide range of HR functions, including payroll, time and attendance tracking, performance management, and employee benefits administration.

These features are supplemented by their additional PEO (professional employer organization) services, which are run by their in-house experts in payroll, performance, safety, and other HR-related compliance issues. This combination of software plus additional expertise makes them an ideal solution for small to midsize businesses that have limited in-house resources and want to access expert HR support.

Insperity Standout Features and Integrations:

One of Insperity's standout features is its Workforce Synchronization tool, which allows users to easily manage employee information across multiple systems, ensuring that all employee data is consistent and up-to-date. Also worth mentioning is Insperity's Employee Service Center, which provides employees with a central location to access all of their HR-related information, such as pay stubs, time off requests, and benefits information.

Additionally, Insperity's platform is user-friendly, making it easy for HR professionals to navigate and manage employee information.

Integrations are available with several other HR software systems including ADP, Oracle, Sage, and QuickBooks. It also offers an API that allows users to build custom integrations with other applications to facilitate seamless data transfer between systems, eliminating the need for manual data entry and saving HR professionals valuable time.

Justworks is a comprehensive HR solution that provides payroll, benefits, compliance support, and HR consulting services.

Why I picked Justworks: Employee management is easy with this platform thanks to its mix of tech solutions and HR services. Justworks provides access to a team of certified HR professionals who can help businesses navigate complex employment laws and regulations, manage employee performance, and provide guidance on best HR practices.

In addition, its payroll services will provide you with automated payroll management, including tax filing and compliance. And speaking of compliance, you can use Justworks to send out sexual harassment prevention training, keep an eye on timesheet errors, and keep up with the ever-changing employment regulations and tax season payments.

Justworks Standout Features and Integrations:

The biggest standout feature for Justworks is the wide range of benefit options you can access through their platform, including health insurance (medical and dental coverage), vision insurance, life insurance, 401(k) plans, and commuter benefits. Their software simplifies the benefits administration process, allowing you to choose the best options for your employees.

Integrations are available with popular accounting software including Bookkeeper360, QuickBooks, Xero, and others.

Leapsome’s all-in-one platform helps companies strengthen their employee satisfaction through a comprehensive suite of tools focused on employee engagement, performance and learning & development.

Why I picked Leapsome: To help with employee upskilling, their learning and development module can create learning paths using customized curriculum, or curated third-party content from their built-in learning library. Knowledge acquisition can also be measured using short quizzes with a variety of question formats. Their learning path dashboard also makes it easy to keep track of internal enrollment numbers, progress status, and completion rates for individuals or at the company-wide level.

Leapsome Standout Features and Integrations:

One of Leapsome's standout features is the depth of its integrated performance review system. This module includes modern elements like 360-degree feedback, agile project reviews, and anonymous leadership reviews, to give employees a voice during the feedback process. Goal setting is also well-integrated into the system so employees always know what’s expected of them, and how their goals are contributing to the bigger picture.

Integrates are available with 15+ common HR software applications including Personio, BambooHR, Bob, Workday, Rippling, PayFit, ADP, Active Directory, SFTP, Okta, OneLogin, GSuite, Slack, Jira Software, Microsoft Teams, and common calendar apps.