There are many factors that go into selecting the right human resources software for a business, from what industry you’re in to the size of your organization. Finding the right HRIS platform for your company simplifies the management of employee data, improves employee experience, and maximizes managerial efficiency.
Human resources software platforms are all somewhat similar, but there can be key differences between them.
Human resources information systems include core HR functions such as recruiting, attendance tracking, training and development, benefits administration, and payroll administration. They also usually include a self-service portal where employees can submit paperwork such as W-4s, request time off, make benefits elections, and view pay stubs.
Human resources management systems include many of the same core HR functions as HRIS platforms, plus additional ones, like time tracking, onboarding processes, and employee performance management. Mid-size and larger companies often rely on performance management software to conduct performance reviews and measure employee productivity and work quality over time.
Human capital management platforms often include the same features offered by HRIS and HRMS platforms and go further in trying to address the needs of the entire employee lifecycle as well as business planning. Additional HCM functions include analytics for productivity and HR, salary and succession planning, and workforce modeling. Workforce modeling allows companies to plan out their future hiring based on demand, productivity, and attrition.
Workday
Highly rated for enterprise payroll capabilities, employee performance management, and quality of support.
Gusto
Highly rated for small-business payroll, ease of use, quality of support, and user web portal.
Oracle HCM Cloud
Highly rated for employee engagement and ability to integrate with other software systems.
UKG Pro (UltiPro)
Highly rated for employee performance measurement and payroll automation.
Paycom
Highly rated for payroll features like direct deposit, check and W-2 printing, and delivery of checks and W-2s.
Ceridian Dayforce
Highly rated for performance management, like company goals and OKRs, and employee feedback.
BambooHR
Highly rated for ease of use, attractive interface, recruiting and applicant tracking features, and payroll features.
ADP Workforce Now
Highly rated for performance management like one-on-one meetings, tax management, and payroll direct deposit.
Zenefits
Highly rated for benefits administration features like health insurance and organization management.
Paycor
Highly rated for payroll functionality like direct deposit, check and W-2 printing, and payroll entry.
Rippling
Highly rated for policy management, benefits administration, IT cloud, and ease of use.
SAP SuccessFactors
Highly rated for employee lifecycle management, compliance, and leave management.
Highly rated for enterprise payroll capabilities, employee performance management, and quality of support
The cloud-based Workday HCM platform was created to offer HR professionals a single source for employee data where they can perform all their key tasks. Functionality like the platform‘s org studio interface helps finance teams, managers, and executives improve business processes. Large companies with over 1,000 staff should use Workday paired with a workforce management platform for best results.
Large enterprise-level companies like Wegmans, General Electric, Comcast, and Dell use Workday. It’s a popular platform in the IT industry, software industry, financial services, and hospital and healthcare industries.
Workday HCM is a powerful platform that provides human resources management, organization management, reporting and analytics, benefits administration, talent optimization, employee and manager self-service, and more. It was created to work with additional Workday products such as Workday Payroll and Workday Recruiting.
Workday is quote based, meaning you’ll need to contact them directly to figure out pricing.
Highly rated for small-business payroll, ease of use, quality of support, and user web portal
Gusto is a cloud-based platform that offers payroll services, manages employee information and HR data, and helps companies with talent management, benefits management, and more. The platform is modern and offers affordable options for new businesses.
Gusto is used by many small and medium-sized businesses like Citizen Pilates, Kids Atelier, Tinpot Creamery, Cortex Health, and soona. Gusto is popular with SaaS companies, marketing and advertising agencies, accounting firms, and non-profit organizations.
Gusto‘s Core package includes full-service payroll, employee profiles and self-service, health insurance administration, employee benefits, and integrations for accounting and time tracking. The Complete package includes all services in Core as well as hiring and onboarding tools, project tracking, workforce cost reports, team management tools, performance reviews, and more.
Gusto’s Complete package starts at $39/month plus $12/month per user. The lower-tier Core package with basic HR functions is $39/month and $6/month per user, and the higher-tier Concierge package is $149/month plus $12/month per user. For businesses in need of premium tools and support, contact Gusto’s sales team for details about a customized Select package.
Highly rated for employee engagement and ability to integrate with other software systems
Oracle’s HCM Cloud products aim to provide everything a company needs to complete their HR tasks from the time someone applies to the company to when they’re offboarding and ready to leave. It gives users a single source of truth for their HR data and can help businesses with other needs such as payroll and learning management.
Large companies such as Hormel Foods, Emblem Health, Hitachi, Baylor University, and Securitas use Oracle‘s HCM Cloud platform. It’s popular in the education, entertainment, financial services, and healthcare industries.
Services available on Oracle’s HCM Cloud platform include core HR modules, learning, talent management, analytics, workforce management, recruiting, and payroll. It also includes the Oracle ME platform that streamlines communications between employees and management and provides ways for them to connect.
Oracle is quote based, meaning you’ll need to contact them directly to figure out pricing.
Highly rated for employee performance measurement and payroll automation
UKG Pro Suite is a cloud-based platform that combines core HR tools with a robust payroll system and workforce management capabilities. It can help streamline the recruitment process and serve team members from the time they enter the applicant tracking system to when they retire. Organizations with over 200 staff should pair UKG’s payroll and HR with a more specialized workforce management system for best results.
UKG Pro is is popular in the hospital and healthcare industry, non-profit organizations, financial services, and insurance companies.
By selecting UKG Pro Suite, you’re provided access to tools for human resources, payroll, talent management, workforce management, HR service delivery, compliance, and reporting and analytics.
UKG is quote based, meaning you’ll need to contact them directly to figure out pricing.
Highly rated for payroll features like direct deposit, check and W-2 printing, and the delivery of checks and W-2s.
Paycom offers a single platform for HR tools, employee management, and payroll services. The cloud-based software lets employees manage their own data on the app and allows HR teams to focus more on strategic decision making and spend less time entering information on behalf of employees.
Businesses of all sizes use Paycom, though it‘s more popular with mid-size businesses and large companies than with small businesses. It‘s popular among non-profit organizations, the hospital and healthcare industry, the IT industry, as well as financial services.
Paycom offers HR and payroll solutions, including time management, time-off requests, expense reimbursement, employee documents, and benefits. The platform provides users with a seamless experience where they can move from one module to the next and only have to input information one time.
Paycom is quote based, meaning you’ll need to contact them directly to figure out pricing.
Highly rated for performance management, like company goals and OKRs, and employee feedback
Ceridian Dayforce product is a cloud-based HCM platform that offers an all-in-one solution for HR, payroll services, benefits, workforce management, and more. The platform aims to make life simpler for HR departments by ensuring compliance and regulations are followed globally to minimize the risk of non-compliance. It also uses analytics to help teams plan for the future and stay ahead of hiring decisions.
Dayforce is popular with large companies with over 1,000 staff in highly-regulated industries such as hospitals, healthcare, and financial services, as well as among non-profit organizations.
The Dayforce platform includes payroll services, workforce management, employee benefits, HR tools and analytics, talent intelligence to recruit, engage, and keep top employees, and more. Additionally, Dayforce offers services like tax filing, education, implementation, configuration, and consulting.
Dayforce is quote based, meaning you’ll need to contact Ceridian directly to figure out pricing.
Highly rated for ease of use, attractive interface, recruiting and applicant tracking features, and payroll features.
BambooHR markets itself as an HRIS platform for small and mid-size businesses that have outgrown using spreadsheets for their HR functions. It aims to help make tasks easier for HR teams so they have more time for work that matters and can spend less time on tedious manual tasks.
BambooHR’s users include Fitbit, Wistia, Squarespace, Vimeo, ZipRecruiter, Canva, and Fab. Many customers are small to mid-size businesses in the computer software industry, IT industry, marketing and advertising, as well as non-profit organizations.
BambooHR‘s Essentials package includes employee records, benefit tracking, standard reporting, document storage, standard workflows and approvals, time-off management, an employee directory and org chart, company calendar, mobile app, and more. The Advantage package includes additional features such as hiring and onboarding features, advanced reporting, tailored workflows and approvals, and data integrations. Add-on features are available for payroll services, time tracking, and performance management.
BambooHR offers two plan levels, Essentials and Advantage, as well as add-on services. Contact BambooHR’s sales team for a price quote.
Highly rated for performance management like one-on-one meetings, tax management, and payroll direct deposit
ADP Workforce Now is an all-in-one cloud-based HRIS platform that offers HR management and payroll services, as well as benefits, talent management, and time and attendance. The platform aims to engage employees, make managing people easy, and provide analytics that help business leaders make better decisions. You should use ADP Workforce Now for payroll and HRIS reporting while integrating it with a specialized workforce management solution for best results.
ADP Workforce Now is popular with mid-sized companies with over 200 staff. Many of its clients are in the hospital and healthcare industry, IT and computer software industries, the retail industry, as well as non-profit organizations.
The ADP Workforce Now platform includes a comprehensive suite of HR tools with payroll, time and attendance, talent, recruiting, workforce management, and benefits features. It also offers reporting and insights and analytics, as well as machine learning and AI features that can help make HR decision making easier.
ADP Workforce Now offers a variety of packages, including options for businesses with fewer than 49 employees and options for businesses with 50 to 999 employees. Contact ADP directly for specific pricing and promotions.
Highly rated for benefits administration features like health insurance and organization management.
Zenefits is a cloud-based HRIS platform with options for HR tools, payroll tools, and benefits administration, depending on the package and features selected. It was created to help simplify HR processes, reduce the amount of paperwork HR teams need to keep track of, and be easy for managers and employees to use, from the time they receive an offer to when they’re exiting the company.
Zenefits’ clientele includes many small and mid-size businesses like YLabs, Squirrels LLC, Alaska Luxury Tours, Brad’s Deals, Caribou, Boomtown, and Blenders Eyewear. It’s popular in industries such as computer software, IT, marketing and advertising, and with non-profit organizations.
Zenefits HR solutions includes HR administration, onboarding, compensation, performance management, time and scheduling, and people enablement. The platform’s payroll offerings include payroll administration, reporting, taxes and filing, and Zenefits also offers benefits administration services.
The Zenefits Essentials plan starts at $8/month per employee, the Growth plan starts at $14/month per employee, and the Zen plan starts at $21/month per employee. Optional add-ons include benefits administration, payroll, and advisory services.
Highly rated for payroll functionality, check and W-2 printing, and payroll entry
Paycor‘s cloud-based HCM platform provides companies with the HR tools they need to operate their business and manage their workforce, from recruiting to payroll to professional development. The company’s focus is on making sure that business leaders have the HR data they need to be able to make decisions on behalf of the company that save time and help reach key business objectives.
Paycor’s platform is used by the Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Plains, Dolphin Hotel Management, SimpleNexus, OrthoArizona, Senior Resources of West Michigan, and Chive Media Group. It’s a popular platform among small and mid-size businesses and is widely used by computer software companies, the hospital and healthcare industry, non-profit organizations, and retail companies.
Paycor’s available features include HR and payroll services, HR analytics, and talent management tools for recruiting, onboarding, and talent development. It also offers workforce management features like time and attendance as well as employee engagement tools and benefits administration.
Paycor is quote based, meaning you’ll need to contact them directly to figure out pricing.
Highly rated for policy management, benefits administration, IT cloud, and ease of use
Rippling’s cloud-based platform offers both HR tools and services as well as IT products. Its HR tools include payroll, time and attendance, talent management, and more, while its IT offerings include app management and device management. Ripping’s IT services make it easy for companies to onboard employees and provide them with all the tools they need to do their jobs, as well as to secure and manage employee computers and devices.
The Rippling platform is used by customers like Beam Dental, M9 Solutions, Trash Butler, Compass Coffee, Open Door Legal, and Millennial Restaurant Group. It’s most popular among small to mid-size businesses and is used by companies in the computer software, financial services, marketing, and advertising industries.
Rippling‘s products start with Rippling Unity, which offers onboarding and offboarding automation, a workforce directory, document and e-signature management, and the Rippling mobile app. Its HR cloud services include payroll, time and attendance, benefits administration, applicant tracking, and more, while its IT cloud services include app management, device management, and inventory management.
Rippling pricing starts at $8/month per user for the basic Unity platform. Add-on products like payroll and benefits administration incur an additional cost.
Highly rated for employee lifecycle management, compliance, and leave management
SAP SuccessFactors is an HCM platform that provides companies with core HR and payroll services, HR analytics and workforce planning, employee experience management, and talent management. SAP offers many other business products that are beneficial to large companies, such as enterprise resource planning, financial management, supply chain management, and its CRM and Customer Experience platform.
Mid-size businesses and large companies like Whirlpool Corporation, Vodafone, Telefonica, and Growmark use SAP SuccessFactors. It’s a popular platform in the computer software industry, IT industry, hospital and healthcare industries, and the retail industry.
SAP SuccessFactors includes tools for hiring, onboarding, succession, culture and belonging, learning and development, payroll, time tracking, benefits administration, feedback, and more. It also includes analytics and insights for managers and business leaders to use for strategic workforce planning and guided workflows that make using the platform easy.
For pricing details or a demo, contact SAP directly.
HR software providers often aim to provide all the functionality a business needs. Every business has its own unique circumstances and requirements, and all-in-one platforms can’t always cater to every need. For some businesses, the ideal HR platform might lack a key feature, or a key feature may not function well. It’s important to select an HR platform with integration capabilities that allows you to use your preferred third-party tools.
Combining services from multiple vendors may be a good way to get the best value for your money, especially if it saves time and makes work easier for your employees. Syncing multiple platforms also allows you to make use of best-in-class services to create your own powerful ecosystem of HR software solutions. The best HR software platforms let you integrate additional tools for tasks like accounting, employee scheduling, time and attendance, labor forecasting, and more.
No matter the size of your business, an HRIS platform is necessary for the storage of employee records and for payroll and makes those parts of business easier. However, outside of those functions, HRIS platforms can have a tendency to stretch themselves too thin and other functions may be difficult to use or not available. By pairing your HRIS platform with more specialized solutions for workforce management, you can get the best of both worlds.
Time and attendance features within HRIS software often lack the robust functionality businesses need. Those built into HRIS platforms often can’t handle the complex workforce management needs of bigger organizations, and scheduling features don’t let you effectively and automatically create schedules based on predicted demand.
Additionally, time and attendance functionality in HRIS platforms is restrictive and typically inaccurate. Because it doesn’t allow for simple employee and managerial timesheet reviews and edits, it makes payroll data less accurate. Most importantly, time and attendance and scheduling functions are usually very siloed modules within HRIS systems when they should be perfectly in sync with the system.
Workforce.com is a full-service, cloud-based workforce management tool with time and attendance, auto-scheduling, communication, and labor compliance functionality. The best-in-class software connects seamlessly to many other HR software solutions to help you make the most of your tech stack.
Workforce.com handles scheduling, time clocks, attendance, and labor compliance; this lets your HRIS software focus on what it does best. By letting a dedicated workforce management platform actually handle frontline operations, your organization can save on costs and maximize the potential of its HRIS. What's more, you'll reap the benefits of having time and attendance directly synced with scheduling, gaining live insights on scheduled vs. actual labor costs.
When you integrate Workforce.com with other HRIS platforms, it automatically generates, reviews, and exports timesheets to your HRIS’ payroll system for processing. It also uses your HRIS as a single source of truth, importing all employee data including names, titles, pay rates, leave balances, and more. Workforce.com routinely syncs with your HRIS system to keep this information up-to-date.
To learn more about integrating a best-in-class workforce management platform with your HRIS software, book a call today.