What is hr? What is payroll? Human Resources (HR) and Payroll software are designed to help companies process employee data. Some of the things HR and Payroll software does include hiring, onboarding employees, timekeeping employees for payroll purposes, providing employees with access to benefits, training, reviewing employee files for compliance purposes, providing information about employee benefits available to them, paying employees (via electronic direct deposit), generating W-2 tax forms for employees at the end of the year (after payroll functions are processed), etc.
Deputy
Deputy is one of the best all-around shift schedulers we’ve tested and thrown in bonus human resources functionality, which may meet the needs of some small to midsize businesses.
PROS
- Uncluttered and intuitive user interface
- Great mobile solutions
- Extensive third-party integration system
- Offers open shifts and easy shift swapping
CONS
- Not robust enough to be a comprehensive human resources (HR) management tool
- Website and mobile apps are available in English only
Deputy (which begins at $2.50 per user per month) wins its Editors’ Choice award in the employee scheduling and shift planning category. Here, its strengths include its great user interface (UI), solid mobile support, long list of integrations, wide range of customization options, and 24/7 support. These benefits topped our reviews in this category along with fellow competitors, Humanity and Paycor Scheduling.
Deputy also adds enough general human resource (HR) features to make it a viable competitor in that space, too. Once we tested it against the likes of HR Editors’ Choice winners, BambooHR or Zenefits, however, we found its range of features in this category simply weren’t as broad as the leaders in that space. But if you’re a small business that needs both a staff scheduler and a general HR tool, Deputy is well worth a very close look as it may solve both problems for you with a single price tag.
APS OnLine
APS OnLine (which begins at $5 per employee per month) is human resources (HR) software aimed at delivering enterprise-level HR management features to the small to midsize business (SMB) segment of the industry. Its sweet spot target customer is those with between 100 and 3,000 employees. APS OnLine offers customer service that’s more robust than other competitors that target SMBs, including Zenefits Z2. But because of a fast-climbing price as you move up levels plus a feature set that’s slightly behind that of Editors’ Choice winner BambooHR, SMBs should evaluate it thoroughly first to make sure it’s a good fit for their budgets.
APS OnLine is one of a few vendors that sell core HR tech with built-in payroll, not surprising since the 20-year-old business started out as a payroll processor. The company expanded from there, adding time and attendance and then HR management. APS sold on-premises software before switching to a cloud-based platform a dozen years ago.
The MSS home screen has the main navigation menu running across the top with drop-down menus that APS calls “consoles” for the service’s major functions, including Admin, Employee, HR, Payroll, Reporting, and Time & Attendance. The rest of the dashboard can be configured to display a system admin’s choice of charts and what APS calls “tiles” or boxes representing each console. Inside each tile are tasks that need tending to such as (under Benefits Administration) “1 New Hire Eligible, 12 Pending Elections” and “Pending Opt-Outs.”
PROS
- User-friendly interface.
- Payroll functionality is built in.
- Highly configurable.
CONS
- Can get expensive for SMBs.
- Does not offer a news feed.
- System admins and employees need to use separate portals.
Dayforce
Dayforce combines all major HR components into a cloud-based, unified HRMS. Suitable for smaller companies that need to manage over 100 employees to enterprises with thousands of employees, this program helps businesses tackle every aspect of the employee lifecycle. Companies can take advantage of professional services, payroll tax filing, and standardized implementation processes via Dayforce Activate.
Benefits and Insights
- Single Employee Record: All employee information is stored in a single location. Users receive a complete employee picture, including compensation levels, performance metrics and more.
- Unified Payroll and Time: Dayforce brings together time and pay to eliminate common payroll processing roadblocks. Continuous calculation allows administrators to access data at any time during the pay period. This leaves more time for verification, review and audit tasks, while also providing real-time updates.
- TeamRelate: This feature facilitates stronger team engagement and better communication. Managers can track employee engagement on a daily basis, provide personalized coaching, and understand employee communication styles and motivators with the TeamRelate survey.
- Full Compliance: The software uses real-time information to keep your company compliant with all legislative rules at all times. You can configure what the system monitors based on your organization’s needs.
- Mobile Access: Employees and managers don’t need to be at the office to view and update information. Using the mobile app, users can access data from anywhere, at any time.
- Organizational Chart: The system offers an interactive chart that lets you build and arrange employees based on your company’s structure and hierarchy.
- Clock Solutions: Tablets replace punch clocks and have a range of options that accurately capture time and attendance information. Employees can also record time using the mobile app.
- Workforce Insights: This tool lets you monitor critical indicators across your organization. You can track turnover based on factors such as location and age to help keep tabs on the trends that will impact your company.
Paycom
Paycom automates a variety of the core tasks necessary for managing and retaining talent. It helps businesses streamline their processes and relieve the burden of unnecessary paperwork, allowing managers to focus on tasks that cannot be automated.
Cloud-based deployment provides access to features from any internet-connected device, enabling users to complete tasks even when they’re out of the office. It facilitates tasks such as benefits administration, reporting, and more.
Benefits and Insights
- Automate Key Processes: Managers can streamline and optimize their workflows by automating processes such as applicant tracking and payroll processing.
- Boost Employee Engagement: Learning and development tools help managers to develop employees and encourage them to seek out opportunities for self-development. It prepares employees for new responsibilities or to step into new roles.
- Compliance: Built-in reporting enables the system to check for compliance with regulatory and legislative guidelines, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
- Security: Rest easy knowing data is less likely to be compromised due to the high level of security protections. Leverages 256-bit encryption and boasts multiple offsite locations where backups are housed and monitored at all times.
- Unified Platform: Access a variety of functionalities through the platform interface and complete multiple core HR tasks without ever leaving the system.
BambooHR
It’s a complete Human Resource Management System (HRMS) and is trusted by over 20,000 businesses to manage HR tasks. It’s very intuitive, easy to use, and well suited for companies of all sizes. The cloud-based system focuses on HR tasks like hiring, compensation, onboarding, and company culture. There’s an applicant tracking system (ATS) that speeds up the hiring process, and performance management features to improve your company culture. It also includes employee benefits tracking, PTO management, easy employee onboarding, training, and more.
This SaaS tool is big on employee data collection, which makes it easy for business owners to make informed decisions about new hires. It’s one of the few providers that qualify as a Human Capital Management (HCM) tool, which helps your employees reach their potential.
Note: We have a worldwide remote team in 27 countries, so we started using BambooHR. They make it simple to manage everything across multiple countries and time zones.
Their Android and iOS mobile app is handy and lets team members manage their information at home or on the go. It also makes it easy to find employee contact information throughout your organization.
BambooHR offers custom pricing based on your business needs. But there are two different plans you’ll choose between. The Essentials plan has standard HR management features like PTO, benefits administration, document storage, and more. While, the Advantage plan includes an ATS, onboarding and offboarding features, and advanced reporting functionality.
Since BambooHR doesn’t offer full-service payroll features, we use Gusto and BambooHR together to manage all of our HR and payroll needs. However, you will find addons for tax filing, time entry and timesheets, overtime pay, and various employee performance review tools and assessments. BambooHR is designed with small businesses in mind, but it is also used by companies like ZipRecruiter, Grammarly, and Postmates. This software can grow with you as your company grows, and we can vouch for that 100%.
Conclusion
Human Resources is an organization that focuses on everything that is related to employees. It can be called the “heart” of an organization, because the health of an organization depends on the emotions of its employees, their satisfaction, and persistence in what they are doing. Hence, it is necessary to create an organizational structure that enables more efficient decision-making processes.