Best HR Management Software 2024

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Updated: Mar 12, 2024, 4:45pm

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If you run the human resources (HR) department at your company, you likely have a lot to juggle at once. Using top-rated HR software can simplify your life and make your job much easier. To help you find the best solution for you, we analysed the leading providers and narrowed it down to our pick of the best seven HR management systems based on features, pricing, support, integrations, user reviews, and more.

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  • Market-wide survey of leading HR management software providers
  • Rigorous assessment of software features and costs
  • Thorough analysis of pros and cons

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Best human resource management software of 2024


BEST OVERALL

monday.com HR

monday.com HR
5.0
Our ratings take into account a product's rewards, fees, rates and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

Free; £7 per seat

per month (3 seat minimum)

Customer support

24/7

Number of app integrations

35

monday.com HR
Learn More

On monday.com's Website

Starting price

Free; £7 per seat

per month (3 seat minimum)

Customer support

24/7

Number of app integrations

35

Why We Picked It

It’s rare for software to get full points in every category, but monday.com HR pulls it off. It offers a robust recruitment pipeline that can automatically coordinate hiring managers’ and candidates’ schedules—all while keeping track of where candidates are in the process. Once you hire an employee, onboarding is simple with a ready-made template that prevents new workers from bombarding you with questions.

monday.com HR also helps with managing current employees by letting you collect feedback to gauge their well-being. If they have leave requests, you’ll get a notification right away—plus reminders if you let them sit for too long. Performance reviews are also easier than ever with a management system that tracks outcomes and schedules meetings.

It’s also possible to use monday.com as a communication platform so you can keep messages from managers and their direct reports all in one place. If your company is looking for work management solutions in other sectors, monday.com can also be used to manage customers, projects, roadmaps and more.

Learn more: Read our full monday.com review.

Who should use it:

With stellar consumer reviews and five different pricing tiers, monday.com is an excellent and affordable option for businesses large and small that want an all-in-one, cross-departmental HR management solution.

Pros & Cons
  • Eight ready-to-use HR templates
  • Create your own customized flows
  • Connects to workflow tools for finance, marketing, operations and more
  • Plans are inexpensive—and free plan works great for individuals
  • Modern interface is easy to use with good user experience (UX) design
  • 24/7 support
  • No ability for contractor payments
  • Can only choose team size in multiples of five
  • Not a ton of integrations compared to our other picks

BEST FOR PAYROLL SERVICES

Paycor

Paycor
4.9
Our ratings take into account a product's rewards, fees, rates and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

£79.93 ($99*) per month plus £4.04 ($5*) per employee

Customer support

Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time

Number of app integrations

210

Paycor

Starting Price

£79.93 ($99*) per month plus £4.04 ($5*) per employee

Customer support

Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time

Number of app integrations

210

Why We Picked It

Paycor might be best known as a payroll solutions tool, but it also packs quite the punch with its HR features. It gives you the ability to automate mundane routine tasks to save you a ton of time. The software also has employee self-service tools so that they can update their profiles, sign digital documents and complete any assigned tasks without interrupting your day.

We also like Paycor’s transparent employee reports. You can have instant access to your headcount, turnover rate, compensation levels and absenteeism. Company-wide communication is also easy with mobile push notifications and chat messages.

You’ll get unlimited workflows with Paycor, meaning you can set up as many automated tasks as you’d like. If you’re in the healthcare, manufacturing, restaurant, professional services, education, retail or nonprofit industries, you can use pre-made workflows for recruiting, scheduling and paying staff. You can also use Paycor to design and implement benefits your employees will love.

Who should use it:

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees can benefit a ton from Paycor’s combination of HR and payroll software. If you have more than 50 employees, pricing is obscured until you talk with a rep, so we’re not sure if it still offers a good deal.

Pros & Cons
  • On-demand pay
  • Low-tier plan includes automated payroll
  • Seven industry-specific builds
  • Expensive, especially if you have a lot of employees
  • Extra fees for setup
  • No integration with QuickBooks or Xero

BEST FOR AUTOMATED WORKFLOWS

Rippling

Rippling
4.7
Our ratings take into account a product's rewards, fees, rates and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

£7 per user

per month

Customer support

24×7 with live chat

Number of app integrations

100-plus

Rippling

Starting price

£7 per user

per month

Customer support

24×7 with live chat

Number of app integrations

100-plus

Why We Picked It

One of the interesting things about Rippling is that it helps four major departments in your company: HR, information technology (IT), finance and engineering. That means you can use automated workflows in HR and beyond. In particular, Rippling excels at automation based on trigger actions, such as an employee’s PTO balance, tenure or job title. You can set up your own if/then statements that perform whatever tasks you desire, including tasks on third-party apps, based on a specified factor.

If you don’t know where to get started with your workflows, you can choose from hundreds of recipe templates, including options, such as a work-life balance enforcer, benefits enrollment deadline reminders and upcoming PTO notifications.

Benefits administration, payroll, applicant tracking and learning management are also some of the impressive features included in a Rippling subscription. It takes 90 seconds to run payroll, and the system also calculates all payroll taxes automatically to eliminate your payday headaches. When it comes to benefits, you can browse over 4,000 plans to find the best medical, dental and vision coverage for your employees. Rippling also lets you send offer letters, run background checks and perform other onboarding tasks with a few simple clicks.

Who should use it:

Companies that want to get their HR, IT, finance and engineering departments running on the same software while also taking advantage of simple, preset automations will appreciate Rippling.

Pros & Cons
  • If/then automated workflows
  • Integrates data between 4 departments
  • Hundreds of recipe templates
  • Benefits and payroll support
  • Products can be purchased separately for a customized plan
  • Pricing isn’t transparent
  • No custom branding
  • No free trial

BEST FOR EMPLOYEE SELF-SERVICE

BambooHR

BambooHR
4.7
Our ratings take into account a product's rewards, fees, rates and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

Not disclosed

Customer support

Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. MT

Number of app integrations

131

BambooHR

Starting price

Not disclosed

Customer support

Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. MT

Number of app integrations

131

Why We Picked It

If you’re tired of having employees bombard you with questions, BambooHR could help slim down your inbox with a ton of employee self-service features. All plans allow self-editing of employee profiles, along with a robust employee directory and org chart that provides contact info with a few clicks. A company calendar also lets everyone know their coworkers’ paid time off (PTO) schedules and work holidays. Best of all, these features can be accessed via mobile app for added convenience.

Customized data inputs let you record any stats you’d like about your employees. And all of this information can be synced up to third-party apps to eliminate double entry and improve accuracy. As with the other picks on this list, BambooHR also includes automated HR workflows so you can stop spending your time chasing down paperwork.

One downfall—basic features, such as payroll, performance management and time tracking are all add-on components. Since pricing isn’t listed online, we can’t say for sure whether these tools are worth it or if you’d be better off with a more comprehensive system.

Who should use it:

Companies that would like to give employees more hands-on access to their information will love the self-service tools BambooHR provides.

Pros & Cons
  • Mobile app helps employees find their own answers
  • Offer letter templates included
  • Auto-post job openings on major job boards
  • Electronic signatures on e-docs
  • Pricing isn’t transparent
  • No onboarding, offboarding or applicant tracking support in base plan
  • No chat or telephone support with base plan
  • Payroll, performance management and time tracking not included

BEST FOR GLOBAL WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

Workday

Workday
4.6
Our ratings take into account a product's rewards, fees, rates and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Not disclosed

Customer support

24/7

Number of app integrations

600-plus

Workday

Starting Price

Not disclosed

Customer support

24/7

Number of app integrations

600-plus

Why We Picked It

Workday excels at offering customized reports about your workplace. You can set up your home screen to show data automatically, such as year-to-date – (YTD) turnover—sorted by voluntary, new hire and high performer turnover—headcount, open positions and hire and terminations by quarter.

But perhaps its most unique feature is its global compliance support. Managing HR for a company with employees in different states—or even different countries—can be a headache. Workday eliminates the stress by helping you stay on top of regulatory changes in over 80 jurisdictions to reduce labor or tax violations. You can spend less time investigating location-specific laws and more time improving your company’s culture.

Another feature that makes Workday a top pick is its informative org charts that allow you to give feedback or promotions right from the same drag-and-drop interface. Talent procurement is also easy thanks to a skill-focused strategy that narrows down applicants based on their knowledge. Workday even offers benefits administration that lets you manage eligibility and available plans easily, no matter where your workers are located.

Learn more: Read our full Workday review.

Who should use it:

Workday is best for mid- to large-sized companies who need custom HR and financial management over several locations.

Pros & Cons
  • Second highest number of app integrations among our picks
  • 24/7 phone and online support
  • Integrates HR and finance
  • Employee profile support for 200-plus countries
  • Pricing isn’t transparent
  • No free version
  • Software can be difficult to navigate

BEST FOR MANAGING FREELANCERS

Zenefits

Zenefits
4.5
Our ratings take into account a product's rewards, fees, rates and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

£6.46 ($8*)

per month per employee

Customer support

Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT

Number of app integrations

46

Zenefits

Starting Price

£6.46 ($8*)

per month per employee

Customer support

Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT

Number of app integrations

46

Why We Picked It

Unlike some of the other picks on our list, Zenefits is totally upfront about its pricing. You can easily see what each plan costs and includes without needing to reach out to a company rep. Furthermore, services, such as payroll, advisory services, recruiting and using your own benefits broker, are all add-on costs, meaning you only pay for what you need.

According to Zenefits, it helps you with everything from hiring to retiring. You can create a compensation package directly in the system and then auto-send offer letters to new hires. One unique feature of Zenefits is that it can also manage contractors and freelancers in addition to full-time employees. Once employees join your organization, they can then onboard themselves as well as edit their own records.

Zenefits allows you to take things digital with electronic documents, including W-4s and I-9s. This makes things easy come tax or payroll time when everything can be handled online without the time and labor of physically mailing documents. Finally, we also like Zenefits time off tracking features, which let you manage your company’s PTO policy, including time-off blackout dates and automatically calculated balances.

Who should use it:

Companies who manage a lot of freelancers and only want to pay for features they’ll actually use via add-ons will appreciate Zenefits.

Pros & Cons
  • Ability to choose which add-ons you need
  • Independent contractors and temps are just £4.85 ($6*)/month per worker
  • Configurable people analytics dashboards
  • Complete performance management suite
  • 5-employee minimum requirement
  • Adding on every service is quite costly
  • You have to pay to use your own benefits broker

BEST FOR STAYING ORGANIZED

ClickUp

ClickUp
4.4
Our ratings take into account a product's rewards, fees, rates and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

Free; £4.04 ( $5*) per member

per month

Customer support

24/7

Number of app integrations

1,000-plus

ClickUp

Starting price

Free; £4.04 ( $5*) per member

per month

Customer support

24/7

Number of app integrations

1,000-plus

Why We Picked It

Though ClickUp is more well-known as a project management software, it also comes with a specific setup for HR management. Your HR team will have its own Space—basically a place to store all of your files and information. Within that Space, you can add new folders and create unlimited lists of tasks organized by stage, due date or priority.

ClickUp works well for recruiting since you can organize applicants easily and keep track of all your outreach efforts. Just add them into your Space, and you’ll be able to move them around depending on the stage of the process they’re in. The same goes for onboarding—you can create trackable tasks and docs, as well as leave comments and feedback right from the app.

Keep in mind—since ClickUp is primarily for managing projects, it doesn’t come with a lot of extra features like some of our other picks. It can help you stay extremely organized, but it doesn’t offer things, such as payroll, benefits administration, contractor payments or peer reviews.

Who should use it:

If you’ve got other solutions for things, such as payroll or benefits and just need help staying organized with everything you need to do, then ClickUp is a good option.

Pros & Cons
  • Free forever plan
  • Affordable premium plans starting at £4 per member per user
  • Unlimited users on every plan
  • Native time tracking
  • Most app integrations of all our picks
  • Can get expensive for larger companies
  • Support via phone not available
  • Limited HR-specific features

Methodology

To rank the best HR management systems, we evaluated 25 of the industry’s leading software across five main categories for a total of 34 different metrics. After compiling this data, we used it to rank the systems and determine the overall best human resource management systems for small businesses.

Here is the breakdown of the categories we used to rank the providers that made the top of the list.

Pricing – 10%

For pricing, we considered whether the company offered an affordable solution as well as a free trial or version of its software. Companies that offered upfront pricing received higher ratings here than those that require making a call to its sales department or filling out a lead capture form. This accounted for 10% of our weighted scoring.

General Features – 30%

When looking at an HR management software’s general features, we consider whether the company offered common HR management solutions, such as benefits administration, payroll and org charts. Other general features we looked for included access to a mobile app, reporting dashboard, applicant tracking system and learning management tools. We weighted general features at 30% of our total score.

Additional Features – 20%

For features unique to HR management software, some of what we considered included if the company went beyond with offerings, such as engagement tools, shift scheduling and PTO tracking. Tax functionality and third-party software integrations also played a role in our evaluation of these providers. Additional features accounted for 20% of our final score.

Third-party Reviews – 10%

We wanted to know what other users thought of each of these services, so we looked at reviews to gain insight into each software provider’s offering. This entailed ranking both the overall score from customers and the number of reviews for these providers, focusing on how many of these reviews were at least higher quality (3.5 out of 5) for each one. These accounted for 10% of the total score.

Expert Score – 30%

We looked at how experts in the field ranked the service’s features, value for the money, popularity and ease of use. The scores from each of these categories were adjusted accordingly, leaving us with the highest-rated picks for your company. These criteria made up 30% of the total score.


How to choose HR software

When choosing HR management software, your main consideration should be how much time a service can save you. You want a robust application that can handle mundane tasks, such as sending out onboarding emails or calculating payroll, for you automatically.

If you’re part of a larger company, it might also be important to find software that lets you see all members of your organisation at once. Smaller HR departments likely don’t have trouble remembering everyone’s role and pay grade, but at bigger companies, this can be an impossible task if it’s something you have to manage manually.

Since one of your biggest responsibilities as an HR manager is hiring and firing, you may also want software that can assist you with this. The best human resource management systems offer tools for recruitment and interview management workflows so you know exactly where you are in the process with a candidate at any given time. Systems that also offer performance review tools, such as feedback, reminders and improvement task lists can also make your life a lot easier.


Benefits of HR software

Here are just a few of the benefits of using HR software:

  • Save money by lowering administrative costs. HR software simplifies the process and requires a smaller team to do the same work.
  • Happier employees. When employees are able to self-manage their time cards, benefits and PTO, they feel empowered. The result is happier employees.
  • Automates vital functions. Software automates certain activities and sends reminders for others. This allows managers and employees to never miss an important action.

2024 HR trends

Human resource professionals are learning to adapt to the evolving expectations of both companies and employees on a post-pandemic planet. Here are the most relevant HR trends to be aware of in the new workplace landscape.

Remote/hybrid work policies

During the pandemic, many workers whose jobs could be performed from home were required to go fully remote. Now that the pandemic has subsided, some companies have mandated a return to the office environment and received significant pushback from their employees in return.

Employees reported feeling happier and more productive when they were able to work from the comfort of their homes. Moving forward, we expect more companies to offer remote or hybrid work policies in order to remain competitive and to bring in and retain talented employees.

People-first culture and overall well-Being

A majority of employees now report increased levels of both workplace and personal stress. Workers across the board may indicate feeling burned out, unappreciated, undercompensated and uncared for. Unsurprisingly, these feelings can lead to decreased productivity, quiet quitting and resignation.

As we move through 2024, it will be up to senior leadership and HR professionals to proactively address and protect the overall well-being of employees or risk losing workers to companies that will promote these fundamental concepts. One way to do this is to adopt a “people-first” culture that values and respects employees as a whole, and does not see them as simply cogs in the company machine.

Human resources divisions focusing their efforts on providing resources and interventions for the mental, physical and financial needs of their employees can do so all while maintaining a safe and healthy work environment. Human resources can retain talented employees by listening to their needs, creating a culture of company trust and responding appropriately to requests and concerns.

Develop, upskill and educate

Investing in leadership development has already become a critical component of HR’s responsibilities and its importance will continue to grow in 2024. In order to remain competitive and highly productive, companies need leaders who are well-versed in both technical and soft skills, and who are able to understand the impact they have on others—both positive and negative.

Employees often choose employers based on learning and development opportunities. HR can capitalise on this by offering training programmes, skills sessions, interactive leadership development experiences and mentorship opportunities to help foster an environment focused on positive interpersonal relationships, productivity and performance.

DEIB in workplace culture

Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging – (DEIB) is an initiative geared towards eliminating discrimination, bias and harassment and creating a diverse and inclusive workplace that promotes innovation and growth.

Unfortunately, current adoption of DEIB has been largely performative. According to PwC’s Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Survey, 75% of respondents value and prioritise diversity, but 32% also feel as though diversity is a barrier to advancement within the organisation. Furthermore, only 4% of companies are currently meeting expectations for a successful DEIB program.

Using objective, quantifiable metrics to track and respond to relevant data will help human resources work towards integrating DEIB into the structure and culture of a company, rather than simply going through the motions.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the three types of HR systems?

The three types of HR systems are Human Resource Information Systems – (HRIS), Human Capital Management – (HCM) software and Human Resource Management Systems – (HRMS).

How do I choose an HR system?

Choosing an HR system depends on the size of your company. Smaller companies can likely get away with less robust systems, while bigger companies will want HR systems with tons of features, such as payroll, benefits administration and more. Regardless of which HRM system you choose, make sure it measures these 10 essential HR metrics.

How much does human resource management software cost?

Pricing varies between different solutions. Some companies offer a free plan, but these often come with limitations. Most companies charge you a set monthly fee along with a fee per user—but this pricing often isn’t revealed until you speak with a rep.

Why is HR software so important?

HR software is important because it helps management perform key actions on time while empowering employees to take charge of their own accounts.


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