But first, let’s answer the question you might be asking yourself. Do I really need HR software?
According to the research we’ve done and the people we’ve talked to in and outside of Charlie, we found that HR software is used by:
What’s quite obvious is that, depending on the role you have and the size of your company, your definition of the best HRIS in the UK will be quite different.
Some platforms hone in on specific HR processes such as onboarding or payroll, while others focus on solving complex HR analytics issues such as employee turnover and retention. It’s also less common to find HR software in the UK that specialise in small businesses (this is where our Charlie platform comes in).
But, before we talk about Charlie, you'll want to know what the market has to offer for your specific needs. This guide is here to help you compare some of the best HRIS systems, so you can find yours.
This list is the result of three months of in-house research aimed at understanding our competitors better and addressing the needs of our customers.
EDIT: We aim to update this list every 6 months either by adding competitors, removing incorrect information or updating pricing so you can always expect it to be up to date, but please let us know if you spot any mistakes
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Charlie helps small businesses bring order to their HR chaos. Our software can be set up in just a few clicks and takes care of all of your HR processes.
If you’re a senior leader, founder, CEO – and the only person looking after HR even though it’s not your main role – Charlie will help you save time, and elevate your HR processes from scrappy and unreliable to streamlined and compliant.
Manage your time off process – approve or deny requests in one click for all types of leave, get overlapping time off flagged and easily create reports.
Smoothly onboard your new hires — no more email threads and missed information, get employee details and Right to Work checks done in Charlie through a helpful onboarding flow.
Roll out regular performance reviews – support your team’s growth with a clear and transparent process that includes a 360 feedback tool.
Use our built-in Perks platform – reward your hard-working team members at no extra cost.
Sync all of your HR stack together — remove copy-pasting between platforms and integrate with the rest of your tech stack.
Get your recruitment and your HR all in one place with Charlie Recruit – careers website, score cards, interview scheduling, blind hiring and more!
We’re great for teams under 50 team members, but we’re also a good fit for very small teams under 30 who often struggle to find HR software that’s simple enough for them.
As small businesses are tight on budget, we wanted to design a model that made HR software affordable for them – our simple pricing tiers helps you forecast costs easily.
Get started with Charlie from as little as £5 per month (1 to 4 team members), inclusive of all features, no hidden fees.
Save yourself hours every week – and spend it building a happy, high-performing team instead
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PeopleHR offers various HRIS software packages depending on your company’s needs.
Their Enterprise package includes all of the essential for HR management, as well as an efficient Applicant Tracking System to streamline recruitment processes, have flexible interviews and do it all from your mobile — this is ideal for medium companies recruiting across multiple teams and wanting to keep track of hiring budget.
Something to keep in mind when picking your own HR software is that small businesses won’t necessarily need such a complicated hiring system, and you may just benefit from a simple ATS.
Use the time tracking and rotating work patterns for your teams
Deal with expenses directly through the platform
Meet candidates face-to-face with a video interview app
Create and publish engaging and detailed job ads to attract the right candidates
Evaluate candidates against key skills using PeopleHR’s scoring system
Check your hiring pipeline on the go with the mobile-optimised app
PeopleHR offers different packages depending on which features each offer:
ADP’s HRIS solution for companies with over 200 employees integrates payroll software with your HR processes. Your employee data is used to automate payroll and to make sure everyone is paid the right amount for the hours and time off they’ve put in.
Choose between fully or partially managed payroll administration depending on your needs. ADP also offers a time & attendance system as well as a talent hub, which are adjacent to their main function (payroll management), but can be handy if you’re looking to have these functions together in one place.
Enjoy the peace of mind of always knowing what to do to comply with HMRC regulations through their payroll software
Get an online employee and manager self-service portal
Have access to certified payroll professionals for your questions
On top of payroll, ADP offers comprehensive reporting for multinational companies from team costs to headcount.
You can also outsource your finance tasks, at an extra price.
Not provided on the website. You will need to contact their sales representative to get a quote.
Zoho is one of the best HRIS systems for companies whose employees work shifts, part-time or irregular hours. You can create and update your timesheets online to easily keep track of attendance and hours worked.
So if your business works with such patterns, maybe it’s time to invest in Zoho. It’s helpful to consider how Zoho is more of an HR suite along with marketing, sales, etc. so is likely to be quite expensive for a small business.
Use the time tracker to log your team’s working hours.
Set up your personalised approval process for line managers to sign off working hours and overtime.
Let the system do the maths for you. Zoho’s automated billing and invoicing ensure payments are always correct and on time.
The phone app allows your team to check timesheets while they’re on the go.
Stay up to date with reports about employee attendance and time spent on projects.
Multiple packages available. Most timesheet functionalities are included in the Professional Plan for £1.5 per user per month, billed annually.
If you’d like to benefit from more, you can pick from four other packages on the Zoho website.
Large companies with multiple international offices and a substantial budget choose Oracle for its advanced HRIS platform that allows them to monitor and report on not only HR but also Supply Chain Management, Customer Relations and Enterprise Performance Management.
Combines employee data, workload management and development tools all in one system.
Offers comprehensive data about business performance that allow you to make sense of a large and distributed team
The cloud software provides a high-security level while combining information within and outside of the organisation
With its AI systems, Oracle makes human error almost impossible, as well as providing further insight into the business
You will need a quote as it depends on the package you choose.
Rippling offers many possibilities for people who are interested in investing in their HR – it’s built around three functionalities which are HR, finance and IT.
It could be a good opportunity for your company to build your HR processes and more in the same place.
With more than 500 integrations to its software, Rippling makes for a great choice if you already have a tech stack on hand.
UK and Global payroll handled directly through Rippling
Do your headcount planning and comp bands to align on pay and hiring
Automate some of your learning opportunities to invest in L&D
Manage your workforce’s benefits directly on the platform
Automate your employee scheduling for rota planning
Not currently available on their website
Hibob describes itself as the modern platform for HR, and it’s true if you want to add some spice to your HR stack.
With Hibob, you not only get software that can solve most of your HR tasks and build HR processes, but you also have the possibility to boost your employee engagement through gamification.
If you’re looking for HRIS that has all of this in store to keep your employee moral up, then this may be the platform for you.
Core HR including a company homepage, people directory, document management and people analytics
Onboarding feature that includes automated workflows, a welcome video and an introduction to the company
A compensation hub for your salaries, where you can be flexible by using salary bands and deal with salary reviews
An anonymous reporting tool for employee grievances
Shoutouts to acknowledge successes and wins for your team
You’ll need to contact Hibob for them to provide a quote.
SenseHR offers many features that could be helpful for your team, and that’s when you have to decide whether it would be the right choice for you.
One of the main features is its AI assisted HR which helps you find information within the software.
It can be a great addition to the rest of this HR suite if you have a large team and need to go through records quickly.
Store your documents and employee records in one place
Use the Ami AI system to find records and information, get HR planning advice and write custom letters and templates for your team
Manage your full-time and part-time workers directly onto the platform
Customise the platform with your logo, your font and your colours
Do your HR directly from your phone with their mobile app
Three packages are available depending on the features you need:
BambooHR has been a staple on the HR software market for a while, but is it the right fit for you?
It will particularly be helpful if you’re looking for HRIS that offers many possibilities when it comes to reporting.
So, for example, if you’re an HR director or even a COO, you’ll be able to get quick numbers together when it comes to all kind of HR metrics. Does that sound like what you’re looking for? Let’s have a look.
Simple data decisions and data management
Discover people insights through the many functionalities and filters offered by Bamboo
Analytics integrated into most of Bamboo’s features
Possibility to benchmark your turnover, get benefits summaries, and more
HR reports that are beautifully presented and ready to show to leadership
Dynamic dashboards with different widgets
You will need to contact BambooHR directly for a quote.
When you’ve scaled enough so that you can offer your team an array of benefits, it’s good to make sure you keep an eye and stay on top of them, especially when it comes to spending.
That’s where software can help you achieve this and where Namely seems to excel. So if you’re currently wondering how to handle your benefits, maybe have a look at what Namely can offer along with the rest of their HR features.
Get benefits in one place along with HR tasks and HR data
Plan easily through Namely’s benefits features
Report on your spending and benefits use
Get paperless enrollment through Namely’s modern platform
Namely has four packages that include different features:
Jenny is a Senior Product Manager at CharlieHR. She has years of experience with product planning and development, and user research too – she put together this guide by collecting data and information on competitors so we could improve our product and tailor it to small business owners.
HRIS stands for Human Resource Information System. It’s also called HR software or HRMS. HRIS is a type of software companies use to manage and automate all sorts of HR processes, from time off to performance reviews, employee data storage and onboarding.
The two terms basically identify the same type of software, combining multiple features that help you keep all aspects of HR under control. There is no actual difference between the two.
Not all HRIS and HR software are the same. Some HRIS, as we showed in this guide, provide more complex features such as payroll or a complete suite of tools for your business.
However, and when it comes to being a small business where you’re the only one dealing with HR, you need a tool that’s easy to use and with a fast setup.
Sometimes, it’s better to go for a tool that focuses on the needs of your business rather than a very complex one that will cost a lot of money and won’t be very useful.
The cost of HR software can vary massively depending on what features are included and how big your company is. Some products will have the price clearly visible on their website (like Charlie), while others will only give you a quote after you get in touch with them.
It’s really important, as someone navigating HR software for the first time, that you put together a list of software you want to try out and how much they’ll cost, so you can understand what you can afford. You can use our list and download it as a PDF to keep track of it here.
When evaluating different HRIS software packages, it’s useful to think about whether they are a good fit for your company size and your business's needs. If you’re a small company, you will not need the same advanced, costly features as larger companies. Here’s a list of questions to help you in your decision:
Use our table at the top of this article to find the best HRIS for your company.
Save yourself hours every week – and spend it building a happy, high-performing team instead
Learn how to cut HR admin
Get any question answered
Zero commitment