Best Human Resources Software for Your Business

Human resources software can save your company a whole lot of time and money.

As your small business grows, onboarding and keeping track of employees, as well as completing administrative tasks, gets even more time consuming. Human resources work, in fact, makes up 25% to 35% of an owner’s time, according to a 2014 study by SCORE.

The right software can help you run your business more effectively, streamlining administrative tasks, cutting back on paperwork and helping you become better organized. Here’s some popular human resources software:

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– Price: Starts at $99 monthly minimum.
– Features snapshot: Track employee data, such as training, benefits and time-off requests, and have access to company forms, documents and performance reviews online.

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Bamboo HR offers a 100% web-based human resources system for small and midsize businesses. The software lets you track training, benefits and time-off requests and allows you to store information and forms. You can keep employee info — for example, job and salary history — in an online directory and store company forms, applications, documents and performance reviews online.

The cost of the service depends on the number of employees you have. You can try it free for seven days before signing up. The service starts at a minimum of $99 monthly.
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– Price: $39 per month, plus $6 per month for each employee.
– Features snapshot: Paperless employee onboarding, time off tracking, and option of offering health benefits and 401(k) plans through the platform.

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Gusto, formerly known as ZenPayroll, offers human resources, payroll and benefits to more than 40,000 U.S. businesses. Its human resources features include paperless employee onboarding and time-off tracking and give you access to all of your employee records in one place. Payroll and benefits features include automatic tax filing and processing for local, state and federal payroll taxes, the ability to pay employees via direct deposit or check, and the option of offering health benefits and 401(k) retirement plans to your employees through the platform.

The company serves businesses with one to 100 employees, including dentists, law firms, gyms, coffee shops and startups, says Steffi Wu, who handles communications at Gusto.

Gusto software integrates with your existing accounting software applications, such as FreshBooks, Xero and Intuit QuickBooks, as well as Capital One Spark Business. The cost to use Gusto with everything included is $39 per month, plus $6 per month for each person. For example, a small business with 10 employees would pay $99 per month, but you can try your first month for free and cancel at any time.
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– Price: $12 per person per year (base price).
– Features snapshot: Payroll and benefits management, paperless onboarding of new employees, and the ability to create custom surveys and get ongoing feedback from employees.

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Namely is a human resources, payroll and benefits software platform focused on midsize organizations in several sectors, including tech, media, e-commerce and nonprofit. The company supports small businesses with 50 or more employees and currently serves more than 400 clients with 70,000 employees on its platform, says Matt Straz, founder and CEO.

Besides managing payroll and benefits, Namely offers paperless onboarding of new employees; employee management software with performance reviews and cascading goals; the ability to create custom surveys and get ongoing feedback from employees; and a social news feed to keep your company connected on big news, milestones, anniversaries and birthdays.

Namely’s technology helps with Affordable Care Act reporting and helps business owners satisfy complex payroll and benefits requirements, Straz says.

Namely aims to handle payroll, benefits and employee management in an “intuitive” way, he adds, that will encourage employees to use it daily. By bringing these under a single umbrella, the company says, clients can save money.
The base price of Namely’s HR platform is $12 per person annually and does not include payroll or benefits administration.
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– Price: Free.
– Features snapshot: Platform lets you compare quotes and estimate out-of-pocket costs before purchasing health insurance for your employees.

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Launched in 2012, SimplyInsured offers a free platform to compare quotes and estimate out-of-pocket costs before purchasing health insurance for your employees. The company says it can save small businesses $500 to $1,000 per employee annually. The secret is scope, according to CEO Vivek Shah.

“Traditional insurance brokers will show you a couple of plans,” Shah says, but they won’t have access to the widest range of plans on the market. “Because of that, we can find customers a plan that’s $50 to $100 a month cheaper.”

SimplyInsured focuses on “really small” small businesses; its average customer has fewer than 20 employees. These businesses are hard for traditional brokers to serve because of their small size, Shah says.

After you enter your company name, email address, business phone number, ZIP code and number of employees, SimplyInsured analyzes the plans available in your area and lists the top results based on the lowest monthly cost. Quotes are immediate, and you can complete an application for a health plan in about 10 minutes, Shah says.
On the results page, you’ll see the total monthly premium per employee; deductibles; cost of doctor visits, prescription drugs and hospitalization; co-payments for doctor and specialist visits; and major illness costs.
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– Price: Free.
– Features snapshot: Online dashboard for payroll and taxes, retirement plans and stock options, as well as for managing benefits and insurance, and tracking attendance and vacations.

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Zenefits is a big player in the online HR space, but the San Francisco company has faced scrutiny over its licensing practices. An investigation by the California Department of Insurance, for instance, is ongoing, according to a department spokesman.

The company offers an online dashboard that allows business owners to manage all of their HR in one place, including payroll and taxes, retirement plans and stock options; it also helps with onboarding new employees, managing benefits and insurance, and tracking attendance and vacations.

The system is completely automated, eliminating paperwork. Even better, the software is free. Zenefits gets paid by benefits providers on the platform when you sign up (although you’ll still have to pay the providers for your benefits).

The platform is also useful for employees; they can view and sign job-offer letters, access pay stubs, review and enroll in health plans, and request vacation.

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Updated Oct. 12, 2016.

Steve Nicastro is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: Steven.N@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @StevenNicastro.

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The article Best Human Resources Software for Your Business originally appeared on NerdWallet.