David FriedlandWhen you think of your priorities as a business, perhaps sales and growth may come to mind. But what do you need for that to happen? Certainly inspired, confident and happy employees that are passionate about your vision.
Good HR is the key to a successful company, as has been demonstrated many times before.
For a small business, starting off your HR is a big step – so why not do it in an organised, streamlined way? These are your best options.
Sense HR
Founded in 2013, the HR software for SME by SenseHR has emerged as a leading solution for businesses of all sizes. With its intuitive interface and a wide range of features, Sense.hr simplifies the complexities of human resources management. Whether you’re a small startup or a medium-sized enterprise, this platform offers a seamless experience that empowers managers to efficiently track and monitor their workforce.
Sense.hr provides a comprehensive set of tools designed to streamline HR processes. From employee record-keeping to performance tracking, the software enables managers to effortlessly maintain detailed employee profiles and consolidate crucial information in a centralized database.
#1 BambooHR
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BambooHR is the world’s leading HR software for small businesses because it manages everything startups need for their employee population. Plus, it is incredibly user friendly making it easy for all employees to engage with post implementation.
#2 Zenefits
 | Who suggested this product? The Zenefits was recommended by Darko Jacimovic from WhatToBecome. You can find out more about Darko Jacimovic here or read their product recommendation below. |
Created in 2013, Zenefits has become one of the best HR software for small and medium-size businesses. It is very easy to navigate and offers numerous functionalities that help managers track people and their progress. Also, they can create detailed employee records and store all of the important information in one place. The software is rather budget-friendly which makes it an ideal option for startups.
#3 Zoho People
 | Who suggested this product? The Zoho People was recommended by Maksym Babych from SpdLoad. You can find out more about Maksym Babych here or read their product recommendation below. |
If you have only a few employees, one thing you will love about Zoho People is that it can be used for up to five people. The self-service function is impressive – it allows your employees:
- change personal information
- view attendance reports
- add tasks and registration time
- claim medical reimbursement
- view benefits
- collaboration through channels
- export personal data
- view vacation and balance reports
- increased travel requests
- view all approvals and permissions
- access information
#4 Teamtailor
 | Who suggested this product? The Teamtailor was recommended by Toni Mills from Cashcow Ltd. You can find out more about Toni Mills here or read their product recommendation below. |
I’ve found that Teamtailor is a great way for small to medium businesses to keep track of talent acquisition. It works like a task manager for recruitment, with notifications set up for the entire hiring process to keep all relevant parties in the loop. You can choose to distribute certain open positions to relevant employees/departments, and also keep applicant information safely on file. This is great for any future roles, as you can build up a shortlist of potential candidates just by going off previous applications if you want to.
#5 Lumina Learning
 | Who suggested this product? The Lumina Learning was recommended by Julie Ensor from Lumina Learning. You can find out more about Julie Ensor here or read their product recommendation below. |
At Lumina Learning, our approach is to be where Business Psychology meets technology. In recruitment, this means offering a comprehensive system powered by our understanding of how a candidates behavioural profile predicts performance at work.
We use our specially designed Applicant Tracking system (ATS), with a personality psychometric ‘Lumina Select’ at its core. This ATS incorporates various tools to customise the requirements of the role, from creating an ideal candidate profile and using psychometric data to assess role match. The system also allows you to customise what data you want from your candidates e.g. job experience, education etc. Furthermore, the interview guide will recommend customised interview questions that will draw deeper and more useful information from the interviewee. All the candidate data is then presented together so that shortlisting candidates becomes much easier and more cost effective. The use of the ATS is also free, so is perfect for SME’s who may not have the budget for an ATS.
Lumina Learning uses robust algorithms that predict which of your candidates will have the highest likelihood of success based on the requirements of the role. Recruitment is not an exact science. However, it is all about boosting the probability of making the right decision. The more sophisticated the data you have, the great the probability of selecting the right person for the role.
#6 Gusto
 | Who suggested this product? The Gusto was recommended by Calloway Cook from Illuminate Labs. You can find out more about Calloway Cook here or read their product recommendation below. |
I started using the service just for payroll, and later added HR. The main selling point is the extremely reasonable cost. To start with just payroll, you can get a $100 Amazon gift card, a free month, and after that it’s only $49/month for small companies. Adding the HR package bumps you to $149 a month. Certainly a lot cheaper than hiring an HR professional for your company.
#7 GoCo
 | Who suggested this product? The GoCo was recommended by Raj Vardhman from GoRemotely. You can find out more about Raj Vardhman here or read their product recommendation below. |
I have too many things to take care of. With all the multitasking, I sincerely appreciate any tool that makes my life more straightforward when it comes to business. GoCo is perfect for us because it handles onboarding, employee documentation, vacation, as well as timesheets. I also find the GoCo benefit advisors who can help you lay out the benefits for your employees super useful.
#8 Vacation Tracker
 | Who suggested this product? The Vacation Tracker was recommended by Igor Mitic from Fortunly. You can find out more about Igor Mitic here or read their product recommendation below. |
We know HR’s dread leave tracking because it’s time-consuming and complicated. That’s why we decided to employ software and enable our HR managers to focus on more important things: people. We already use Slack, and we love Vacation Tracker because it comes as a Slack integration. Requesting and approving leave takes seconds to do. All employees have to do is to type /vacation into their Slack account, and after filling a short form, they are good to go.
On the other hand, managers will be notified about their requests instantly, and they can approve it without breaking a sweat. With few clicks, they’re able to see the available workforce and determine there will be no overlapping. Also, Vacation Tracker offers more than nine leave policies to track, which is great because you can customize it to your business’s needs.
#9 Click Up
 | Who suggested this product? The Click Up was recommended by Yuv Malik from Gradient Designs. You can find out more about Yuv Malik here or read their product recommendation below. |
Click Up is the best free HR software on the internet right now. It’s extremely user friendly, easy to manage and change, you can customize your page to and create your favorite colour scheme. It’s easy to flag as urgent or any other flag, you can create main tasks, with over ten subtasks per task. You can assign each task to different people, and send them an email along with your task. It’s so easy to control and by far the best simple HR software, and the best thing, it is completely free unless you want the premium version.
#10 NestorUp
 | Who suggested this product? The NestorUp was recommended by J Paul Rand from J PaulRand. You can find out more about J Paul Rand here or read their product recommendation below. |
This AI-powered system serves to link people, teams, and technology, which is the focus of my 2020 book: Culture-ROI. As an awarded educator of Society of HR Management (ten years running) I know a good HR system when I see it. The reality is that less than 17% of HR has a defined tech-focused strategy, yet 100% of all organizations in all sectors share one common focus: people. This system links individual performance through coaching, micro-learning, and effectively provides HR and organizational leaders with access to emotional intelligence+business intelligence+artificial intelligence in a very low-cost, customized KPI and platform integrated system.
NestorUp provides an affordable system that represents the future of the workforce based on my policy proposal as Regional White House Fellow: the rise of the learning economy. The best part is their focus currently on customized small business application. Digital software and big-data is ineffective compared to linking human innovation, proven business systems, and the power of AI to allow small business to work ON their business by leveraging the best of their human capital performance. All of this with an integrated knowledge system powered by AI to guide improve employee performance that is accredited, independently researched, and vetted by over 15 years of human performance and business strategy measurements in workplace settings.
#11 Transformify
 | Who suggested this product? The Transformify was recommended by Lilia Stoyanov from Transformify. You can find out more about Lilia Stoyanov here or read their product recommendation below. |
Transformify launched the Market Entry Pack for Startups and SME specifically to help businesses conduct idea validation or enter new markets by sourcing talented freelancers worldwide. This allows small business owners or startups who are on a tight budget have access to top candidates from different countries without setting up a costly office and without worrying over legal, tax and accounting fees.
Our suite of HR solutions includes automated invoicing, payment transfers in any currency, applicant tracking system and more. As part of the package, we provide discounts on coworking spaces, eliminating the need to sign long-term lease agreements. We also offer an affiliate program to provide a new revenue stream for small businesses.
On top of that, Transformify aims to promote diversity hiring and encourages companies to hire people from disadvantaged positions such as mothers who are out of the workforce for a couple of years to raise their kids and tap into areas with high unemployment rate.
#12 methinks Technologies
 | Who suggested this product? The methinks Technologies was recommended by Aaron Burcell from methinks Technologies. You can find out more about Aaron Burcell here or read their product recommendation below. |
HR challenges:
- Traditional methods of gathering employee feedback (and interviewing remote candidates) are expensive and impersonal
- Logistics (especially if you have remote or distributed workforce) make gaining employee insights time-intensive and challenging
- Seeking employee feedback via written surveys is impersonal and limited to brief pre-determined answers/feedback
- Companies need access to their employees opinions and needs; “close enough” does not count
- HR leaders need to find a way to effectively blend technology with the ever-important human element of running a company.
methinks solution:
- methinks created a global video-based research platform to transform how customer insights are injected into business decision-making with a radically better cost structure.
- methinks customers saw the value in gathering external feedback, and then organically began using methinks to also transform how employee feedback is injected into business decision-making.
- methinks helps companies target, qualify and interview employees and recruits via face-to-face video calls. This captured research helps small businesses learn from customers through efficient, cost-effective, face-to-face conversations that are moderated, recorded, transcribed and, or translated, annotated, edited and shared for rapid, sharing throughout the HR team.
- The Saas platform allows HR leaders to conduct live interviews, qualitative surveys and longitudinal studies, enabling insights ranging from marketing message development, employee satisfaction, information sharing – as well as employee recruitment and interviews.
Lauren Cowan from DayOneHR
Darko Jacimovic from WhatToBecome
Maksym Babych from SpdLoad
Toni Mills from Cashcow Ltd
Julie Ensor from Lumina Learning
Calloway Cook from Illuminate Labs
Raj Vardhman from GoRemotely
Igor Mitic from Fortunly
Yuv Malik from Gradient Designs
J Paul Rand from J PaulRand
Lilia Stoyanov from Transformify
Aaron Burcell from methinks Technologies
