As an HR pro, it’s no secret that your job is harder than ever.
HR Management Software & Tools – Quick Picks
With the premium on talent in today’s service and information heavy economy, HR has moved from a backend administration role to a frontline strategic function. Enterprise leaders are realizing that people are their most valuable assets, and that attracting – and just as importantly, hanging on to – the right employees is essential to the success of their businesses.
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The modern day HR also sees their fair share of managing company culture with both in-house and remote team (no wonder HR newsletters are becoming more popular!).
So what’s an HR pro to do? Why is HR important?
While there are no shortcuts for things like sound judgment or proven best practices… there are a plethora of new tools to help you master more areas with less time and energy.
With that in mind, we’ve compiled an arsenal of the best of the best HR management tools available to the modern HR champion – things that will make you a better practitioner, a smarter leader, and a more valuable partner for your business.
Keep these criteria in mind as you browse through the best HR tools for 2022!
HR Tools – By Category |
Overview |
| Recruiting, Hiring, & Onboarding | Finding the right people and providing a stellar onboarding experience can be one of the biggest challenges your HR team faces. These hr software platforms help you make better hires and get them up to speed faster. |
| Company Culture |
A lot of HR managers wear multiple hats while working a job description that evolves over time. One of those hats is as the head of “company culture” where they help to promote a positive work environment for in-person, remote, and hybrid teams. |
| People Management |
So you’ve got a handle on the nuanced stuff … what about the day-to-day HR functions like onboarding, payroll, benefits administration or employee timesheet tracking? |
| Employee Engagement | Disengaged employees cost our economy millions every year. As an HR pro, it’s your job to help employees feel a personal connection to the success of the business. |
| Education |
With the ever changing nature of federal and state employment laws, continuing education has always come with the territory for HR practitioners. But new responsibilities mean you have to be an expert in more areas than ever before. These kinds of HR tools will provide you with information you can actually use, and help you become a smarter, more strategic HR pro. |
| Communication & Feedback |
Frequent communication is essential to your company’s culture. As such, internal communications is increasingly falling under the purview of HR. |
| Personal Productivity | HR teams are busier than ever. With so many irons in the fire, it might feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. Unlock the hidden time in your schedule with productivity apps. |
List of Best HR Tools & Apps For 2022
1. Spark Hire
A video interview software for HR professionals to utilize because for all the complexity of ATS and candidate screening, the ability to “meet” someone is always going to be valuable. Spark Hire helps thousands of organizations make better, more collaborative, & quicker hiring decisions.
Whether you are looking to hire one person or one hundred, Spark Hire makes a difference.
Why we love it: It adds another dimension to the hiring process by making it easier to differentiate applicants and decide which candidates to invest further time in.
This HR manager software is best for: Candidate screening
Travel to the future to learn about Spark Hire:
👉 Official Spark Hire Website👈
2. Kazoo
Kazoo is a flexible employee recognition tool where colleagues can reward and recognize one another. Employees across the globe? No problem. This HR tool is designed to keep everyone connected and on the same page anywhere work may take them. It’s an especially good management system for companies of 100+ employees that are looking to unify culture, reduce turnover, and increase eNPS scores across your workforce.
Why we love it: Kazoo builds team culture effectively across a distributed team. Implementing it is easy, and teams adopt it quickly due to how user-friendly the interfaces of this software solution are. The integration with Slack allows teams to communicate and collaborate with ease.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee recognition
Check out Kazoo if you are looking to improve your company culture in a way that employees will love to use every day:
3. Bob
Bob is a top HRIS that companies of all sizes use to provide a strong backbone for HR. With a good balance between fixed frameworks and customization, Bob lets each HR reach their full potential.
Not to mention, its interface encourages employees to use it more than other complex, less user-friendly tools.
Why we love it: Bob is a very flexible tool so all types of employees (full time, temporary, contact staff, etc) can all easily get set up with easy access to your org’s HR.
This HR manager software is best for: Managing core HR responsibilities
Have three minutes? Here is a brief overview of this HRIS tool in only 18o seconds:
4. Bambee
This HR platform connects companies with dedicated HR managers. The managers do what any in-house HR manager might do, including: recruiting, hiring, onboarding, creating policies, compliance with relevant laws and labor codes, maintaining records, and more.
Why we love it: It gives companies of all sizes (and with all budgets) access to the kind of outsourced HR help they need to grow. They offer a great free trial and don’t lock you into any contracts. Needing an extra pair of qualified HR hands has never been easier!
This HR manager software is best for: Recruiting, hiring, & onboarding
Intrigued? Take a look at Bambee’s overview video:
5. Caroo
Caroo is the premier employee care platform with employee rewards and recognition packages. In fact, every care package can be customized and better-for-you-snacks can be sent in mass to your team.
Why we love it: Caroo makes showing employee appreciation incredibly easy — especially considering that every bit of the care process is rolled into one on this end-to-end HR platform.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
To learn more about this leader in employee care:
6. myInterview
myInterview believes in the importance of people to the interview process. Since we are not just a resume, this video interview tool provides hiring managers with a glimpse into what their candidates are actually like.
With myInterview, you can harness the power of video to collect valuable information about candidates and learn insights that would otherwise be missed during the recruitment process. This video screening tool will save your HR department time and energy while ultimately making it easier to locate top talent.
Why we love it: This HR tool upgrades your recruitment process with a tool that adds personality to your process. Plus, their Intelligence feature adds custom-picked candidates to watch in a dedicated queue.
This HR manager software is best for: Interviewing
Since myInterview knows a thing or two about video, check out this quick walkthrough:
👉 Official myInterview Website👈
7. Leapsome
Leapsome is a people enablement software platform that fuels employees to reach their full potential with a strong emphasis on learning, development, and goal-setting. This 360 degree feedback tool is easy to set up and enlists managers to take action.
Why we love it: It can help companies of all sizes scale by harnessing feedback, promoting development, and tearing down workplace silos.
This HR manager software is best for: People management
Take a short tour of the Leapsome platform:
8. Bonusly
Your employees join your company culture the second they walk into the office or log on to start working. Providing them with an HR tool that can integrate them into the team from day one can play a huge impact and start things off on the right foot.
That’s where Bonusly thrives. As an employee recognition platform, Bonusly helps to create a culture of recognition, appreciation, and a place where people are rewarded for their achievements.
A favorite of HR professionals across the world, Bonusly uses reward points that employees can then exchange for real world gifts, cash, or gift cards.
Why we love it: It’s fun to use, easy to learn, and can generate a ton of goodwill within teams, between departments, and from coworker to coworker. Also, it creates a window into the awesome things your colleagues are doing at the company.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee recognition
Check out Bonusly’s overview video:
9. monday.com
In the world of rampant app proliferation, there is now an app for all your apps. That app’s name?
monday.com (of course)!
monday.com’s here to save us from app overload by providing a way to easily manage all the multiple tools we all use each day. The app is a unified task list with a single view into all of your existing tasks from more than 40 services, including Gmail, Basecamp, Trello, Evernote and many, many more.
Why we love it: One app to rule them all. monday.com is the meta-app you didn’t know you needed – but definitely do. They also have one of the best free trials in the business right now.
And it has the best name on the entire list.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee experience
Take a look at some of the things you can do on monday.com to help streamline your HR program:
👉 Official monday.com Website👈
10. ClearCompany
It’s never been more important to find and develop top talent at your organization. One of the best ways to do this is to use a tool like ClearCompany to eliminate barriers and provide a one-stop shop for recruitment, onboarding, and training.
Why we love it: For HRs without a lot of experience with Applicant Tracking Systems, ClearCompany lets them learn how to attract, screen, and hire the best candidates out there.
This HR manager software is best for: Applicant tracking and talent management
Watch a short tutorial to learn more about ClearCompany:
👉 Official ClearCompany Website👈
11. NectarHR
Nectar helps companies reward outstanding work, no matter where in the world they are. All team members will be able to express sincere appreciation and acknowledge each other using Nectar’s top-rated recognition and incentives platform.
Why we love it: Nectar helps you boost your company’s efficiency and connection with employees, and promotes employee recognition regardless of where your staff is physically located. Nectar can also be used during the hiring process, with new hires, and to keep up with employee performance.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
Nectar expertly breaks down their platform in this video:
12. CoAdvantage (PEO Companies)
CoAdvantage supports growth of small businesses by providing consultation to help them succeed in many areas, including HR resources such as payroll, benefits, workplace safety, and employee development.
Why we love it: CoAdvantage covers ground between both HR and the financial departments in a way that many HR tools are simply unable to compete with. For a Swiss army knife of a platform, CoAdvantage is a perfect choice.
This HR manager software is best for: People management
Take a closer look at this PEO company:
👉 Official CoAdvantage Website👈
13. Confetti
Confetti enables businesses to easily organize completely customized, multi-vendor work parties with a few clicks. Happy hours, smoothie stations, and holiday parties are among the activities offered throughout the year.
Why we love it: Whether distributed teams or remote, Confetti offers over 1300 exciting and fun workplace experiences for employees.
This HR manager software is best for: Team building
Sign up for free but first, check out this cool video:
14. Outback Team Building
Outback Team Building specializes in organizing team bonding activities, whether in-person or virtual, that boost employee morale and engagement.
Why we love it: Outback takes the pressure of running team-building events by simplifying things for participants so they can enjoy themselves and direct their attention toward what matters most to them. Outback guarantees that you and your group have a memorable experience that helps you accomplish your objectives while also bringing your whole team closer together.
This HR manager software is best for: Team building
Here are some reviews from teams who participated in their own team building events:
👉 Official Outback Team Building Website👈
15. Assembly
Assembly is committed to providing important services for HRs so that they can work smarter, not harder. From free customizable workflows and peer-to-peer recognition to employee survey management and team touchpoints, this HR tool provides a laundry list of useful features that HR professionals can explore.
Why we love it: Assembly is a freemium HR tool so it can be tried out with up to 10 employees before launching across your entire organization. Not to mention, Assembly continues to release new tools and features so their platform is never done providing value.
This HR manager software is best for: Automating daily workflows
To get a sense of what Assembly offers, watch this:
16. Blueboard
Blueboard is a unique reward and recognition platform for employees. Many Blueboard services provide businesses with fun, customized, and shared incentive experiences for their employees.
Why we love it: The beneficial long-term effects of giving your workers these benefits include improved employee motivation and retention rates, as well as increasing your company’s overall engagement measures, such as better workplace morale and employee happiness.
This HR manager software is best for: Company culture
Find a better way to reward your employees:
17. Hoppier
Better turnout and more participation are linked to better event experiences. Hoppier helps increase the overall participation and engagement in virtual and hybrid events. Event planners utilize virtual credit cards to provide attendees a credit account for lunch, drinks, and gifts that they buy instantly
Why we love it: Hopper cards are flexible in the sense that they may be used worldwide, serving as a platform for visitors to have unique and personalized virtual experiences. Every dollar is returned or credited, and you may personalize the cards to your requirements.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
The Hoppier team breaks down the kinds of tools to make a memorable virtual event:
18. GooseChase
GooseChase enables HR and People Ops professionals to better engage their teams and colleagues. Whether your objective is to onboard new team members, implement new processes, or team building (or all of the above!), GooseChase lets you run scavenger hunt-like “games” that bring the team experience to life and makes a lasting impact on company culture and retention.
Why we love it: GooseChase is onboarding, training, and employee engagement reinvented for this new age of hybrid, remote, and physical work. GooseChase supports your workplace objectives by breaking them down into approachable challenges: it’s easy and intuitive to customize games to include Q&A, photo and video, and even GPS missions. The “friendly” competition will keep your colleagues engaged and help build culture and camaraderie. It really does put the “fun” in functional!
This HR manager software is best for: Team building
Here is an overview of the GooseChase onboarding software:
👉 Official GooseChase Website👈
19. SwagUp
SwagUp is the best swag platform for the contemporary office! With its one-of-a-kind platform, it creates, automates, and distributes quality swag to locations all over the world.
Why we love it: SwagUp offers a wide range of swag goods and items available for personalization, ranging from caps to pens to devices. It also offers a simple process of creating and designing your own SwagUp package to impress your new employees.
This HR manager software is best for: Swag distribution
20. Culture Amp
Culture Amp does the background work to measure and attach hard numbers to formerly abstract terms such as engagement, involvement, alignment, company confidence, innovation, and more. The tool also incorporates machine learning algorithms to provide insights to help companies interpret all their new metrics.
Why we love it: Culture Amp specializes in making connections between factors that would be challenging to link without the platform’s help. This helps companies put together big-picture outlooks and build long-term plans and strategies.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
👉 Official Culture Amp Website👈
21. Otter
Otter is an AI-powered assistant that uses its state-of-the-art voice recognition and artificial intelligence to generate meeting notes and rehearsal scripts.
Why we love it: Instead of taking notes, you’ll focus on what’s being said during meetings and conversations and let Otter.ai do the rest. Otter helps teams concentrate and be more productive, making room for more workplace engagement.
This HR manager software is best for: Communication
22. Zenefits
Zenefits is a cloud-based human resources platform that aids companies in the management of their workforce.
Why we love it: Zenefits’ People Platform offers full visibility and control across the whole HR process, from benefits administration to payroll and performance tracking, to users of all skill levels.
This HR manager software is best for: Recruiting, hiring, & onboarding
23. Empuls
Empuls is the feedback provider your team desperately needs in the workplace. To create an extremely engaged workforce, Empuls optimizes the feedback and improvement loop.
Why we love it: This HR tool is the perfect engagement platform for better team communication, improved trust, and increased productivity around the office.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee recognition
Take a peek and see how Empuls can work at your business:
24. Quizbreaker
Quizbreaker is the ultimate icebreaker question platform. Invite your team to answer thought-provoking icebreaker questions to improve chemistry, build rapport, and understand each other better.
Why we love it: Quizbreaker is fully customizable and can be automated to send quizzes out to teammates. Additionally, comment threads and emojis allow your team to form connections and interact playfully.
This HR manager software is best for: Team building
See how QuizBreaker works in 30 seconds or less:
👉 Official Quizbreaker Website👈
25. Water Cooler Trivia
Choose the trivia schedule and categories. Water Cooler takes it from there by writing out questions and grading the results.
Why we love it: Water Cooler Trivia is a team-building masterpiece with an infinite amount of conversation starters and activities!
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
Take a look at this weekly trivia quiz for teams:
👉 Official Water Cooler Trivia Website👈
26. Swag.com
Swag.com is the all-in-one swag platform for shopping, storing, and shipping the best swag on the planet in one single click of a button.
Why we love it: Besides the sheer convenience of the end-to-end swag service, Swag.com offers customization and the highest quality corporate gear around.
This HR manager software is best for: Swag distribution
Swag out your employees, but first see how Swag.com is changing the game:
27. The Assist
The Assist is the premier newsletter and community for executive assistants and other professionals looking to better their careers, habits, and selves.
Why we love it: This weekly newsletter is designed to be read in 5 minutes or less. With such a small time investment, it’s actually shocking how much impact and insight is packed into their content.
This HR manager tool is best for: Education
👉 Official The Assist Website👈
28. Process.st
Process Street makes it easy to turn processes into actionable, interactive checklists. Instead of just recording a process, you can use Process Street to bring it to life with an interface that lets you collaborate with teammates and check on project status.
Why we love it: Some companies already document their processes with the best intentions, but too often, people ignore static documents or just say they’ll “read everything later.”
This HR manager software is best for: Personal productivity
Want to learn more? Check out Process Street’s overview video:
👉 Official Process.st Website👈
29. Workbright
Workbright brings essential HR paperwork to mobile devices. Using Workbright, employees can fill out forms—such as the I-9—and even sign papers using their fingertips.
Why we love it: Workbright hasn’t just moved files to a mobile environment. This company actually designed the forms specifically for mobile devices, so the user experience can’t be beat.
This HR manager software is best for: Recruiting, hiring, & onboarding
See Workbright in action:
👉 Official Workbright Website👈
30. WeGift
WeGift is committed to providing a huge catalog of digital rewards for the modern team. Their egift cards provide a reward system where all employees can receive recognition for their achievements and turn it into products from the world’s top brands.
Why we love it: It’s easy to set up and will help to better manage a recognition program for remote employees. WeGift also offers a prepaid Visa card to make spot bonuses a thing at your company.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee gift card management
To learn more about WeGift, check this out:
31. Sapling
Sapling offers an HR tool that can be used to support your employee at every stage of the lifecycle. From your new hires’ first day, they’ll benefit from working at company that values HR and uses a tool like Sapling to develop talent, drive better performance, and provide employees a top-tier HR experience.
Why we love it: The platform is user-friendly for employees so there is not a steep learning curve when trying to access its catalog of features.
This HR manager software is best for: Performance management
To learn more about Sapling, explore the tool a bit more:
Bonus: CakeHR
The CakeHR software helps companies take on HR challenges.
It makes HR tasks that used to seem impossibly complex feel impossibly easy. You can use the system to onboard employees, track time, create reports, and so much more.
Why we love it: With this user-friendly tool, you don’t need years of HR training or experience to streamline HR processes.
This HR manager software is best for: Recruiting, hiring, & onboarding
Check out CakeHR’s softwareoverview:
32. Recruitee
This talent acquisition platform offers an exhaustive list of features that promise to give you the hiring process of your dreams. Save time by using advanced filters to search your talent pool, create and share standardized applicant evaluation templates, and even parse resumes that come through via email.
Why we love it: This tool goes the extra mile by offering predictive capabilities to improve your overall hiring strategy. Find out how long it takes to hire for each of your positions, determine which sources yield the highest number of qualified candidates, and receive strategic recommendations driven by artificial intelligence.
This HR manager software is best for: Recruiting, hiring, & onboarding
Here’s what some happy Recruitee users have to say about the tool:
33. Breezy HR
Consider Breezy HR an employee-to-employer matchmaker. This recruiting solution offers all the features you need to find your perfect new team member—not just a pool of qualified candidates.
Why we love it: This tool includes features to make soliciting employee referrals easy. Employees don’t have to fear their recommendation will get lost in long email chains.
This HR manager software is best for: Recruiting, hiring, & onboarding
Find out why a team at Nando’s Peri-Peri calls Breezy HR “The most user friendly tool I have used thus far in my recruiting career!” Here’s a look at the Breezy HR interface:
34. Staff Squared
Staff Squared is your cloud-based, one-stop shop for all things people management. Features include absence management, calendaring, time tracking, performance reviews, and a lot more. It also features a goal setting system to boost your company’s output and bottom line.
Why we love it: The problem with most HR software is that it skimps on arguably the most important feature – user experience. Staff Squared takes the opposite approach, wrapping powerful human resources tools in a beautifully designed, dead simple interface. Their tagline says it all: HR software that doesn’t suck.
This HR manager software is best for: People management
Watch this overview video of Staff Squared’s software:
👉 Official Staff Squared Website👈
35. People
People is another cloud based HR management tool with a focus on scaling your business. In addition to features like performance evaluations, People throws in an interactive recruitment pipeline.
Why we love it: Robust reporting sets People apart. Data and analytics gathered from your people processes will unlock hidden insights and help grow your business.
This HR manager software is best for: People management
Here’s a pretty awesome and hilarious video that explains People:
36. TriNet
TriNet provides core HR services like payroll and benefits for small businesses, and can scale with you as your company grows.
Why we love it: TriNet’s team of HR pros can serve as your strategic HR partners as your company grows and you navigate uncharted waters. They’re a perfect solution for businesses seeing an explosion in headcount. They were also named a top-rated core HR software provider by TrustRadius – to see where TriNet other providers fall, check out their TrustMap.
This HR manager software is best for: People management
To find out more about this tool, check out this short video overview:
37. BambooHR
Bamboo HR has a slogan on a demo page that will make any HR professional smile:
This tool takes care of all the boring, tedious busy work involved in people management so HR professionals can focus on the people. Bamboo HR has features to streamline fundamental business processes, including hiring, analytics, onboarding, and culture.
Why we love it: We’ll let this glowing customer review speak for us:
“BambooHR has completely changed the way that I do HR. I’m totally set free to focus on development, to focus on team dynamics, to focus on diversity and inclusion—the things that actually matter. It really allows me to get to the heart of the matter which is the people.”
This HR manager software is best for: People management
38. Know Your Company
Know Your Company is geared towards mid-size businesses experiencing growing pains. These are companies that may have started as 5-10 person teams, but explosive growth has made maintaining the transparency and engagement they’re used to a challenge.
Why we love it: Know Your Company creates a channel for critical insights that will help improve all aspects of your business, including people-focused issues like engagement. Best of all, this tool provides a way to create the culture of openness and transparency your business needs to crush its goals.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
This is how Know Your Customers’ customers are using their software:
👉 Official Know Your Company Website👈
39. Glint
Glint captures real time engagement data through mobile-enabled micro surveys called “Pulses.” Don’t know what to ask? Glint has the answers, and helps you create surveys based on 18 proven drivers of engagement.
Why we love it: Glint’s simple, intuitive dashboard and beautifully designed mobile app house powerful, real-time engagement analytics. Use them to check the “pulse” of your organization and identify actionable insights.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
40. Brand Builder (Podcast)
Hosted by SnackNation’s own Sean Kelly, Brand Builder is a podcast that brings you the people, stories, and lessons learned from the most innovative brands in the world. They talk to CEOs and people-focused executives at some of the hottest, most-engaged companies in the country – leaders like the Honest Company’s Christopher Gaivgan and Trendera/ABC’s Jane Buckingham – and dig deep into questions of hiring and retention, growth and development, employee engagement, and more.
Why we love it: Granted, it’s possible that I might be slightly biased, but BB is the only podcast solely focused on leadership as seen through the lens of culture creation and people management.
Best of all, the show focuses on actionable tips that you can deploy at your company today, making it a must-listen for HR leaders looking to improve culture and engagement.
You can get show notes here and subscribe below.
This HR manager software is best for: Education
👉Subscribe to Brand Builder Here👈
41. HBR Ideacast (Podcast)
Brought to you by one of the most prestigious brands in the business world, Ideacast provides a deeper look at the topics covered in the print and Web versions of the Harvard Business Review, including leading edge HR issues.
Why we love it: The changing nature of work and the shifting landscape of HR are frequent topics on Ideacast, and host Sarah Green does a great job tying these themes to larger social, cultural, and economic trends. But what’s great about Ideacast is that it’s a great source for both HR-specific knowledge and broader business info.
This HR manager software is best for: Education
If you want to be a strategic partner for your business, you need to understand more than just the HR niche. Ideacast helps expand your knowledge base and view HR holistically.
42. Career Cloud’s Recruiting News (App)
This mobile app puts all the latest HR news at your fingertips. Browse over 30 feeds from all the best HR and recruiting blogs.
Why we love it: Recruiting News will help you stay up to speed on all the latest trends in hiring and recruiting at a glance, as well as keep you abreast of the important conferences and events in your area – no matter where you are.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
Here’s how the app looks on an iPhone:
👉Official Career Cloud’s Recruiting News Website👈
43. Evil HR Lady (blog)
This blog specializes in candid HR advice and stories to inform and entertain readers. Some of the recent juicy questions this HR professional has tackled include:
- Do You Have to Give a Wedding Present to a Co-Worker You Don’t Like?
- It’s Okay to Cry at Work–Everyone Else Does It
- It’s August and All of Europe is on Vacation. How Do You Run Your Global Business?
Why we love it: If you have burning questions and you can’t find answers anywhere else, then this is the place to go. This blog doesn’t just cover under-the-table questions either. It also dissects critical topics in the business world.
This HR manager tool is best for: Education
👉Official Evil HR Lady Website👈
44. Slack
Despise email? If so, you’re not alone. Luckily, the good folks at Slack have created a solution that will help you and your organization dig out of your inbox.
Slack is a beloved enterprise-level internal communications app that combines chat and private messaging with a robust search function. The app syncs across desktop and mobile operating systems, keeping your team connected over multiple platforms no matter where you are.
Why we love it: Slack helps liberate employees from their inbox, while increasing transparency and eliminating information silos. According to the company, organizations using slack report a 48.6% reduction in internal email traffic, a 25% reduction in meetings, and a 32% increase in productivity across the board.
This HR manager software is best for: Communication & feedback
The video below shows how the Sandwich video team have found success with Slack:
45. 15Five
Three decades ago, ESPRIT founder Doug Tompkin had an epiphany: if he asked all of his employees to spend just 15 minutes writing a report that took their managers no more than 5 minutes to read, he could increase transparency and engagement, and solve minor problems before they became full blown disasters.
15five CEO David Hassell found this concept so inspiring, he developed software to systematize and scale the practice. The result is 15five, a framework that facilitates a conversation between executives, managers, and their direct reports, and helps surface problems so that team members can develop solutions and increase productivity.
Why we love it: 15five creates a feedback loop that most likely wouldn’t happen any other way, and certainly not as efficiently. The benefits are improved transparency, clearer, more consistent expectations, increased accountability, and access to critical personnel insights you can use to improve your company culture and take your organization to the next level.
This HR manager software is best for: Communication & feedback
Take a look at how 15Five’s software has helped landing page builder Unbounce:
46. SnapComms
Do you ever feel like no one knows what’s going on, even though you regularly send out easy-to-read emails? Employees at your company may be suffering from email blindness or information fatigue. SnapComms offers a solution.
The platform helps HR professionals reach employees directly on their devices. Set up a desktop-alert, create a full-screen takeover, or add messages to internally controlled desktop wallpaper.
Why we love it: It allows HR professionals to make sure employees see their critical communications when all the “high priority” alert flags on emails stop working.
This HR manager software is best for: Communication & feedback
47. Calendly
If you’ve ever scheduled a meeting with one or (gasp) multiple busy executives, you know what a struggle it can be.
A simple request for a 15 minute HR strategy touchbase can suddenly turn into an email exchange that’s 30 messages deep.
Here comes Calendly to the rescue.
Calendly eliminates all the back and forth by creating a simple, beautiful interface that makes choosing times easy, and flawlessly syncs with your calendar.
Why we love it: You shouldn’t dread scheduling a 15 minute conversation. Calendly makes it so you don’t have to.
Plus our team uses this tool and it’s been extremely useful.
This HR manager software is best for: Scheduling
Calendly video review:
48. ZoomShift
ZoomShift’s scheduling software is designed for hourly employees. ZoomShift is designed to help your business make work schedules faster, save money on payroll, and let your employees clock-in and view their hours with ease.
The software helps your business keep all of its employee schedule information in one place, and can help improve the accountability of your staff.
Why we love it: It enables companies to be more productive and better organized. With ZoomShift you can use predefined templates to schedule in minutes. Drag and drop shifts in place on the business calendar. Share employee schedules via text, push, and email. Automatically remind team members before their shift starts.”
This HR manager software is best for: Scheduling
49. Evernote
Evernote is simply the ultimate note taking app.
Set reminders, share your notes with colleagues and friends, or clip text from anywhere on the web with this simple, elegant tool. There’s a fantastic free version, as well as an enterprise level that helps you turn notes into presentations and annotate PDFs.
Why we love it: Evernote is still the gold standard when it comes to productivity apps. It’s search function means you’ll never lose track of important details, and it syncs across multiple devices so your notes are always at hand.
The app is so popular, it has a cult following of users who have developed creative hacks to make Evernote even more useful. Check out speaker Michael Hyatt’s favorite Evernote hacks.
This HR manager software is best for: Personal productivity
Check out how Evernote has helped these people:
50. Noisli
Noisli is an ambient noise machine with a mix of sounds specifically designed to improve focus and increases productivity. Use it to block out distractions or just to buckle down and sprint to get things done. Download it as a mobile app or chrome extension, or simply use the web version.
Why we love it: One click gives you a random mix of productivity enhancing ambient sounds, including rain, rolling thunder, lakeshore waves, or a babbling brook. You can even mix in a fan’s whirr, coffee shop sounds, or white, pink, or brown noise. Sounds can be tweaked using tiny faders to dial in the perfect productivity mix.
Noisli is definitely helping me focus with a mix of campfire, rustling leaves, and chirping crickets sounds as I write this article.
This HR manager software is best for: Personal productivity
Here’s a review of the app from Mac Square:
51. Joan
It’s a cliche that hates meetings. And it’s not just they take too long, they’re easily sidetracked, and often they end without specific takeaways or next steps. But the battle often starts well before that. Just booking the conference room can be a major time-suck.
Joan is here to change that. Joan is an easy-to-use device that helps companies organize and reserve meeting spaces and huddle rooms better. It combines real-time event views with a dead simple online portal so there’s never any confusion about where to book.
Why we love it: There are loads of great calendaring apps, but Joan is the best solution specifically for booking rooms. Plus it integrates with your existing calendar!
This HR manager software is best for: Personal productivity
52. SaneBox
Most HR professionals are drowning in emails. Sanebox helps busy workers notice and respond to priority communications and save everything else for later. They can stay in the loop without feeling overwhelmed.
Why we love it: This tool works like a fairy godmother for your inbox. It makes all your email wishes come true, eliminating distractions while setting you up for success.
This HR manager software is best for: Communication & feedback
53. Plum.io
Plum.io is a pre-employment assessment tool that makes it easier for companies to find the best possible fit for each job. Plum starts by analyzing the role, then developing a test for candidates to accompany job posts. The company then sends a short list of suitable candidates. Recruiters who use Plum report spending up to 80% less time reading resumes, and experience 67% less turnover.
Why we love it: We all know that every bad hire ends up costing us thousands, and yet most companies still hire the same way. Plum.io improves the process by providing a deeper, more thorough assessment before the interview stage.
Best of all, Plum integrates HR skills and intelligence test results with data about things like mindset and emotional intelligence, to ensure that the candidate is also a personality fit.
This HR manager software is best for: People management
Check out this quick explainer video of Plum.io:
54. Compt
The employee experience would not be complete without mentioned perks. Compt helps companies design, manage, and measure perk stipend programs to support the individual needs of every employee.
Why we love it: Their stipend program makes it easier to engage with a distributed workforce through perks that employees will actually want to use.
This HR manager software is best for: Employee engagement
55. Xobin
The only recruitment software in the market with an inbuilt “fully-featured assessment software” like Hackerrank, Codility or Amcat. While other ATS integrates with external tools, Xobin builds its own tools so that its customers can achieve maximum integration and efficiency.
Why we love it: They allow busy HR managers to avoid the time-consuming yet important task of screening résumés to find quality candidates for your company. You can also customize your candidate assessments so that you find the right person for the job who has the necessary skills.
This HR manager software is best for: Recruiting, hiring, & onboarding
Bonus: VivaHR
The VivaHR tool wants to make the hiring process as good as it can possibly be. Post job openings to a vast range of boards, share vacancies on social media channels, and easily collaborate with your teammates throughout the hiring process.
Why we love it: Posting your job openings to a range of boards helps ensure you get applications from a range of quality candidates. VivaHR eliminates some of the busy work of posting your jobs, so you can get the word out on as many platforms as possible without spending hours creating postings.
This HR manager software is best for: Recruiting, hiring, & onboarding
Check out how one small business owner used VivaHR to publicize jobs to quality candidates.
People Also Ask These Questions About HR Tools
Q: What Are The Benefits of HR Tools?
- HR tools pay dividends for corporate cultures and the employees who operate within those norms. Some of these perks are immediately visible, while others take time to become apparent. For talent and potential in the company to be fully realized, HR tools are essential. After all, HR tools help justify calling a business an organization because they add the structure that it takes to meet the necessary objectives. When choosing the perfect HR tool or set of HR tools for your team, consider the functionalities you want them to have. Ask yourself if the gift is hitting on some or all of the benefits below:
- Improves communication
- Helps with team building
- Facilitates rewards and incentives
- Boosts employee retention and engagement
- Increases productivity
- Elevates employee wellness
- Builds relationships between teammates
- Performance management
Q: What are HR tools?
- A: HR tools are tools designed to improve employee engagement, retention, productivity, and wellbeing. These can range from communication software to productivity and accountability tools.
Q: Why is it important to use HR software and tools?
- A: It’s important to use HR software and tools because they can streamline communication, visibility, and help to establish a strong workplace culture.
Q: What are the best HR tools?
- A: The best HR tools boost effectiveness and help keep everyone in the company aligned with the company culture and mission. These are a lot of tools out there to choose from so we put together this hopefully helpful guide to some of the best hr tools for busy professionals.
Q: How do I choose a HR software app?
- A: Choose an HR software app based on what your company is missing or what your employees or coworkers have said they believe could be improved upon.
Q: Are there free HR tools?
- A: Yes, there are many free HR tools; however, the best ones often do come at a cost. You can explore SnackNation’s breakdown of some of the most useful hr tools to find the ones that offer free trials or free plans.
Slack is phenomenal. Never worry about anyone slackin’ when your team is on #Slack.
Thanks, Stephen!
Excited to learn more about Know Your Company which seems like a great tool for employee engagement!
Thanks, Jenna, let us know how it works for you.
Great information! Please share!!
Do is the only product specifically tailored to help you run better meetings? I don’t think so –
Solid, Konveen and Worklife are three others you can check out.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for pointing out those other tools to help run better meetings. I’ve changed the wording of this post so it doesn’t list Do as the “only” app to help with this category.
We appreciate the feedback!
Job is a great tool, but it does fall into the “swipe left, swipe right” pit fall. Often times recruits are not full reading your job requirements and may “swipe right” for a job they’re not fully able to do.
That’s a good insight, Hannah. Is there something that you use that does a better job?
Great list of resources. Will be checking them out.
Thanks, Jean! So glad you enjoyed the post. Let us know which you like best.
I learned a lot and am excited to research these great tools further. I’m also looking forward to learning more about Evernote, which I’ve used since the beginning!
Good stuff, Chelsey. Our CEO recently went completely paperless and uses Evernote for just about everything. He loves it.
Oh Goodness! I would love to actually use the agenda for our meetings AND a timer like Do.com!!! I will try and get that idea on our next meeting agenda!
Thanks Jodi – let us know if it works for you!
Great list of resources, thanks! I’m especially looking forward to doing more research about Calendly.
Thank you, Rochelle! We’ve found Calendly to be great for a variety of applications, from setting sales calls to booking podcast guests. Let us know how you like it!
Slack is great. Another cool HR tool to check out is TinyPulse!
Love TinyPulse! We just started using them here at SnackNation.
Wow, I will need to dig in deeper on some of these resources- could be life changing for me and my company.
We certainly hope so. Let us know how it goes!
Fantastic ideas…. I’m not on the HR side – but on the remote office side and there are great tidbits to share with the office to up and encourage better self work-life balance. Every day I add another subtle improvement…. starting to hear more laughter… I am very interested in learning more about noisli and do.com. I didn’t see TACO (yes, LOVE the name.. random???) in the PlayStore?
Laura – thanks for the feedback! It’s interesting to see that these tools also work for someone who works remotely. For now, Taco is browser based, not a standalone Google or iOS app. You can check it out here: https://tacoapp.com/#signup.
Great article, lots of information to share with everyone at the office
Thanks for the feedback, Melissa!
We’re definitely going to try some of these tools out! Thanks for the info 🙂
Thanks, Deja! Would love to hear how they work out for your team.
Evernote is a great app that we use for note taking and file storage.
We agree, Amy. Just about everyone at our company uses it.
Very useful! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Jeanne! Thanks for checking out the post.
Wow this is great! Super cool tools that are out of the norm! Will definitely share with my HR!
Thanks Elizabeth! Glad you enjoyed the post.
I didn’t even know apps were a possibility. I feel like my eyes have been opened! These are great and I am very excited to using some of these.
Thanks, Morgan, that’s so great to hear! Which ones have worked for you?
Glad to see a podcast, can’t wait to listen on my commute later!
Thanks, Katie! Let us know what you think!
Gonna check out Plumio – we use pre-employment testing.
Our office recently started using Slack, and all other IM platforms went right out the window, we love it. But I’m also personally excited to try out the micro survey “Pulses” from Glint – sounds promising! Thanks for the information.
These are really great suggestions, I’ll have to check them out further! So many great tools we could be using.
Thank you so much for including our software in your HR tools list. We believe we are pretty awesome too! If you would like to give our software a try you can always sign up for a free trial https://www.peoplehr.com/trial/.
Also I must confess that we are using Slack for communications between employees too!
HI,
It’s very nice article. Recently i came to know one of the best hr tool which we are using for our company. You can check here https://darwinbox.com/features.php
Good stuff, a lot of tools I never really would’ve thought of.
Thanks for sharing such an informational blog which will, surely be a big help to the people who have small medium business
Excellent article. I agree completely. Well done.
With an automated employee portal at hand, you don’t really have to worry about complex onboarding procedures.
Thanks for sharing such an informative blog which will surely be a big help to the small business owners
Great list of resources. Will be checking them out. Thank You
We’re definitely going to try some of these tools out! Thanks for the info 🙂
Good article and knowledge for me! I found a lot of information here! This article is really good for all newbie here. Thank you for sharing with us!