11 of the Best HR Softwares for UK Businesses in 2023

Rippling is a unified workforce platform that will send your employee data “rippling” through your system. You don’t need to enter data across hundreds of apps — just once is enough.

Most importantly, its goal is to simplify HR and IT.

Let’s dig a little deeper and see how it could benefit your business:

Onboarding

Lifecycle Automation. Template Gallery. Document Automation. E-signature support.

Rippling successfully streamlines the onboarding process. In fact, it promises to handle it within 90 seconds — which is a tad overzealous! But it’s undeniably effective at what it does.

All you need to do is enter basic hiring info and click “Hire.” This HR application will help you take care of the rest, step by step: 

• Send offer letter and new-hire paperwork
• Run background check and e-verify
• Add to payroll
• Enroll in health insurance
• Order and ship work computer
• Set up Google Workspace, Slack, Office 365, etc.

There’s even a template gallery (called Rippling’s Recipes!) for setting up automations for specific onboarding tasks.

Furthermore, you can effortlessly generate all the documents you need — offer letters, I-9, W-4, employee handbook, severance, etc. You can also collect e-signatures.

Employee Management

Time and attendance tracking. Custom shift differentials. Custom alerts and approval chains. Integrated policies. Extra attendance enforcement features.

This HR tool takes employee and time management seriously. Not only can you automatically track time and attendance, but you can also customize the shift differentials. For example, you can assign different rates to certain shifts.

Naturally, this tracking system syncs with your payroll and PTO. Overall, it will notify you about:

• Breaks
• Overtime
• Early clock-out
• End of shift
• Approvals.

Payroll admins and managers can easily view, edit, and approve employee timesheets. Additionally, you can create custom alerts and approval chains triggered by specific actions/deadlines, such as reminders for unapproved hours. Details like this make Rippling stand out from other HR solutions.

So, what do things look like on the employees’ side?

They can clock in via a tablet kiosk, the mobile app, or computers. Rippling has built-in policies that comply with labor regulations based on your employees’ work location. It also has advanced attendance enforcement features —  geolocation restrictions, QR codes, and even selfie clock-ins!

Payroll and Expenses Management

HR data synchronization. Global payroll. Automatic federal, state, and local tax filing.

Say goodbye to manually (and painstakingly!) entering hours and deductions. Rippling syncs your HR data with the payroll system - you just need to click “Run”. You can integrate the app with the native Time & Attendance system or third-party ones.

Either way, this HR and payroll software works globally. It also ensures compliance with all the relevant forms like W2, W4, 1099, etc.

Additionally, you can track the cost of your employees’ time by location, client, and task with the Job Codes feature. You can send payments via direct deposit or check.

But, what about everyone’s favorite pastime — tax filing?

You don’t have to lift a finger because Rippling will automatically calculate and file your taxes.

Document Management

Unlimited storage. Pre-loaded with onboarding and offboarding documents. Personalized documents.

A handy in-house document management platform keeps all your signed papers in one place. Everyone can access it on the main dashboard. It’s cloud-based with unlimited storage. 

Moreover, this document manager is pre-loaded with standard onboarding forms. Similarly, it generates severance and COBRA forms when offboarding.

One more thing:

You can create dynamic, personalized documents based on templates. This time-saving feature is a treat!

Analytics and Reporting

Custom variables. Complex formulas. In-depth reports.

With Rippling, anything can be a data source — even third-party app data. You can run HR, IT, and financial reports with complete control over the variables. What’s more, you can even combine and calculate multiple data points with formulas.

Of course, you can also filter and visualize your data. And you’re free to share reporting privileges and set permissions as you like!

Advanced Features

Combined HR and IT functionalities

The best HR apps are packed with extra tools. Being an HR/IT software, Rippling has an especially exciting blend of features.

Here’s a quick rundown:

• Learning management — automate training with intelligent course assignments.
• Talent management — attract and recruit the best of the best.
• App Management — safely connect employees with your apps.
• Device Management — remotely store, ship, set up, and secure your employee’s computers.

Apps and Integrations

iOS and Android mobile apps. +500 integrations. API support. 

Besides the online platform, Rippling has robust mobile apps for iOS and Android. But, this web based HR software shines when it comes to connectivity. You can count on +500 integrations. Here are the most popular ones:

• Google Workspace
• Slack
• Zoom
• GitHub
• Asana
• Zendesk
• Dropbox
• HubSpot

You can also find API documentation on the website and implement your code.

Ease of Use

Slick UI. Potentially intimidating to novices. Comprehensive Help Center. 

For such an ambitious software, Rippling is relatively simple to use. You might feel a bit overwhelmed at first, especially if you have opted for all the products, but you’ll get there!

The slight learning curve aside, the dashboard is pretty easy to navigate. And I dig the style! On top of that, you can consult the convenient Help Center. 

Customer Support

Email support. Effective and fast. 

HR solutions are only as good as their customer support. So, how does  Rippling fare?

Quite well, in fact! You can contact the reps via email. They were professional, quick, and perfectly helpful. Judging by other reviewers on G2 and TrustRadious, this seems to be a general sentiment.  

Pricing

Quote-based. Multiple modules. No free trial.

According to the website, the starting price is $8 per month per user — and that’s all. You’ll have to contact the sales reps for a custom quote. The total cost will depend on the modules you choose: 

• Rippling Unity Platform
• Full Service Payroll
• Time & Attendance
• Benefits Administration
• Applicant Tracking
• Learning Management
• App Management
• Device Management
• Inventory Management

So, you can build yourself all in one HR software or something more specialized. The core (and required) product is the Rippling Unity Platform, while the other ones can be bought separately. Unfortunately, there’s no free trial.

Verdict

Powerful, customizable, and reliable — Rippling seemingly has it all. The highlights include:

• Numerous automations and integrations
• Incredibly detailed reports
• Payroll management around the globe.

The recipes gallery with all sorts of workflow and report templates is my favorite part!

Admittedly, this platform might be too much for smaller businesses looking for a basic, novice-friendly HR solution. And if you prefer transparent pricing plans, you’re out of luck.

In truth:

Global high-growth companies looking for adaptable HR systems will find their match in Rippling.

Sage Business Cloud People is one of the top HR software in the UK and has been in the market since 2007. This solution is best for companies with a global presence and a workforce of between 200 and 5000 employees. 

Sage People makes the complicated process of managing your staff from hiring to retiring much easier. Some of this company’s famous customers include; Aveva, Armstrong, Betfair, and Community Counseling Services.

Features

And now let’s have a look at the tool’s features: 

Onboarding

This UK-based HR software allows you to automate processes like advertising or screening. This hastens the process of finding suitable candidates and keeping them engaged throughout the whole process. 

The organizational charts in this software will make it so easy for your onboarders to see reporting lines. The platform also allows you to create a skill library that you can use to match candidates for future job openings.

Employee management

Sage People comes with an “employee self-serve” feature. The software will guide your staff on how to make updates, so the process is as painless as possible. 

With this platform, you can automate critical tasks to save your staff’s time. You can also use this software to create and manage teams scattered across the globe virtually.

From here, you can communicate your expectations, give feedback, recognise the performers, give reviews, and align organisational and individual goals. In addition, you can also configure your system to conduct 360 feedback both internally and externally. 

With Sage People, leave management becomes easier to track. Employees can request leaves, and managers can approve them regardless of their stations globally. The system allows you to keep an audit of absences and attendance for productivity analysis. 

Payroll and expenses management

You can integrate your existing payroll system with this software. Whether you have single or multiple payrolls, this system will present you with accurate data.

Aside from paying salaries, you can customise benefits rules to reward top talent. Staff can also view their payslips from anywhere, 24/7.

Documentation management

This HR database software for UK centrally stores data for easy visualisation by respective managers. Also, the global repository eliminates unnecessary data maintenance.

For security and privacy, database access is only via exclusive rights and privileges for both managers and staff. 

Analytics and reporting

Each of your managers gets a customisable dashboard with this software. From here, they can view build, amend, update, and make printouts. 

The system also gives smart analytics and insights on employee onboarding, headcount, and payroll. 

Advanced features

Sage People is simply one of the best HR software in the UK because it’s multilingual and multi-currency. This software also allows you to set different work times tables depending on your staffs’ time zones. 

Apps and integrations

Sage Business Cloud People is a web-based software that works on Windows, Android, and iOS. This software has an apps marketplace. You can also integrate it with:

• Sage Inventory Advisor
• Castaway
• Prophix
• Cascade50
• Qnect200

Ease of use

This software UI might look outdated, but don’t let it fool you. It does its job entirely. Though a little bland, the interface is easy to navigate and use for non-techies.

Customer support

Sage Business offers a  very detailed user guide, in case you need assistance. You can also get answers from:

• Sage People Community (Group Discussions, Knowledge Library, Your Ideas, Learning Services)
• Submitting a request 
• Calling 
• Scheduling a visit to the company’s physical offices (Locations in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Australia, and Canada )

It took a few days to hear back from Sage’s support once I submitted a request. However, once the company’s representative got back to me, he answered all my questions professionally.

Pricing

Sage People doesn’t display rates on its website. I reached out to support, and the contact person informed me that the company charges a license fee of £95 per person. 

Sage Business Cloud People – Verdict

The reason why Sage People is one of the best UK HR software is because of features like employee management, document management, onboarding, payroll and expense management, and a global presence.

If you’re the self-implementation type, this platform’s documentation might not help you much. But there’s always support staff a call away to assist you. Emailing takes longer.

One of the most significant drawbacks of this solution is that it takes about 90 days to go live. Therefore, if your organisation needs a system to use right away, this might not be the best option for you. The good news is that there are plenty of time-sensitive options on our list.

Another limitation that I found with Sage Business was its cost. It could be too expensive for small startups on a budget. However, large multinationals can benefit from this software. 

This modern HR software has been in the market since 2011. 

The founders, Joshua Reeves (current CEO), Tomer London, and Edward Kim create the software to provide payroll services, benefits, and HR management.

To date, this company has over 40,000 clients.

Features

Here are Gusto‘s features.

Onboarding

Set your team up for success right from the beginning using this software. You can send customised offer letters to your candidates of choice to make them feel like part of the company from the start.

After that use checklists to ensure staff sight and submit the right forms. At this point, you can request for e-signatures. You can add your items to the system’s list to ensure that you get all the paperwork your company needs.

Employee management

This software allows you to continue engaging your new hires and continue throughout the years that the staff stays in your company. Some engagement tools here include:

• Anonymous surveys
• Virtual birthday cards
• Employee directories

Gusto makes it easy for you to manage your team using time tracking. Dealing with your staff’s holiday and time-off requests is also easy with this system.

Payroll and expenses management

All you need is a few minutes to run payroll with Gusto. 

This UK HR and payroll software has inbuilt time tracking and allows you to run unlimited payrolls to save on time. In addition, your staff can access advance pay should the need arise. 

This software automatically files your payroll taxes, ensuring that you never forget or do it late. Also, benefits are built-in, so you don’t have to use different applications to calculate them. 

Documentation management

Gusto stores all documents and forms that new hires sign online. The system gives both employees a right to access documentation under rights and privileges. 

Analytics and reporting

This software allows you to download different types of reports such as but not limited to:

• Employee summaries
• Time-off balances
• Payroll journal
• Benefits report
• Year-to-date report

Advanced features

Licensed experts can advise you on the best insurance plan to pick for your staff—administration of dental, medical, and vision if free. 

Apps and integrations

Gusto doesn’t have any dedicated apps. However, it’s mobile-friendly, and since it’s a UK HR software on cloud, you can virtually issue it on any operating system. 

Some apps that you can connect this software with include:

• Zoom
• Dropbox
• Slack
• G Suite
• Asana

Ease of use

Gusto’s interface is clutter-free and easy to navigate. Sending out offer letters or managing employees with this software is a breeze.

Customer support

Gusto does not have a free version or trial period. However, it does offer a demo account to see what it’ll be like using the software. 

You can reach Gusto’s client support during Monday – Friday from 6 am-5 pm PT through either of the following options:

• Phone
• Chat
• Email

I tested the chat, and email options, and it took a few hours to get a response.

Well, to be fair, I contacted the support staff outside of the company’s working hours.  

The response was satisfactory, and I got all the details that I needed without a lot of back and forth. The contact person was knowledgeable and professional, yet friendly. 

Pricing

Here are Gusto’s rates.

• Contractor – £4.61/employee/month 
• Core – £4.61/employee/month + £29.98 base price/month
• Complete – £9.23/employee/month + £29.98 base price/month
• Concierge – £9.23/employee/month + £114.55 base price/month

Here are the costs for extra benefits

• Worker compensation – £0
• Health benefits – £0
• 401 (K) retirement – £29.98/month+£6.14/employee
• 529 college savings – £13.82/month+£4.61/employee
• Health savings account – £1.92/month/employee
• Commuter benefits – £15.35/month+£3.07/employee
• Flexible spending accounts – £15.35/month+£3.07/employee

Gusto – Verdict

This is one of the best HR software for a small business in the UK with useful features like payroll and expense management, employee management, reports, onboarding, expert advice, and so much more.

The system can be laggy when entering information. However, customer support is responsive and always ready to sort out such issues. 

A few years ago, entrepreneurs Jordi Romero, Pau Ramon, and Bernat Farrero couldn’t find a solid HR solution. They needed something to help them scale, eliminate paperwork, and offer a great experience.

So, in 2016, they created Factorial.

Since then, this UK HR software has served 75K+ businesses and counting. Some of its most prolific clients include Booking.com, The Power MBA, McCann, Cuideo, and The Hotels Network. 

Although it's based in Spain, it has a global presence in 65 countries. 

But it is the best solution for you?

Features

Now, let’s tackle Factorial’s functionalities one by one. 

Onboarding 

This onboarding HR software for the UK  allows your new hires to self-serve by giving them access to a limited version. On it, they can see checklists of what they need to do before joining your company, for instance:

• Providing personal details
• Digitally signing documentation

That's not all:

It allows you to tailor onboarding tasks to meet your organization’s requirements. Also, it sends notifications for anything pending. 

What’s more?

After completing this process, you can import worker details and give them regular access to the system. 

Employee Management 

This human resources management software is excellent for both onsite and remote teams. 

It lets you create a time tracking policy so that your staff can know what you expect from them.  After that, they can start clocking in and out through their desktop or mobile apps. The platform then presents their activity, allowing you to view timesheets by filtering them by: 

• day 
• week 
• month 
• department
• employee name

And you’ll love this:

Factorial color codes the distribution of hours.

Here’s how that looks:

• Light blue - employee has worked overtime
• Dark blue - staff met that day’s requirement
• Gold, orange/yellow - worker has fewer hours than required

This HR management software for the UK also lets you use geolocation for teams that work away from the office. 

Plus:

You can also conduct surveys, reviews, training, and manage time offs and tasks with it.

Payroll and Expenses Management

Tracking expenses with Factorial is a breeze. Your workers can upload their expenditures, then you can ask for related information such as dates or amounts before approving or declining them. 

In addition, if you can put someone in charge of accepting/turning down the requests. The systems will then automatically send your employees notifications regarding their status.

There’s more:

This UK HR payroll software collects and centrally stores pay-related information like contracts, hours, workers, and absences. And you can automate little things like notifying your bookkeeper on little things like pay changes, terminations, or fresh additions to the team.

Documentation Management

Factorial arranges all your documents in folders for easy access. Some ‌folders include:

• Family and medical leaves
• Payslips
• Contracts
• Policies
• Identification

In addition, you can set special rights and privileges regarding who can view the information. That will prevent the leaking of sensitive data across departments.

That's not all:

This solution encrypts data on transit, in your database, including all your passwords, to keep hackers away. On top of that, it uses network monitoring tools to eliminate unauthorized access.

Analytics and Reporting

HR data for companies in the UK would be useless if it can’t help them make intelligent decisions, right?

Factorial provides the necessary reports to give you better insights into strategic human resources planning. In addition, you can use them to analyze whether you're doing a good job or need to make improvements. 

Examples here include:

• Expenses report
• Absence report
• Payroll report

Advanced Features

Factorial allows you to create events for special occasions, like team building or company parties. Also, you can use it to post announcements to share company news.

Apps and Integrations

If you need cloud HR software in the UK, Factorial is a good option. You can use it on different operating systems - Windows, Mac, or Linux. 

It also comes with iOS and Android apps, which is fantastic if you have field staff. And, of course, it allows you to manage on the go. 

If you want to make the most out of this platform, you can integrate it with:

• Slack
• Zapier
• Google Calendar
• Gmail
• Indeed

Ease of Use 

Factorial isn’t as intuitive as most other programs on our list. That’s because most of the features like onboarding, time tracking, reviews, etc. aren’t out of the box. It took me a while to figure out that I had to install them under Apps and Integrations.

But, the good thing is that they took a few seconds to set up.

Once I figured my way around this HR UK software, it was pretty easy to use. 

Customer Support 

Once you sign up, Factorial will assign you an account manager depending on the number of employees per contract. You can contact your manager by: 

• Phone
• Chat
• Email

Note that response time depending on how busy the day is. This could be a couple of minutes or hours. 

My experience with my contact person was rather pleasant. They were professional, willing to help and understood the product well. 

Pricing 

Factorial doesn’t have a money-back guarantee. However, it has a 14-day free trial, so you experiment with it before purchasing. 

The rates for this HRMS for UK companies are:

• Core HR and Time Hub - £5.25/employee/month for business and quotes for enterprises
• Core HR and Talent Hub - £5.25/staff/month for businesses and quotes for enterprises
• Complete Bundle (talent management + time tracking) - $7.5/worker/month for businesses and quotes for enterprises
• Recruitment ATS - £49/month for Basic (10 job offers) and £129/month for Pro (unlimited job offers)

Factorial Review - Verdict 

One of the drawbacks of this solution is that it doesn’t offer self-hosting. So, it stores all your data on its server.  But it has good security measures in place, such as encryption. 

That’s not all:

You’ll need to install apps to carry out most functions like onboarding, recruitment, surveys, etc. The good news is that this takes a fraction of a second.

In addition, it's quite pricey compared to some of the top HR software for the UK on our list.

But overall, it's a good solution for managing your staff’s tasks, working time, and absences. It also helps you evaluate your company’s performance through analytics and surveys.

BambooHR has been helping businesses manage their HR operations since 2008. To date, the company has more than 18,000 clients. Some organisations that trust BambooHR are the British Study Center, Universal Group, Kotahi, and iNTREC. 

Features

Here are BambooHR’s features:

Onboarding

BambooHR lets you send out vacant positions on popular job boards like Glassdoor or Indeed. You can also post open positions on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to attract top talent. 

This software has mobile hiring apps with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to make it easy for you to carry out the process from anywhere. From here, you can be able to review CVs and cover letters, send offer letters to the right candidates, and request for digital signatures. 

Employee management

You can use this software to create workflows that not only save on time but also lessen you and your staff’s workloads. You can use this solution to conduct performance reviews daily. 

You can set goals, then communicate these to employees for action. Employees can self-assess, or you can arrange for manager evaluations. 

Payroll and expenses management

BambooHR ensures that you pay your staff on time, every time. This software uses TRAXPayroll to simplify your work, so you no longer feel like you live inside a calculator. 

Trust this software to take care of taxes, as well as calculate your staff’s payments accurately every single time. 

Documentation management

This UK HR software allows you to store and manage employee data in a secure database that uses enterprise-level security. The data repository is centralised so you can access it from anywhere. 

Analytics and reporting

This software lets you run different kinds of reports to help you identify areas that need improvement. You can edit, email, or download them as CSV, PDF, or Excel files.

Examples of reports that you can get from this software:

• Benefits
• Employee headcount

Advanced features

BambooHR is one of the best HR software in the UK in 2022, because it has an Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS). This essential tool helps you measure how employees feel about working for your company. This feature can let you know whether your staff would recommend it to others as a suitable workplace.

Apps and integrations

BambooHR has dedicated mobile apps for iOS and Android. It’s also available on the cloud so you can use it on any internet-connected device. You can link this solution to some of the most popular background and people search sites like:

• Checkr
• Good hire
• Glassdoor
• Backgrounds Online
• Simply Better

Ease of use

BambooHr is easy to use. The dashboard is clutter-free. There are insights on the left hand-side to let you know things like who’s off, and who’s on duty. 

“My info” at the top of your menu directs you to an area where you can add different employee details like date of hire, designation, ethnicity, and so much more.  

Most of the tasks like sending notifications are already in custom workflows, making it hassle-free for employees to use it.

Customer support

BambooHR’s support is available 6:00 am – 6:00 pm MST, Monday to Friday. You can reach them through either of the following options:

• Email
• Phone

Pricing

BambooHr doesn’t display its pricing on its website. You have to fill a simple form, and the company will send you a personalised quote.

BambooHR – Verdict

BambooHr might be expensive, but its reliability is one of the reasons why most companies love using it. People and data analytics, onboarding, compensation, eNPS, and employee engagement are some of this software’s features. 

There are no pricing details on the company’s website, but here’s a reason for this. The company bases its pricing on different factors, such as the number of employees. You can reach out to the organisation at any time to get a quote. 

Centurion Management Systems owns BreatheHR, which has been in existence since 2012. This software can only take a maximum of 250 employees, the reason why it’s perfect for small businesses. 

This two-in-one platform incorporates both HR admin and Rota systems. 7k+ companies use the solution, which translates to over 200k people. Nearly 305 charities have adopted BreatheHR’s culture pledge.

Features

Here are Breathe’s features:

Onboarding

This software comes with a free downloadable onboarding guide to help you engage your new hires. The solution allows you to track your applicants right from recruitment to hiring.

The system allows you to send rejection letters to unsuccessful applicants. Sometimes you might get too many qualified candidates, and this solution will enable you to mark candidates for future roles.   

Employee management

I’ve looked through the HR software market in the UK for solutions that can store all holiday-related information centrally for you to quickly access any employee’s records. Breath does that perfectly.

This software allows employees to help themselves with: booking one-on-ones, tracking hours, creating schedules, or requesting leaveс so long as they have an internet-connected device. 

For performance management, Breathe helps you reward deserving employees or hold one-on-ones. You also use this software to encourage healthy competition by setting targets and goals.  

Payroll and expenses management

Breathe makes it easy for you to keep an eye on all your expenses. This software also simplifies the tiresome process of paying your staff and exporting the data takes just a few moments. 

Documentation management

This software uses GDPR-compliant security to store employee data. The system only allows granular sharing and privacy to ensure that only authorised personnel access particular data.

Analytics and reporting

This HR software for small businesses allows you to see data demographically as well as on an individual report basis. BreatheHR’s analytics also makes it easy for you to understand otherwise complex data helping you pick up trends and identify bottlenecks. 

Some of the reports that you can mine using this software are:

• People reports
• HR reports
• Absence reports
• Remuneration reports
• Time log reports

Advanced features

Here are BreatheHR’s features:

Communication tracking

Get to see members of staff that read your communication using this software. You can also use networking platforms like Skype or LinkedIn to make collaborations and communication easier. 

Time logs and project management

This software helps you know how your employees spend their working hours as well as track overtime. This makes it easier for you to track project milestones and costs. 

Rota system

If you have staff that work in shifts, this would be the ideal solution for you. All you need to do is create your schedules, notify your team, and that’s it!

As at the time of writing this review, this feature was free to use.

Apps and integrations

This cloud-based HR system doesn’t have dedicated apps. However, you can use it on any OS, i.e. Android, iOS, Windows, or Mac.

This software has an open API system to allow you to integrate with other applications and software such as:

• Rota cloud
• Google Calendar
• Microsoft Outlook
• Team Org Chart
• WeThrive

Ease of use

Looks can be deceiving, and that’s why this software is on our list of best HR software in the UK.

Although this software looks a little old-fashioned, it’s very user-friendly. The dashboard and features like recruitment, people, reporting, and the company are at the top of your profile for easy location. 

To avoid cluttering, each of the main features has a drop-down menu with sub-features. The clean interface eliminates crowding, which can sometimes overwhelm users.  

Customer support

This software offers lots of handy tutorials in its knowledge base to guide you on usage and implementation. For more guidance, you can reach out to support during business hours, on either of the following avenues:

• Live chat
• Phone
• Email

I tested out both chat and email options. It took a few hours to get a response to my queries. However, the staff was professional and solved my issues. 

Pricing

Breathe made it on our list for the top 10 HR software for the UK market because of its flexible and affordable pricing. In addition, it charges per business rather than per employee.

There’s more:

This platform offers a 14-day trial period that gives you access to all its premium features. 

Here are the HR module pricing plans:

• Micro – £10/month or £108/year for 1-10 employees
• Starter – £21/month or £227/year for 11-20 employees
• Regular- £54/month or £583/year for 21-50 employees
• Pro – £108/month or £1166/year for 51-100 employees
• Premium – £219/month or £2365/year for 101-250 employees

Rota plans:

• Starter – £18/month £194/year (1 rota planner, up to 25 users and 1 location)
• Regular – £48/month £518/year (5 rota planners, up to 50 users and five sites)
• Rota Plus – £98/month £1058/year (unlimited rota planners, up to 150 users and unlimited sites)

BreatheHR – Verdict

This is one of the few solutions in the market that will make you stand out as a modern employer. With this solution, you will get better results because it will help care for your people and not just the returns. 

Some of the features because of which this solution made it to our list are rota planners, employee management, staff self-service, onboarding, expense, and payroll management. 

Most HR solutions base their pricing on the number of employees, which can be costly for small businesses on a budget. Fortunately for you, BreatheHR rates depend on business size. This company also gives you the option to either make monthly or yearly payments.

Note that you can’t tailor this option massively. However, note that for the price, this solution offers quite a reasonable level of customisations.  

Zoho People has been in the market since 1996 as one of the best HR and payroll software in the UK. This software is ideal for industries like IT, Media and advertising, healthcare, finance and education. Some of this company’s clients include Renault Nissan Mitsubishi, Medlife, and Tecnova.

Features

The following are Zoho People’s core features:

Onboarding

You can invite new staff to start onboarding themselves by submitting paperwork like tax forms before their first day at work. After that, you can welcome and introduce them to company policies.

To ensure that you don’t miss any onboarding process, you can create checklists. For instance, you can create a process that includes:

• Sending welcoming emails
• Introduce employees to company policies
• Ask them to fill forms and submit documents 

What’s more?

You can personalise the checklists to suit your organisation.

The system shows you where each fresh hire has reached on their onboarding journey to see who needs reminders and who’s ready to start working.  

Employee management

Zoho People is full of excellent features when it comes to employee management to help increase productivity as well as engagement. Zoho People fulfills those needs to the maximum for both in-house and remote workers. 

Here are some of the staff management features that you’ll love:

• Goal setting
• Self-appraisal
• Feedback
• Learning and development
• Attendance and performance tracker

Payroll and expenses management

Forget about spending countless hours calculating employee deductions, tax allowances, or net pay. In just a couple of clicks, you’ll be able to generate all that using this UK HR payroll software to enable you to pay your staff in time.

Documentation management

If your business spans across different cities or countries, you no longer have to worry about separate databases with Zoho People. This solution stores data centrally for easy access across different geographic regions. 

Regardless of the size of your workforce, you can easily add people in bulk to save on time. If you want to add users from Office 365, ZohoMail or GApps, you can do so with this software.

Analytics and reporting

You can use this software to sort data to give you different kinds of reports.

Use the attrition count by month report to analyse attrition and hiring rates to uncover underlying problems.

Filtering your data via time logs can also help you evaluate staff performance. Also, you can see projects that take too much or too little time to help you allocate deadlines appropriately. 

The effective growth rate report gives you insights on how fast or slowly your staff is growing in terms of performance.

The solution also offers a tasks report to give you an overview of assigned, pending, or overdue tasks.  

Advanced features

Here are some of the advanced features that Zoho People offers:

Geolocation

This feature uses IP addresses to track field employees, to see if they’re where they say they are during work hours. 

Zoho Vault

Quality HR software systems in the UK must help create complex passwords to ward off hackers. The platform also sets custom reminders to ensure that staff change their login details often.

Groups

Create groups within an organisation using this solution. This feature helps improve communication and collaboration between different staff, regardless of where they are on the globe. 

Apps and integrations

This cloud-based software gas dedicated Android and iOS apps to allow you to carry out your HR activities from anywhere. You can also use it on any internet-connected gadget.  

You don’t have to stop using your favourite apps just because you’ve subscribed to Zoho People! You can link it to apps such as:

• GSuite
• Adobe Design
• Quickbooks
• Adobe Sign
• Zoho extensions (analytics, projects, expense or recruit)

Ease of use

Setting up Zoho People can be a bit overwhelming for users without a coding background. There’s extensive documentation to help you, but you might need to hire a developer if coding isn’t your thing.

However, the solution will become easier to us. Most of the tasks, such as payroll or report generation just require a few clicks. You can also automate tasks like onboarding or feedback to make your work easier. 

Customer support

ZohoPeople offers a demo as soon as you sign up. The software has an extensive knowledge base. If you’d like to speak directly to support, you can contact them using any of the following methods during business hours:

• Email
• Phone
• Visiting physical offices 

I reached out to the company’s customer service team. The staff was quite responsive, but it took a few hours for them to get back to me. 

Pricing

This free HR software for the UK market allows up to five users. The package offers basic HR functions. Here are its paid plans with more features:

• Essential HR – £0.64/user/month
• Professional – £1.27/user/month
• Premium – £1.92/user/month
• Enterprise – £3.19/user/month
• People Plus – £6.14/user/month

Email the company for a custom quote, if you have more than 500 users. 

NB: Zoho People requires annual billing.

Zoho People – Verdict

Zoho People is a feature-rich software essential for your HR activities. Some of the functionalities that I was able to experiment with included people management, onboarding, integrations reports, amongst others.

I got outstanding service after testing out the solutions functions. 

This solution will not work for you if you need a daily or weekly payroll calendar cycle. It only caters for monthly or bi-weekly pay calendars. Fortunately, we have other solutions on our list that are suitable in that aspect. 

Sage People is Sage HR’s (Formerly Cake HR) parent company and has been in the market since 2012. Sage HR is present in 1200 cities, in 50+ countries across the world. 

This software focuses on listening to client needs and translating those into useful features. Over the years, this solution has grown from simple leave management to a module-rich HR platform. 

Features

Here are Sage HR’s features:

Onboarding

You can use Sage HR to create landing pages to help you attract top talent. This software helps you fast track the hiring process by syncing with Outlook Callander to schedule interviews.  

You can create workflows to successfully onboard applicants and automate tasks right away. 

Employee management

This HR management software for the UK market helps you nurture your talent. You can align team efforts to your company’s goals for progressive business.

Give your staff the pleasure of 360 reviews from peers, subordinates, and managers. This software offers a one-on-one feature to map strengths and weaknesses. 

Give your staff a voice using Sage HR’s surveys. Also, you can encourage employee-manager communication using this software’s “Quick Feedback” feature. 

Sage HR comes with an interactive schedule planning interface. Staff can create, edit or access their schedules from anywhere, at the click of a button. 

Your employees can request time off and leave using the self-service feature. You can make approvals digitally, from anywhere, including Slack. 

The software also has custom flows to set up replacement persons. Sage HR also controls who approves time off requests for accountability. 

Payroll and expenses management

Sage HR doesn’t have a payroll feature. However, it has an expense management functionality.

Staff can use the HR mobile app to submit a photo of their expenses receipt. Expenses here include any personal monies that an employee might have spent on work related to the organisation or purchases that your business has approved. 

Documentation management

Use this software’s drag-n-drop functionality to add documents to either onboard or off-board staff. You can choose to add documentation for everyone or multiple staff. 

After adding the docs, you can share them with the new staff’s team or direct managers.You can notify the respective staff member by email regarding shared documents too. 

Analytics and reporting

This is one of the best HR software in the UK for 2022 because it has robust reporting capabilities. You can use filters to sort data as you desire to create custom reports. 

Here are some of the reports that the system produces.

• Recruitment 
• Onboarding 
• Time off
• Assets
• Time off
• Replacement persons

Advanced features

This has a recipe feature to create workflows or emails and then automate these for efficiency. The website guides you through this process by allowing you to set your parameters.

Apps and integrations

This cloud-based solution has Android and iOS apps. You can also use this software on any operating system as long as you have Chrome. 

With this solution, you don’t have to stop using your favourite apps. This platform allows integrations with applications like:

• Slack
• G Suite
• Single sign-on

On request, the company offers custom integration with Zapier, a software that can allow you to connect to 2000+ apps. 

Ease of use

Using this HR software in the UK is a piece of cake!

Right after signing up, the software will take you through a short tour to give you an idea of how it works. 

Just a heads up:

Don’t be shocked when you see details of people that you’ve never heard of pre-populated on your dashboard. The dummy data just makes you see how your company’s real account will look once it is set up. 

The solution’s interface is clean and uncluttered to enable you to locate anything that you need with ease. 

Customer support

This software has email and chat options for client support that operate during business hours.

 I tried out both. 

The response was timely, and the customer support staff answered all my queries to my satisfaction. 

Pricing

This software has no free version but has a 14-day trial period. I loved the fact that I didn’t have to email the company to get pricing.

Sage HR has a module structure, where you select the features that you need to get a quote. 

What’s more?

There’s a currency converter on the pricing page to let you know exactly how much you need to pay, depending on where you are. 

Sage HR – Verdict

This UK hr software can help you streamline your HR’s management. Useful features here include recipes, employee management, onboarding, app integrations, and robust reporting. 

Sage HR’s biggest weakness is that it doesn’t have a payroll feature. Luckily, we have plenty of other options on this list to help with payroll. 

This software’s setup is time-consuming. For instance, setting up 150 staff could take anywhere from four to six weeks. 

There’s also no universal calendar view, so staff can’t see if their friends are also taking leave. However, this is for privacy reasons.  

A team of HR veterans came together in 2012 to invent PeopleHR. Thousands of businesses around the world have already subscribed for this software, among them Ascot, Samsung Europe, Victoria Beckham, Ministry of Sound and many others. 

Features

Here are PeopleHR’s features. 

Onboarding

This software comes with an easy-to-use HR onboarding software for UK businesses. The platform’s applicant tracking system that can integrate well with your website. This feature, however, needs some work because you can’t incorporate it with job boards like Jobsite.co.uk or Indeed.

Employee management

Staff can ask for leave, and you can approve this from anywhere.

There’s more:

You can lock out busy days beforehand to avoid staff from taking holidays during those specific periods. 

Employees can update their personal data, which saves HR time. You can also automate tasks like tracking sick days or sending reminders to lessen your workload even more.

This solution also comes with a team planner. This feature allows you to see who’s absent or present.

Payroll and expenses management

You can integrate this software with payroll solutions like ADP or Sage People to help you simplify your payroll processes.  

Your staff can submit expense claims using smartphones, and those in charge can authorise them from anywhere. 

Documentation management

This platform allows you to store staff data centrally for easier retrieval across departments. You can add unique screens to enable you to track specific employee information.

This software offers unlimited storage space. Therefore, you can store data for staff that have left the company for future reference.  

Analytics and reporting

You can get all sorts of reports from this software to enable you to identify your company’s strengths as well as weaknesses. This gives room for improvement before things hit the roof.

Some reports that you can get from this platform include:

• Salary by job role
• Staff turnover
• Hidden costs
• Holiday outlook

You can also choose to build your reports by creating custom queries. 

Advanced features

This software recommends HR best practices to help you make smarter decisions for growth. You can use your stats to benchmark with other organisations within your industry to see what needs improvement. 

Apps and integrations

This cloud HR software for the UK market has dedicated apps for Android and iOS. You can also use it on any operating system, as long as your browser is up to date. 

Some of the apps that you can integrate this solution with are:

• RotaCloud
• SagePayroll
• Idency
• Webmerge
• Passly

Ease of use

PeopleHR offers a quick 4-minute demo to give you an idea of how the system works. This software has an appealing and intuitive interface, and I enjoyed using it since it wasn’t dull or monotonous.

There were lots of features on the left-hand side of my screen, but somehow I just never felt overwhelmed. The company laid them neatly, and I could locate anything that I needed without any trouble. 

Customer support

You can contact PeopleHR’s client support from 09:00 – 17:30 London time, Monday – Friday. You can reach the department via:

• Chat
• Phone
• Email

This company’s chat option claims to reply in under 10 minutes, and I tested this out. 

Well, that’s true.

I got a response in about 6 minutes. The contact person professionally answered all my questions, and I was thoroughly impressed.

Pricing

PeopleHr has a 30-day trial period. Also, it has a variety of paid plans to help you pick out one that suits your business. Here are the paid packages:

• Team – £3/employee/month (for small organizations)
• Professional – £4/employee/month (for ambitious organizations looking to grow )
• Enterprise – £5/employee/month (for high growth organizations)
• Elite – £6/employee/month (for complex HR organizations)

PeopleHR – Verdict

PeopleHR is a reliable HR tool with features like applicant tracking, robust reporting, expert guidance, employee management, amongst others. 

This platform doesn’t have an inbuilt payroll system.

However, it allows you to link it to payroll services like Sage, ADP or activpayroll. That gives you a variety to pick a payroll solution that works for you. 

This solution’s applicant tracking system doesn’t integrate with most UK job boards. However, you can incorporate it into your website. 

Nevertheless, PeopleHR is still a powerful HR tool.

In 2003, Ashik Ahmed developed HR services for startups to handle Steve Shelly’s business, whose HR needs were spiraling out of control.

Deputy officially launched in the cloud 2008 and to the rest of the world in 2015. 

Some of Deputy’s clients include COMPASS, BOXPARK, Aesop, Rapha, and Delivery Mates. This company offers special pricing for charities, community organisations, and non-profits.

To date, this solution is available in over 70 countries. Some top companies using this software are Uber and Amazon. 

Features

Here’s what Deputy’s got to offer:

Onboarding

This software will help you capture your new staff’s data accurately while eliminating paperwork. Note that you can board multiple employees at a go, and reform anywhere. 

Invite your new hire with an email or text welcoming them to the company. The employees can start filling necessary forms or forwarding you relevant documents right away. You’ll get notifications once they complete the onboarding process. 

Employee management

Setting up rotas/schedules with Deputy is quick and stress-free. A single click will help you create AI optimised rotas.

Check your staff’s attendance in real-time by using this software’s accurate time tracking tool. You can automate wage calculations to lessen admin work and ensure employees get their work’s worth of money.  

Deputy also helps you keep track of your staff’s performance. This is also one of the best HR software to help you engage your team by celebrating high performers.

Payroll and expenses management

Deputy has no in-built payroll system. However, you can integrate it with some of the world’s leading payroll systems such as Sage or Xero with a few clicks. 

Documentation management

Deputy store all documentation centrally. You don’t need to worry about data security with this software, as it uses bank-grade encryption end to end. 

Analytics and reporting

This workforce management tool gives real-time reporting of various staff aspects of your company. The report’s tab has different sections to help you easily pick out what you want to view. 

Examples of reports include:

• Journal usage
• Employee data

You can also use the report builder to create your reports. 

Apps and integrations

This cloud-based software has mobile apps, and you can use it on any OS. You can integrate Deputy with applications like:

• Sage
• Xero
• BambooHr
• Dropbox
• Lightspeed

Ease of use

This is one of the most user-friendly human resource management in the market. The interface is intuitive, and tasks like creating or submitting worksheets, exporting data to payroll or requesting and approving leave are so easy. 

Customer support

This HR tool for the UK market platform offers 24/7 support and you can reach out to them through:

• Phone
• Chat
• Scheduling a consultation

Pricing

Deputy has a 31-day trial period for its premium accounts that are as follows:

• Scheduling – £1.50/user/month
• Time and Attendance – £1.50/user/month
• Premium – £3/user/month (When billed monthly,£2.75 when billed annually)
• Enterprise – Custom pricing

Deputy – Verdict

Deputy has lots of useful features to help you manage your workforce efficiently. Some of this software’s features include AI optimised rotas, onboarding, leave management, shift planning, performance management, and much more.

I loved the fact that this software’s pricing was flexible. I.e., you could pay monthly for modules like time attendance or scheduling if that’s all you need. Alternatively, if you need more features like reporting, you can go for the “Premium” package.

Sometimes, time breaks don’t display well on Chrome. However, you can reach out to the company around the clock, and their support team will assist you instantly. 

Gartner has named Workday as a leading organisation in the industry for the fourth year in a row. 

Workday is suitable for a myriad of industries such as healthcare, energy, non-profit, higher education, to name a few. Some of this company’s customers include Sony, Nordstrom, Hulu, Bank of America, Netflix, and Airbnb.  

Features

Here are some of Workday’s features:

Onboarding

The best HR companies in the UK help firms attract and retain top talent. Workday does just that, both locally and globally. You can also foster growth through curated learning for personal development, which will be beneficial to your organisation in the long run.

Employee management

Use this software to track performance and improve productivity. Some of the people management tools here include: 

• Mobile check-in/out as staff enter job sites
• Geo-fencing
• Industry benchmarking
• Time and absence compliance rules

 Payroll and expenses management

The system sends data like worked hours, holiday, or overtime to payroll in real-time. This ensures that your employees get paid on time, and automatically, which frees your time as you attend to other areas of your organisation. 

Documentation management

Workday HR database software that stores anything from third-party application data, peer benchmarks, budgets, and plants into one database. 

Analytics and reporting

Workday helps you interpret and understand your data better with its analytics and reporting. Your team can get granular reports together with “discovery boards” on an ad hoc basis. 

This software combines graphs, pattern detection, natural language and machine learning while crawling through millions of data points.

The result?

Data that tells a simple story about your organisation and its employees.

Advanced features

With Workday, you can manage your project milestones with ease. That means anything from staffing, billing, expense management, or financial management.

Apps and integrations

Workday has both iOS and Android apps. This solution is cloud-based, so you can also use it on any internet-connected gadget.

You can link this solution with an application like:

• Accurate Background 
• Achievers
• Accu-time Systems
• 10x Psychology
• Adobe

Ease of use

Workday has a clean UI that’s easily navigable, which puts it among the best HR software in the UK. Your staff does not need prior technical knowledge to use this software. Running payroll, managing employees, clocking in and out are some of the actions that you can perform with this software hassle-free.

Customer support

Workday has a community centre and resources (blog and E-book) to help you around. The software also has experts that are present 24/7 to help you with anything that you need.

You can also contact the company directly during business hours through:

• Phone
• Fax
• Filling a form

Pricing

To get pricing, you have to contact the company for a quote.

Workday – Verdict

Workday is a powerful HCM with features like payroll, people management, enterprise planning, financial management, and so much more. 

The reports can be a bit overwhelming since they cover a wide scope of data. However, this is one of the few solutions that will help you understand your organisation better through its analytics. 

CharlieHR has been in operation since 2015 and currently has 1400+ companies. This solution is available in 6 countries, and 16 industries utilise it to run their HR. 

Features

Here are Chalie HR’s features

Onboarding

Make your new hires’ first day memorable by onboarding them with CharlieHR. The software comes with appealing slides to warmly welcome them.

The solution collects their contact details, helps you create checklists, distributes tasks, and sets automatic reminders. 

Offboarding is also a breeze with this tool. The software records departure dates, reasons for leaving and store these in an archive.

Employee management

The system helps you automate time-off policies during account set up. With it, you can forget about long email chains. All the staff member has to do is request, and the respective manager approves automatically. 

Quality hr software packages in the UK should have performance management to help your team grow.

CharlieHR happens to be one of those.

This software helps you carry out reviews using structured templates. The software also follows up with review participants to ensure they get their form and other materials ready before the meeting.

The system also helps you solicit, carry out and evaluate surveys to help you collect valuable data. 

Payroll and expenses management

To get payroll up and running, all you need to do is collect bank details, contact information and identification, feed them to Charlie and the software will handle the rest.  

Documentation management

CharlieHR stores each employee record in a section of the database securely. Staff members can access individual data and make updates when necessary.

If there are missing documents, the system will alert you using a fraction to show you what’s missing. 

Analytics and reporting

Most HR software solutions in the UK allow clients to run different reports, and so does CharlieHR. This solution helps keep you on your toes regarding what’s going on in your organisation.

Examples of reports that you can get from this software are:

• Payroll
• Basic and full team member data
• Time off (monthly and yearly) 
• Contact information
• Sick leave
• Working from home

Advanced features

Here are Charlie’s notable features:

Slider

This solution has a price slider to help you calculate your actual cost depending on your tam’s size. This eliminates having to contact support to get a quote. 

Advice

ChalieHR has a personalised handbook to give you advice on how to handle your HR best. Alternatively, you can request for on-demand unlimited professional help depending on your package. 

Apps and integrations

CharlieHR has no dedicated apps but can work on any internet-connected device since it is cloud-based. 

This online HR software for UK businesses allows you to integrate it with your favourite apps and tools such as:

• Slack
• Google Calendar
• Trello
• Outlook Calendar

Ease of use

CharlieHR is easy to use and navigate. On the left-hand side are the different features like people, calendar, time off, reviews, polls, and many others. 

At the top right hand of your dashboard are some icons to book time off or record a sick day. Everything is within easy reach.

Customer support

The software assigns you a customer success manager during set up to help you around. The software also comes with free training. You can always reach out to support through live chat during business hours through:

• Livechat
• Phone
• Email

I tested the chat option and got a reply in less than 10 minutes. My customer success manager was excellent and was willing to answer any question that I had. 

Pricing

• CharlieHR has a 14-day trial period. Here are the solutions paid plans:
• CharlieHR – £4/staff/month
• ChalieHR+advice £4/staff/month+£199/month

The software also has a slider to help you calculate how much you need to pay depending on the number of employees that you have.

CharlieHR – Verdict

CharlieHR has lots of essential features such as onboarding, anonymous feedback, reviews, surveys, price slider, time-off management, and so much more.

Some birthday notifications don’t always go out according to schedule. However, this is one responsive company; so hopefully, they’ll rectify that issue soon. 

I loved the fact that I didn’t have to schedule a call or email the company just to get pricing. This company has a price slider, and pricing depends on the number of employees in your company.