BambooHR is a software that offers a range of services to employees and HR professionals. This includes recruitment, onboarding, reporting, managing compensation, and improving company culture.
BambooHR can create custom workflows and automate key HR processes, giving you space and time to focus on people, not paperwork.
Who Needs BambooHR?
The platform was created with small to medium-sized businesses in mind. It’s a cost-effective solution for those looking to speed up tasks such as hiring and onboarding.
Smaller HR teams or even single-person HR departments will undoubtedly be grateful to BambooHR for lightening their load. But bigger teams that want to take a more strategic approach to new employee management will also benefit.
Some, however, don’t see BambooHR as a true all-in-one solution. Certain services, such as its performance management and employee satisfaction tools, can leave something to be desired. If improving employee satisfaction is your primary goal, you may be better off considering other options.
Hiring and onboarding are where the software really shines. So if that’s your focus, choose BambooHR. Its applicant tracking system (ATS) is second to none.
The #1 Best Thing About BambooHR
As a tool, the best thing about BambooHR is its automation features. Automation is vital for HR professionals, as it eliminates the busywork and allows you to concentrate on making experiences more meaningful for employees and new hires.
As a company, the best thing about BambooHR is that it’s constantly improving its software. BambooHR listens to what its users have to say and applies their feedback to make the tool even more useful.
BambooHR People Data & Analytics
Features & Benefits
With BambooHR, you can keep all of your employee information, such as personal data and banking information, in one secure employee database. This makes it easy to access at any time.
There’s also the option to set up custom HR workflows to help you tick all of the boxes when it comes to important processes, such as promotions. You can use the workflows to delegate tasks to different team members and acquire approvals from decision-makers in just a few clicks.
You can also gather data and analytics with valuable reports, using it to track employee turnover, workplace diversity, time off requests, and so on. That’ll enable you to analyze what’s going on at the company and make strategic decisions.
Furthermore, there’s a BambooHR mobile app that both HR and employees can use. It covers some of the important functions in this category, such as pulling up employee information from the database, and employees can request time off via the app.
Pros
- Save a lot of time you previously spent doing paperwork and tracking down approvals.
- Take a more strategic, data-driven approach to HR management.
Cons
- You can’t export all of the reports.
- The platform needs a better search function. It’s not always easy to find specific data in the system.
BambooHR Hiring
Features & Benefits
BambooHR’s ATS is supremely useful in that you get to store and manage all candidate data in one place. The HR team and any other decision-makers can post job openings, view resumes, read answers to applicant questions, and leave ratings and feedback on candidates.
This keeps you organized and efficient and makes for a more collaborative affair in which the right people are involved in the hiring process. Furthermore, the hiring team receives automatic alerts and can communicate via in-system messaging.
The platform also allows you to communicate with candidates quicker than ever. You can send out offer letters using templates that you can customize and auto-populate with the candidate’s information.
There’s also a separate BambooHR Hiring app that busy professionals can use to do all of this stuff on the go.
All in all, if you’re an expanding business doing a lot of hiring and wish to improve upon, streamline, and speed up the process, then you should certainly consider BambooHR.
Pros
- Gives businesses a much more efficient and collaborative hiring process.
- Compete with other companies for top talent as BambooHR allows for timely communications.
Cons
- There’s limited onboarding and training for using the platform. Even if you find it straightforward, it would be good to know how to make the most of the software.
- The platform seems to be more focused on US users. For example, the language and terminology used in the templates may not be suitable for other countries.
BambooHR Onboarding
Features & Benefits
As you may already know, employee onboarding is super important. You want people to feel welcome right off the bat and transition into the workplace to be as easy as possible. BambooHR helps you do all of that.
You can set up custom onboarding packages for new hires. On their end, they get automatic welcome emails and a series of onboarding tasks for them to complete in their own time before their first day. They can also complete paperwork with an e-signature. On your end, you can organize custom workflows with checklists to make sure everything is taken care of.
Again, this helps you get all of the bureaucracy out of the way efficiently so you can focus on the in-person stuff, such as making essential introductions and fostering meaningful connections.
BambooHR also helps with offboarding. You can use an automated workflow to make the process simple and create checklists to ensure compliance. That way, you can offer a positive goodbye and even use the extra time to gain insights from the employee about their experiences with the company.
Pros
- Custom packages simplify and speed up the onboarding process.
- Stay organized and make sure every single onboarding or offboarding task is completed.
Cons
- There may be a learning curve getting to know the platform and how to use these helpful tools.
- E-signature features are limited.
BambooHR Compensation
Features & Benefits
As an add-on, BambooHR offers a time-tracking tool in which employees punch in and out of work via the platform. Employees are also able to track the amount of time spent on specific projects and edit their hours. All managers need to do is approve timesheets with just one click.
This makes time-tracking more efficient and accurate so that employees get paid the right amount and on time. Which, of course, leads to greater employee satisfaction.
Employees can use BambooHR’s employee vacation tracking tool to request paid time off. Managers receive automatic notifications and can check for calendar conflicts easily. Employee’s vacation balances are also updated automatically, speeding up the process.
Furthermore, you can get BambooHR’s payroll software as an add-on to your package. It offers a three-step payroll process, and you can take care of federal and state tax filing via the platform.
Pros
- Time-tracking and vacation tracking are made super easy and efficient through self-service and automation.
- Reduces the likelihood of mistakes when it comes to timesheets and prompt compensation.
Cons
- The compensation tools are more geared towards in-house staff. Functions for external contractors are somewhat lacking.
- There are a few more functions needed for the time-tracking software. For instance, national holidays aren’t updated automatically.
- These features don’t come with the main packages, which may lead to greater expense.
BambooHR Culture
Features & Benefits
BambooHR enhances performance management in a few ways. First, the tool generates employee performance and engagement reports. This means you can gain insights on who has been putting the work in and reward them accordingly.
Then, there’s the option for managers and employees to set and track individual goals on the platform. This gives employees a more personalized experience and proves that you value their career development.
You can use the performance appraisal software to provide feedback and even gather peer feedback. The tool asks appraisers a few questions about the employee in question, which allows you to address any issues or conflicts before they become a more significant issue.
Another interesting feature that BambooHR offers is employee satisfaction surveys. Using a combo of the eNPS net promoter score survey and more open-ended questions, employees can share their feelings, experiences, and opinions. This allows you to act on their feedback and make your company a better place to work.
It’s important to note that these features are also an add-on to the main packages.
Pros
- Data and reporting provide useful insights and helps you make sure every employee is recognized.
- When done the right way, performance reviews are motivating and help with career development and employee satisfaction.
Cons
- The employee satisfaction tool isn’t comprehensive. You may need to work with additional tools if this is an area you want to improve.
- The performance appraisal software only includes three questions, which can be restrictive.
BambooHR’s Pricing & Plans
BambooHR offers two main packages: Essentials and Advantage. The Advantage package is the “pro” package, so to speak, and comes with most of the features outlined above and more advanced levels of reporting, customization, and so on.
The Essentials plan covers reporting, workflows, approvals, and time-off management, i.e., the basics. But it doesn’t come with the hiring and onboarding features that BambooHR is renowned for.
BambooHR’s payroll, time-tracking and performance management features are all add-ons to the main packages.
While the package pricing is not published publicly, you can contact BambooHR for a free price quote or sign up for a free trial.
What Do Users Think of BambooHR?
Most users have positive things to say about BambooHR. The software boasts an average of 4.3 out of 5 stars on G2 and was the category leader for Summer 2021.
One of the things people say repeatedly is that BambooHR listens to suggestions and is keen to add useful new features when required. And even if the onboarding process for the software may be lacking, tons of reviewers say the platform is easy-to-use and intuitive.
What users generally don’t like is that the main BambooHR app is limited. It doesn’t have many of the same features as the online platform.
Some mention spotty or poor customer service. And, as mentioned above, some of the pillar services aren’t far-reaching enough. People want to see more from the time-tracking, payroll, and company culture tools.
How BambooHR Measures up to the Competition
BambooHR is in the top tier when it comes to hiring and onboarding. It’s also strong in terms of data and analytics.
But it’s not the only recruiting solution out there. Take a look at our guide to the best recruiting software to weigh up your options.
Here’s a quick summary of two other top recruiting tools:
ClearCompany seems to do better than BambooHR in terms of onboarding and training new users. If, for example, your HR team is less tech-savvy, it might be a better choice for you.
This tool also has some unique and modern employee engagement features—for example, options to give shout-outs to employees that have done an excellent job. ClearCompany seems to have a broader range of employee engagement features, too.
BambooHR, however, is more of a comprehensive solution for HR management overall. ClearCompany’s focus is purely on talent acquisition.
JazzHR has many of the same features as BambooHR. For example, both offer applicant tracking, collaboration functions, and automated offer letters. It just doesn’t have quite as many features as BambooHR.
Where JazzHR differs, though, is that it’s better for candidate sourcing. The platform automatically posts your jobs on various job boards and even social media channels.
Again, what your choice comes down to here is where your focus lies. If you’re more interested in improving the hiring and onboarding process, you may opt for BambooHR, but if you struggle to source top candidates, you might wish to consider JazzHR.
Do We Recommend BambooHR?
Yes, it’s easy to recommend BambooHR. Current users report a very positive experience with the tool. Automation and workflows make the hiring and onboarding processes more straightforward and efficient. BambooHR also offers more HR features than some of the alternatives.
Given that BambooHR is keen to improve its platform, you can also expect more useful and intuitive features in the future. Thus, areas where it may be lacking right now are likely to be improved.