Managing your employees becomes simple with the right employee management software solution. Find the best ones out there right here.

We’ve all heard it: Your employees are the driving force behind your company’s success

However, with so much on your plate – from tracking your employees’ work hours and tasks to ensuring their knowledge is up to par and their paperwork in order – employee management is a challenging task as is, let alone doing it effectively and efficiently.

Employee management software is designed specifically to take this weight off your shoulders and simplify employee management from every aspect. So keeping your workforce ​​productive, engaged, and satisfied is a piece of cake.

Where do you find these, you ask? Right here, of course! Check out this list of top employee management tools and find the right fit for your needs and budget.

If you don’t have the time to read through our research, jump down to our quick comparison table.

Our Top Picks

  1. Best all-in-one employee management software solution

  2. Good for payroll management

  3. 3. Workday: Good for HR managers

What to Look For in a Employee Management Software Solution

When looking for a good employee management tool, keep an eye out for the following aspects and features:

  1. Ease of use: It’s easy to set up and offers an intuitive user experience. 
  2. Customizability: It’s customizable to suit your team structures.
  3. Employee database: You can manage all employee information in the system, such as their contact details, job title, department, and HR documentation.
  4. Communication tools: You can instantly reach your employees and communicate through the software.
  5. Time & attendance management: You can track employee work hours, generate accurate timesheets, and create work schedules.
  6. Knowledge management: It offers tools for sharing company knowledge with employees, such as policies and guidelines, as well as for onboarding and training.
  7. Task management: You can create, assign, and track progress on daily tasks.
  8. Price: It is cost-friendly and suits your budget.
  9. Support: It comes with good customer support to help you with any issues.

The 12 Best Employee Management Software Solutions of 2023

  1. Connecteam — Best all-in-one employee management software solution

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android

    At the top of our list is Connecteam’s all-in-one employee management software solution. It offers everything you need to easily and efficiently manage your frontline employees, even while on the go. And the great thing about Connecteam is that you can choose and pay only for the feature set(s) you need, which are grouped into three hubs: Communications, Business Operations, and HR & Skills

    Connecteam is also known for its outstanding customer support, intuitive user experience, and high customizability, so you can adjust the platform to suit your exact business needs.

    Let’s dive deeper into the app’s capabilities to better understand how it can help improve your employee management.

    Communications

    Connecteam’s communication features allow you to keep your entire workforce connected, informed, and engaged. The main features include:

    • In-app chat: Instantly communicate with your employees in secure individual, group, and company-wide chats. This allows your entire team to stay connected wherever you’re working from. 
    • Updates: Share news and announcements with your employees through your company feed on the app – just like on social media. See who views and reads your updates and easily ensure your message gets across.
    • Employee directory: With this digital phonebook, you and your team can quickly look up and contact any work contact directly through the app without having to save the contact to your mobile phones.
    • Knowledge base: Create, organize, and share all company knowledge in one place. This way, your employees will know exactly where they can quickly access up-to-date information, from policies to manuals.
    • Surveys & live polls: Gather employee feedback on any topic through customizable surveys and live polls, even while on the go. This way, you can gain valuable insights, make informed decisions, and ensure employees feel heard.

    Business operations

    Connecteam’s operations tools make managing your daily operations easy and efficient. The main features include:

    • Task management: Easily create tasks and assign these to employees to complete on the job. Attach relevant task information, forms, or checklists and maintain a clear overview of your team’s progress on each task in real-time.
    • Scheduling: Build optimal employee work schedules based on your team’s submitted availability and registered qualifications. Use templates, drag and drop, recurring shifts, and other time-saving options. The system also flags discrepancies to help you avoid scheduling mistakes.
    • Time clock: Employees can clock in and out from shifts with one tap and ensure they’re exactly where they need to be with GPS time stamps and geofencing capabilities. Work hours are automatically recorded on digital timesheets for your review and further payroll processing. 
    • Forms & checklists: Create customizable forms and checklists for every task. Share these directly with the relevant employees or add them to shifts. Receive and review your team members’ entries in real-time.

    HR & skills management

    Connecteam’s HR & Skills hub helps you manage your workforce from an HR perspective. The main features include:

    • Training & onboarding: Easily create and deliver onboarding and training sessions for your team to complete right from the app. Include a quiz to ensure they understand the covered material and track their performance, progress, and course completion in real-time.
    • Document management: Digitize, manage, and keep track of all employee documentation in one organized and secure location. Request and have your staff upload documents directly to the app.
    • Recognition & rewards: Show employees appreciation with digital recognitions, words of gratitude, and rewards they can convert into their favorite gift cards. Recognize individuals privately or share it to your company feed to have your whole team join in on the excitement.

    Connecteam also offers a free for life plan – Get Started Now!

    Pros

    • Intuitive and easy to use

    • All-in-one solution

    • Great customer support

    • Budget-friendly

    Cons

    • Integrations in development

    Pricing

    Free-for-life plan availablePremium plans start at $29/month for 30 users

    Enjoy Free 14 day trial - No CC Required!

    Try Connecteam here
  2. Gusto — Good for: payroll management

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Screenshot of the Gusto webpage

    Gusto (formerly ZenPayroll) is one of the best and most popular cloud-based staff management software payroll solutions out there. Gusto offers built-in benefits administration for small to medium-sized businesses at a reasonable cost.

    The Gusto platform has a surprisingly user-friendly interface and offers automation for many activities in the payroll process. This software includes an employee onboarding interface to let new employees enter all their information (like employee bank details) directly into the system.

    For whom?

    Good fit for any business large or small.

     

    Learn more about Gusto

    Key Features

    • Time tracking
    • Hiring and onboarding
    • Task management
    • Employee database

    Pros

    • Easy to use
    • Good customer service

    Cons

    • Can be expensive for large teams

    Pricing

    Starts at $40/month + $6/person/month Trial: No Free Plan: No

  3. Workday — Good for: HR managers

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Screenshot of the Workday webpage

    The Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) Suite is a SaaS (Software as a Service) for medium businesses and enterprises. Are you running an international business with payrolls in multiple currencies and according to different laws? If so, you want to check out Workday’s global payroll solution.

    It provides integration with third-party payroll applications to manage payments across the globe. Although Workday lacks some components and is one of the most expensive products out there, it’s one of the only HCM that is fully cloud-based.

    For whom?

    Good fit for all companies, small and large.

    Learn more about Workday

    Key Features

    • Financial management
    • Human capital management
    • Workforce management
    • Payroll
    • Employee database
    • Activity dashboard

    Pros

    • Easy to use
    • Good customer service

    Cons

    • Users report the software is costly

    Pricing

    Contact vendor for price Trial: No Free Plan: No

  4. Oracle Cloud HCM — Good for: Boosting productivity

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    • Windows
    • Mac
    Screenshot of the oracle webpage

    Oracle’s PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) solution is another enterprise-grade solution for complex businesses operating globally. It is widely adopted by government agencies, academic institutions and similar large organizations managing hundreds of employees.

    The main advantage of this service is Oracle’s long history of providing reliable business solutions to their clients. Unlike with other, newer services, you can rest assured this one isn’t going anywhere for many years to come.

    For whom?

    Best for corporations, privately owned companies, government organizations, and academic institutions. Oracle PeopleSoft is not meant for companies with fewer than 500 employees.

    Learn more about Oracle Cloud HCM

    Key Features

    • Human capital management
    • Financial management
    • Orders and inventory
    • Compliance tracking
    • Task management

    Pros

    • Feature rich

    Cons

    • Not meant for small businesses
    • Hard to use

    Pricing

    Pricing is not publicly available Trial: No Free Plan: No

  5. Kissflow — Good for: Task management

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Screenshot of the Kissflow webpage

    If you feel that workflows are getting chaotic as your organization grows, you can give your workflows the kiss of automation with Kissflow. With a friendly interface, Kissflow lets you create your own customized workflows. Alternatively, you can choose from 50 pre-made applications including employee onboarding, purchase orders, vendor payment and other functions.

    For whom?

    Kissflow is a good fit for medium sized businesses to large enterprises.

    Learn more about Kissflow

    Key Features

    • Activity dashboard
    • Time tracking
    • Reporting
    • Employee scheduling
    • Payroll management
    • Project management

    Pros

    • Mobile access
    • Easy workflow automation

    Cons

    • User report the software is not easy to use
    • Poor customer service

    Pricing

    Starts at $24/user/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: No

  6. Bullhorn — Good for: Recuitment

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    • Windows
    • Mac
    Screenshot of the Bullhorn webpage

    This comprehensive SaaS (Software as a Service) staff management software for recruitment process management is aimed at large corporations and staffing agencies. It’s very customizable and user-friendly, with features like drag and drop to save you precious time. Granted, its pricing makes it somewhat unapproachable for small businesses, but if you have the budget, this is one of the best solutions out there to manage your employee recruitment process.

    For whom?

    Ideal solution for recruiting agencies.

    Learn more about Bullhorn

    Key Features

    • Activity dashboard
    • Workflows
    • Task management
    • Automated onboarding
    • Reporting

    Pros

    • User friendly
    • Good customer service

    Cons

    • Not feature rich

    Pricing

    Contact vendor for price Trial: No Free Plan: No

  7. Litmos — Good for: Onboarding

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    • Windows
    • Mac
    Screenshot of the Litmos webpage

    There’s no lack of staff management software with an eLearning software-bent out there, but most are developed for academic applications. Litmos is a solution for businesses looking for an all-in-one instruction and training platform. It includes an integrated eCommerce solution, some gamification options and it’s fairly affordable for small businesses.

    For whom?

    Best for corporations to assist in onboarding.

    Learn more about Litmos

    Key Features

    • Activity dashboard
    • Reports
    • Workflow automation
    • Surveys and feedback
    • Training and onboarding

    Pros

    • Easy to use
    • Good LMS feature

    Cons

    • Users note that the reporting feature is hard to use
    • Users report some integrations don’t work well

    Pricing

    Starts at $59/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: Yes

  8. 15Five — Good for: Employee engagement

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Screenshot of the 15Five webpage

    15Five is an employee management software engagement and performance software solution that aims to help businesses receive and give feedback. The platform tries to be an online replacement for group office meetings and has good integration with Slack. The most exciting (and most engaging) feature is the ability to high-five co-workers. That’s just cool.

    For whom?

    Ideal fit for organizations.

    Learn more about 15Five

    Key Features

    • Surveys
    • Question library
    • Feedback
    • Reporting
    • OKRs

    Pros

    • Easy to use
    • Mobile access

    Cons

    • Not feature rich

    Pricing

    Starts at $4/user/month Trial: Yes — 14-day Free Plan: No

  9. Cornerstone — Good for: Performance management

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    • Windows
    • Mac
    Screenshot of the Cornerstone webpage

    Cornerstone is great for various industries like healthcare, retail, technology, manufacturing and more. Cornerstone is an employee management solution that helps you create a culture to bring the best out of your employees.

    For whom?

    Companies in all industries.

    Learn more about Cornerstone

    Key Features

    • Training management
    • LMS
    • Engagement tracking

    Pros

    • Good customer service

    Cons

    • Users report the software isn’t easy to use
    • Hard to implement

    Pricing

    Starts at $6/user/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: No

  10. Employee Navigator — Good for: Benefits management

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Screenshot of the Employee Navigator webpage

    This employee software solution is a web-based comprehensive benefit and compliance administration software, aimed mostly at medium-sized businesses or bigger. Employee Navigator includes a variety of apps from administration to onboarding and PTO & vacation tracking, but the pricing limits access to this solution for small businesses.

    For whom?

    Ideal for businesses of any size.

    Learn more about Employee Navigator

    Key Features

    • PTO
    • Benefit administration
    • Onboarding
    • Payroll
    • HR management

    Pros

    • Mobile access
    • Good customer service

    Cons

    • Hard to implement and use
    • Can be expensive for small businesses

    Pricing

    Stats at $445/month Trial: No Free Plan: No

  11. Zoho Workplace — Good for: Increasing efficiency

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Screenshot of the zoho workplace webpage

    Zoho is a web-based staff management software office suite that offers its clients access to word processing, spreadsheets, databases, note-taking, web conferencing, project management, invoicing and more. With Zoho, you can access data at any time, give employees their own personalized portal, post updates on the dashboard for all to see, managers can approve/reject work matters in a tap and more.

    Zoho is also accessible by mobile, can integrate with many software solutions (Zapier, Mailchimp, Google Suite, etc.) and can be customized to fit your company image.

    For whom?

    Good fit for small to large businesses.

    Learn more about Zoho Workplace

    Key Features

    • Activity dashboard
    • Customizable reports
    • Task management
    • CustomizableIn-app chat integration

    Pros

    • Mobile access
    • Good customer service

    Cons

    • Can be difficult to use
    • Users report the software has some bug issues

    Pricing

    Starts at $2.97/user/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: Yes

  12. Weekdone — Good for: Scheduling team meetings

    Available on

    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Screenshot of the Weekdone webpage

    Weekdone is an employee management software OKR goal tracking and status reporting software that helps you to improve your employees focus, efficiency and productivity at work. Weekdone uses Objectives and Key Results (OKR), which is a popular, best-practice, strategic planning process for setting, communicating and tracking quarterly goals and results in organizations.

    For whom?

    Ideal fit for small to medium size businesses.

    Learn more about Weekdone

    Key Features

    • Activity dashboard
    • Communication management
    • Reporting
    • Surveys
    • Task management

    Pros

    • Good customer service

    Cons

    • Not feature rich
    • Users report that it’s not easy to use

    Pricing

    For 30 users it costs $288/month Trial: Yes — 14-day Free Plan: Yes — Up to 3 users

Compare the Best Employee Management Software Solutions

Topic Start for free
Reviews
4.8
4.6
4.4
3.9
3.9
4.1
4.2
4.7
4.3
4.6
5
4.5
Pricing
Starts at just $29/month for the first 30 users
Starts at $40/month + $6/person/month
Contact vendor for price
Pricing is not publicly available
Starts at $24/user/month
Contact vendor for price
Starts at $59/month
Starts at $4/user/month
Starts at $6/user/month
Stats at $445/month
Starts at $2.97/user/month
For 30 users it costs $288/month
Free Trial
yes
14-day
no
no
no
yes
no
yes
yes
14-day
yes
no
yes
yes
14-day
Free Plan
yes
Free Up to 10 users
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
no
yes
yes
Up to 3 users

What Is Employee Software?

Employee management is the handling of subordinates in a business. Usually, an organization designates a specific department to manage the rest of the workforce, such as Human Resources, though managing performance and wellbeing is not exclusive to HR. That’s where employee software comes into play.

Employee management software is a set of tools that a business needs to manage the information, engagement, and performance of all its employees. It ensures that employees are performing to their very best to meet their business’s goals. Also, it makes the most of employee skills and helps make work processes more efficient.

How Does Staff Management Software Work?

Staff management software is used to run organizations smoothly, especially those that need to scale. In an ideal world, an employee management system has all-in-one capabilities, in which virtually every aspect of employee management can be handled with ease – from scheduling employees and tracking hours to streamlining communication and handling HR-related matters.

Employee software helps HR managers stay on top of employee information like medical information, salary details, performance milestones, and more. Not only is it a platform to store confidential employee information, but it can also be used to handle all employee-based HR processes, such as recruitment, onboarding, and compliance.

Why You Should Use Employee Management Software 

To start with, if your employees work in shifts or dispatch, you need to (at a minimum) set their schedules, make sure they’re on time and at the right place, then also have to document and track these shifts and clock in/out times (otherwise how would you get your payroll correct, let alone your employee scheduling and time tracking?)

And, if you work with field workers, then things are even more complicated! Each employee requires scheduling across different locations, different shift times, different jobs and tasks…and you need to have everything under control, all the whole also focusing on your own daily tasks.

And what of those daily tasks? Client management? Customer retention? Administration and more? Your by-default HR-like responsibilities?  How on earth will you be able to scale your businesses if you’re deep into the daily running of it all?

The answer is: with employee management software.

Benefits of Using Employee Management Software

Increased Employee Engagement

With a powerful employee management app, like Connecteam, you are able to send periodical surveys or newsletters to keep everyone on the same page. By creating an open-door policy of communication and a platform on which employees can discuss and collaborate on projects and even just for fun, you increase employee engagement and satisfaction.

Streamline Internal Communication

Not all, but most robust employee management apps also have an in-app chat. With streamlined internal communication, managers can keep their teams up to date and engaged with real-time push notifications and updates, chat groups and channels. The Connecteam employee management app also has an employee directory to easily find the contact details of peers, managers and more.

Fewer Manual Errors

It’s not the dark ages any longer and we now have access to a plethora of technology to assist in almost every aspect of our daily lives. With a digital employee management system you will be able to reduce the amount of manual errors that arise from messy handwriting, piles of paperwork, or lost or missing documents. Keep in mind that fewer manual errors also translates to reduced labor costs.

How Much Does Staff Management Software Cost?

Staff management software varies from one solution to the next. For example, some software solutions such as 15five and Cornerstone start at $4 and $6 per user/month, respectively. Pricier options like Employee Navigator start from $445/month. Then there are solutions where you may need to contact a sales representative for more pricing information.

While many solutions offer useful features at an affordable price, you’ll get the most bang for your buck with Connecteam. For absolutely nothing (for the first 30 users), your employees can clock in and out of their shifts, accept and claim shifts, fill in and sign all necessary forms, and complete tasks, all from the convenience of their mobile phones.

If you choose to upgrade to the Basic plan ($29/month for the first 30 users), you can benefit from all of the above features with various add-ons that will make your employee management experience even more effective and efficient than it already was. If not, you can simply stick with the free plan – forever.

FAQs

Who Needs an Employee Management Software?

Any large business that has 100s of deskless employees requires an employee management software solution to streamline communication across departments, boost engagement and productivity, onboard new hires in bulk, easily oversee team schedules and assign tasks to multiple team members.

How Do I Choose the Right Employee Management Software?

We recommend asking yourself some simple questions. For instance, “What is my budget”? or “How many employees do I need to manage”? Those are pretty obvious, but what about something more complex. The most important step to choosing the right employee management software for your organization is evaluating your needs in-depth, and creating a list of “must-have” and “nice to have” features and capabilities you require from the solution (or solutions) you desire. Your next step requires you to go over available employee software within your price range and pick the one (or ones) that answer all your needs.

What Are The Most Common Employee Management App Features?

The most common and crucial features an employee management app should have include:

The Bottom Line On Employee Management Software

With your needs and demands well defined, you should have an easier time navigating the seas of HR tech for your business. The fact that almost every single employee management solution is available on your smartphone means that you and your employees can do your tasks and work from anywhere, at any time. That’s the beauty of technology, it can help make your daily grind that much easier.

Using a management software solution, like the options we presented above, makes it easier to stay on top of things especially as a business owner, you have a million things going on at one time. By choosing the solution that’s right for you, it is easier to get things done, predict all risks and even improve overall efficiency – that can be achieved with the management software solution, just in case we haven’t made that point clear enough!