Best performance management software
+ 3 mistakes companies make when picking one
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There are so many performance management software and tools out there. Each with their own features, pros, cons and pricing. It can be very difficult to choose one.
In this guide, I won’t tell you which software to pick – I’ll simply lay out the information I have found by doing hours of research as part of my job. Yes, I work for Charlie and we do performance review software too, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make information available to you, whilst showing you how Charlie can help your business achieve its goals.
The choice is yours to make, but it’s better to hear from someone on the inside rather than pretend we just happened to write this guide. Just for your information, this page was last updated in October 2023.
Best performance reviews software & tools
#1
CharlieHR
(That’s us!)
Charlie is the perfect system for small companies and startups (not bragging here) who want to easily
conduct their performance review process.
What does that mean? Charlie is a great fit for you if:
- Your company has between 50 and 200 employees
- You’re a founder, operations lead, office manager or are in a role where you perhaps have to juggle many other responsibilities
- You’re individual who wants to streamline their business processes in one place…
- Whilst looking to promote growth and performance
- You’re looking for a quick and efficient way to set up or improve your performance reviews
In other words, our software makes a real difference on your team’s development, by cutting all the manual admin out of reviews.
More on this below.
Pros 💪
Quick, faff-free set up: simply set up an end date, frequency, reviewers and reviewees, and launch your performance reviews in minutes.
Built-in templates: no time to come up with review questions? Use ours, they’ve been written by qualified HR experts.
Progress dashboard: stay in the loop as to whether your managers and employees are putting in the work (without micromanaging).
Automatic reminders: never chase up again and make sure that reviews get completed on time.
360 degree feedback: unlock a fairer and complete understanding of individual performance by asking their coworkers about their work.
Cons 🌀
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Not suitable for large corporations: we offer a simple tool that can help you unlock performance reviews and avoid the time taken by processes, however, we might not yet offer the advanced features you might be looking for if you’re a bigger business.
Pricing
- Transparent pricing based on number of employees (from £5/month)
- Includes all of Charlie features – performance reviews, time off tracking, perks & benefits, onboarding, etc – no extra cost
- No hidden fees
What people say
I'm blown away by how useful Charlie's Reviews has been. It's enabled some really high-quality conversations within our team that I know just wouldn't have happened otherwise
Chris Wallis, CEO and co-founder @ Intruder – 50-100 employees
Give your team the high-impact reviews they need right away
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#2
CharlieHR
Formerly known as CakeHR and built for larger companies in comparison to Charlie, SageHR covers most of your core HR needs, plus (for an added fee) performance management, time off management, shifts and timesheets, expenses and recruitment.
I mention the added fee because it can be a blocker for many small companies – according to people I interviewed in the past, pricing is one of the main reasons why they don’t pick Sage.
Let’s find out more below.
Pros 💪
Versatile for international teams: available in English, Spanish, Russian, Latvian, Estonian, Czech, Polish and Thai, SageHR is a great software to cater to international companies.
Goals and OKRs: track progress for each team with objectives and key results that are set to align with business metrics.
1-to-1 meeting scheduling: discuss different topics and catch up with team members regularly.
Quick feedback: allows team members to show appreciation for their coworkers or ask for feedback.
Cons 🌀
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Value for money: as you scale, SageHR may not be the best choice as the cost of add-ons and extra services may build up pretty quickly.
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User interface: many former users have reported that, upon using SageHR, they found the interface to be a bit clunky and not modern enough.
Pricing
- Core HR + performance management: £6 per employee per month
- If you add shift scheduling and timesheets: £10 per employee per month
- If you add expenses: £11 per employee per month
- If you add recruitment and ATS: £11 per employee + £160 per month
What people say
SageHR’s features such as timesheets, core HR, performance, shift scheduling, and leave management solve all our problems in a single window
#3
CharlieHR
One of the best known competitors on the market, Workday is a complex HRMS platform targeted to companies with more than 500 employees.
On top of performance management, it brings together financial, people and operational data — so you can keep everything under control. Let’s dive into its pros and cons.
Pros 💪
Complete performance management system: a well-rounded software if you’re looking to automate even the smallest part of your performance management processes.
Career development tools: not only does Workday give you the opportunity to perform thorough performance reviews chats, it’s also a great way to use data so you can push people up the ladder within your business.
Skill analysis and closing the gaps: inform hiring decisions and identify training needs thanks to the data available within Workday.
Cons 🌀
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Lengthy set up: if you’re looking for a quick solution to your performance management desires, this is not it. It will require setting up and your team to be trained to understand how to use the software.
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Aimed at larger companies: Workday can be very expensive software if you want to pursue it – it might be too complicated for smaller businesses, but might just be the perfect fit if you’re growing and don’t know how to handle all the admin behind performance reviews and beyond.
Pricing
- Workday doesn’t currently offer transparent pricing. Considering large companies have different needs depending on which industry they operate in, my understanding is that you will need a quote and the price can vary depending on your headcount.
What people say
Workday is the best tool for employee engagement and management. I like the fact that we can set goals for our teams and track their performance
#4
CharlieHR
BambooHR is at the top of our list of competitors, and for good reasons, they can be a great asset for any company that’s looking to expand.
Of course, we’re not going to deny it: Bamboo is a leader in the market, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily the right choice for your business.
Pros 💪
Frequent review cycles: frequent feedback is a motto when it comes to BambooHR, and they’ve built a tool that allows managers to give quick feedback and self-assessment very easily.
Customisable performance evaluations: depending on the kind of team member managers are looking after, you get the possibility to tailor reviews to your needs and include different employees in different performance reviews.
Employee goals: set goals for each of your team members and track their progress through a dashboard.
Employee performance tracking: performance reports allow you to visualise which employees you need to pay attention to and who is a high-performer to take the right action.
Cons 🌀
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US specific: this is not to say that UK companies cannot use BambooHR (in fact, a lot of them do), however, it’s good to note that their support is based in the US. A lot of the software has also been tailored to support US companies which have very different employment laws and compliance requirements compared to the UK.
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No transparent pricing: although BambooHR functions with a headcount pricing, their prices are not available on the website. This can be a bit difficult when you’re doing a comparison, and will always lead to a call with one of their sales representatives.
Pricing
- BambooHR does not currently offer pricing on their website and you will need to get in touch for a quote.
What people say
Bamboo is a massive help with performance management. Before using Bamboo, my company used a long-winded form, leaving too much room for interpretation and bias
The best HR software for small companies
Simple, efficient and affordable — Charlie was build to help small businesses bring clarity to their HR chaos.
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#5
CharlieHR
I hadn’t heard about Zoho People until one of their former customers mentioned them in one of the calls I was running. Immediately after hanging up, I Googled them and found acomprehensive HR cloud-based solution that not only offers performance management tools, but much more.
Zoho People is a US-based company, so you may run into the same issue as with BambooHR. However, it’s important to note that Zoho is also a project management tool, as well as a CRM, sales, etc. Zoho People is just one aspect of the product.
Pros 💪
Strategic decision-making: based on the insights contained in the software, Zoho People will help you leverage your talent pool and understand when you need to hire and at what level.
Goals setting: get company-wide and personal goals on the same page by linking them and tracking them in the software.
Performance insights: have a look at which goals are completed, which employees are lagging behind or doing great.
Multiple ways of running reviews: between classic appraisals, self-evaluations, multi-rater reviews and more, you’ll get all the feedback you need to support your employee’s growth.
Cons 🌀
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A lot of features you may not use: Zoho is a suite of apps, and that means that they don’t necessarily focus on the little aspects small businesses and startups care about – be wary of not going too big too fast.
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Not worth the price for performance management: if you want to run a smooth, fair and efficient process, there are many other solutions out there that offer more than what Zoho has got in store and for a better price.
Pricing
- The pricing can be a bit complicated to get your head around and goes from £0.83 to £7 per month per employee – each plan includes different features and therefore has its limitations.
What people say
Zoho People has proven to be a game-changer for HR management in my organization. As someone deeply involved in human resources, I can confidently say that this tool addresses every facet of HR operations, from employee onboarding to performance management, all wrapped up in a user-friendly interface
#6
CharlieHR
This is actually a first on our list: a software that solely focuses on performance management and how it can help your business.
It can be great if you’re part of a bigger business and want to try to focus on performance management. However, if you’re looking for a quick turnaround and something sustainable in the long-term, I would still go for an HR software that offers all the other options.
Let’s have a look at what PerfomYard can offer nonetheless.
Pros 💪
Reviews and check-ins: make the most of your performance review meetings and check-ins with tools to conduct 360 reviews, multi-manager reviews, client reviews, exit interviews, etc.
Goal management: a feature that really stands out by getting the most out of goals with a very customisable tool, so you never lose track of how your team is doing.
Continuous feedback: get in the habit of providing your team with feedback by sending recognition, providing real-time feedback on projects, and storing notes on a daily basis so you can go back on them when needed.
Employee engagement: run engagement surveys that will go hand in hand with your reviews to better understand your team.
Cons 🌀
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No core HR functions: the focus being on performance management, it can be difficult for small businesses to streamline their core HR functions with just this software. You'll need another tool to take care of other aspects of HR management.
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A “nice-to-have” tool: although performance management is becoming more and more a focus in many businesses, having a tool completely dedicated to it might not be right at this stage for you.
Pricing
- Between $5 and $10 per month billed annually + additional cost if you’re looking to add employee engagement
What people say
It's excellent for annual/mid year reviews. These platforms allow employees & management to access and check where the employees need to improve & in what areas in which the employees are successful. Perform yard is accessible at any time, making it convenient for employees and management.
#7
CharlieHR
UK-based software ClearReview is focused on performance reviews and managing employees in a remote work environment.
It’s a great tool if you’re looking to go a bit further than just classic performance management reviews for your team.
Pros 💪
Integrations: seamlessly integrate with other platforms to make the most of your performance reviews.
Guided coaching conversations: get the most of performance reviews by using templates and advice through the software.
Goals: a different way to measure performance through agile goals, OKRs, personal development and team goals.
Performance measurement: remove bias as much as possible from promotions and pay rises with decisions based on facts.
Cons 🌀
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Expensive: although they don’t provide quotes directly on the website, we’ve heard from a few customers that the pricing was not sustainable in the long run.
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Over-formal: even though the goal is to streamline and make performance reviews go smoother, it can in fact have the opposite effect. When there’s too much available and make simple communications a bit complicated, or at least that’s what some customers told me as a con for ClearReview.
Pricing
- The pricing is only available by contacting a sales representative, although ClearReview has three different pricing options depending on the features you want to include.
What people say
The opportunity to have regular manager check ins is so helpful for career development. It's also really useful to have a place where all your goals are, so I can check them at any time. Finally the feedback section is fantastic, being able to offer and receive feedback via the system is great as it gives the chance to see it all in one place
How can I tell which HRMS is best for my business?
Don’t automate everything at once
Although automation is the ultimate goal for HR professionals so they can free some time for other tasks, you have to remember to take it at your company’s pace – will you have time to implement all the processes? Are you sure your company will be using all of the features? Do you really need this? There’s a lot to process, so make sure you don’t get distracted by a shiny new toy.
Don’t assume the most expensive option is the best one
High prices don’t necessarily mean quality – it often depends on your specific needs. Workday, for example, might be the right choice if you’re a large company with more than 800 employees, but if you’re more like our customers (not above 250 people), a cheaper option like Charlie will probably do the job just fine and avoid you having to spend tons of money (that you could invest elsewhere).
Check customer reviews on Google, G2 and other platforms
Sometimes, it’s easy to get distracted by marketing and not think about what’s really happening beyond that – check independent review websites such as TrustPilot and G2 to get an accurate picture of the software you’re looking to get and its specific features.
Key features to consider for your team – a useful summary
Performance management tools can have an array of different features depending on the needs of their customers. Company size is a key factor when it comes to choosing the right performance management software, as small companies will have strikingly different needs from big multinationals. Here, I summed it up for you based on what I’ve witnessed with customers.
Essential features for companies up to 250 employees:
- Performance review builder and templates
- Automated performance review cycles
- 360-degree feedback tools
Features to add when you have 150-300 employees:
- 1-1 scheduler
- Performance reports
- Goal setting platform
Features to add when you have over 300 employees:
- Learning/Training platform
- Skill-gap analysis tool
- Internal recruiting functionalities
Hopefully this guide helped you make the right choice for your business, and if you’re interested in learning more about Charlie and what we do, simply sign up for a free trial.
Written by:
Joe Hodges
Joe is one of CharlieHR's product managers (and a former customer advocate!) which means he's responsible for product planning and user research.
Every week, he gets to speak to small businesses and startups to understand their individual needs and release features that are tailored to them.
He also spends a lot of time researching our competitors, signing up for free trials, getting on calls, networking, and has acquired a lot of knowledge about the HR software industry as a result.
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