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If there’s one thing we’ve learnt working with small businesses over the past 6 years, it’s that time is never enough.
The lack of time is the number-one obstacle to achieving People goals, and manual HR tasks are usually the cause — boring, repetitive processes that suck up all of your time and attention, distracting you from taking care of your team and your business.
That’s why we founded Charlie: to help HR managers automate their HR tasks and get the time, headspace and tools they need to build high-performing teams.
In this guide, we list our favourite HR automation software by taking into account different company sizes, budgets and the specific HR processes you may wish to automate — hope you find it useful!
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Having worked in the HR automation software space for almost 7 years, we know what people love about CharlieHR — but we’ve also learnt that our product it’s not the right fit for everyone.
Our experience has taught us to look at these 2 decision factors when it comes to choosing the right HR automation software:
Are you looking for an all-in-one HR automation solution to streamline most of your processes? Or are you trying to solve a very specific problem to reduce your HR admin, and don’t care about automating the rest?
Depending on your needs, you may narrow your research to single-feature tools (that, for example, only automate payroll) or focus it on an all-encompassing HR software solution that does it all for you.
Each HR automation tool is targeted at a specific type of company — its range of features reflects the precise needs of a business model or industry. The challenge here is to find your perfect match.
We hope this guide will help you pick the right platform for your type of company,
but before making a decision always ask yourself:
All the information you need about our favourite HR tools — all in one handy guide.
Compare features, prices and customer review scores.
As a small business or startup, you need your HR automation system to help you make your core HR processes more efficient — so you can stop wasting time on manual admin and focus on actually growing your company.
The tool you choose also needs to be a sustainable solution for the foreseeable future, and it’s important that you get a price you understand, with no hidden costs so you can budget accordingly.
Let's have a look at the HR automation solutions we've researched - along with ours - as having been designed for small businesses.
CharlieHR is an all-inclusive HR software for small businesses and startups. It helps People teams by automating their HR tasks and giving them the tools they need to build engaged and high performing teams.
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HR tool that gets rid of admin overflow
Everything your small business needs to save time and get rid of manual processes, all in one platform.
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Not suitable for big companies
The functionalities are not a good fit for the needs of big corporations (multiple international offices, in-depth finance and operations reports, etc).
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Transparent pricing
Transparent and simple pricing tiers based on the size of your team for a more sustainable approach to budgeting.
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Limited when it comes to reporting
If you’re looking to report on sickness, absences, DE&I as well as other aspects, Charlie’s there for you, but there are limitations to what it can do.
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Integrations that remove manual copy-pasting
A growing list of integrations allows you to sync all of your other tools (like payroll or ATS systems) with Charlie, removing the need for manual copy-pasting.
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Get a dedicated HR support system
Possibility to get a dedicated advisor to support you with your HR decisions, from anything around compliance to creating your first company handbook.
Just £40 per month for companies between 5 and 14 team members – completely transparent, no hidden costs. Cancel anytime.
Charlie helps you banish manual and repetitive HR tasks, so you can focus on what really matters.
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Teamtailor is a modern and simple-to-use ATS (applicant tracking system) that helps small companies attract and hire top talent. Thanks to its automation features, Teamtailor drastically reduces your HR team’s time-to-hire.
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Automate hiring with a customised recruitment funnel
Create your funnel and move candidates across stages as they progress.
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ATS only
Teamtailor covers recruitment automation only, but can be integrated with other HR software like CharlieHR.
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Simultaneous posting
Teamtailor allows you to post job ads on multiple job boards at the same time, allowing you to reach more candidates.
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Employer branding
Use Teamtailor to create your Careers page and promote your brand via social media — no technical knowledge required!
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Find the candidates you need
Use smart filters and keywords to screen for the right candidates.
Available on request.
Pento is a payroll automation solution that combines advice with tools to streamline your payroll processes and reduce manual tasks. They’re best suited for fast-growing startups and small companies in the UK.
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Expert advice from payroll specialists
Get the answers you need from someone you can trust.
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Payroll only
Pento is great for automating payroll, but doesn’t cover other Human Resources needs. You can integrate it with other software like CharlieHR to connect it with the rest of your HR stack.
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Automated calculations
Let the software do all your payroll and tax calculations for you.
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Guaranteed compliance
Pento automatically syncs with HMRC to update legislation.
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All the reports
Get the full picture and keep all your accounting files in order.
Available on request.
Once you reach the 200 people mark, your HR needs will start to become more complex:
BambooHR is a comprehensive HR automation software ideal for businesses with more than 200 employees and based in the United States.
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Optimised for US teams
You can get customer support during MA time-zone working hours, and the software’s settings, date formats and holiday dates are US-optimised.
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The Essentials package is limited
The basic package doesn’t include customer support by telephone and some important features (onboarding, ATS, electronic signatures and reporting).
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Advanced onboarding functionalities
Inclusive of electronic signatures and custom checklists.
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Not ideal for UK teams
BambooHR’s support and functionalities are designed to meet the needs of US companies primarily.
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ATS included
You can use the applicant tracking system included in the Advantage Package to automate your hiring.
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Plenty of add-on costs
Payroll, employee time sheets and performance management come at an extra cost.
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In-depth reports
From workforce planning to length of service, there are plenty of metrics to help you with difficult decisions.
Two packages available (Essentials and Advantage) with add-ons at an extra cost. Exact pricing only available on request.
SageHR automation software offers five different packages, all tailored to the needs of medium-size companies, covering everything from core HR to annual leave management and shift-scheduling. They’re particularly strong at performance management.
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Objectives and OKRs setting
Set objectives for each team and track progress in your dashboard.
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Full package can be costly
In order to get access to all the features, including goal setting and shift scheduling, a 200-people company would need to spend £2,000+ per month.
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Engagement surveys
Set up automated employee surveys that can be completed on the go using the mobile app.
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Basic mobile app
Apart from shift scheduling, the app is not developed enough to manage your HR admin on the go.
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Shift scheduling
Give your people access to an interactive shift scheduling platform that shows everyone’s availability.
£4 per employee per month for the Core HR package (including employee database, onboarding, time off management, analytics and reports). Performance management, shift scheduling, time sheets, expenses and recruitment come at additional costs.
Zoho is one of the best choices for teams working shifts, part-time or irregular hours. Companies can also create and automate timesheets online to track attendance and hours worked.
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Custom access and permissions
Set up your own approval process for managers to sign off hours worked and overtime.
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Feature offering can be confusing
Zoho offers a lot of different packages and apps, so it can be difficult to find the right tool for what you’re trying to do.
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Automated timesheets
Get back control of your timesheets on one centralised platform.
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Not very easy to use
It can take some time and a few demos for everyone to understand how to make the most of the platform.
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Mobile app
Employees can clock in and out using the Zoho app.
Multiple packages available, starting from £1 per user per month to £7 per user per month.
People HR is a good choice for midsize businesses that need to automate their recruitment processes. On top of onboarding, data storage and performance management, this platform offers an easy-to-use Applicant Tracking System to streamline hiring tasks.
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Video interview app
Talk to candidates face-to-face with the built-in video call feature.
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Interface is a bit clunky
The user experience is not very intuitive and the UX can feel quite outdated compared to other software.
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Job ad creator
Design and personalise your job ads.
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Long, complex onboarding
It can get a lot of time and manual copy-pasting to get set up on the platform.
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Mobile-friendly
Give candidates a good experience from the moment they decide to apply.
Three different packages respectively at £5, £7 and £9 per employee per month.
Big corporations with thousands of employees distributed across multiple offices around the world have different needs when it comes to HR automation software.
They will need all-inclusive platforms that integrate with their finance and reporting databases. Also, whatever tool they use, they need it to be able to ensure consistency and compliance across their various locations.
Workday integrates HR, finance and operations data from all parts of your company, helping People teams and leadership make the right decisions and keep everything under control.
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Finance insights
Get a complete overview of the financial health of your business.
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Sub-standard ATS user experience
The Applicant Tracking System can be difficult to use and not the best experience for candidates who have to create an account and copy and paste all the information from their CV.
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Skillset analysis
Identify gaps in your team’s skills to inform hiring and internal promotions decisions.
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Requires extensive training
The complex (and sometimes unintuitive) interface and features mean you need to account for a long onboarding period when first rolling out the software with your team.
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Large-scale expense reports
Let the system process your team’s receipts and calculate budgets for you.
On quote — depending on the package and the industry
With Oracle Cloud HCM, you can migrate all of your current HR automation solutions to their cloud. Their comprehensive package covers document storage, analytics, employee self service and many other ways to automate your HR processes.
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Converging system for international teams
Oracle’s cloud system allows companies with multiple offices around the world to sync all their employee data in one place.
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Substantial costs
The cost of Oracle can be quite steep, so only big companies can afford it, especially in the long term.
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All-encompassing analytics
Oracle’s reports provide a single and scalable solution to sourcing and presenting data.
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Disruptive quarterly changes
The interface changes almost quarterly making user experience more difficult.
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Integrated AI
AI-powered tools help you spot areas of improvement and inform important business decisions.
On quote, it depends on the package chosen by the company.
Personio is one of the most popular HRMS software for UK and European companies with over 200 employees.
It covers all your HR automation needs, with a particular focus on reporting.
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User-friendly ATS
Oversee your hiring funnel and see what job boards bring the most candidates.
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Not ideal for international companies
Personio’s features meet the needs and legal requirements of EU and UK companies, but some adjustments may be needed for companies based elsewhere.
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Data & reporting
Track important HR metrics and use them to drive your business forward.
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Long implementation
When you start, you are assigned an implementation manager to help you with the software roll out.
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Integrations
Use Personio’s marketplace to integrate with the rest of your tech stack.
Multiple packages available, starting from £1 per user per month to £7 per user per month.
Workable is a recruitment software chosen by many large businesses focused on scaling and automating their hiring. It streamlines time-consuming recruitment tasks for large companies.
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Built-in sourcing tools
Talk to candidates face-to-face with the built-in video call feature.
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No other HR functionalities
Companies using Workable for their hiring need to integrate with other systems like CharlieHR to manage the rest of their HR.
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Chrome extension
Found a suitable candidate on LinkedIn or Twitter? Use the Chrome extension to save their profile.
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Automated hiring steps
Send automated emails and create bespoke triggers to automate repetitive recruiting tasks.
Three different packages:
Save yourself hours every week – and spend it building a happy, high-performing team instead
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HR automation software is used to carry on tasks that would otherwise be performed manually.
One key characteristic is that hr automation software makes employee self service possible by allowing team members to carry on their own HR admin, without having to pass through the People team. In this case, you can also refer to it as HR self service portals.
Repetitive tasks that involve record keeping, calculations and data entry are the most common to be automated via HR automation tools.
But how you decide to automate your HR processes ultimately depends on what type of business you are and your business needs:
Check out these real life HR automation examples for some ideas on how you can supercharge your processes with the right tool.
Save yourself hours every week – and spend it building a happy, high-performing team instead
Free for 7 days
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