9 Best Employee Onboarding Software Shortlisted for 2023
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Written by:
Joe Hodges
If you’re here, it’s probably because you’ve been looking for a platform to completely automate your onboarding.
But even though you know how crucial onboarding is to new team members, you’re having a hard time choosing the right employee onboarding software for your business.
It’s true that a lot of onboarding software appeared on the market in recent years – so how to find the best fit?
As a Product Manager at CharlieHR, I’ve led many interviews with customers to understand what they looked for in onboarding software, so that I could build a product that met their needs.
This research also included looking at other onboarding solutions and what they offered. That’s what I’ll be talking about today, but if you’re in a rush jump directly to the list to find out which software is best for your team.
Best onboarding software
What is employee onboarding software?
Employee onboarding software automates your onboarding from A to Z, removing all admin tasks and making the process completely paperless.
That includes:
- Collecting documents and passports from new hires
- Ensuring you stay legally compliant
- Making new hires feel welcome even if remote
- Giving them access to HR policies and general information about your business
How did we come up with this guide for best employee onboarding software?
As I mentioned in the intro, I work on a product team that dedicates a lot of effort to understanding what customers want, especially small businesses and startups as they’re the ones Charlie is built for.
To put together this guide, I interviewed over 100 users to understand what they wanted from our employee onboarding software. This included speaking to existing customers as well as people who had switched to another platform.
I also looked at the current market offering, and how we could compete with other products by offering small businesses and startups the core onboarding features they needed.
This led me to put together a list of criteria to measure other onboarding solutions against:
- Company size – what type of company was likely to use this software and how suitable it was for them
- Ease of use – interaction with the platform and how long it would take for a business to set it up
- Customer reviews – reviews that went from good to poor to get a better overview of each software’s best assets and flaws
- Value for money – whether it delivered all of what users needed for a reasonable price
- Features – if it had core onboarding features and met small businesses and startups’ needs
Since this is probably the same information you’ve been looking for, I thought it would be useful to share my findings on how to make onboarding effective. Find the results below and compare them for yourself.
The 10 best employee onboarding softwares for 2023 – who made the shortlist?
CharlieHR is an employee onboarding software focused on supporting small businesses and startups. We aim to solve the challenges that founders and people responsible for HR struggle with on a regular basis.
Charlie completely automates the onboarding experience and cuts down on HR workload – users get back the time they need to focus on other operational levers such as HR policies for example.
With all the features needed by small businesses for employee onboarding, Charlie becomes indispensable:
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One-click onboarding flow where team members can upload their documents and fill in their details through self-service HR
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Secure platform for compliant onboarding and peace of mind
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Integrations for a seamless workflow that removes any copy-and-pasting and syncs all your databases
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Useful checklists that guarantee no aspect of onboarding is forgotten by any team member
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A customised onboarding with personalised slides and introduction to other team members so new hires get a sense of what the company is like from day 1
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An offboarding flow for leavers to make sure you don’t leave any details behind
Our employee onboarding platform is included along with all our other features (time off, performance reviews, remote onboarding, etc.) for £4 per employee per month – no setup fee.
What people say
"Every single person comes away and says 'wow, that's a really slick onboarding tool, that was so easy to use'."
Elliot Brooks - Thriva
“I've not come across too many negatives with using this platform, it's been able to execute everything I needed with ease and is fairly efficient. They could potentially look to incorporate more features for engagement.”
Lauren H., Product Owner
Automate your HR, all of it
Charlie helps you banish manual and repetitive HR tasks, so you can focus on what really matters.
✅ Free for 14 days
✅ No credit card needed
✅ Cancel any time
Designed with US companies in mind, BambooHR is software that will meet the needs of medium companies looking to scale and hire at a fast pace.
With employee onboarding software like Bamboo, expect a complete onboarding platform/process:
- Follow your hiring process with applicant tracking
- Get contracts returned with e-signatures
- Have onboarding templates ready depending on role and department
- Organise an efficient onboarding process with customisable steps
- Onboard new hires through a mobile app
Once you’ve got it all done, there’s nothing getting in the way of success for your medium-sized business.
Pricing is not directly available from BambooHR’s website. You’ll need to book a call to get a quote.
What people say
"After using the system for over 6 years now, it’s required almost no intervention - it just works once you've set it up. Onboarding, offboarding and performance reviews just happen in the background - without effort."
Wayne B. - G2
“It's not very robust. The reporting function is very limited and you can't always get the information you need or want out of it.”
Denise B. - Talent Acquisition Manager
If you work at a mid-sized business mid-sized business, Namely is the perfect asset to make your employee onboarding experience a breeze.
With features that have been built with specific teams in mind, Namely is a great way for you to find useful tools in employee onboarding software that makes no compromise, especially when it comes to:
- Getting an E-verify integration for eSignatures
- Having a mobile app that makes it easy to onboard from your phone
- Finding top talent with posting job ads and candidates tracking
In terms of onboarding, their features allow you to run a swift process that will meet all the regular needs of a business.
Pricing is only available through a call where you’ll get a quote depending on how big your team is.
What people say
“The format and design make for the perfect interface. Employee information and the ability to navigate across the platform make it really user-friendly. We use Namely for HRIS and Payroll and it has become a go-to for us.”
Jason H. - Employee Experience Manager
“I think that Namely has a user interface that’s overwhelming if you’re an employee who only needs to access it for a few things.”
Averee L. - Design Associate
This US HR software allows you to set automated onboarding flows as well as pre-onboard your employees.
With a strong emphasis on culture and engagement, Hibob helps companies get new hires familiar with the kind of working environment they’re going to be in as well as its values with:
- Company photos and welcome video to watch before new hires start
- Shoutouts to welcome new hires directly on the platform and let everyone know about their starting dates
- Introducing new hires to coworkers through sets of questions about their interests and hobbies
Get custom pricing from Hibob by getting in touch with them directly through their website.
What people say
“The way that you can customise literally anything within the system! Don't like the name of something? Change it to suit your company! The other platforms we looked at didn't have as much customisation as Bob.”
Sally C. - HR manager
“The customer support is not where it should be. Especially we had a very bad experience with setting up the NetSuite integration. After spending hundreds of hours setting up the system and onboarding 100+ employees, we seriously thought about going with another HRIS.”
Anonymous
Oracle offers a complete suite of cloud applications to streamline all processes across your business, whether that’s HR or marketing.
It’s a very sophisticated tool that usually suits corporations much more than smaller businesses.
When it comes to employee onboarding software, Oracle can provide a complete experience, especially if you’ve got a global workforce:
- Oracle Capital Management to manage all of your teams from one unique platform
- Talent management feature for every stage of recruitment including finding candidates, selecting the right ones and setting up interviews
- Payroll management with a myriad of requirements depending on which country your employees are based in
To get a quote, you’ll need to request a demo from Oracle and then get an estimate from one of their representatives.
What people say
“Oracle HCM is a comprehensive system with modules covering hiring/onboarding through termination. The Learning and Performance Management modules are a must for an excellent experience for every employee.”
Laura B.
“It is my opinion that the infrastructure needs time to improve is scalability for large clients. With a large amount of traffic, going into the system, we find the system performance begins to fail.”
Andrew J.A. - Executive Director
Made specifically for onboarding new team members, Eddy gives you the tools you need to remove all admin and paperwork from the process.
You can choose between three suites of applications:
- Eddy hire – to find candidates, handle hiring and improve candidate experience
- Eddy people – to take care of HR processes when it comes to onboarding
- Eddy payroll – to enrol your people smoothly and swiftly into your payroll
The only downside is that Eddy only offers onboarding at the minute, so it’s not ideal for small businesses that are looking for all-in-one HR software solution.
In terms of pricing, they’re not directly available on the website and need to be discussed with a sales representative from Eddy.
What people say
Zenefits is a great way of having an all-in-one platform for your team, especially if you’re looking for employee onboarding software that also handles benefits.
Onboarding can be done in about ten minutes for each new employee with a new hiring app that makes it easier to welcome new team members along with other features:
- Request a background check
- Send offer letters with e-signatures
- Get full-time employees, contractors and freelancers set up
However, it might be too expensive as a start for small businesses and startups – getting loads of features they won’t necessarily make use of.
In terms of pricing, Zenefits has got different plans including Essentials one from $8 per month per employee. Payroll, benefits as well as recruiting are all add-ons.
What people say
“The price can't be beaten. They integrate with our ATS system for easy onboarding. They have valuable insights and the platform is easy to navigate.”
Samantha R. - Director of People Operations
“We've had a tough time with Customer Service. They were very hard to get a hold of. No phone numbers on their website and email responses would take over a few days. It was as if they were making it hard to contact them on purpose.”
Nicole J. - Customer Success Representative
Scribe allows you to create HR processes easily, without having to type every last detail and waste a lot of your time.
It’s a great onboarding solution when you want your processes to be as neat as possible, and you don’t have the resources to make it happen.
As an employee onboarding software, it can simply be used to have a written process ready to hand out to new team members.
Here’s how it works:
- Record the process with Scribe and get a step-by-step guide generated through AI, including screenshots, instructions and clicks
- Tailor any aspects you’re not happy with
- Share the onboarding process with your team as soon as it’s done
Scribe can be used for free, but with limited features, or you can get the pro version from $23 per month per user.
What people say
“We are thrilled that we found this solution. Scribe will enable us to quickly create new (and rework old) instructions for our many products. Additionally, we can improve how we onboard internal staff with step-by-step guides for our processes. Scribe's tools can be learned in a minute.”
Lance E. - Product Manager
“The negative point or an improvement could be its errors in reporting. Manual reporting sometimes seems more reliant, and this is the only thing I have to report.”
Pratham
ClickUp doesn’t sell itself as an onboarding solution for employees, however, it can be the compromise you’re looking for when it comes to HR processes.
Defining itself as the “one app to replace them all”, ClickUp gives the opportunity to have all your work in one place including tasks, documents, chats, goals, etc.
When it comes to employee onboarding software, ClickUp can allow you to put together a template that will streamline onboarding for all of your team members.
Of course, it’s important to remember that this will limit your ability to completely automate onboarding, but it’s a start if you have a limited budget.
ClickUp can be used for free, but it gives you access to a limited amount of storage and features. You can then start at $5 per month per team member if you’re part of a small team.
What people say
“I love how many features it has. As a single-member business owner, I do not use all of the features, but knowing that the platform can grow with my company is reassuring.”
Elizabeth S. - Business Owner
“Stability is still an issue with Clickup. When it works, it's great but when things fail they do so in large ways. Additionally, there is tons of room for improvement in the user experience. It can sometimes feel clunky to use.”
Anonymous
Top tips to pick the right employee onboarding software
Whichever employee onboarding platform you choose to go for, there are a few things you need to remember. Here’s how I would look at it:
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What you might be struggling with
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How onboarding software can help
- Details collected via email and kept on spreadsheets
- ⚠️ High risk of losing information
- ⚠️ Having to send chasers
- Send an invitation to the new hire so they sign up for the software
- ✅ Collect all information through the system
- ✅ Automatic reminders are sent to their inbox
- Personal documents stored in multiple drives or platforms
- ⚠️ Sensitive information at risk
- ⚠️ Difficulty finding documents
- All data is securely stored
- ✅ Documents are easily updated and uploaded to the platform
- ✅ Information is on hand for HR audits
- Details collected via email and kept on spreadsheets
- ⚠️ Some steps are easily missed
- ⚠️ Onboarding checklists can be lost
- ⚠️ Coordination between departments is messy
- Automatic onboarding checklists are generated in the software and can be personalised
- ✅ Each team member involved in the onboarding process is assigned a task
- ✅ Automatic reminders are sent so no one forgets what they have to do
Automate your HR, all of it
Charlie helps you banish manual and repetitive HR tasks, so you can focus on what really matters.
✅ Free for 14 days
✅ No credit card needed
✅ Cancel any time
What people say
- Choose three core onboarding features you can’t do without
- Look for the onboarding solution that has them and that suits your company size and budget
- Don’t get lost in tons of features just because they look good, think about what’s practical
- Make a shortlist of the onboarding solutions that tick those boxes
- Research if their customer service is up to scratch
And if you think you need to learn more about onboarding, check out our best onboarding experiences guide along with the resources below.
