What is BambooHR? Reviews and Pricing
Your employees are your greatest asset. How are you managing yours? Are you using an online HR software suite like BambooHR?
Gone are the days when your entire staff worked within your brick-and-mortar walls. When you maintained a cardboard file in a metal cabinet on each of them. A file stuffed with documents like their resume and employment history, emergency contact information, disciplinary actions, performance appraisals, and so forth.
At least we hope those days are gone, and you’re efficiently managing your workforce.
Today’s workforce is diverse in multiple ways. Many employees work remotely, and many teams are decentralized.
As Human Resource professionals, are you meeting the needs of your staff by making the best use of the tools and software the 21st century offers?
There are many available options, but let’s talk about one of the best services available—at least in the mind of many industry experts and reviewers, including us.
What is BambooHR? And Why Should You Use It?
Since today’s workforce is more complex and diverse than the 20th-century workforce, it makes sense that our methods of managing it have also evolved. Having an online tool that provides you with a complete, all-encompassing solution to workforce management makes sense.
BambooHR is that tool.
If you manage human resources for small to mid-sized companies—even companies experiencing a growth spurt—BambooHR gives you a platform that enables you to migrate data that may have been stored in spreadsheets to today’s modern Human Resource Information System (HRIS).
A platform that allows you to customize it to meet and fit your company’s specific needs, whether tracking employee performance or managing the company’s phone numbers through a whole company directory. The BambooHR app lets users access employee profiles and contact details, ensuring seamless organizational communication.
If you’d prefer to see what it can do for yourself, you can schedule a free demo and give it a test drive. And since you may be wondering, BambooHR pricing is quote-based.
As an HR manager or coordinator, you likely know that a lot of your time can be spent managing tasks that, while not trivial, may be time-consuming. Using a service like BambooHR can free up some of that time and allow you to focus on your people more.
Key Takeaways:
- You can migrate data from spreadsheets into BambooHR
- There is a free demo available
- BambooHR is a tool that can save you valuable time by automating the most tedious HR functions
- Gain quick access to employee experience insights through the BambooHR app and current BambooHR account
- Manage time-off requests and track absences through BambooHR’s streamlined request time feature
What is BambooHR: An Overview
For example, one of BambooHR’s components is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Using this will allow you to administer and track each employee’s life cycle and provide you with a complete picture of your personnel’s state. This means that—at a glance—you can access important data, such as the current health of your workforce. Employee turnover and retention are typically indicative of the health of your organization.
A glance at BambooHR’s interface highlights its modern look and feel. Beyond that is an impressive suite of features that include all of the necessary Human Resource functions, plus the ability to manage data on individual employees and track and create reports. Its performance management capabilities ensure that HR teams can monitor employee growth and development over time.
BambooHR’s target audience is small—to mid-sized companies, but that doesn’t mean it’s restricted to them. Regardless of size, HR professionals can access a system that provides the fundamental means to monitor employee performance.
This is just one of the features that make BambooHR a wise choice for companies whose dynamics are constantly in a state of flux. The program is also particularly good for companies with a decentralized workforce since it has apps for all operational systems, making it accessible through medium-sized businesses’ phone’s contacts plan.
The above-mentioned ATS—Applicant Tracking System—is a powerful operational system on its own, but you can also integrate it with a wide range of other HR and business management apps—20 of them, to be precise.
Another key feature is the Open Application Programming Interface (API). This feature allows you to expand some of the abovementioned systems, including benefits administration and expense tracking. Additionally, it will enable you to manage compensation and even set a future date for changes to benefit plans, making it easier to plan.
Key Takeaways:
- The Applicant Tracking System allows you to track the health of your organization
- BambooHR includes all the necessary HR functions, plus the ability to manage data
- This program is perfect for small to mid-size and growing companies
- The Open Application Programming Interface (API) allows you to expand several systems, making it easier to sync with the company directory and other external tools
BambooHR’s Top Benefits
While BambooHR is packed with a variety of user benefits, let’s highlight just a few of them:
1. Applicant Tracking System
The hiring process is fraught with many different steps and hurdles.
BambooHR removes the challenges and does so much better than many other HR systems since its built-in Applicant Tracking System is there for just this reason.
As you have new job openings, you can add them to the system along with all the pertinent information, such as job title, contract type, salary, and job duration.
You also have a few options for completing this step: you can use a filtered drop-down or the embedded text editor to create more specific and detailed descriptions. When you make the job opening, you can also share it on your chosen job boards and social media networks.
At a glance, you can access and see job openings in one tab, with all the corresponding applicants and applicant leads. You can also select or reject applications as they come in and vet them.
2. Onboarding
You’ve chosen your applicant(s), and it’s time to onboard them.
Your selected new hire will receive an email with necessary and relevant information, such as training documentation or access grants to corporate files.
We’ve previously mentioned some of BambooHR’s time-saving features, and Onboarding is another. Thanks to this tool, managers don’t need to input personal information, as new hires can do this themselves. If necessary, they can establish connections with other staff members.
When you officially hire them, your new employees are set up to participate in training and other necessary objectives.
Key takeaways:
- New hires receive an email with relevant information
- Save time by allowing new hires to add personal information to the system themselves
3. Role-Based Access
No business gives complete access to all employees.
BambooHR handles this beautifully by allowing users to create role-based access to information.
HR administrators and managers who are in charge of the system and have full access are the ones who provide access levels for other uses. These administrators are responsible for creating each employee profile and adding their portfolio information.
Key takeaways:
- Administrators set up user profiles and grant access accordingly
4. Employee Benefits Administration
Many organizations don’t simply offer a one-size-fits-all benefits package. Instead, they offer customized benefits and incentive programs, often for different levels of employees.
Managing and organizing those unique packages could be challenging, but not with BambooHR. It allows users to track custom packages and even 12 different benefit types.
This feature also allows you to set future dates for changes to benefits. For example, if an employee is getting married, you can make the change in advance, and the system will add the spouse effective the date of their marriage.
Key takeaways:
- Track custom benefit packages
- Bamboo HR includes 12 different benefit types
- There is a set future dates feature
5. Performance Management Administration
Unlike many Human Resource Information Systems, Bamboo HR doesn’t simply track performance on an annual or 6-month basis. It’s much more dynamic than that.
With BambooHR, your employee performance is tracked and analyzed at all times, and everyday actions and goals are constantly compared.
Additionally, a matrix plot will compare individual employee’s performance, allowing you to not only reward where a reward is due but also point out the need for further training if necessary.
Key takeaways:
- Employee performance is tracked continuously
- Compare individual employee performance
BambooHR Pricing
BambooHR pricing is quote-based, meaning the platform’s cost depends on various criteria, including your current and future needs and users. Each package is specifically tailored to the needs of your current BambooHR account.
By integrating these key features, BambooHR simplifies employee experience management, allowing you to view your company’s phone numbers and employee profiles easily through the whole company directory on the BambooHR app.
This flexibility ensures that BambooHR can effectively address the needs of growing companies, making it an excellent choice for those seeking to streamline performance management and efficiently manage compensation and benefits changes.
If you are new to Human Resources and are looking to break into a HR role, we recommend taking our HR Certification Courses, where you will learn how to build your skillset in human resources, build your human resources network, craft a great HR resume, and create a successful job search strategy.
