Selecting the appropriate HR software affects almost every person in your organization, including future employees. With a plethora of free HR software in the market, it can be a daunting task for you to select one that is best tailored to your needs. Therefore, we at SaaSworthy have put together a list of the top 7 free HR software that you can use in 2021.
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What is HR software?
Any product or solution that attempts to increase the efficiency of a company’s HR staff is referred to as HR software. Using HR software saves time through automation, enhances employee experience and performance, increases compliance, streamlines hiring, and improves business analytics and employee management.
According to a PwC HR Technology Survey, 58% of organizations utilize HR software to identify, recruit, and retain people.
Top 7 free HR software to use in 2021
Given below in detail, along with their various features and limitations, are the top 7 free HR software for you to use in 2021. These free software allow you to experiment with them, thereby preventing you from facing the risk of purchasing an unsuitable HR software.
1. WebHR
WebHR, founded in 2011, is a free, cloud-based, full-service, and all-in-one HR software. It standardizes, administers, and automates recruiting, employment, and payroll, among other things, with its comprehensive set of robust features.
Employees can also use the software as an internal social network. It helps more than 25,000 organizations in over 200 countries. WebHR is SaaSworthy’s top choice as the best free HR software in 2021.
The various features of WebHR include –
- It simplifies payroll, HR, recruitment, and onboarding by identifying, hiring, and acclimating employees quickly, freeing up HR to spend their time on other, more vital matters.
- Users can acquire a deeper knowledge of their employees by using data from payroll, learning solutions, timesheets, and other profile information provided by the software’s analytics and thorough reporting.
- You can monitor employee time as well as when and where your employees are logging in from with attendance, punch in and punch out capabilities.
- Payroll processing, direct deposit, check printing, taxes, payslips, and other compensation activities are all handled by the software.
The limitations of WebHR are –
- The app for smartphones is not intuitive or easy to use.
- The software can be slow when loading large quantities of data.
2. Zoho People
Zoho People is a cloud-based, free HR management software from Zoho Corporationthat helps with performance appraisal, time and attendance monitoring, and expenditure reporting. Zoho People offers a flexible and all-in-one HR management software for businesses of all types and sizes.
You can integrate Zoho People with the Zoho suite of products for various types of organizational needs such as CRM, project management, invoicing, bookkeeping, analytics, etc.
The various features of Zoho People include –
- You can create custom forms of various sorts utilizing a drag-and-drop interface and a variety of field types to collect the data you need.
- You can divide employees into groups, bulk add employees, and consolidate records from multiple countries. It also contains an organizational chart and communication tools for group or department interaction.
- It allows for more accurate assessments by incorporating feedback from many sources. It also makes it easier for employees and supervisors to provide 360-degree feedback through review cycles.
- You can monitor data such as growth rates, tasks, hiring vs. attrition, time logs, turnover, employee count, etc.
The limitations of Zoho People are –
- It lacks the payroll and recruitment features.
- Its mobile app lacks some of the features seen on the web app.
3. IceHrm
IceHrm is a free HR and employee management software designed specifically for small and medium-scale organizations. It addresses all of an organization’s essential HR management requirements, such as employee time management, leave management, and employee information management.
IceHrm distinguishes itself by providing both an open-source and a cloud version of its software. It is an all-in-one HR solution that is available in the Lite, Cloud, and self-hosted versions.
The various features of IceHrm include –
- The IceHrm expenditure module makes expense claim handling easier, with up to four layers of approval and enhanced visibility into the approval process.
- You can use IceHrm to generate payroll reports required by third-party payroll processing applications or payroll rules to compute your company’s payroll.
- IceHrm Recruitment Module can assist you in identifying the best applicant for your job vacancy. It not only serves as the company’s internal employment portal but also handles your interview process effectively.
- You can create your own leave categories and use leave rules to establish exceptions for certain employees or groups.
The limitations of IceHrm are –
- The plethora of features on the dashboard can be overwhelming for some users.
- The documentation provided for the API and other services is poor.
4. Bitrix24
Bitrix24, originally a project management software, also offers over 25 free HR tools that are used by more than 2,500 HR departments. Bitrix24 provides a highly trustworthy and user-friendly human resources information management system (HRIS).
It is a cloud-based free HR management software designed especially for small businesses. It also serves as a very useful software in the fields of lead generation, customer relationship management, project management, etc.
The various features of Bitrix24 include –
- Employee directories, an absence chart, task and work time reporting, and a visual structure are among the services offered by the software.
- You may use the free HR software to design a corporate organizational chart and manage a knowledge base with all the HR process documents that employees need to view.
- It provides powerful cost management and control tools and an expense tracking tool. Time management features include a check-in/out function, regular work summaries, and a shared daily calendar.
- Among the key features are a secure social network, document management, an employee portal, leave requests, and project management.
The limitations of Bitrix24 are –
- The customer support team is not quick to respond to and solve queries.
- The user interface is challenging to navigate through for beginners.
5. Freshteam
Freshteam, an employee management software founded in 2010, is part of the Freshworks product family. Freshteam is a cloud-hosted software that assists recruiters in sourcing and hiring the top talent in the industry.
It allows you to create organizational charts, keep an employee directory, and manage each and every employee’s time off. It is used by more than 3,000 organizations worldwide to help manage their HR and recruitment processes.
The various features of Freshteam include –
- It keeps records of employee time-off requests, leave balances, time-off balances, and approvals automatically. It properly computes employee remuneration by minimizing human mistakes.
- With sophisticated integrations, it automates recruiting procedures and overall hiring. To fit your organization’s hiring procedure, you can personalize a hiring workflow for specific job posts.
- You will have access to seven tailored reports, which include talent pool, candidate sourcing, interviews, offers, and hiring, rejected applicants, job listings, and candidate pipeline.
- You can utilize recruiting analytics to assess the backgrounds of the candidates, time spent on each hiring step, interview processes, and offers.
The limitations of Freshteam are –
- The user interface is not organized and has a number of bugs.
- The generated reports are not intuitive or easy to use.
6. OrangeHRM
OrangeHRM, founded in 2005, is a free HR software that offers a complete set of modules designed to customize how a company handles its human resources. Its open-source version is fully free and highly versatile, but it needs you to maintain your own servers.
It provides everything an HR administrator needs to simplify their workload. It is undoubtedly one of the best free HR software in 2021, with over 4 million users.
The various features of OrangeHRM include –
- For effective payroll processing, you can effortlessly integrate with third-party software like MC Systems, Nitso, Intercorp Solutions, Definitiv, etc.
- You can define compensation rules and then delegate time tracking to the software on a daily or weekly basis. You can customize any form of leave based on the requirements of your business.
- You can gain useful insights using customizable reports to track various elements of your company, including spendings, onboarding, EEO reports, PTO, etc.
- It allows you to publish and track new job openings from a unified place and link the job posting and website to ensure a smooth process.
The limitations of OrangeHRM are –
- It lacks customization options, and the employee database fields are pre-set.
- Since it is open-source, it does not offer customer support.
7. GoCo
GoCo is a cloud-based HR software for free designed for scalability and ease of use. GoCo is a comprehensive software that combines human resource administration, benefits, and payroll into a single platform. GoCo is a safe, compliant platform for transferring, digitally signing, and managing sensitive HR papers and data.
The software is designed primarily for small and medium-sized businesses to assist in improving their HR procedures such as onboarding, hiring, etc.
The various features of GoCo include –
- Users can design an unlimited group PTO policy, alter the accrual mechanism for different locations, and develop a performance-based policy for each employee.
- Managers can issue personalized offer letters, collect paperwork, let new recruits enroll in self-service benefits, assign onboarding duties, and set up payroll.
- It allows users to maintain their existing payroll software while synchronizing data with GoCo. Among the features are automatic time tracking and PTO, benefit deductions, and computed final paychecks.
- You can save time on monotonous, manual procedures while obtaining reliable data on each employee. It unifies personnel records, time off information, and HR paperwork.
The limitations of GoCo are –
- Its integration features with third-party applications need to be improved.
- The mobile application is quite slow and does not serve the intended purpose.
Conclusion
We hope that we were able to throw some light on the various HR software for free in the market. You should also note that most of the software mentioned in this list have paid versions as well. You can opt for the paid version if you want to avail the additional features. You should now be able to choose a free HR software best suited to your needs.
For more informative articles like this one detailing the features and limitations of the top free and open-source software, take a look at SaaSworthy’s blogs on free and open-source software.
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