Free HRIS Software Systems Options
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HRIS software offers a lot of benefits to a company. It can streamline processes and automate what used to be done manually. Implementing an HRIS can save a company a lot of time and money. While typically you get what you pay for when it comes to a HRIS, paying a sum upfront or even paying for a monthly subscription service may not be in the budget. There may be some free options that can meet your company’s HRIS needs until such time a more comprehensive system is in the budget.
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Matchr’s List of 3 Free HRIS Software Recommendations
Once you’ve determined what HRIS features are the most important to your company, you can start the process of researching different HRIS options. Matchr works with top HRIS Software to match customers with the software that will best fit their needs. For those who don’t have an HRIS in their budget at the moment, we’ve compiled the following list of the best free HR software solutions along with the pros and cons of each one.
1 Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a cloud-based software suite designed for managing small businesses. It offers 35 different tools that can help businesses with project management, HR processes, and even customer relationship management. It’s flexible enough to be used by a variety of business sizes, from small businesses with fewer than 50 employees to large businesses with more than 1,000 staff members.
Bitrix24 does have a variety of different paid packages, which means that its free version will have limitations on the features available. However, Bitrix24 does offer a lot of features with its free version. We include this in our list of free HR software platforms because so much is available on the free version.
Features:
- Request desk
- Online training
- Graphical reports
- Personnel management
- Time off management
- Time and attendance tracking
- Recruitment
- Expenses tracking
- Disciplinary management
- System administrator and different user account roles
- Compliance
- Insurance and benefits
- Training modules
- Document management
- Succession planning and employee development
- Mobile app
- Careers page
The expansive list of features available with the free version is a definite pro. Users of Bitrix24 found the timekeeping features and employee directory to be particularly useful. The software also provides a robust set of lead management and customer relationship management tools with its free version. It also offers considerable document and task management tools for free. It can be a good tool for a small- to mid-size business that doesn’t have a lot of room in the budget for a paid HRIS.
With so many different tools available, even the free version can get a bit overwhelming. User reviews of Bitrix24 have complained about the clunky and complicated user interface, which can take some time to learn how to use. Customer support with the vendor is also limited. According to reviews, the support service requires translation, which can result in errors, and the support techs are often inexperienced.
There are also limitations to the amount of storage space available. 5 GB of space can be taken up very quickly. In addition, there are only 12 users with the free version. In practice, this also limits the number of employees in the system as well. Only twelve people could use the employee self-service portal. Due to the size and user limitations, this means that companies could quickly outgrow the free version and would have to switch to the paid version.
2 Orange HRM Open Source
OrangeHRM’s free version is open-source software that provides all of the same features as its paid, cloud-based version. It’s ideal for small and medium businesses that are able to host the software themselves. OrangeHRM Open Source doesn’t limit its features from the paid version to the free one, offering all features on both versions. Companies using OrangeHRM can use the software to manage their employee database, track time and attendance, offer a careers page, provide employee performance reviews, and much, much more.
Features:
- Request desk
- Online training
- Graphical reports
- Personnel management
- Time off management
- Time and attendance tracking
- Recruitment
- Expenses tracking
- Disciplinary management
- System administrator and different user account roles
- Compliance
- Insurance and benefits
- Training modules
- Document management
- Succession planning and employee development
- Mobile app
- Careers page
If your company has the resources to install and host the open-source software yourselves, then OrangeHRM Open Source can be a great resource. Instead of having to pay for the cloud-based version, you can host the software on your own internal servers. It’s widely used by many companies around the world and has over 3.5 million users. Many have found it useful in designing their hiring workflows, managing changes within their organization, and more.
Because OrangeHRM’s free version is open source, that means that you can get the software for free. However, unlike with a typical HRIS, companies using OrangeHRM’s open-source version have to install, implement, and host the software themselves. Servers and bandwidth to host the software do cost money, even if the software itself doesn’t. Plus, your company would need to have someone on staff with technical and computer knowledge to support the software. If you wanted it to be cloud-based, you would also have to provide your own cloud server.
There are also some limitations to the functionality of the system. There’s no payroll integration, so any data that needs to be both in a payroll system and OrangeHRM Open Source would need to be manually added to both. Plus, there are customization limitations. Fields for the employee database and workflow management tool, for example, are pre-set and can’t be customized.
With the Open Source version of OrangeHRM, there’s also no customer support from OrangeHRM. If you have questions or need help with the open-source software, you would have to pay extra for it. Any bug fixes or security updates might also come with a cost. OrangeHRM Open Source software may be completely free, but there are other costs, both monetary and invaluable employee time, that may limit its practicality for many smaller businesses.
3 WebHR
WebHR is a free, cloud-based HR software. The free version of the software can support up to five users with limited access, but businesses will have to pay $2 for every additional employee. It advertises itself as “social HR” software and can be ideal for a small business. While the free version is more limited than the paid version, it still offers a variety of features with its free version, including time and attendance tracking, onboarding, and more. It’s a social HR software because of its built-in messenger feature, which can also be used for groups, as well as its discussion forums where employees can post questions and what’s on their minds.
Features:
- Time and attendance tracking
- Onboarding
- Time off tracking
- Employee self-service portal
- File and document management
- Dashboard
- Reports
- Payroll
- Mobile app
- Built-in messenger
- Employee discussion forums
The social features of WebHR can help make communication within your organization easier. The messenger feature allows employees to quickly get in touch with each other, no matter where in the company or even where in the world they work. Remote employees can stay in touch with each other and anyone working on-site. Groups of employees who are working together, whether that’s for a project or permanently, can also communicate in a chat specific to their group. Reviews of WebHR have lauded its customizable reports.
Users of WebHR have also found the software’s payroll and employee information features to be useful. Although the free version does have more limited features than the paid version, WebHR does offer a comprehensive set of features that can handle a lot of a company’s HR processes.
With the free version of WebHR, you can only have five users, which means that you can only have five employees in the system. If your business has more than five employees, to use WebHR, you would have to start paying $2 per additional employee. Other limitations of the free version include not being able to upload your own documents, having only three departments within the system, and having a limited number of attendance entries in the attendance tracking feature. The free version is really only a viable choice for start-ups and very small companies. Even small companies could quickly outgrow the free version.
On top of that, there are some features that are limited to the paid version only. Companies using WebHR have reported that in the recruiting feature, there isn’t a way to screen candidates by educational level. For companies that have specific education requirements for certain positions, this can make the recruiting process more difficult and take longer.
Benefits of Using HRIS Software
From smoother onboarding processes to increased employee engagement, HRIS software has numerous benefits for companies large and small. Even free software can offer benefits including data centralization, compliance reporting, and more.
Cost Savings
HRIS software can drastically reduce staffing costs, which in turn can help companies save money. The software acts as a one-stop solution for companies to organize management needs and keep track of employee satisfaction data. The increased accuracy and reduction of HR errors can save employees time and money.
Streamlining HR Processes
HR processes can be complicated. HRIS can integrate employee processes seamlessly, leading to a reduction in manual workflows. Instead of having to dig around different files or platforms to find employee data, businesses can have this all stored in one place.
Data Centralization
With everything stored in one place HR managers can easily pull analytic reports to understand staffing trends. This helps companies make hiring decisions more easily and understand how they can help improve workflows. With improved workflows, staff members commonly report improved work satisfaction and engagement.
Compliance and Reporting
To be sure companies are compliant with industry standards, HR software lets companies store and compile data to communicate easily with compliance officers. The software can even analyze data and ensure that all information is on par with local or Federal laws. This means it’s less of a headache for HR managers to track down key information for legal officials.
Improved Employee Experience
HR managers are often tasked with more work than one person can do in a day. Having an HR software cuts down tedious working tasks such as data management and can improve workflows for HR staff, or other managers. This means an improved employee experience and more time to focus on higher-level strategies that matter.
Features To Consider in a Free HRIS
There are still a lot of HRIS options available, even if you’re looking only for completely free solutions. Before you get started on your research into the available HRIS options, the first step is to know what features will be most important to your company. Consider your current HR processes and look for the tasks that are the most time-consuming. Those are the tasks that could benefit the most from automation.
Employee Database
A database to track employees can be beneficial for companies of any size. However, it can be increasingly beneficial for large companies that house large quantities of employees in different departments. This helps maintain efficiency when tracking and maintaining records of each employee.
Time & Attendance
Tracking employee time and attendance is necessary for managers to understand who is taking paid time off, and when. This makes it easier for payroll processing and ease of project workflow with all of the time tracking available with one software.
Recruitment
When looking to fill a new role at a company, oftentimes the first place to look is with employees who already work for the organization. HR software can find candidates internally for management positions who would like to take on more leadership roles within the team. If a company plans to outsource new team members, the software can also automate hiring tasks such as resume scanning or onboarding new team members.
Performance Management
To understand team progress and improve appraisal processes, HRIS applications often come with a performance management feature. This feature tracks key productivity measures of success such as the number of leads, sales, contracts signed, client engagement, revenue growth, and more. This tool can be a major benefit to companies as they look to improve the individual performance of team members and increase an organization’s expansion opportunities.
Reporting
If you need to report company progress to key stakeholders or investors, HR software can pull data reports that show trending analytics on key performance indicators. This helps management showcase the growth and development of the company with quantitive, real-time data.
Mobile Access
With many remote employees on the go, it’s crucial that employee data is accessible. HRIS tools allow for mobile device access for teams and company management. Staying informed on key analytics for professional development opportunities is simple with an HRIS.
Integrations
Many companies use a variety of tools and software for project management. HR software teams understand this and have designed HRIS with compatibility features in mind. These tech Integrations are available to combine different tools and make it easier to access in one place.
Security
Security is essential to protect sensitive data. HRIS tools have security encryption, backups, and user access controls to keep important information safe from unauthorized access. Whether it’s high-level management data or employee history, your information is secure with HR software.
Limitations of Free HRIS Software
While there are numerous benefits to HRIS software for companies, it’s important to understand the limitations of these tools so you can make an educated decision for your organization. Free HR software still has the potential to assist your company, but it may not be as robust as the paid versions of these software programs.
Limited Features
One limitation of HR software is that while data can be a great performance indicator, it does not always tell the full story of an employee or company as a whole. Oftentimes there a nuances that cannot be measured within a team, and these nuances can only be detected by actual staff members. However, with premium versions of HRIS software, there are added measures implemented for company review processes.
Scalability Issues
As your company grows, so will the data. Free HR software programs often cannot support large teams, unlike premium versions of HRIS. If you have a small team, then a free version may be all you need. However, if you foresee your company growing, then a premium version of the software will be robust enough to support your needs.
Security Vulnerabilities
While most HR software programs are highly secure, there is always a risk with any technology tool that data could be leaked. If your team is worried about the possibility of stolen information, getting a premium HR program will best support the high level of data encryption needed.
Limited Customer Support
Premium HRIS programs often offer 24/7 customer support. Free HR software programs do not offer such robust assistance, and therefore if teams have questions about their software there will be a longer waiting time until you are able to receive a response.
Tips for Choosing the Right HRIS Software
Before deciding what HRIS software is best for your company, you’ll need to evaluate what the top priorities are for your company now and in the future.
Tip #1: Understand Your Business Needs
If the highest priority of your business is performance management, you’ll want to make sure the software you choose has appraisal or performance review capabilities. Consider what your business is in most need of, and this will help guide you toward a program that caters to those needs.
Tip #2: Consider Future Scalability
If you foresee onboarding large quantities of new team members or clients in your company, this growth will need software to support the storage of that data. When choosing software, consider the goals and probability of growth for your organization.
Tip #3: Check Software Reviews and Ratings
Previous reviews and ratings of software can help management make better decisions. You can get a glimpse into the experiences that other companies have had and evaluate the pros and cons of the software from their feedback.
Tip #4: Test Software With a Trial or Demo
One great thing about HR software is that many programs offer a free trial or demo before officially signing on. This will let your management team take some time to see how the software will integrate with the unique needs of your company.
Tip #5: Prioritize Data Security
Data security is a high priority for many companies. Be sure to learn about the security capabilities of each software to understand if they have the level of authentication built into the system that will fit the safety your information needs.