Today's technology advancements and competitive landscape urge companies to digitize traditional business processes. A unified workforce management system consolidates the tools needed to maintain a productive workforce, ensuring all resources are distributed optimally. It can help companies plan, manage, and track work and even provide insights into employee performance.

The best workforce management software propels businesses into unmatched operational efficiency. The digital solution covers a broad range of activities, including salary administration, compliance, absence management, time, and attendance. It can also reduce costs by automating HR-related activities and workforce management practices.

We've listed five of the best workforce management software of 2024. Read further to know about their features and learn which platform best suits your needs.

#1 BambooHR

Overview

BambooHR boasts automated HR tools to simplify complicated processes and streamline time-consuming tasks, from recruiting and employee experience to managing compensation and benefits. It can also provide analytics to help managers understand and improve employee performance.

BambooHR has award-winning customer support. The company's in-house team can give rapid answers through phone, email, or chat, with a 40-second response time for phone and chat requests. It also offers a dedicated project manager to guide new users through implementation.

BambooHR offers two subscription plans, Core and Pro, including add-on solutions that provide additional capabilities to workforce management software. It is priced on a per-employee, per-month basis for companies with over 25 employees. It charges a monthly flat rate for companies with 25 employees or fewer. The provider offers a 15 % discount when customers combine its add-ons with the Core or Pro plans.

BamboorHR also provides mobile apps to keep employees flexible. The HR software integrates with over 120 third-party applications that complement its solutions and capabilities.

Features

Secure and Customizable Employee Database

BambooHR provides a secure and customizable employee database for tracking employee records. It gives users full control over all key data like personal and payment information. The workforce management software syncs the data across third-party integrations, so all employee records stay accurate and updated.

While employees can edit their personal information directly on the database, admins can set custom access levels to limit user's access to sensitive company data. BambooHR can also help in tracking job levels and salary bands to ensure fairness in compensation and transparency in career progression.

Reporting and Analytics

BamboorHR can generate instant detailed reports on almost any data. The workforce management software integrates analytics into its features, which makes it benchmark turnover against other companies, get benefit summaries, etc,., and make strategic, proactive decisions for driving company growth.

The HR software also contains dynamic and personalized dashboards for teams across the organization vertical. BambooHR can keep these valuable insights on display through widgets, according to the users' preferences.

Performance Management

BamboorHR provides customizable performance evaluations, which users can tailor for different teams. Through assessments, managers can recognize employee contributions and strengths, identify areas for improvement, and highlight career development opportunities.

The workforce management software delivers effective performance management with 360-degree feedback, customizable questions, and a format that facilitates open communication. Managers can monitor team-wide goal progress, review notes, or ask for updates from employees through a Goal Status report.

Payroll, Time, and Benefits

BambooHR can track working hours and absences, manage benefits, and run payrolls. The workforce management software can accommodate different project pay rates, making it easy to calculate the pay for employees with multiple jobs. It also contains a built-in time-off calculator for checking PTO balance.

Reasons to consider:

• A comprehensive tool for employee management

• Clean UX

• Award-winning customer support

Reasons to avoid:

• Payroll and Benefits Administration add-ons are exclusive to US companies.

• Limited customization

#2 HROne

Overview

HROne automates the employee lifecycle as it simplifies and organizes tasks of HR teams, managers, and employees. It can also eliminate data fragmentation through integrations. It also offers customizable add-ons which can improve functionality and efficiency.

The HR software boasts 10+ modules and 127+ customizable workflows. It offers three subscription plans (Basic, Professional, and Enterprise) with a free customizable mobile app for better operational efficiency. HROne provides unlimited training and a dedicated support consultant for assistance and fast adoption. It also gives its customers the flexibility to pause or stop their subscriptions.

Features

Employee Life Cycle Management

HROne can take control of the employee experience at each stage from pre-boarding to their exit. It auto-syncs the candidate database to initiate pre-onboarding, with a checklist to track the onboarding process.

The HR software also contains multiple letter templates for confirmation. Users can set and manage distinct probation period criteria, ensuring the process aligns with specific requirements for each role/department. They can also customize the separation policy, including the notice period and date of the exit interview, ensuring a smooth transition for the employee's exit.

Expense Management

HROne also features an expense management system for tracking employee expenses. Businesses can set up limits for expense categories and tailor policies according to employee grade and seniority. The software can handle expenses incurred in different currencies and remind users of old requests to ensure timely reimbursements. Employees can add their expense receipts in real time via web or mobile and even share complete expense reports for approval.

The expense management software can also automatically adjust any advance payouts against actual receipts, which saves employees time from having a manual intervention. HROne also auto-segregates expenses to prevent duplicate payments, ensuring.

Fraud Management

Unlike other solutions, HROne can run smart diagnostic checks to prevent fraud. The workforce management software prevents employees from logging redundant claims and flags expense claims that do not align with company policy. It can also generate detailed reports for end-to-end visibility and control over various expenses.

Customizable Mobile App

Employees can experience the power of HROne on the go through its mobile apps for iOS and Android devices. It supports multiple languages, suitable for large enterprises with global teams. The apps have customizable shortcuts and color theme.

Reasons to consider:

• Premium add-ons like Business Intelligence and virtual assistant

• No-lock in period for canceling the subscription

• User-friendly

Reasons to avoid:

• Performance issues

• The mobile app has limited functionality compared to the desktop version.

#3 Paylocity

Overview

Paylocity stands out for its core HR and payroll solutions. The workforce management software can help automate manual tasks and minimize compliance risks. It contains the tools to help HR teams, employees, and managers perform their roles from a clean and user-friendly interface.

Paylocity can aggregate payroll data across 100+ countries. The platform works best for companies with international employees since it can handle foreign currencies. It also offers dedicated tax support as a Registered Reporting Agent with the IRS.

The all-in-one platform also provides an employee self-service app to keep users stay connected and collaborate with other teams. It gives them access to payroll and HR data, including other documents like tax forms.

Paylocity offers flexible pricing plans and features. It charges per employee per month, depending on the features selected by the customer.

Features

Streamlined Payroll Processing

Paylocity streamlines payroll processing through its Payroll Readiness Dashboard. It can provide a comprehensive overview of critical payroll tasks, ensuring paycheck accuracy ahead of the processing day. The software also contains 40+ configurable pre-submit audits that can flag inconsistencies.

Paylocity can also show the calculations when employees need prorated or retro pay. All hours, dollars, and labor allocations flow directly into Payroll from Time and Labor Management.

Human Resource Management

Paylocity simplifies the management of employees, documents, and compliance. It leverages automation to trigger workflows for common tasks like offboarding, rate changes, skill and certificate collection, etc. Companies can store documents like offer letters and tax forms in a secure, centralized location, which keeps them organized and compliant.

Payroll also offers unlimited custom fields, which lets HR teams track anything the business needs across all employees. It can also provide real-time, visualized data for monitoring key metrics and identifying trends in the workplace.

Reasons to consider:

• Customizable

• Fixed pricing per user

• Supports multiple currencies

• Eases tax compliance

Reasons to avoid:

• High learning curve

• Stressful implementation process

#4 Connecteam

Overview

Connecteam stands out for its simplicity and straightforward functionality. It is a mobile-first service that can keep deskless teams connected. This workforce management software can help companies manage, train, and communicate with employees. The platform is free for small businesses with up to 10 employees.

Connecteam caters to businesses of all sizes and supports many use cases, from employee onboarding to operations management and compliance. It offers a 14-day free trial and a fixed price for up to 30 users. When the limit is exceeded, each additional user is charged according to the subscription plan, which ranges from $0.5 to $3.6 per month.

Features

Operations Management

Connecteam can boost company operations through scheduling, time clock, and task management features. It can auto-schedule employees and guarantee equal shift distribution to avoid conflicts. The employee management platform can also provide templates for creating an optimal schedule with full visibility into employee's availability, qualifications, and preferences.

Connecteam displays staff attendance in real life and notifies users of late or missed clock-ins. It can also track the progress of assigned tasks. Users can build forms and checklists for tasks, ensuring they are accomplished based on specific terms and conditions.

Internal Communication

Connecteam facilitates smooth internal communication among teams. Employees can share any information with everyone or with specific teams and departments. The software displays who read the posts, ensuring the message reaches the target audience. They can also communicate privately through the built-in chat.

Connecteam can store all internal and external work contacts which makes everyone accessible. The workforce management software centralizes all company knowledge to keep everyone aligned with a single source of truth.

Reasons to consider:

• Free for small businesses (up to 10 users)

• Ease of use

• Flexible pricing plans

Reasons to avoid:

• Premium features are exclusive to top pons.

• Limited integration

#5 Softworks

Overview

Softworks automates time-consuming administrative tasks and processes related to employee management to help organizations improve efficiency and better control costs.

This cloud-based workforce management software can record, manage, and report on time, attendance, and various types of leave, create skills-based employee schedules, capture HR data, and enable employee self-service. Softworks works with the HR policies in place and integrates with all leading ERP, HR, accounting, and payroll systems.

Softworks provides a single central view of employee information across the entire organization. It also includes an easy-to-use Action Manager that streamlines administrative tasks for managers, such as approving time-off requests, reviewing employee scheduling, or filling staffing gaps.

Features

Time and Attendance

Businesses can effectively manage their team's work hours using time and attendance software. Softworks offers a comprehensive view of work hours, allowing businesses to track and analyze employees' working hours. HR teams can manage various types of absences, such as annual leave or sick leave.

Softworks also generates detailed reports, providing businesses with a clear overview of work patterns and all the data they need to optimize their operations. With accurate records of work hours, businesses can reduce payroll expenses. The workforce management software can gather data from sources such as biometrics and smart card readers.

HR Management

Softworks can transform HR management through state-of-the-art automation. This platform offers a secure and centralized system for managing HR tasks and storing HR information, bringing together all employee-related information such as personal information, employment history, skills, training, skills, and time and attendance data.

HR teams can optimize their time management through direct access to up-to-date information, easy-to-use automated reporting and automated email reminders and alerts, which notify line managers about deadlines and important tasks. Softworks also provides an employee self-service app for updating personal information for all company members.

Employee Scheduling

Softworks offers an employee scheduling solution to help companies manage staffing levels and monitor shift and roster costs. The workforce management software features a calendar where admins can schedule available employees for shifts and rotations, especially for companies using a hybrid work model.

Softworks accurately calculates employee allocation costs, taking into account premium rates and overtime rules. It can automatically assign tasks while ensuring fair distribution of shifts, including bank holidays, weekends, and night shifts.

Businesses can use workforce management software to fill staffing gaps by sending emails or text messages to available employees and requesting them to fill the shift. Employees can manage their rostering preferences through the employee self-service app.

Absence Management

Softworks simplifies employee leave logistics through automation. It provides a centralized system for tracking and monitoring various types of absences, such as sick leave, maternity leave, and other time-off requests. Attendance data syncs directly to the payroll, which reduces pay processing complications.

The absence management software can also generate real-time reports that provide insight into employee absence patterns. Softworks can help companies manage and monitor employee absences, ensuring compliance with policies and regulations. With a complimentary employee self-service app, employees can submit a time-off request and the supporting documents that justify their leave.

Reasons to consider:

• Multiplatform support

• Detailed reports

• Modular

• Connects to building access control systems

Reasons to avoid:

• Needs to integrate with partners for onboarding.

Conclusion

Workforce management software consolidates all the solutions to improve employee productivity, time management, team collaboration, and even compliance. Each of the platforms listed above has unique selling points that make them the best tools for executing tasks and achieving maximum operational efficiency. Choose from BambooHR, HROne, Paylocity, Connecteam, and Softworks to address the evolving needs of the workforce.