Strategic human resource management (HRM) is a proactive, future-oriented HR practice in which HR leadership develops and taps into current workforce talent to help a company achieve its broader business goals.

Being strategic about the strengths of a company’s people—and the rich skill sets and backgrounds they bring to the workplace—requires an understanding of how a company currently manages human resources and how they can be better leveraged to accomplish a goal. With a solid understanding of current HR management and a future state, a human resource strategy serves as a roadmap for how to get to the goal.

See also: Human Resources (HR) Software Guide

What is strategic human resource management?

Strategic human resource management is an approach to maximize the value that employees bring to an organization. In order to leverage a workforce in the most optimal way, companies need a human resources strategy.

A human resources strategy outlines how HR will develop and tap into employee strengths to add value and contribute to a company’s broader goals. Each company’s strategy will look different depending on the company size, industry, culture, goals, and current strengths and weaknesses.

What are the benefits of a human resources strategy?

Depending on the strategic emphasis, a company can reap the following benefits from an HR strategy:

• Orientation: A strategy provides a sense of direction and includes milestones and built-in accountability.
• Higher Morale: Having a people-centric plan that management, HR, and employees support has positive downstream effects on employee satisfaction, performance, and workplace culture.
• Stakeholder Empowerment: An actionable plan creates a sense of purpose, ownership, and responsibility for stakeholders at all levels. Empowerment boosts engagement which increases the chances of success.
• Better Retention: An HR strategy provides direction which, in turn, brings about a cohesive, more engaged workplace culture that employees want to be a part of. When employees want to stay, reduced turnover means decreased hiring expenditure.
• Preparation and Resilience: When HR has a strategy in place, it minimizes the chances of business disruption that can arise as a result of skills gaps or staffing shortages.

How to create a human resources strategy

Look at current business and HR data

Get a sense of the business’s current circumstances, pain points, and opportunities by first looking at current business data. Business intelligence software like Qlik or Tableau provide comprehensive as well as drill-down insights for points of improvement.

Read more: Qlik vs Tableau: BI Software Comparison

Compare comprehensive business data to HR-specific data from the human resources information system (HRIS) to identify points of overlap where HR can support and directly impact the company’s overarching goals.

For example, HR metrics that have ripple effects on the rest of the company include:

• Turnover rate, employee performance, and compensation strategy all impact finance.
• Employee performance, skills, gaps, and time to hire all impact if and how things get done, from day-to-day tasks to lofty initiatives.
• Skills gaps, time to hire, average employee tenure, and average time to promotion impact employee morale and company culture.
• Feedback about the workplace culture from exit interviews, pulse surveys, or reviews is a barometer for how well the company trains managers and leaders.

Set goals

Making these connections between people management and the business’s performance uncovers critical opportunities to act on. And these opportunities need to be backed by qualitative and quantitative data points like those noted above.

HRIS and BI software generate reports or display dashboards to identify opportunities for improvement in HR processes. Human capital management (HCM) systems with predictive people analytics, such as Workday HCM and Oracle HCM, go beyond assessing a company’s current needs by providing forecasting tools to make a well-informed data-driven decision about future workforce needs. These are good starting points to coming up with goals and an actionable HR strategy.

Also read: Workday vs Oracle HCM

Develop programs, processes, and policies to achieve your goals

Create goal- and budget-aligned programs, processes, and policies that feed into and support broader business strategy.

Programs, processes, and policies that HR might create to support the bigger business goals might fall within these general categories:

• Compensation and benefits to attract and retain top talent.
• Performance management to routinely assess and improve employees’ performance.
• Training and development to invest in employees’ professional development.
• Employee relations to cultivate a supportive, cohesive work environment to retain talent.

HR can plan for specific initiatives and set goals within these areas. For instance, if training and development is a priority to help the company expand into new markets, starting a mentoring program or rolling out a learning management system (LMS) are just a couple of ways HR can support that company goal.

Invest in the right software

The feasibility of people-centered initiatives doesn’t entirely fall on people to implement. Software tools help or even take over initiatives outlined in HR’s strategy, as they produce valuable insights, especially in goal-setting and progress-tracking.

Companies prioritizing efficient HR operations should check out HRIS software, as these typically include automations that boost HR efficiency and enable employee self-service. Examples include Rippling, Gusto, and ADP Run.

Rapidly growing companies prioritizing hiring in their HR strategy should invest in applicant tracking systems (ATS) and recruiting software. Applicant tracking systems like Greenhouse and JazzHR help companies manage candidate pipelines for multiple positions at once by keeping employees moving with automated workflows and candidate communication. Recruiting software solutions like Zenefits, Zoho People, and Breezy HR:

• Use AI to source and engage talent faster than the manual work of a hiring manager or hiring team.
• Syndicate job posts for maximum reach.
• Offer creative ways of tapping into often-overlooked talent pools through niche job boards, passive recruiting, and talent discovery tools.

Also read: 9 Employee Recruitment Strategies to Improve Your Hiring Process

Companies whose HR strategy focuses on people development and retention should utilize performance management software, such as BambooHR, Lattice, and Namely, for employee development.

Training, reskilling, and upskilling in a learning management system is a logical next step for employees who are ready to expand their skill set. Examples of top LMS include Absorb LMS, Docebo, and 360Learning.

Culture-oriented HR strategies influence both recruiting and retention from an angle of how employees connect with and relate to one another in the workplace. Fetcher, Jobvite, Paylocity, Workable, and Zoho Recruit are examples of recruiting software solutions that support diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) efforts by:

• Anonymously screening resumes and assessments.
• Integrating with a variety of job boards that target underrepresented demographics.

Employee engagement software improves company culture by soliciting, analyzing, and enabling actionable acting on feedback.

Also read: Strategies for Cultivating a Diverse Talent Pool

Course correct if necessary

As with any plan, expect change to happen as the HR strategy gets implemented. Unforeseen scenarios can change an HR strategy in ways big and small, so companies should have a change management strategy in place to account for situations that require a company to pivot or reprioritize.

Strategic human resource planning is as strong as the software that supports it

Strategic human resources planning is a forward-thinking approach to managing a workforce in a way that leverages current talent and develops more valuable strengths.

An HR strategy guides that approach toward tangible outcomes. As a roadmap for workforce optimization, each company’s HR strategy is unique because it’s based on current circumstances and where leadership envisions its workforce in the future. Having a roadmap for achieving goals is important because it gives direction to everyone involved and promotes accountability.

Implementing software increases the chances of seeing the HR strategy through to fruition and achieving goals more quickly because solutions take care of or assist with a particular goal and provide data to track progress.

To explore the right solutions for your HR strategy, check out our HR Software Guide.

The post What is Strategic Human Resource Management? appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

The more employee data a company captures, manages, and analyzes for its entire workforce, the more it stands to reap the benefits of human resources information system (HRIS) software.

An HRIS serves as a centralized repository for employee data, such as name, address, and salary, as well as organizational data, such as policies and a directory. An HRIS also serves as a foundation to layer on more advanced human resources management system (HRMS) and human capital management (HCM) capabilities, such as recruiting and performance management.

An HRIS is more than a mere database. HRIS software comes with several benefits to help streamline HR functions and free up time for HR teams and employees to do more value-added tasks.

Also read: The 5 Main Types of Human Resources Information Systems

8 essential HRIS benefits

What can your HR team achieve by implementing an HRIS?

1. Real-time information access

Unlike paper files, spreadsheets, and on-premises software, an HRIS as a cloud-based database means one source of truth for all authorized users, primarily employees and HR. An HRIS helps with version control for documents that HR updates routinely because it syncs changes in real time. That way, HR team members accessing the same document don’t have to worry about whether they’re viewing or updating its most recent version.

2. Reduced manual effort

An HRIS can automate HR tasks that staff would otherwise have to perform manually. Automating an onboarding workflow, for example, saves both HR staff and new employees time. HR staff can then focus on more mentally-demanding, value-generating projects—like rolling out a new learning management system (LMS) or setting up a mentorship program—rather than getting bogged down with manual data entry or reconciliation. And employees can focus on the tasks more immediately relative to their role instead of asking HR how to get their benefits set up.

Automated approvals keep projects moving forward, so stakeholders don’t have to wait for someone else to complete their task and check off a box manually. For example, when processing an employee reimbursement, the employee can simply upload documentation, and the software can take it from there to sync up with accounting and payroll. If there’s an issue, it can alert someone in either of those departments.

Need an HRIS that earns high marks on automation? We suggest checking out BambooHR.

3. Increased efficiency

An HRIS enables companies to streamline HR data and processes in one place instead of investing in individual tools stitched together via an application programming interface (API). HR software vendors usually allow companies to bundle tools for cost savings.

Once a company builds and analyzes historical data in an HRIS, reports reveal opportunities for cost savings without sacrificing function or employee experience. For instance, a company can utilize HRIS reporting to track the cost of benefits and potentially renegotiate pricing with carriers.

The upshot of centralized real-time data, automation, and streamlined processes is cost savings for the company.

4. Pattern and insight discovery

An HRIS without added HRMS and HCM modules doesn’t deliver the highest level of analytics possible, but since it contains a lot of employee and organizational data, it can deliver basic reports that are nevertheless useful.

For example, HR can view benefits enrollment data to determine which benefits to expand and which to scale back. An HRIS like Rippling can also pull payroll data to generate a comprehensive compensation report the user can filter by department or role.

As a company adds on HRMS and HCM tools, the reporting becomes even more complex, even predictive, and the data contained within the HRIS powers those analytics. The more modules that get added, the more data HR teams and company leaders can leverage to proactively make well-informed decisions about its workforce.

5. Higher employee satisfaction

Having the right HRIS in place makes HR and employees’ jobs easier by helping new employees get started with less guidance and by allowing employees to update their own information when necessary.

An HRIS like the one at the heart of ADP Workforce Now, for example, automates onboarding workflows. This not only saves HR staff time, but it also puts employees in control of onboarding tasks to complete, such as e-signatures for documents. A clear workflow also makes a good first impression on new hires because they understand what they need to do and when.

The HRIS continues to serve as an important touchstone for new and tenured employees alike to return to as they manage their own data throughout the employee life cycle, such as benefits, time off, or tax documents.

6. Better compliance

Storing and managing data in an HRIS helps a business stay compliant with industry and government regulations because there’s an electronic paper trail to refer to if the need arises. Plus, some HRIS solutions have built-in, automated compliance features.

Regardless of the industry, a business manages sensitive employee and organizational information. Storing it in an HRIS means less chance of data getting lost or stolen, since an HRIS administrator can configure access controls. Moreover, in the event of an audit or a legal investigation, the HRIS contains all of the necessary data a company must legally store and maintain for a certain period of time.

Businesses must also adhere to local, state, and federal regulations, such as FMLA for paid time off, ACA for benefits management, or minimum wage requirements in payroll. Some solutions’ foundational HRIS modules are capable of automated compliance to ensure compliant payroll and benefits administration.

Need a solution that helps with automated compliance? We recommend Gusto or Zenefits.

7. Access to improved features

When using paper-based or on-premises systems for storing and updating employee information, companies miss out not only on the benefits already mentioned but also the advanced features HRIS vendors release in their cloud-based solutions.

With an HRIS comes customer support and routine updates to improve system performance. Some new features may even be added. Rippling, for example, is adding scheduled report runs to its core HRIS platform.

8. Scalability

An HRMS or HCM system can’t function without the core HRIS, so investing in an HRIS paves the way for greater scalability as a company’s workforce needs become more strategic and more interconnected with other areas of the company.

After investing in an HRIS like Zoho People, for example, customers can add modules on top of it as needed, such as Zoho Payroll, Zoho Shifts, and Zoho Recruit. Adding these directly to the HRIS avoids a sprawling ecosystem of disparate tools and the potential security risks that accompany a patchwork-style tech stack.

Moreover, having an HRIS upon which to build improves user experience because users don’t have to navigate and integrate various software tools; they’re all managed and accessible via one central platform.

Elevate your HR processes with an HRIS

Businesses of all sizes benefit from an HRIS. As a unified data repository, it automates repetitive tasks, generates reports, enables self-service, and more. Businesses with a hybrid or fully remote workforce particularly benefit from HRIS software because employees and HR can access critical, up-to-date information whenever and wherever they are.

The best part is that companies can expand upon the HRIS database to include more sophisticated capabilities that match their needs. Your company might need an HRIS, HRMS, or an HCMS depending on the following characteristics:

• Your company’s current size.
• People management pain points.
• What kind of data it wants to collect and analyze.
• What it wants to accomplish with that data.

Check out our explanation of the differences between an HRIS, HRMS, and an HCM to understand which type of HR system is best for you. Or, explore our HR Software Guide to browse top vendors across all three categories.

The post The Key Benefits Of HRIS Software (2023) appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Though HRIS, HRMS, and HCM overlap in core HR areas that run on basic employee data, HRM and HCM systems offer an increasingly enhanced set of features. A specific software product’s features don’t always align with how the vendor markets or labels itself, making it confusing for buyers to find the level of functionality that’s right for their business.

Refer to our HR Software Guide to explore vendors in all three categories and find a solution that fits your business needs.

What are the differences between HRIS, HRMS, and HCM?

HRIS, HRMS, and HCM aren’t three separate types of software. Rather, they build upon one another to offer increasingly sophisticated features as a company’s needs evolve.

To illustrate, an HCM platform encompasses and expands upon HRIS and HRMS capabilities. It has the capacity to store and track an employee’s basic information when they start a position, thanks to the bedrock of data managed in the HRIS.

Beyond that, the HCM also connects the employee’s performance management data and learning management activities. Managers can then monitor the professional growth of their direct reports over time. This falls within the scope of what an HRMS can do.

At the broadest level, the HCM platform aggregates workforce data from performance and learning management and funnels that information into the compensation management metrics and succession planning modules. HR leadership is vested in this information to ensure employees are getting paid fairly and are following career paths that serve both the employee’s and the organization’s goals.

Also read: Gusto vs Zenefits

HRIS

An HRIS is a centralized repository for employee data—like name, date of birth, and Social Security number (SSN)—and houses various types of information systems. These information systems, in turn, support different HR functions.

An HRIS is the most basic solution to store and manage employee data. It’s a step up from managing this information in spreadsheets and typically includes payroll, benefits administration, and time tracking. However, some HRIS solutions, like Rippling Unity, offer even more stripped-down functionality where a company can bolt on capabilities like payroll and time tracking.

When a business might choose an HRIS

An HRIS is best for small businesses with one-person or small HR teams that need basic HR functions like payroll, benefits administration, and time tracking.

HR professionals can leverage the data in an HRIS to streamline and automate tactical HR tasks like payroll. Top HRIS solutions in this regard include ADP Run, BambooHR, and Gusto Simple.

Also read: The Best HRIS Systems

HRMS

An HRMS expands upon HRIS to offer additional functionalities that draw on data from the HRIS and is thus best suited for small to medium businesses. Added capabilities include performance management and recruiting.

HRIS and HRMS are often blended together. While the HRIS handles raw employee data in its database, HRMS platforms layer functionality on top of that data to gain greater insights and make data-driven HR decisions. As such, an HRMS can’t exist without the database of an HRIS to support it.

When a business might choose an HRMS

HRM systems best support small to midsize businesses in not only managing more data but also acting on it in ways that keep the business growing.

Part of keeping an upward momentum means focusing on attracting and retaining top talent. Companies therefore use an HRMS to:

• Attract, hire, and onboard employees in a streamlined, user-friendly way.
• Develop employees via performance management.
• Engage employees by soliciting and acting on their feedback.

The HRMS draws on the various data stored in the HRIS to help HR professionals make data-driven decisions around attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in an organization. Top vendors include ADP Workforce Now, Zoho People, Rippling HR Cloud, Gusto Plus, and Zenefits.

HCM

HCM platforms are the most sophisticated level of HR software. They help companies develop and leverage employee strengths on a broader scale to increase the return on investment (ROI) of the workforce. Because of this, HCM platforms are tools designed for the strategic, people-focused aims of large businesses.

The main difference between HCM software and HRMS is the level of complexity of the tools the HCM system offers in order to support a bigger workforce. Tools in an HCM platform augment HRMS functionality to include more complex analytics that drive alignment between talent and overall business strategy.

To that end, HCM systems typically include strategic workforce management features like employee engagement, compensation management, and a learning management system. These tools are designed to help businesses optimize their workforces and develop internal talent.

When a business might choose an HCM

Large companies, especially those with employees in different parts of the world, need an HCM platform to acquire more complex analytical insights than an HRIS or HRMS can offer. Compared to an HRIS or HRMS, an HCM integrates information from all modules across one central platform to deliver insights and added security. Companies use these insights to manage and extend the employee life cycle from hire to retire.

HCM systems support a business’s strategic goals via comprehensive analytics and industry data and benchmarks. This means it generates and analyzes internal as well as external data sets to help a company:

• Leverage existing talent in the best way possible.
• Anticipate workforce needs in terms of recruiting, developing, and promoting employees.

ADP Enterprise HR, iSolved, Zoho People Plus, Oracle HCM, and Workday HCM are key HCM software vendors.

Also read: Workday vs. Oracle HCM

Should you choose an HRIS, HRMS, or HCMS?

Headcount is a good starting criterion but isn’t the only deciding factor for which type of system to invest in. Other factors to consider include:

Scalability of Features Within a Given Solution: Companies should ask what kind of functionality they need given the size of their workforce and what areas they’ll need to scale first. An increasing number of external party integrations becomes untenable, so a vendor that offers different product levels and add-ons is best. This helps avoid the trouble of switching solutions entirely, which only adds to a company’s growing pains

Business Maturity: An HRIS is ideal for managing a young company’s growing database, an HRMS helps companies that are poised for growth, and an HCM solution helps more mature companies strategize against competitors.

Pain Points: A company with high employee turnover, for example, benefits from an HRMS or HCM that includes advanced recruiting tools as well as performance management and employee engagement.

As the number of employees grows, an organization will eventually need to upgrade to a system that can handle more data storage (HRIS), management (HRMS), and/or analytics (HCM). Check out our HR Software Guide to explore vendors in all three categories and find a solution that fits your business needs.

The post HRIS vs HRMS vs HCM: What Is the Difference in 2023? appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

A corporate learning management system is a software solution that houses training materials, tracks progress on training objectives, and records user data. An LMS is particularly valuable to businesses in terms of compliance, onboarding, performance management, and learning and development.

Whether you’re looking to switch to a different corporate LMS or start with a new one altogether, our recommendations help make training and development user-friendly, relevant, impactful, and customizable to your workforce’s unique training needs. If none of these solutions meet your needs, explore our LMS Software Guide to browse other products that might be a better fit.

Also read: Why Do Businesses Switch to a Different LMS?

What are the top learning management systems for corporate training and learning?

Paylocity: Best for interactive knowledge distribution

Rippling: Best for automation

Docebo: Best for AI

Absorb LMS: Best for analytics

360Learning: Best for collaborative, in-platform course creation

Also read: 8 Elements of a Great Learning Management System

Paylocity: Best for interactive knowledge distribution

The talent management module of Paylocity’s human resources information system (HRIS) includes a corporate LMS. HR or learning and development (L&D) personnel can assign prebuilt courses to newly hired employees or those acquiring new skills for the job. Paylocity’s library of over 200 courses covers a broad range of topics, from health and wellness to inclusion to workplace safety. So, no time and energy is necessary to build out essential knowledge and training materials from scratch.

That said, Paylocity’s LMS offers plenty of room for customization to niche or company-specific learning needs. Subject matter experts in the organization can create their own training by importing external files. They can then share their knowledge in Community, Paylocity’s social engagement and collaboration tool.

Paylocity enables a variety of delivery methods, such as recordable webinars that can be consumed later. However, Paylocity doesn’t appear to offer accessibility features, such as closed-captioning.

Paylocity’s LMS allows HR administrators to set due dates and track user progress through any given course. At the end of a course, admins can measure the effectiveness of the training with a quiz or survey.

Paylocity pros and cons

Paylocity key features

• Out-of-box courses to get started quickly and easily
• Integration with Community

Also read: 5 Ways to Increase Employee Engagement with Your LMS

Rippling: Best for automation

Rippling boasts a variety of automated features. Once automation rules are set, Rippling can assign courses to employees, which eliminates repetitive, manual assigning. It can also send automated reminders to employees to complete or continue training according to a schedule. In fact, no setup of rules for certain training is necessary.

For example, Rippling already has preconfigured enrollment rules for sexual harassment compliance training across all 50 U.S. states, so HR doesn’t have to remember to enroll, let alone manually enroll, employees in mandatory training.

Users can upload their own courses or choose from Rippling’s impressive library of more than 1,000 prebuilt courses on topics, such as sexual harassment and HIPAA. Given the array of courses to choose from, users don’t need to upload their own materials and worry about them rendering correctly in the interface. Rippling also features a library of workflow templates for things like reminders, events, notifications, and more.

Once users complete training, Rippling automatically sends a certificate of completion and keeps a copy of its own on record for compliance purposes. Some industries or specific roles require employees to stay current on their certifications. For that purpose, Rippling has a built-in measure to ensure employee compliance by integrating the certification they earn in the LMS with the time tracking feature. That way, only employees who hold current certifications are able to clock in. This ensures compliance as well as workplace safety.

Rippling pros and cons

Rippling key features

• Automation
• Ready-to-go courses
• Compliance management
• Document management of completed certifications
• Integration with time tracking tool

Docebo: Best for AI

Docebo is an extensible, AI-powered LMS. Companies may choose add-ons that enhance Docebo’s LMS product to:

• Create and manage learning content.
• Infuse learning and development into employees’ daily workflows.
• Measure impact.
• Analyze data related to learning goals, use, and more.

Docebo stands out for its ability to leverage AI for accessibility and personalized learning experiences. Using AI, Docebo can automatically translate learning material into several languages. This makes training more accessible to workforces that operate around the globe.

It also includes virtual coaching and content suggestions, enabling employees to be more self-sufficient in their personalized learning paths. These features free up administrators to focus on program improvement instead of implementation.

Docebo is unique in the way it approaches learning as integral to rather than separate from daily work. Docebo’s Flow product removes barriers to learning by infusing personalized learning experiences into applications employees use on a daily basis.

Docebo Flow surfaces just-in-time learning insights to promote context-based learning. These insights pop up according to customizable rules in the user’s profile, which dictate what kinds of courses get suggested.

This product operates on web-based technologies like JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS, so as long as the user has access to the code, Flow allows the user to open an instance of the Docebo platform in any external web platform. This may require some technical savviness on the user’s part.

Employees, therefore, don’t have to manually pivot from their everyday work to training. The two are intertwined, strengthening employees’ ability to retain the learning material because it’s embedded within the work they do every day. Docebo integrates with more than 400 tools to make this possible.

Docebo also enables social learning to more widely and efficiently share knowledge and come together to answer questions. Learners can indicate their goals and interests, and Docebo’s LMS serves up relevant content accordingly. The most engaged learners show up on a leaderboard to encourage friendly competition.

Docebo pros and cons

Docebo key features

• AI
• Analytics and reporting
• Language translation
• Social learning

Absorb LMS: Best for analytics

Absorb LMS is a stand-alone e-learning platform that offers an array of add-on tools to enhance the core LMS. Its reporting and analytics tools help businesses optimize employee training, learning, and development for organizational goals.

Absorb provides two products that address different levels of data analytics: Absorb Analyze and Absorb Analyze Direct.

Absorb Analyze

Absorb Analyze enables insights between learning programs and business results. It affords insight into more granular LMS data points, such as:

• Enrollment by department and course.
• Login frequency and times.
• Use and engagement on a departmental, team, or individual user level.
• Competencies, badges, and certificates earned.

Absorb Analyze also features a variety of prebuilt LMS reports about learner activity and progress, which would interest a manager or supervisor. Alternatively, reports on course activity and evaluations pertain to HR, L&D, and the C-suite about how the program is performing overall.

Administrators can set up analytics dashboards customized to company needs. They can even create multiple dashboard templates that serve as unique views based on department or group. The dashboard widgets themselves are easy to drag and drop or mix and match.

Absorb Analyze Direct

Absorb offers more advanced analytics with its Absorb Analyze Direct tool. Powered by Snowflake, Absorb Analyze Direct connects LMS data to the company’s data visualization and business intelligence (BI) tool. This integration of Absorb LMS with a BI tool of choice allows a business to:

• Measure training programs’ impact.
• Assess program effectiveness.
• Identify trends in use, outcomes, and other key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Acquire more flexibility in data analysis.
• Unify siloed data to connect learning outcomes and data across departments.

Analyze is more simplified than Analyze Direct, as the latter allows deeper data dives that require more tech savviness. In addition, Analyze delivers more granular data points and how those data points link to the company’s overarching goals. Analyze Direct reveals more complex data insights at a greater breadth. It integrates data laterally across departments and vertically to convey how L&D fits into top-level business goals.

Absorb pros and cons

Absorb key features

• Customizable dashboards
• Variety of reports
• Intelligent Assist AI tool

360Learning: Best for collaborative, in-platform course creation

360Learning is a stand-alone corporate LMS like Docebo and Absorb, but it’s unique in the way users can collaboratively create content directly within the platform. Being able to do so offers more flexibility in content creation and curation. Users don’t necessarily need to resort to available templates or import files from external tools which might not render correctly in the LMS portal and mobile app.

Administrators can collaborate on the back end to create and iterate on training material. This makes it easier to keep content current and expedite the go-live process. They can provide feedback privately on the back end that users never see on the front end.

360Learning facilitates communication between the administrator and learners. For instance, curators can provide correct answers to assessment questions, so users can learn from their mistakes. The software also contains several feedback tools like the feedback inbox and a reaction score that prompts users to provide feedback on an activity.

360Learning puts a lot of control and responsibility in the administrator’s hands to craft courses for niche or specialized corporate learning needs. This makes 360Learning LMS suitable for companies that want hands-on, highly interactive training, learning, and development that involves instructors and coaches to lead users through their courses.

In terms of interactive learning, 360Learning is comparable to Paylocity but with more features that facilitate even more collaborative learning. Not only does it make AI-powered recommendations for personalized learning experiences, but it also features a customized news feed for each user. This helps keep those who are in the same course informed and engaged and serves as an efficient way for a course instructor or coach to communicate with participants.

Learners can also earn achievements that are displayed on the leaderboard. A final impressive feature not seen on any of the other solutions in this list is a playlist where users can curate a list of courses to return to later. This supplements AI-generated course suggestions and empowers the learner to take more control over their learning and development.

360Learning pros and cons

360Learning key features

• Collaborative, in-platform content creation
• AI-powered learning suggestions
• User-generated content playlists
• Social elements between learners and with administrators
• Assessments
• Learner feedback

Choosing the Right Learning Management System

Paylocity and Rippling offer corporate LMS solutions that are embedded within their HRIS platforms. This poses a unique advantage for them in terms of integrating employee data across modules, including talent management. The number and robustness of their features don’t measure up to those of Docebo and Absorb, but this makes Paylocity and Rippling more affordable options for companies that don’t require advanced features in their corporate LMS.

Docebo and Absorb offer core stand-alone LMS solutions that will likely require add-ons at an extra cost. This provides companies with customization in choosing only the features they need and the flexibility to add on later if needed. However, the cost of adding tools may easily exceed what small businesses can afford.

360Learning is another stand-alone platform that’s a great fit for organizations that have a dedicated training and L&D team that leads employees through training programs. Companies that desire a more self-guided, hands-off approach but with some social elements can find that in any of the other four solutions.

If none of these vendors meet your needs, check out our LMS Software Guide to browse other solutions.

The post Best Corporate Learning Management Systems appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Whether you’re looking to switch from one of these vendors to the other or you’ve narrowed down your shortlist to Gusto and ADP Workforce Now, compare them in terms of pricing and features to determine which one might better fit your company’s needs. If neither option seems like the right fit, use our HR Software Guide or Payroll Software Guide to explore other solutions.

Gusto vs. ADP: Which is better?

Gusto: Better for small companies focused on optimizing payroll

Gusto started out as a payroll software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, and it’s clear that payroll is its specialty. However, the software has since expanded to perform a range of capabilities.

Its intuitive user interface, market-leading support, and affordable price point make it a popular HR software solution for many SMBs. Specifically, companies with limited HR staff or those with complex payroll requirements are ideal Gusto customers.

Also read: Top Gusto Competitors & Alternatives

ADP: Better for midsize companies focusing on growth and retention

ADP is one of the world’s largest providers of payroll and HR software. It offers a stripped-down solution — ADP Run — for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. ADP’s Workforce Now platform, on the other hand, is built with small businesses in mind and includes HR, payroll, benefits, time, and talent management tools as well as analytics. ADP’s Workforce Now solution is, therefore, more on par for comparison with Gusto.

Also read: Top ADP Competitors & Alternatives

Gusto vs. ADP: A detailed comparison

Back to top

Pricing

Gusto and ADP package their features differently, which can make it difficult to understand which vendor provides more value for the money, especially since ADP does not show prices on its website.

While Gusto’s pricing is more transparent and scales with businesses as they grow, ADP customers must switch products entirely based on headcount. For instance, once a company has 50 or more employees, they must upgrade from ADP Run to ADP Workforce Now. Businesses focusing on functionality rather than headcount in selecting a solution may, therefore, find Gusto’s flexibility more appealing than ADP’s more rigid packages.

Gusto

Gusto’s pricing structure starts with a low base price and scales up depending on the number of users. It’s worth pointing out, however, that Gusto has a five-employee minimum. This means that even if a company has only three or four employees, they will be paying the same rate as if they had five.

Gusto offers three tiers of pricing for most businesses. The features each package includes are broken down in the table below:

Gusto also offers a contractor-only plan for businesses that outsource all of their staffing needs to freelancers and other contract workers. This plan includes unlimited contractor payments in all 50 states, plus the option to pay an additional fee for international contractor payments if needed. It also includes some necessary compliance features, like 1099-NEC forms and new-hire reporting for required states.

The contractor-only plan is more affordable than the other plans, with a base cost of $35 USD plus $6 per contractor. However, the plan does not include any features for managing full-time employees, so companies that employ both full-time staff and contractors will need to use one of the three main Gusto plans.

Additionally, Gusto offers a range of services that companies can add to supplement the core features. These include:

• International contractor payments
• State tax registration
• Bring-your-own-broker
• Workers’ compensation
• Health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs)
• Life and disability insurance
• 401(k) retirement savings
• 529 college savings
• Commuter benefits
• Research and development (R&D) tax credit services
• Priority support
• Federal and state compliance alerts
• Direct access to certified HR experts
• HR Resource Center

Some add-ons, like workers’ compensation and commuter benefits, are available with all plans, but many are only available for the mid-range Plus tier. For example, customers who opt for the Simple tier don’t have the option to use their own health insurance broker, but Plus subscribers can pay an extra fee for this flexibility. Premium customers have this option included in their plan.

As a company’s list of needs grows, they may consider upgrading to the Premium tier rather than paying for each add-on individually.

ADP

ADP Workforce Now does not post pricing but displays the features that come with each tier. ADP offers more add-on options that are available for any tier, making certain features more accessible to ADP customers than to Gusto customers that have to upgrade to unlock access.

For example, ADP customers can add performance management and recruiting regardless of which plan they select. Gusto customers, on the other hand, have to upgrade to a new plan entirely to get some or all performance management and recruiting functionality.

ADP Workforce Now offers three price tiers to cover varying business needs. The features of each are broken down in the table below:

The Essentials package works for businesses that only need core HR and payroll capabilities, whereas the Enhanced package adds benefits administration features. The Premium package combines the features of Essentials and Enhanced and adds time tracking for comprehensive workforce management.

ADP Workforce Now provides greater savings over Gusto in terms of benefits administration because it takes a bring-your-own-broker approach. Integrating your own benefits providers with ADP doesn’t cost extra, while Gusto charges a fee to do so. Moreover, ADP is built to accommodate international employees and contractors from the get-go, as they’re included in ADP’s payroll software, while international payroll is an add-on for Gusto.

Tools for talent acquisition, performance management, compensation management, learning management, and other modules are available as add-ons to existing plans. For growing businesses, this means extra flexibility to add functionality as needed without needing to upgrade to a new tier entirely.

ADP Workforce Now add-ons available with any package include:

• Recruiting
• Performance management
• Compensation management
• Advisory services and support
• Reporting and analytics
• Learning management

Which to choose for pricing?

It’s a tie. Here’s why: Comparing Gusto and ADP in terms of what’s offered in each package, Gusto progressively adds features to core HR functions like payroll and benefits administration from one plan to the next. ADP, in contrast, offers a set of payroll and benefits administration features across all plans, but these are more basic and one-size-fits-all.

There are two primary distinctions to highlight in terms of pricing between Gusto and ADP Workforce Now. The first is benefits administration: Gusto includes basic benefits administration in every plan, whereas ADP only starts to offer benefits administration in its second tier.

The other difference is their ratio of included versus add-on features, particularly for talent management. Gusto offers basic recruiting tools in its Plus and Premium plans, while ADP offers recruiting as an add-on to any plan. ADP’s recruiting is arguably a better investment for teams that need substantial recruiting support. Pairing ADP’s robust recruiting with its native onboarding features included in each plan makes ADP tough to beat. Gusto’s onboarding features progress from tier to tier, but even at the highest tier, they don’t compare to ADP.

Moreover, Gusto adds employee development features to its top two tiers —employee engagement and performance management— to address staff retention, whereas ADP makes them available to all users as add-ons.

With this information in mind, ADP Workforce Now benefits midsize companies that have benefits packages and have outgrown basic HR tools. Though ADP Workforce Now provides more value by including more core HR features across its plans, its package tiers are rigid and don’t provide as much depth, granularity, and flexibility in payroll and benefits administration like Gusto does. In other words, these features don’t vary significantly from one ADP plan to the next.

Smaller companies may, therefore, prefer Gusto’s flexibility in adding extra functionality to core HR functions as needed. But, they’re forced to commit to a more expensive Gusto plan for access to ancillary HR features like employee engagement and performance management.

Benefits administration

Back to top

Gusto and ADP Workforce Now both help companies stay compliant with federal regulations. They also both allow bring-your-own-broker. However, from there, the two take vastly different approaches to benefits administration.

Bring-your-own-broker is the rule rather than the exception for ADP Workforce Now customers, as the platform is set up to integrate with major insurance carriers. Gusto accommodates both third-party broker plans as well as working with Gusto’s own licensed brokers. In fact, doing the latter saves the company money, so Gusto incentivizes working with its own brokers and advisors.

Gusto

Gusto’s benefits administration features are included with every plan. This is beneficial for businesses that need help with benefits as well as payroll, which are two essential HR capabilities. However, companies that have an existing payroll solution may be paying for additional Gusto payroll capabilities they don’t need.

Benefits selection

Gusto’s licensed advisors assist companies with putting together a competitive benefits package. Not only does this save time, but using these brokers saves money since bring-your-own-broker incurs an additional fee and isn’t available with Gusto’s lowest pricing tier.

For example, upgrading to one of the two higher price tiers (Plus and Premium) unlocks access to more of Gusto’s benefits, which include:

• Workers’ compensation
• HSAs and FSAs
• Commuter benefits

Gusto also offers a variety of no-cost (included), low-cost, and premium financial and health benefit options. While these á la carte benefits allow customers to customize their benefits packages, the costs may add up quickly.

Compliance

Gusto helps companies remain compliant and file the right paperwork with the right government agencies. It offers assistance with:

• Affordable Care Act (ACA)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Moreover, Gusto has automated compliance alerts for state and federal regulations but only in its top two plans.

EDI

One drawback to consider is that Gusto’s benefits administration features don’t support electronic data interchange. EDI connection provides a secure, convenient way to automatically communicate changes to carriers, such as an employer’s changes to the benefits package or an employee’s changes to their selection.

Not having EDI means HR teams will likely need to spend extra time and energy contacting carriers and making benefits changes manually during open enrollment.

ADP

Benefits administration is included in ADP Workforce Now’s top two plans. So, a company that selects ADP’s cheapest package must have a stand-alone benefits administration software solution that will integrate with ADP’s platform. However, as a company grows, it’ll eventually need to upgrade to one of the higher packages anyway.

Otherwise, a company currently without benefits administration will need to choose the Enhanced or Premium plan to start with. This latter option is ultimately better, considering most businesses anticipate growth in terms of headcount that will drive down the cost later on.

Plus, benefits administration in ADP Workforce Now integrates with payroll, HR, and accounting and finance software as well as with most enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

This kind of cross-module data integration within one platform enables a company to better plan for and gain better analytical insight on benefits in terms of which ones to offer, how to administer them, and how to streamline communication between employees, the company, and providers.

Plus, HR and finance teams don’t have to manually enter benefit plan information and keep it up to date across multiple systems. This helps reduce the risk of data entry error or duplication and saves time.

ADP Workforce Now packages its features in such a way that makes it hard for companies to even consider the Essential plan because it does not include benefits administration, a key feature of any HR software solution.

Companies choosing ADP Workforce Now are better off starting with the Enhanced or Premium plan, unless they are wedded to a particular benefits administration software vendor and plan to remain small and nimble in a niche market.

Standout features of benefits administration in ADP Workforce Now are its user-friendliness, access, and analytics. ADP Workforce Now features an AI-powered tool called Nayya that helps employees choose benefits that make the most sense for their needs.

The platform also has advanced analytical capabilities to help HR keep track of benefits enrollment and overall cost. Finally, benefits administration is more accessible with ADP Workforce Now through its mobile app, while Gusto does not provide access through an app.

Benefits selection

ADP takes a self-service approach in putting together a customized benefits package. Alternatively, companies can bring their existing benefits to ADP Workforce Now, as it integrates with more than 700 insurance carriers, including major ones like Aetna and Cigna. This makes ADP Workforce Now’s benefits administration great for companies that need minimal assistance in creating a benefits package or migrating an existing one.

This is a major difference from Gusto, which provides more hands-on assistance. ADP Workforce Now offers a limited range of its own licensed specialists to assist companies with selecting the following benefits for an additional fee:

• Group health insurance
• Retirement planning
• Workers’ compensation

ADP Workforce Now is great for companies with established benefits packages they can bring with them to integrate into the platform.

Compliance

Benefits administration through ADP Workforce Now is automatically compliant with ACA, COBRA, and other regulations. It features dashboards to track and measure hours worked and benefits eligibility. This is useful for companies that exempt part-time employees from benefits eligibility.

In addition, when an employee leaves the company, the benefits administration software triggers automated COBRA notifications to ensure the employee gets the option of continued insurance coverage.

State and federal compliance reporting are included in all ADP Workforce Now plans, while they’re only accessible in Gusto’s top two tiers.

EDI

Employee data and benefits information automatically and securely syncs between ADP Workforce Now and benefits providers through EDI. This saves time and reduces the chance of errors. Gusto does not have EDI-enabled benefits administration software.

Which to choose for benefits administration?

It’s a tie. Here’s why: ADP and Gusto target two different customer bases in terms of benefits administration.

ADP caters to more mature, midsize companies that have already established their benefits plans. By comparison, Gusto is oriented towards smaller businesses whose benefits plans are still in flux or perhaps not even set up yet at all.

So in terms of benefits administration, the right vendor depends on whether the company has a benefits package it’s happy with (go with ADP) or is just starting to put one together (go with Gusto).

Payroll

Back to top

Gusto and ADP Workforce Now have similar offerings in their respective payroll modules, such as international payroll, mobile accessibility, and the choice of built-in or customizable payroll reports. However, Gusto and ADP Workforce Now differ in their automations and in the breadth of features.

Gusto

Gusto offers full-service payroll in different scopes depending on the plan. The Simple tier includes single-state payroll, while Plus offers multi-state payroll. Companies with distributed, remote work models that opt for Gusto will likely need to start out with the Plus plan. Gusto also offers international payroll in more than 80 countries, which is a bonus for companies that employ staff around the globe. Like ADP, international payroll is available as an add-on.

Gusto has broad payroll functionality and a variety of automated features to save HR teams valuable time. Smaller companies or those with complex payroll requirements are particularly likely to find more success with Gusto than ADP Workforce Now.

Gusto provides more detailed information about all of the payroll features included in its plans. For example, Gusto distinguishes between single-state and multi-state payroll and stipulates unlimited payroll runs each month. The granularity of features it outlines means it accommodates a range of different types of use cases and payroll schedules.

Automated payroll

Gusto’s winning feature is its AutoPilot, which allows HR to set up payroll to run automatically.

It performs payroll and year-end tax filings through the system, including preparation, filing, and remittance. Additionally, users can send and electronically sign I-9s and W-4s as well as provide their direct deposit information. With advanced product options, administrators can restrict access to sensitive information.

Gusto Wallet app

Gusto’s Wallet is a free app included in Gusto plans. It helps employees set and track their budgets and other financial goals. From the app, employees can easily access pay stubs and monitor how they spend each paycheck.

Employees can also use the Gusto Wallet app to decide which accounts their paychecks go into without asking HR to set it up for them. The Gusto Wallet app enables employee self-service and financial wellness. ADP Workforce Now lacks the financial wellness tools that Gusto offers.

Read also: Why You Should Add Employee Financial Wellness to Your Company’s Benefits

ADP

ADP is one of the world’s largest providers of payroll and HR software. The ADP Workforce Now platform includes core payroll features in all of its plans. Beyond that, users can opt for additional ADP products—some free of charge—to administer international payroll and a variety of ways to pay employees.

Automation

ADP Workforce Now also boasts automation, though it’s different from Gusto’s automation. ADP automatically reports new hires to state agencies for tax purposes to remain compliant. ADP Workforce Now includes compliance support for every state as well as for other countries in all of its plans. With Gusto, this kind of support is only available in its top two packages as an add-on to the Plus package and as an included feature in the Premium plan.

It also reconciles multiple rates of pay for reporting and accounting purposes. This automatic reconciliation is helpful for companies with employees in different countries and of different types, for example, contractors versus full-time employees.

However, ADP Workforce does not offer an automated payroll feature comparable to Gusto’s Auto Pilot.

Global payroll

ADP Workforce Now supports compliant payroll in more than 140 countries with its Celergo and GlobalView products that are available as add-ons to any plan, which is a plus for companies with employees and contractors located outside of the U.S.

Flexible payroll methods

ADP Workforce Now enables employers to pay their employees via multiple payroll methods. Even the basic plan allows direct deposit into as many as four accounts, and its partner apps enable payment via carrier mail or prepaid Visa debit card.

Employees also have access to on-demand pay via the Wisely by ADP and ZayZoon Wages On-Demand apps that integrate with ADP Workforce Now. Wisely services can be added to Workforce Now plans for free, but certain terms and conditions may incur fees for both employers and employees.

Employers can offer ZayZoon service as a benefit employees can elect and pay for at their discretion. A variety of payment methods with this solution means employers have flexibility in how they pay their employees.

Which to choose for payroll?

Gusto. Here’s why: Gusto enables unlimited, automated payroll and offers detailed features that serve a variety of customer payroll needs. It also integrates with other popular payroll software, such as Xero or QuickBooks, making Gusto a flexible, plug-and-play payroll software that can incorporate into any existing tech stack.

ADP Workforce Now provides many of the standard features that Gusto does but does not offer much more, rendering it a more rigid, one-size-fits-all solution that won’t work for every company.

Also read: How to Avoid These 3 Costly Payroll Mistakes

Time and attendance tracking

Back to top

Time tracking tools are rolled into Gusto’s payroll module in the Plus and Premium plans, but its most basic plan allows for integration with a company’s time tracking tool of choice. ADP Workforce Now houses time tracking tools in its Workforce Management module which is only available in its Premium plan. Time tracking features are, thus, accessible to more of Gusto’s customers.

Gusto

Payroll integration

Gusto’s native time tracking tool integrates with payroll but not with other areas of HR, which makes it tricky to align employee time-off benefits with the amount of time they request and receive. This may require managers and employees to cross-check between the time tracking and benefits modules when managing time off.

HR teams can customize paid time off (PTO) policies and select paid holidays through the time tracking tool. These policies then sync with payroll.

Time-off management and calendar sync

Employees manage time-off requests directly in Gusto’s time tracking tool. Approved time off syncs with payroll and Gusto’s built-in calendar. Alternatively, users can integrate Gusto with a third-party calendar such as Google, Outlook, or iCal, while ADP users only have the option of syncing with Outlook. However, employee scheduling with Gusto requires integration with a third-party app like When I Work or ClockShark.

Reporting

Gusto features time tracking reports to gauge workforce cost based on hours worked but not by labor type, which may be a drawback for companies that work with employees as well as contractors.

ADP

Automated scheduling

With ADP’s native time tracking tool, managers can have schedules automatically created and synced with the Microsoft Outlook calendar. Gusto lacks a native scheduling tool but integrates with more calendars than ADP does.

Reporting

Customers get more advanced reporting and analytics for time tracking in ADP Workforce Now. While Gusto’s reporting focuses on workforce cost and PTO use, ADP’s time tracking reports deliver insights on:

• Absences
• Hours worked
• Labor costs
• Overtime
• Industry benchmarks and comparison

ADP’s reporting can even generate predictive insights to help a company better prepare for staffing bottlenecks or surpluses. This is useful for companies operating in seasonal industries.

Time Kiosk tool

ADP Workforce Now offers several ways to manage employees’ time and attendance via computer terminal, mobile device, and even voice and facial recognition in the Time Kiosk tool. Regardless of the way employees clock in and out, ADP automatically tracks and calculates the time worked and transfers that data to the payroll, HR, and benefits administration information systems in the platform.

Compliant time tracking domestically and abroad

The time tracking module helps a company navigate local and country-specific compliance requirements for domestic and international employees and contractors, such as fair scheduling regulations, laws related to work and rest, and union agreements.

Gusto, on the other hand, does help a company stay compliant with time tracking by automatically storing wage records, but its compliance help is not as specific as that of ADP Workforce Now.

Which to choose for time tracking?

ADP Workforce Now. Here’s why: ADP Workforce Now offers automated schedule creation, more nuanced compliance support, and advanced time management and reporting features. Gusto fulfills basic time tracking needs, but ADP Workforce Now is worthwhile for companies that have complex compliance and scheduling needs for a more distributed workforce. 

Recruiting and onboarding

Back to top

Gusto and ADP cover all basic recruiting and onboarding functionality, but ADP goes beyond to include more enhanced features in both areas, especially recruitment.

Gusto offers native recruiting and onboarding functionality along with the option to integrate with third-party recruiting software.

ADP partners with ZipRecruiter for recruiting functionality, which is housed within its Talent Management module. Its onboarding tools are rolled into the HR Management module and can perform some advanced functions that Gusto can’t. As a bonus, all onboarding tools are included in every package.

Gusto

Gusto offers a variety of recruiting and onboarding features across all of its plans. More advanced recruiting features are limited to Gusto’s upper tiers, but onboarding capabilities are more widely available across Gusto’s packages. The fact that Gusto has in-house recruiting and onboarding means HR has more comprehensive analytics and insights about how to improve the hiring process.

Recruiting

Companies can use Gusto’s built-in recruiting tools to create job listings and track candidates, but it doesn’t syndicate job posts, so recruiters are responsible for sharing the post link manually. Gusto users can follow and guide candidates through the hiring funnel in Gusto’s own applicant tracking system.

Alternatively, customers can integrate with a third-party ATS. This approach comes with its own set of technical challenges and budgetary considerations, but it may be more effective for ambitious hiring goals. It’s also worth noting that job posting and applicant tracking capabilities are available only in Gusto’s Plus or Premium plans.

When assessing candidates, hiring teams can collaborate by sharing feedback on candidate scorecards. For candidates that advance to the offer phase, Gusto provides customizable offer letter templates to extend an offer as soon as possible.

Onboarding

Hiring teams can transition candidates who have accepted offers into Gusto’s built-in, self-onboarding process to ensure the new hire experience is as smooth as possible.

Gusto’s base plan features a starter onboarding checklist that includes suggestions of typical stages in the onboarding process, but starting with the Gusto Plus package, HR professionals can add steps that are tailored to their company’s particular needs. For example, tasks on the onboarding checklist may include attending orientation training or signing a W-4 form.

Gusto facilitates organized document management for all recruiting and onboarding documents. Its built-in e-signature capability expedites the onboarding process. Once all necessary documents are signed and submitted, they’re securely stored in the platform.

ADP

Companies have the option of adding recruitment functionality to its suite of talent management tools. Recruiting in ADP Workforce Now works via ZipRecruiter and integrates with ADP’s own onboarding tool.

Recruiting

Recruiters and hiring managers using ADP Workforce Now can take advantage of the ZipRecruiter integration to:

• Create branded career sites
• Post syndicated jobs ads to 25,000+ job boards and to social media networks
• Identify the most qualified candidates

When posting a job to a social media network, users get a pre-populated template to save time and facilitate wider job vacancy sharing to their professional contacts. ZipRecruiter automatically identifies the best candidates and invites them to apply to a company’s job posting.

ADP users can keep in touch with candidates through text messages or video. The system also facilitates interview scheduling for candidates that advance to the interview stage.

ADP has an advantage over Gusto in its recruiting-specific reporting. It tracks key metrics like cost to hire and time to hire to enable recruiting teams to get better over time.

Onboarding

Candidates that receive and accept an offer letter are routed to ADP Workforce Now’s own onboarding tool, which is available in all ADP Workforce Now packages. Via Adobe Sign integration, ADP Workforce Now enables new employees to sign necessary documents from within the platform. ADP’s onboarding is also self-service and mobile-enabled, so new hires can view and take care of onboarding tasks from anywhere.

Onboarding in ADP is set up to trigger a survey for new hires to complete after 90 days on the job in order to gauge their experience with the company so far. This information connects with ADP’s Voice of the Employee sentiment analysis and engagement tool.

Which to choose for recruiting and onboarding?

ADP Workforce Now. Here’s why: ADP leverages its partnership with ZipRecruiter to perform more functions than Gusto can, including syndicated job posting and social recruiting. This gives ADP customers greater reach and visibility in their recruiting efforts.

ADP also boasts a set of advanced onboarding capabilities any ADP customer can access regardless of the plan they pick. ADP’s onboarding supports companies that want to focus on employee experience early on in an employee’s tenure.

In short, ADP Workforce Now supports businesses prioritizing hiring and retention. It offers better functionality and greater accessibility when it comes to recruiting and onboarding.

Gusto works well for companies with lower hiring volumes. It fulfills basic recruiting and onboarding needs for companies filling non-specialized, easier-to-fill roles.

Gusto vs. ADP: Ready to choose?

Back to top

Gusto and ADP Workforce Now are two of the most popular HR software solutions on the market. They both offer a range of functionalities at a more competitive cost than larger platforms like SAP SuccessFactors and UKG. Each vendor offers unique advantages for different types of buyers, but the right choice will support your company’s HR goals now and in the future.

Gusto is a better choice for small businesses that have relatively basic needs beyond payroll but want the flexibility to add on incrementally to areas like benefits administration, recruiting, and onboarding.

ADP Workforce Now is more suitable for midsize businesses poised for growth and retention. It includes a larger breadth of core HR features available across the board but without much depth or flexibility for some areas like payroll and benefits administration. It shines in recruiting, onboarding, and employee engagement, all of which are available to customers in any plan.

If neither software meets your company’s unique needs, explore other solutions on the market through our Payroll Software Guide or HR Software Guide​​.

The post Gusto vs ADP appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Despite the logistical and financial obstacles, offering robust parental leave benefits can return many advantages for employers. Paid parental leave can help improve employee retention and satisfaction, lower overall healthcare costs, create a more equitable workplace, and increase productivity across the business. However, implementing a successful policy requires employers to understand the complexities and nuances of parental leave.

What is parental leave?

Parental leave, also referred to as family leave, is a benefit given to employees who need time away from work to care for their children. It is similar to sick leave and paid time off (PTO), but the stipulations for eligibility and entitlement are often more nuanced and subject to more legal requirements.

Parental leave is often conflated with maternity and paternity leave, but these terms only address a narrow set of parental experiences. Instead, parental leave addresses a wider range of scenarios, including adoptive parents and employees who don’t identify as mothers or fathers. Additionally, parental leave addresses more of the challenges working parents face long after childbirth.

Most countries guarantee some degree of parental leave to all workers, though the specific details of those requirements vary drastically.

Also read: Leave Management Tools and Best Practices

Federal parental leave requirements for U.S. employers

The U.S. is one of seven countries that do not offer guaranteed, nationally mandated, paid parental leave for all workers. Federal workers are entitled to 12 weeks of paid parental leave under the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA), but no such protection exists for non-government employees nationwide.

Private-sector protections under FMLA

The only federal protections for parental leave in the private sector exist under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This measure allows eligible workers to take 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a range of medical and family-related reasons.

In relation to family planning, FMLA applies to:

• The birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth.
• The placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement.

This legislation guarantees that most workers will not lose their job because they need to take time away from work to care for their families. It also prevents employers from denying time off requests to eligible employees. However, it does not address some of the complexities and complications involved with parental leave.

Limits of FMLA

Only companies with more than 50 employees are required to comply with FMLA, which means employees at smaller firms have no legal recourse if their request for family-related time off is denied.

Furthermore, the employee taking leave must have worked a total of 1,250 hours (approximately 32 40-hour weeks) within the 12 months prior to leave to be eligible. Employers are not legally obligated to provide FMLA-sanctioned leave benefits to most new hires.

In addition, the conditions for taking unpaid leave don’t cover the full range of scenarios that working parents might experience, such as pregnancy loss or the death of the birthing parent. This means many employees who would benefit from taking time away from work to care for their families may risk losing their jobs or having their time-off requests denied.

Learn more: Leave Management Best Practices

State-level paid family leave requirements

In the U.S., only 11 states and Washington, D.C. have enacted laws providing paid family leave for qualified employees:

• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• New Jersey
• New York
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• Washington

These requirements vary from state to state. Rhode Island, for example, entitles each employee to six weeks of paid parental leave, whereas New York’s minimum requirement is 12 weeks. Each state also has different specifications for eligibility requirements, wage replacement rates, maximum benefits, and other details.

It’s worth noting that most employment laws depend on where the employee works. Therefore, companies that hire remote workers across the country should be prepared to comply with these laws and provide paid family leave to employees in those states.

International parental leave requirements

International employers are faced with the unique challenge of ensuring their parental leave policies meet the requirements of all countries where their employees live. The United States has relatively few requirements compared to other nations. Switzerland, for example, requires employers to pay 100% of an employee’s wages for eight weeks of parental leave.

The broad range of legal standards means global employers should take extra care to craft a policy that maintains compliance while also providing comparable benefits to all employees. To create a consistent policy, employers should consult legal experts as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committees. It may also be valuable to work with global professional employer organizations (PEO) that have familiarity with parental leave laws around the world.

Common barriers to parental leave

Despite legislative protections, employees in the U.S. often underutilize parental leave benefits for a variety of reasons. They may face financial hardship if they take unpaid leave, be ineligible to receive leave benefits, or fear the indirect career impact of taking extended time away from work.

Employers should consider these obstacles when crafting or revising parental leave policies.

Financial barriers

From a financial standpoint, most employees (70%) can’t afford to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave, as it would deplete their savings. FMLA, therefore, remains out of reach for employees in financially precarious situations and low-earning positions. These financial barriers to utilizing unpaid leave put eligible employees in positions where they must continue working despite the physical and psychological demands that come with being a working parent.

Eligibility barriers

Many parental leave policies are geared toward mothers and pregnant women, which inadvertently excludes a large population of employees who would benefit from similar accommodations. Revising policies to include non-binary, adoptive, and non-birthing parents helps ensure a broader group of employees are able to care for their families.

Eligibility requirements may also reserve paid parental leave benefits for employees with more tenure or seniority. New hires, hourly workers, and junior employees may be unable to take paid leave despite their family planning goals.

Additionally, most parental leave policies don’t give time off to parents dealing with pregnancy loss or infertility issues. Expanding eligibility to include a wider range of family planning scenarios allows those employees to take the time off they need to be more present and productive while at work.

Cultural barriers

Parental leave policies may not be effective if the company culture makes it difficult for eligible employees — especially women and minorities — to take time off. In many cases, working parents are hesitant to take leave that’s available to them if they fear how it will affect their job security and prospects for career advancement.

This is often regarded as the “motherhood penalty,” where implicit biases mean women with children are less likely to receive promotions, job offers, and other opportunities because they are perceived as less committed to their work. Equitable policies that give all parents generous time away from work reduce these cultural challenges.

Learn more: Strategies for Cultivating a Diverse Talent Pool

Paid parental leave FAQ

Though it isn’t required by law in most cases, many employers have started offering substantial paid parental leave as part of their benefits packages. As such, more businesses are questioning whether they, too, should add paid parental leave to their benefits offering.

How many companies offer paid parental leave?

SHRM’s 2022 Employee Benefits Survey found that leave (82%) and family care (70%) benefits were the third and fourth most important benefits employers offered after health-related (88%) and retirement (82%) benefits. Interestingly, the proportions of U.S. employers offering some type of paid leave for working parents were notably smaller:

• Paid maternity leave: 35%
• Paid parental leave: 33%
• Paid family leave: 31%
• Paid adoption leave: 28%
• Paid paternity leave: 27%
• Paid foster child leave: 22%

The largest reason employers gave for not offering paid parental leave was cost. Without federal legislation to support working parents, the burden of funding paid leave falls squarely on the employer. This expense is often too large for some businesses, even if they recognize the value of paid parental leave.

As paid parental leave requirements become more common around the world, the number of companies offering such benefits will inevitably increase. Therefore, businesses that can afford to offer paid leave before it’s mandated will set themselves up for long-term success.

What are the advantages of offering paid parental leave?

A 2021 poll from YouGov found that the majority (68%) of adults in the U.S. believe companies should offer paid parental leave to both mothers and fathers. Because nearly two-thirds of employers still do not offer paid leave, those that do are uniquely positioned to set themselves apart from other companies in an increasingly competitive labor market.

To that end, SHRM and Oxford Economics published findings in 2020 that revealed the competitive advantages employers gained by offering paid parental leave:

• Employee health and wellness: 61%
• Employee engagement: 60%
• Ability to attract talent: 58%
• Employee retention: 55%

Supporting working parents beyond parental leave

The obstacles employees face as parents don’t stop after their eligibility to take parental leave expires. Quite the opposite, in fact: When working parents return from leave, they often experience difficulty maintaining a healthy work-life balance, finding affordable childcare, and avoiding burnout among other challenges.

With this in mind, family-friendly employers who want to create a supportive work environment for their employees should consider offering some extra benefits in addition to paid parental leave. These include perks like on-site childcare, mental health services, family planning services, and more.

Furthermore, some HR software providers like Gusto and Freshteam offer features that help businesses support parents through 529 college savings plans, reimbursement programs, and paid leave alongside traditional benefits.

Read​​ next: Policies & Benefits That Support Working Parents

The post The Employer’s Guide to Parental Leave Policies appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Recruiting and applicant tracking go hand in hand. While recruiting software is an all-encompassing solution that supports all stages of the hiring process, an applicant tracking system (ATS) is a tool often nested within recruiting software. An ATS assists with managing applicants’ data and their progression through the hiring process.

Also read: When to Upgrade Your ATS

With so many recruiting vendors, we’ve compiled a list of hand-picked options. If none of these solutions meet your needs, explore our Recruiting Software Guide to browse other products that might be a better fit.

What is the best recruiting software?

Breezy HR: Best recruiting software for candidate evaluation

Breezy HR is a recruiting platform designed to help small businesses attract, qualify, and hire top talent. Companies have the option of creating a branded career site through the platform or embedding the Breezy Widget into an existing careers page to automatically publish job posts from Breezy to the page.

As applications roll in, Breezy HR offers a variety of features that optimize the candidate evaluation phase of the hiring process because all information about a candidate is gathered in one place. AI helps Breezy HR users determine which candidates are the best fit for an open role to expedite the hiring process. From there, a hiring manager can communicate and schedule an interview with the employee. For internal communication, hiring team members can access candidate profiles to complete scorecards or review an assessment. 

Assessment reviews are otherwise handled automatically. Breezy HR grades assessments and either advances or disqualifies the candidate automatically based on their results. For aspects that require the team’s deliberation, users can compare candidate notes all within the interface. And pre-established scorecard criteria ensure objective, equitable application reviews.

One-way video responses may interfere with objectivity, nevertheless, this and video interviewing in general are features available with Breezy HR. One-way video responses provide candidates another way to introduce themselves and answer screening questions. The remarkable feature of Breezy HR’s native video interview tool is that it displays all candidate info on the screen. This eliminates the need to find tabs and switch screens in the middle of an interview with a candidate. Also noteworthy are the real-time interview notes and interview recordings that automatically save to the candidate profile. Users can also opt to integrate with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom instead if they prefer. 

Also read: Best Applicant Tracking Systems for Small Businesses

Breezy HR pros and cons 

Breezy HR key features

• Rich contextual data in candidate profiles
• AI-powered Candidate Match score
• Resume parsing

iCIMS: Best recruiting software for candidate communication

Back to top

iCIMS’ all-in-one hiring platform does everything from social recruiting and applicant tracking to talent pipelining and onboarding to support aggressive recruiting strategies.

iCIMS’ account-based marketing approach to its marketing automation tools nurtures candidates who are most likely to consider or take a job. iCIMS’ Candidate Relationship Management tool identifies applicants who have engaged with the job ad, career site, or another aspect of the company’s externally facing recruiting efforts. Based on engagement scores, the iCIMS platform sends personalized, automated messages to those candidates to encourage them to apply. The messages are tailored to their preferred mode of communication and the type of content they’ve been accessing. This helps companies better communicate with candidates throughout the recruitment process to keep them more engaged and hire for roles faster. 

Also read: 3 of the Most Important Applicant Tracking Automations

iCMS also helps hiring teams tap into often overlooked talent pools. Its platform leverages rediscovery recruiting, meaning it re-engages candidates who have previously applied, even silver-medal candidates who made the shortlist but ultimately didn’t get an offer previously. It even helps manage communication with previous employees to either re-employ them or to continue tapping into their network for referrals.

Customers don’t necessarily need to commit to iCIMS’ comprehensive solution from the start. Instead, they may opt for just iCIMS Recruit without also buying iCIMS Connect and iCIMS Onboard. iCIMS offers add-on services as well, like the Applicant Tracking System, which can be purchased as a part of the iCIMS Talent Cloud to improve onboarding efficiency. 

iCIMS tools integrate into a company’s existing tech stack. For instance, it integrates with other popular HR solutions like Namely, Peoplesoft, and ADP Workforce Now.

iCIMS pros and cons

iCIMS key features

• Candidate contact via AI chatbot, SMS, or email
• Video on career sites and in job descriptions
• Virtual career fairs

JazzHR: Best recruiting software for small, collaborative hiring teams

Back to top

JazzHR is a recruiting software solution that assists with candidate sourcing, tracking, and evaluation. It publishes job posts to free and paid job boards as well as popular social media channels, such as LinkedIn. It has just the right amount of functionality for small businesses, but its top tier delivers enhanced features as a company grows.

JazzHR approaches hiring in a highly collaborative manner. JazzHR’s platform also allows HR to customize individual hiring teams based on the job opening. For example, a sales role would include mostly or entirely sales employees. Team members collaborate directly within the platform to give feedback on candidates and record notes in real time during the interview. Interview notes get stored in the candidate’s profile for later review. 

While Breezy HR and iCIMS deploy AI to score candidates, JazzHR requires hiring team members to cast votes to advance qualified candidates and reject unqualified candidates. Since JazzHR’s candidate evaluation process is collaborative, it won’t be a good fit for high-volume hiring situations. Plus, this collaborative decision-making about who advances could undermine efforts to avoid unconscious bias.

JazzHR pros and cons

JazzHR key features

• Collaborative candidate evaluation
• Document management and storage

Jobvite: Best recruiting software for balancing digital and in-person recruiting

Back to top

Jobvite is a feature-rich talent acquisition suite that includes an ATS, built-in video capabilities, and more. Jobvite’s platform enables companies to create branded career sites, manage applicants, and re-engage passive candidates for hard-to-fill positions. Given its AI-powered recruitment marketing tools, Jobvite is comparable to iCIMS. However, Jobvite stands out for its tools that support a hybrid approach to recruiting online as well as in person. 

Jobvite enables recruiters to collect contact information and resumes digitally or in person. Jobvite is not transparent in terms of how it’s able to automate the digital collection of contact information and resumes during an in-person event in particular; its tools therefore still lean heavily on the digital side of recruiting. It also helps recruiters stay proactive and organized via immediate follow-up contact with attendees.

Jobvite dedicates particular attention to recent college graduates and how its tools can help companies attract and engage Gen Z applicants. However, the features to support this approach are rolled into its main recruiting tools explained above. Jobvite is attuned to the needs of Gen Z applicants by emphasizing the timely, targeted, and digital aspects of recruiting. For instance, in advance of an event, Jobvite allows recruiters to reach out to registered attendees and gather more contextual information about them and inform interactions at the upcoming event.

Candidate evaluation and feedback in Jobvite goes through its app, which can be accessed via web browser or a mobile device. Here, hiring team members can submit candidate feedback and evaluation forms and message other team members. As such, Jobvite accommodates hiring teams working on the go or in the office.

Jobvite pros and cons

Jobvite key features

• On-the-go recruiting, digital file tracking for in-person and remote events
• Social recruiting
• Candidate evaluation via web browser or mobile app

Manatal: Best recruiting software for social recruiting

Back to top

Manatal is a recruiting software that meets the needs of a company’s HR and recruiting teams but also external hiring partners it may work with.

Manatal’s Vendor Management System facilitates collaboration among a company’s internal recruiters or with a company’s recruiting agency. As such, not only does it target company’s HR teams, but it also addresses recruiting agencies that use Manatal to share recruiting information with their clients.

Manatal helps companies expand their reach and boost visibility to job seekers. Users can share job postings directly from the Manatal-hosted career page to popular social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn. 

Manatal’s integration with social recruiting automatically enriches candidates’ profiles within its system. It scans for publicly available information on social media networks and inserts it into the profile. Manatal even imports a candidate’s LinkedIn profile into the candidate’s profile in Manatal’s database. Both candidate enrichment and the LinkedIn Sourcing Extension are available in all plans. 

Overall Manatal’s recruiting software offers the most value for the money, as many basic and advanced features are included in all plans.

Manatal pros and cons

Manatal key features

• Collaborative hiring portal for companies and their recruiters whether internal or external
• Social recruiting
• Candidate profile enrichment via social media networks

Workable: Best recruiting software for sourcing talent 

Back to top

Sourcing talent can be especially difficult for startups and small businesses. These organizations have neither the manpower to put a dedicated recruiter on the job, nor the budgets to hire agencies or purchase expensive recruiting software. Workable helps companies attract, source, evaluate, and hire talent. 

Workable utilities AI to identify, collect, and organize applicants in the pipeline. As with iCIMS, Workable also taps into previous applicants who almost got hired in the past. However, as with JazzHR, it’s on the hiring team to review candidates, assess their fit for the role, and move them forward in the process when using Workable. 

Like Manatal, Workable also pulls information from social media to enrich candidate profiles, but it works through a Chrome extension which still requires the user to find the information in the first place. After sourcing and evaluating candidates, Workable facilitates ongoing communication with candidates via two-way email. With this feature, email correspondence with the candidate are all tracked in Workday and saved to the candidate’s profile. Text communication is available as a premium add-on for an additional way to keep candidates engaged.

Workable’s call-out feature is its user-friendly employee referral portal. Referred candidates cost the company less money, they also speed up the process because they’ve been vetted by current employees, and they’re more likely to stay on board with the company for a longer period than those hired from a job board. 

The employee referral tool is user-friendly for both hiring managers and current employees. The hiring manager just has to send employees the link to the organization’s referrals platform, and Workable takes care of the rest. Employees don’t need special access or to take additional steps. Workable actively includes current employees in the recruiting process by supplying them with easy-to-share, ready-made posts for their professional networks. 

The ability to customize performance rewards in Workable’s referral system gamifies the referral process and incentivizes employee participation in the recruiting process. Employees can track not only their referrals but also monitor and redeem the rewards they accumulate over time, such as money, gift cards, or company swag.

All other solutions enable some kind of employee referral system with varying degrees of analytical oversight. However, they lack the rewards and gamification aspects of Workable’s referral system. 

Workable pros and cons

Workable key features

• Referral management
• AI-powered candidate matching and sourcing
• Talent rediscovery
• Social recruiting
• Internal mobility

Also read: 7 Workable Competitors To Help With Your Hiring Efforts

Zoho Recruit: Best recruiting software for analytics

Back to top

Zoho Recruit is a recruitment software solution and all-in-one applicant tracking system (ATS) for reaching, assessing, and hiring qualified applicants. Like Manatal, Zoho Recruiting also addresses the participation of outside vendors like staffing agencies in a company’s hiring process. 

Whether hiring with an internal team or with third-party recruiters, hiring managers using Zoho Recruit connect with qualified applicants. Zoho Recruit’s resume parsing and other AI-powered features helps recruiters identify good-fit applicants and assign them a score.  

Like all other solutions, Zoho Recruit also features reporting and analytics capabilities. However, it stands out with its recruitment forecasts that generate predictive insights based on factors like:

• Past forecast data
• Recruitment ROI
• Competitive analysis
• Economic climate
• Industry trends
• Team performance

Using this information, organizations can plan ahead for their workforce needs against the backdrop of broader economic and industry trends.

Across all compared features, Zoho Recruit is the only one that checks all the boxes. Beside Breezy HR, Zoho Recruit is the only other vendor to offer a free version with basic features like interview scheduling and candidate management. However, if you want employee referrals, social recruiting, and AI candidate matching, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan. Zoho Recruit works best when paired with other Zoho products, but it can sync with third-party software.

Zoho Recruit pros and cons

Zoho Recruit key features

• Recruitment forecasts
• Advanced analytics

How to choose the right recruiting software

All of these vendors offer standard features, such as branded career sites, syndicated job posting, AI functionality, and employee referral tools. 

However, for the best value for the money, we recommend Manatal or Zoho Recruit. In terms of breadth of features, Zoho Recruit offers all the compared features, while Workable offers all the compared features except document management.

If streamlining the hiring process is a priority, look into JazzHR, Jobvite, or Zoho Recruit, as these platforms offer both document management and digital signing. If your company is focused on mitigating bias in the recruitment process, JazzHR, Jobvite, Workable, and Zoho Recruit include anonymized screening.

If sourcing talent is a high-ranking criterion, iCIMS, Jobvite, Workable, and Zoho Recruit all offer ways to hire from within. iCIMS and Workable are a cut above the rest in terms of rediscovering silver-medal candidates that narrowly missed a job offer in the past. 

If none of these vendors meet your needs, check out our Recruiting Software Guide to browse other solutions.

The post The Top Recruiting Tools for Effective Employee Hiring appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

When it comes to hiring top talent, bias, intentional or not, plays a role. Even the most well-intentioned hiring teams are susceptible to unconscious bias, which prevents otherwise sound recruitment strategies from delivering top talent.

Implicit bias might be negatively influencing recruiting strategy. Recruiters and hiring teams might hire people similar to them which leads to a homogenous team where everyone thinks alike and maybe even looks alike. A homogenous workforce hampers business innovation and adaptability because the company won’t be able to identify with and serve the needs of a broad customer base.  

Check out our Recruiting Software Guide to explore software features that help to further reduce hiring bias.

7 ways to avoid unconscious bias when hiring

Left unchecked, bias in hiring leads to a homogenous workforce starved of the very skills and ideas that help a company grow to be more successful. But there’s plenty that a company’s recruiters and hiring managers can do.

1. Educate employees about unconscious bias

It’s hard to address a problem that employees might be unaware of in the first place. The Harvard Business School’s Project Implicit is an eye-opening exercise that helps people recognize and measure their biases. This first step gets everyone on the same page with an understanding of what unconscious bias is. 

Approaching the topic with humility and empathy can help get the message across that everyone carries prejudices and they’re normal to have. HR professionals, chief diversity officers, and consultants can then present unconscious bias training as an opportunity to observe and shape one’s own thought patterns.

Training encourages employees to further explore and challenge their assumptions before they start evaluating candidates and making hiring decisions. Everyone benefits from examining their own implicit bias, especially those involved in hiring. 

Organizations can create their own internal training program, hire a consultant, or use online resources like Google’s unconscious bias training.

2. Diversify hiring teams

Recruiting and hiring is often a team effort, especially for larger organizations. Putting together a panel of contact people at various stages of the applicant’s journey invites different perspectives of the candidate’s ability to succeed in the role. 

Those involved in the hiring process should represent an array of skills, experiences, backgrounds, and seniority levels because the team can evaluate each candidate more holistically. A diverse hiring team sheds insight into how a candidate themselves interacts with different people they meet in the organization.

In addition, each member’s perspective fills what another’s perspective is lacking. For instance, one member of the team might dismiss a candidate because their work experience appears to be unrelated to the role in question. Yet, another team member might then point to the applicant’s transferable skills. 

3. Craft neutral job posts

Being mindful of word choice will help attract more diverse candidates from the get-go. Hiring managers should examine a job description for words that inadvertently bring to mind candidates of a particular gender, age, or ability. Tools like Textio scan job descriptions, flag skewed terms, and suggest more objective phrasing to replace them. 

Gender

Those in charge of drafting job posts can pull a number of small but powerful levers to arrive at more gender parity in the applicant pool. Making small tweaks to the job title, pronouns, character trait wording, and the requirements list can make a difference. 

Before getting to the description itself, gendered job titles can attract or deter certain candidates from applying. Those drafting the job description should carefully examine the job title first to swap out problematic titles like “salesman” for something more gender-neutral, like “salesperson.” In the same vein, replacing gendered pronouns like “she” and “he” with the more neutral “they” will help attract applicants of various genders. It also makes for easier reading, as long as it doesn’t muddle the meaning.

Also, certain words and phrases are culturally coded as feminine — like “collaborative” and “empathetic” — or masculine — like “competitive” or “determined.” As a result, such words actually discourage applicants of some genders or draw a disproportionate number of resumes from candidates of other genders. A more moderate approach that mixes coded words helps strike a gender-neutral balance.

Furthermore, a LinkedIn report reveals that job postings with long lists of requirements will deter women from applying. This is because women tend to apply only to jobs where they meet 100% of the requirements. Men, on the other hand, tend to apply when they meet about 60% of the requirements. Women applicants hold themselves to a higher standard of perfection when browsing job postings.

Also read: Best Practices for Writing the Perfect Job Descriptions

Age 

Characteristics like “dynamic” and “energetic” are not only vaguely related to the role itself, but they also signal to applicants that the company is looking for someone of a particular age group and ability. Choose descriptive traits that more directly speak to the job duties and company values. 

For example, instead of words like “dynamic” or “energetic,” which connote movement and speed, try the adjective “influential” or a verb like “contribute” or “impact.” Pairing these adjectives with nouns makes it even more concrete for applicants reading the job post. 

Ability

Avoid language that can deter individuals with disabilities from applying, especially if such wording is unrelated to the job and if physical aspects of the job can be reasonably accommodated. In fact, employers can proactively mention accommodations in the job description. 

The US Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and the Harvard Computer Society Tech for Social Good partnered to create a natural language processing tool that flags job descriptions for ableist language.  

For instance, instead of referring to “standing” for long periods of time, the job description could instead read as “remain in a stationary position.” Or, instead of noting that the candidate would need to “walk from station to station,” expressing it instead as “move from station to station” still gets the idea across without implying how it needs to get done. Another example to consider is whether a data entry role actually requires “typing” data into a spreadsheet, as typing implies hands and fingers. One could also simply “input,” “enter,” or “record” data instead. The Ableist Language Lexicon lists several such terms and alternatives to consider. 

Those that write job descriptions should acknowledge that there are various creative ways to get the work done beyond the typical, embodied ways we describe duties.

Neurodiversity

Hiring managers can revise job descriptions to attract neurotypical and neurodivergent candidates alike. Neurodiversity acknowledges that individuals think, learn, behave, and interact with the world around them in different ways. Neurodivergent individuals contribute out-of-the-box approaches that boost innovation.

To speak to candidates of varying cognitive abilities, use clear, concise language in job postings and avoid sarcasm, metaphors, and idioms. To this end, try to be as specific as possible when putting down “collaborative” or “works well with others” as desired traits. Clearer descriptions of the degree and nature of on-the-job interaction might help ease the social pressure the posting might otherwise imply.

With regards to qualifications, it’s also helpful to clearly segment them into required, preferred, and bonus criteria, so that applicants don’t feel pressured to meet all of them.

Employers can partner with an organization called Neurodiversity in the Workplace to find more tips and engage neurodivergent job seekers.

4. Review resumes blindly

Research shows that even someone’s name or address on a resume raises implicit associations about the job applicant and thus opens the door for bias. 

To review resumes more objectively, a company can invest in resume blinding software or recruiting platforms that conceal names and demographic info during resume reviews to help avoid unconscious bias.

If your current recruiting software or ATS doesn’t assist with reducing hiring bias, it may be time for an upgrade. Fetcher, Greenhouse, Paylocity, Jobvite, Workable, and Workday all have built-in features to support a more equitable hiring process.

Employers should be aware, however, that bias doesn’t end with software implementation. New York City’s AI Bias Law is effective as of January 2023, and other jurisdictions may follow suit. The law requires NYC-based companies to routinely audit their AI-powered hiring tools to ensure compliance with anti-discrimination laws. So, it’s not enough to implement AI in the recruitment and hiring process; hiring teams and HR have to know how it works, how it’s used, and be able to explain it to external auditors.

Also read at Datamation: Addressing Bias in Artificial Intelligence 

5. Prioritize performance over resumes

Employee referrals, potentially embellished resumes, and name-dropping Ivy League schools increase the chance of recruitment bias and prevent quality talent from rising to the top of the resume stack. Not to mention, they’re not indicators of potential job performance. Discovering diverse talent may therefore require sidelining the resume for a more performance-based approach that includes a small project or test. 

GapJumpers is a blind hiring solution that lets employers screen applicants based on “performance over privilege and pedigree.” Applicants complete a challenge that mimics what they’d do on the job, and the employer gets blind results that conceal that applicant’s age, gender, race, ethnicity, and educational background. 

6. Standardize interview questions

Regardless of whether an applicant applied through a job posting site or was personally referred by the CEO, recruiters should ask them all the same questions. Conducting structured interviews gives each candidate the same opportunity to show their qualifications.

Setting up interview and assessment questions beforehand ensures fairness and apples-to-apples comparisons between candidates. Greenhouse lets HR recruiting teams create “scorecards” prior to the interview process. The team decides on threshold criteria that a candidate has to meet in order to make it to the next phase of the hiring process. A criterion for a managerial role, for instance, might include “demonstrated experience navigating conflict in a team.”

Interview questions should focus solely on the candidate’s work experience and skillset, not on any information that introduces bias, such as questions about family, religion, or any other protected trait. 

After the interview, hiring managers should instruct or remind the team to refrain from discussing candidates with one another before a decision is made. Recruiting software, such as Greenhouse and Breezy HR, provides a private space for note-taking when interviewing a candidate.

7. Determine values fit instead of cultural fit

The criterion of cultural fit as a factor in hiring is highly subjective and therefore introduces bias into the hiring decision. 

Assessing for cultural fit runs the risk of affinity bias which describes the tendency to like people who we perceive to be similar to us. So, while workplace culture is important for some semblance of cohesion, deciding on a candidate based on cultural fit may reproduce the same patterns that lead to hiring employees with similar backgrounds. This only deprives the organization of the diverse skills and experiences needed to thrive.

In the job posting, highlight company values and the characteristics that support them in order to speak to candidates who align with those values. In the interview stage, to get a sense of the candidate’s workplace values, try posing “tell me about a time when” questions or ask the candidate to describe their ideal work environment. Interviewers can take note of how the candidate describes themselves, their behavior, and their co-workers when answering these questions.

Learn how here: How to Select a Diverse Interview Panel and Improve Your Recruitment Strategy

What is unconscious bias in hiring?

Unconscious bias describes the way the human brain makes flash judgments that inform actions and decision-making before one can even stop to think about it. 

In candidate evaluation and hiring decisions, hiring team members might make assumptions about a candidate’s ability to perform or the kind of support they may or may not need as an employee. For example, a hiring manager viewing a female candidate’s resume for an engineering role might unwittingly question her qualification for the role.

What causes unconscious bias in the hiring process?

A range of factors stemming from early childhood influence the way an individual judges someone else. Personal background, socialization, media exposure, and media consumption are but a few key factors that hold sway over how we perceive others.

Less bias means better hiring

Back to top

Everyone carries implicit biases that affect their judgment. However, in the context of talent acquisition, failing to recognize and address them means a company misses out on talent that enhances creativity, innovation, and adaptability.  

Mitigating bias in the hiring process creates opportunities to engage a diverse range of talent that ultimately benefits the company in terms of employee morale and satisfaction, innovation, and growth. A deliberate, varied combination of mindfulness techniques, training, and software tools can help recruiting teams reduce bias in their hiring process.

HR and recruiting won’t know if any of the above tactics works unless recruiting metrics are in place to track progress on recruiting goals, such as growth vs. attrition rates, application completion rates, and other indicators.

Check out our Recruiting Software Guide to explore features that help to further reduce hiring bias.

The post 7 Tips to Avoid Unconscious Hiring Bias appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

If none of the Zenefits’ competitors presented here seem like a good fit, explore our HR Software Guide to find the right solution for your business’s unique needs.

Zenefits Alternatives & Competitors

Zenefits includes most of the key tools HR needs to run efficiently and scale up as needed, and it’s known for its benefits administration capabilities. However, Zenefits’ main drawback is its limited payroll, reporting, recruiting, and employee engagement functionalities. Plus, it relies more on partners rather than native solutions, which means data can get lost or duplicated when spread across a patchwork tech stack.

Gusto: Best for automated payroll and employee financial wellness

Gusto specializes in payroll, but it also performs a range of capabilities that pertain to HR. Its intuitive user interface, market-leading support, and affordable price point make it a popular HR software solution for many small and midsize businesses (SMBs).

Automated payroll

Gusto’s winning feature is AutoPilot, which allows HR to set up payroll to run automatically. Zenefits offers automations to remind staff to run payroll on time, but this pales in comparison to the benefits of Gusto’s fully automated system.

All of Gusto’s plans include payroll, whereas it’s an optional add-on for Zenefits users. The Simple tier includes single-state payroll, while Plus offers multi-state payroll. Companies opting for Gusto that have distributed, remote work models will thus need to start out with Gusto’s Plus plan. Gusto also offers international payroll in 80+ countries.

Gusto has broad payroll functionality and a variety of automated features to save HR teams valuable time. Small businesses or those with complex payroll requirements are particularly likely to find more success with Gusto than Zenefits.

Gusto Wallet app

Gusto’s Wallet is a free app included in Gusto plans. It helps employees set and track their budgets and other financial goals. From the app, employees can easily access pay stubs and monitor how they spend each paycheck.

The Gusto Wallet app enables employee self-service and financial wellness. For instance, employees can use the app to decide which accounts their paychecks go into without asking HR to set it up for them. Zenefits lacks features specifically for paycheck self-service, but it does provide retirement planning and investment tools via partnership with Betterment, which is an external app.

Read also: Why You Should Add Employee Financial Wellness to Your Company’s Benefits

Reasons to choose Gusto over Zenefits

• Automated payroll.
• International payroll in more than 80 countries.
• Employee self-service and financial wellness tools in the Gusto Wallet app.

Read also: Gusto vs Zenefits

ADP Workforce Now: Best for international payroll

ADP is one of the world’s largest providers of payroll and HR software. Its ADP Workforce Now platform is built with small businesses in mind and includes HR, payroll, benefits, time, and talent management tools as well as analytics.

While ADP Workforce Now includes core payroll features in all of its plans, Zenefits offers payroll as an add-on module. Since payroll is a core HR function many businesses seek in a platform, this means they won’t have to pay extra for it with ADP.

Global payroll

ADP Workforce Now supports compliant payroll in more than 140 countries with its Celergo and GlobalView products, which are available as add-ons to any plan. Zenefits, on the other hand, does not offer international payroll, making ADP Workforce Now the clear choice for companies with employees and contractors located outside of the United States.

Flexible payroll methods

ADP Workforce Now enables employers to pay employees via multiple payroll methods. The basic plan allows direct deposit into as many as four accounts, and ADP Workforce Now’s partner apps enable payment via carrier mail or a Visa payroll card.

Employees also have access to on-demand pay via the Wisely by ADP and ZayZoon Wages On-Demand apps that integrate with ADP Workforce Now. Wisely services can be added to Workforce Now plans for free, but certain terms and conditions may incur fees for both employers and employees.

Employers can offer ZayZoon service as a benefit employees can elect and pay for at their discretion. A variety of payment methods with this solution means employers have flexibility in how they pay employees.

Reasons to choose ADP Workforce Now over Zenefits

• Global payroll in more than 140 countries.
• Multiple payroll methods.

Also read: Top ADP Alternatives and Competitors

Paylocity: Best for employee engagement

Paylocity offers an entire suite of products to cover the main HR needs and then some, so users don’t have to rely as much on third-party integrations as Zenefits users do. Having most, if not all, tools in one platform reduces the chance of security breaches, is more user-friendly, and enables better data analytics.

Paylocity particularly stands out from Zenefits for its employee experience products, which offer a variety of ways for employees to stay in touch with each other. Companies that prioritize a distributed yet well-connected workforce should consider Paylocity over Zenefits.

Community module

Paylocity goes beyond automated employee check-ins and pulse surveys by streamlining communication in its Community employee experience module. Community is embedded in its platform and replaces external social tools like Slack and even teleconferencing tools like Google Meet and Zoom.

Community lets employees chat, share files and schedules, and give and receive recognition. Employees can engage in text-based or video chats directly from within Paylocity’s platform. In addition, users can participate in live or recorded videos and even apply a script to read from for a more polished presentation.

For more formal announcements and communication from organizational leaders, built-in customizable templates save time by eliminating the need to create special announcements from scratch. Administrative users can also schedule, send, manage, and track announcements through Community’s convenient dashboard to see who’s viewed and engaged. If needed, additional push notifications and reminders can be sent out to boost engagement.

Employee feedback analytics

Though Paylocity features employee surveys like most human resources software, HR has a way to garner and analyze open-ended employee feedback via sentiment analysis tools that create text-based sentiment scores. This approach goes beyond numbers on a Likert scale, which tell a limited story about how employees feel about their jobs and the organization.

Even remote contractors and freelancers who don’t have corporate email accounts can take advantage of these features. This helps companies keep all stakeholders in the loop on critical work processes.

In comparison to Zenefits’ People Hub, Community supports more varied social engagement and advanced ways to measure employee sentiment in its survey tool.

Reasons to choose Paylocity over Zenefits

• Global payroll in 100+ countries.
• More advanced employee engagement features.
• Built-in learning management system.

Explore other solutions that promote employee engagement: Employee Engagement Software Guide

BambooHR: Best for unified, data-driven hiring

BambooHR is a user-friendly HR solution designed to meet small business administrative needs and give employees efficient self-service access. It features a native applicant tracking system and onboarding solution in one platform.

BambooHR and Zenefits’ respective ATS and onboarding functionalities are quite similar, but their technical specifications and pricing are different.

ATS and onboarding in one solution

BambooHR’s built-in ATS and onboarding tools work together from within BambooHR’s platform to provide a more seamless experience for job candidates than those using Zenefits. While Zenefits has its own onboarding tools, it relies on partnerships with JazzHR, Breezy HR, Greenhouse, and Lever to fulfill customers’ recruitment needs.

BambooHR’s joint ATS and onboarding in its platform stores hiring data in one central place, which enables more comprehensive and accurate reporting analytics compared to data stored across at least two different systems with Zenefits.

ATS and onboarding capabilities are only available in BambooHR’s Advantage plan, which is one step up from its basic plan. By comparison, recruiting is available as an add-on for Zenefits, starting at $35 per month.

Also read: Top Applicant Tracking Systems

Hiring analytics

BambooHR further stands out from Zenefits for its hiring-specific reports and analytics to measure time-to-hire, identify bottlenecks, and spot gaps or inconsistencies in the hiring process. These analytical capabilities help hiring teams continuously improve their hiring process. Zenefits provides a reporting and analytics module but doesn’t specify recruiting-related reports and dashboards.

Reasons to choose BambooHR over Zenefits

• Native ATS and onboarding in one interface.
• Recruiting and hiring analytics.
• More than 1,300 varied integrations add versatility.
• Performance management as an add-on to any plan.

Also read: Top BambooHR Alternatives & Competitors

Zoho People: Best for automated recruiting and performance management

Zoho People is a comprehensive HR platform that includes various modules focused on specific HR tasks. For instance, in contrast to Zenefits, Zoho People has a native recruiting tool — Zoho Recruit — that automates recruiting and helps managers guide employees to perform their best.

Companies can opt into Zoho Recruit as an add-on or get it included in Zoho People’s Enterprise plan. Regardless, users receive access to all of Zoho Recruit’s features.

Recruiting automation

Zoho Recruit is a recruitment software solution and all-in-one ATS for reaching, assessing, and hiring qualified applicants. Zoho Recruit also lets outside vendors like staffing agencies participate in a company’s hiring process.

When added to Zoho People, Zoho Recruit includes advanced automation, such as customized, drag-and-drop candidate pipelines. Candidates automatically move through or exit the pipeline based on specific conditions or actions like passing an assessment or submitting references. These automated recruiting workflows:

• Ensure candidates remain informed about their candidacy.
• Eliminate errors and redundancies that arise with manual data entry.
• Let recruiters focus on value-added activities like sourcing and evaluating candidates.

Zenefits features automation in its recruiting tool as well, but its automation focuses on candidate matching which is only a part of the entire process.

Predictive analytics gives HR teams an advantage by leveraging past data to make more informed decisions about recruiting strategy and hiring needs.

Performance management

Zoho People includes the same performance management features as Zenefits, except it enables managers to act on the data they collect from performance reviews to discern an employee’s potential and their next steps in the organization.

Over time, as appraisal data for an employee accumulates and gets stored in Zoho People, managers can identify and visualize an employee’s strengths in a 9-box Skill Set Matrix. This helps managers analyze an employee’s performance and make strategic development decisions.

Reasons to choose Zoho People over Zenefits

• Robust recruiting automation.
• Predictive analytics for recruiting.
• Document management.
• Performance management analytics.

Also read: Performance Management Software Guide

Choosing the Right Alternative to Zenefits

Zenefits offers a lot of value for the money, delivering most HR functions, including its core strength: benefits administration.

However, Zenefits has some drawbacks. These include:

• Lack of native recruiting tools and analytics, which could lead to lost or duplicate employee data.
• Limited payroll automation, which means more manual processes.
• No global payroll support.
• Basic standard employee engagement and performance management tools.

For companies focusing on broader payroll functionality, ADP Workforce Now and Gusto are great alternatives to Zenefits. Companies looking for enhanced employee engagement to keep remote employees connected should consider Paylocity, and companies looking to nurture current employees through robust performance management features should look into Zoho People. Finally, companies prioritizing recruiting and hiring should choose BambooHR or, for even more capabilities, Zoho People.

If none of these Zenefits alternatives meet your company’s unique business needs, check out our HR Software Guide to browse other solutions.

The post Top 5 Zenefits Alternatives & Competitors appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Given the baby boom in 2021, parental leave policies and benefits that support employees as parents have become a top priority. Most employers must comply with federal and state minimum requirements, but any measures beyond that — like paid parental leave and family-friendly benefits, for example — are typically offered at the employer’s discretion. 

However, investing in employees’ abilities to care for their families can offer significant benefits for the employee, their co-workers, and the business as a whole. This investment can take a range of forms, from very small measures like updating policy language to larger ones like implementing on-site childcare. The right approach will balance the needs of the company with what working parents need to succeed.

How Can Employers Support Working Parents?

Paid parental leave is one of the most impactful benefits for employees who have recently welcomed a new child into their family. However, there are a number of other ways employers can provide ongoing support for working parents in addition to paid leave.

Read more: Leave Management Tools and Best Practices

Draft more inclusive policy language

Companies can start by examining their policy language to see if they are inadvertently excluding some employees.

In most cases, it’s best to avoid gendered labels like “mothers” and “fathers” and instead opt for terms like “parents,” “guardians,” or “caregivers” that encompass a wider range of identities. Furthermore, distinguishing between “birthing parents” and “non-birthing parents” recognizes the nuanced paths many employees take toward parenthood, including adoption and surrogacy.

Those charged with drafting or revising policy should also look for terminology that implies assumptions about parenthood, such as the distinction between primary and secondary caregivers. For more equitable parental policies, businesses should assume any parent is a primary caregiver.

Parental leave policies should consider diverse family structures, pregnancy complications, and common parental leave circumstances outside of what’s normalized. Surrogacy and pregnancy loss, for example, are life-changing events that inevitably affect employees’ mental, emotional, and physical well-being but are not protected by FMLA.

Follow communication best practices with employees on leave

Establishing communication cadences between the employee and their manager before, during, and after parental leave makes a difference between a stressful or manageable employee hiatus for all parties involved. 

To help managers and colleagues avoid bombarding the on-leave employee with communication, time-tracking and HR software like GoCo help document when an employee is expected to be on leave, so their manager and co-workers can plan accordingly. For example, while the employee is on leave, the manager or a co-worker can be designated to keep a log of important changes that happen in the company while the employee is out. 

Even if employees are aware of all major updates that happened during their leave, however, they shouldn’t be expected to jump back in at the same pace right away. A clearly-communicated re-boarding plan can help set realistic expectations for the employee’s first days and weeks back on the job and prevent them from becoming overwhelmed.

Explore flexible work arrangements

Sometimes, parents are forced to adjust their schedules or work arrangements to accommodate their children’s needs. In these instances, any flexibility an employer can offer is tremendously impactful.

Flexibility can take various forms. For example, an employee may need to swap schedules at the last minute because their childcare fell through, or they may need to shift their work hours so they can pick up their kids from daycare or school. Even allowing extra flexibility with remote work can help parents manage their work-life balance more effectively.

An Amazon Web Services employee who weighed in on this topic implores employers to show working parents some grace in less formal ways, too: “…we may not be on video because we have a sleeping baby on us. Or we may be muted…because the baby is crying or playing. But we’re still here, still contributing–it just looks a little different now.” If they’re not doing so already, managers should focus on results rather than rigid work processes to accommodate employees’ different work styles and schedules.

Consider benefits beyond paid parental leave

Outside of parental leave and flexible work arrangements, employers can examine their benefits packages for opportunities to support employees who have kids or are looking to become parents. These include mental health, childcare, and fertility benefits.

Mental health benefits

Mental health services benefit all employees facing crises or burnout but are particularly beneficial for parents adjusting to parenthood. Postpartum parents or those who have suffered pregnancy loss can especially make use of employee-sponsored access to mental health apps and services. 

Childcare benefits

Childcare is another major source of financial stress for working parents. Employers may consider offering childcare stipends to offset these costs, or providing on-site childcare may be a more practical and cost-effective solution. Alternatively, some companies have started partnering with Vivvi, an employer-sponsored childcare provider, to source affordable daycare programs for employees. Vivvi currently operates in New York City but plans to expand its locations to Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and other cities.

Fertility benefits

Fertility benefits matter to employees and can impact their career choices. In the 2021 Fertility At Work Report, 59% of respondents said fertility and family planning negatively impacted their work performance, and most employees (88%) indicated they would consider switching jobs if it meant receiving fertility benefits.

To address this, some employers have started partnering with fertility services and technology providers to offer discounted or no-cost family planning benefits to employees. 

Ovia Health, for example, is an app that assists with many family planning experiences and goals, including:

• Prenatal and postpartum wellness
• Stages of adoption
• In-vitro fertilization treatments
• Surrogacy
• LGBTQ+ parenting

Additionally, Carrot is a fertility services platform that gives employees a way to save up for fertility treatment or family-building care, similar to an FSA or HSA. Carrot helps employers set realistic and competitive goals for what they want to contribute, which can range from a $5,000–75,000 lifetime maximum.

Offering fertility benefits with Ovia Health, Carrot, or other providers could help attract and retain employees. The Fertility at Work Report also found that 77% of employees would stay at their company longer if they offered fertility benefits. At a time when many people are experiencing fertility challenges, these benefits can make employers more attractive to current and prospective employees.

Support lactating employees

Federal law requires workplaces to provide a designated space and breaks for expressing breast milk. However, it doesn’t specify how these spaces look and what they should be equipped with. 

Additionally, some states have their own laws to provide designated accommodations for lactating employees. New York, for example, recently enacted a new law that outlines more detailed requirements for “safe, hygienic, and convenient” lactation spaces. Among many stipulations, this law requires most employers to provide a private area near the employee’s own workspace that includes a chair, table, sink, and electrical outlet.

Regardless of legal mandates, however, employers should go above and beyond the minimum requirements to consider the unique challenges and needs of their employees. For example, more than one employee may need to pump at a time, so the room should be able to accommodate multiple people and afford each person some privacy and space. The room should also be outfitted with a full-size refrigerator — not a mini fridge — that can store multiple employees’ lactation supplies.

Business Impact of Supporting Employees as Parents

Employers that value DE&I can make a significant impact through measures like these that support working parents. Investing in employees’ abilities to care for their families yields business benefits as well, such as improved employee retention, productivity, and overall job satisfaction. Supporting working parents in their caregiving roles enables them to show up as better employees. 

Check out the Benefits Administration Software Guide to explore platforms that support a range of family-friendly benefits.

The post Policies & Benefits That Support Working Parents appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.