Likelihood to Recommend I think BambooHR is meant for companies that have more than 200 employees, because it is not cheap, but for what they are offering, it is a nice software with some easy UI to understand for everyone at a company. I think for a small company, it is way too big of a software and it is not that worth the price.
Read full review UPDATE 3/20/2020: I initially gave HRDirect a "0" recommendation due to all the issues we had with the PTO Module. However, since purchasing the Harassment Training Module ($90), this product is the best value for the money and puts us in compliance with mandated requirements. It is easy to use and well-presented. At this point in time, with the issues and frustration level of all our employees, managers, and payroll department, it would be difficult for me to recommend this app as suitable in any scenario. However, should HRdirect fix the issues and get the app to perform as it was originally designed, it would be a great product for a small to medium company that has limited resources yet wants a good product for the money. In our experience, the new hire portal did not appear to be functioning properly; our new hires were not able to access the blank documents. They could see them but not open them (PDFs).
Read full review Pros Customer Service - The customer service is consistent and the team is always eager to help. They are polite, patient, and there are never terrible interactions. Communication - BambooHR communication channels are simple. There are many different ways to communicate with the team. I prefer e-mail because it helps me keep track of the conversations and they respond within the appropriate time. Also, the e-mail reminders or notifications help tremendously and it's not overbearing. User Interface - It's simple and easy to use! Read full review Initially, you were able to see all activity and drill down for details. It was easy-access for all our employees in the 7 states we operate in. It provided tracking for the managers. Payroll had access to all PTO requests. Read full review Cons Reporting - I wish that you could choose a timeframe for all reports. There are times when I need to run a report for information at a point in time, but there is no functionality to complete this (maybe this is an add-on, but seems like it should be a basic function.) ATS - Customizable notifications and making it easier to figure out how to change notification/email settings. I figured it out, but it was difficult to find. I wish you could choose to notify managers of candidates 1/week instead of every time someone applies. Custom Holidays - being able to set up 2 different Holiday policies for different working groups. Some of our team gets a floating holiday, but we can't set that up without doing it for the entire company. Being able to intercept a form that was signed by an employee but not the 2nd signer. We can't access onboarding forms that new hires signed after the 2nd signer left the company. Now we have to have our team resign all their onboarding forms because we cannot access the one with their signature. Delegation for approvals - being able to delegate this when someone is on leave or time away so that Admins don't have to manage. Org chart - being able to customize this feature More broad or customizable EEO categories Read full review HRdirect performed an upgrade in 2019 and that's where things went awry. You could no longer drill down through the calendar to see the details - i.e. Doctor's appointment, illness, childcare issues, vacation, etc. Previous year PTO requests were not archived and you now had to scroll through hundreds of PTO requests to see the most current. Previous PTO requests were listed oldest to most current, resulting in much frustration trying to locate specific ones. The print option was not longer functional. The online help request form was no longer accessible. Read full review Likelihood to Renew Overall we have not had any reason to discontinue our use of BambooHR. We have not found a better solution, and there is no pressing reason that we would want to move away from the product. If they should fail to continue to improve their features over time, I could see this changing down the road, but for now I would say we are very satisfied with them. We would definitely like to see continued growth of their product however.
Read full review As previously described, there are too many unresolved issues.
Read full review Usability Is very easy to navigate. All processes once explained, you can actually create an implement process associated to your HR goals. It is like a digital file of your employees, with functionalities that let you be on track on onboarding, performance, information, among others process. Time off approvals are easy to navigate.
Read full review Reliability and Availability Yes, there is a huge team in the back of the online platform or it looks like it because I have never been left without an answer when I have a question or waiting from a response on my chat .... There must be a huge team, this is so great and I always seem to have someone that is very knowledgeable too. So many times in the past I had to leave with customer service that would connect you with someone else because of the expertise, here everyone seems to be some kind of an expert in the HR function.
Read full review Performance I love BambooHR. Reports are easy to run and download and it usually covers any types of requests I get from the management team. You get excel or .csv downloads/reports and it is fast and simple, not too crowded so it is easy to read through. We don't integrate the tool yet but again, soon we will. we just did not had the time to utilize it yet but that's the plan.
Read full review Support Rating I have used the help chat function several times and that is easy and great to use. There are also many articles, FAQs sections and an entire learning platform to learn on your own. I believe that is great. I also have used ChatGPT to ask how to do certain functions as well, which were accurately reported.
Read full review Due to the fact that we were patient for more than 6 months with no resolution in sight, we decided to end our relationship with HRdirect for PTO tracking. 3/20/2020: We have purchased the Harassment Training Module. Excellent product with great value for the money.
Read full review In-Person Training I didn't have in-person training besides teaching my managers how to use the program. However, I couldn't omit this question (maybe a system glitch).
Read full review Online Training As far as I can recall, everything went well with doing it online and got questions answered. Was thankful to work with a dummy file to get used to some practices prior to getting our own domain within bamboo to then place our personnel information in the system, this helped a lot!
Read full review Implementation Rating It was some work involved in moving all of our documents from a drive over to the correct folders and creating the system of what folders were needed and what got placed where
Read full review Alternatives Considered Although there are many products in the marketplace, there is no perfect system. BambooHR is the most economical HRIS for a small business, start-up, or business that has never had HR software. BambooHR was selected for its affordable functionality. However, if they continue to ingore the lack of functionality the pretty package will no longer have any value.
Read full review Contract Terms and Pricing Model Since my organization has dropped with employees, I always find ways to reduce costs. I thought there would be a cheaper option, but I was glad that my package included a lot for the price, and downgrading would cost more. The rep could have let me downgraded and taken me to a higher package. I am thankful that didn't happen.
Read full review Scalability There is so much you can do with this platform, it is incredible and so welcoming. We don't utilize it 100% yet just because we are growing and the HR team has not been able to concentrate on other areas offered to us but but we will soon. Which is also why we got the product, specifically because what BambooHR can do to help us meet our growing business needs.
Read full review Professional Services VERY professional!
Read full review Return on Investment It's been a great force multiplier for our HR staff, supplementing their skills to allow them to focus on more complex tasks. Employees enjoy using it and have to talk to HR staff less with the self-service options. You may find as your organization grows that you outgrow a module or BambooHR and will replace with a dedicated solution. Read full review Initially, HRdirect was proving to be an excellent tool, and we were getting a quick turnaround on small issues. However, the upgrade messed things up on our accessibility, with no resolution in sight. Harassment training module is excellent. Read full review ScreenShots HRdirect Smart Apps Screenshots