BambooHR vs. Workday Human Capital Management

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BambooHR
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
BambooHR is an cloud-based human resources solution that provides onboarding, payroll, and benefits management. It also offers automated time-off management and employee self-service.
$10
per month per user
Workday HCM
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Workday Human Capital Management is a cloud-native system offering a globally consistent user experience. Workday HCM is part of an intelligent, unified system with other Workday products.N/A
Pricing
BambooHRWorkday Human Capital Management
Editions & Modules
Core
$10
per month per user
Pro
Contact Sales
per month
Elite
Contact Sales
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BambooHRWorkday HCM
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BambooHRWorkday Human Capital Management
Considered Both Products
BambooHR
Chose BambooHR
I used to use workday at a past company and BambooHR® is less extensive but very easy to use. Again, the features and functionality on the former were more fleshed out and readily available but the functions that I use most often are more easily accessible via BambooHR®.
Chose BambooHR
Bamboo's simplicity in utilization beats all the above. The functionality isn't as robust as some, but it gets the job done well and has no huge misses, especially as I believe the simplicity outweighs the lack of functionality in small areas!
Chose BambooHR
BambooHR was already in place when I started. BambooHR has much better intuitive navigation than any of the other systems but not as much customizability as something like Workday.
Chose BambooHR
I think that Workday is a much more robust and intuitive system, but the cost for many small businesses is a barrier to entry for them. BambooHR was selected because a member of our HR team was familiar with the system and was an absolute asset to us as we integrated the …
Chose BambooHR
For small business, like myself, BambooHR is enough. When working for more giant corporations, Workday was amazing. However, I cannot compare their customer service. In terms of user experience, BambooHR is definitely better than the others listed.
Chose BambooHR
BambooHR was a more inclusive package that was much easier to navigate and use according to the team that evaluated it, I was part of this effort. We spent a lot of time on this as we were ditching several other platforms to consolidate to one tool and wanted to make sure we …
Chose BambooHR
BambooHR offers flawless perfoming apps for different operating systems and it is recommended to remote and decentralized teams. It has a quote-based pricing scheme which can be tailored by any business to meet their needs no matter the size and even before making the final …
Chose BambooHR
I have never worked with bamboo before this and I think there is no better program than this one.
Chose BambooHR
UltiPro, from what I remember, was clunky and always had an awkward calculation of my hours. I could not "project" how much PTO I would have when I wanted to take time off in the future. Also, I was planning my maternity leave with UltiPro, and I truly feel like the software …
Chose BambooHR
I would say they both have a lot of strengths for sure. Workday manages data on a mass scale a little bit better in my opinion, but Bamboo HR is more user friendly and pleasing to the eyes.
Chose BambooHR
I did not select BambooHR and there is an ongoing search for the replacement of BambooHR led by our new HR VP.
Workday HCM
Chose Workday Human Capital Management
Not as customizable
Chose Workday Human Capital Management
I've only used BambooHR and used an internally developed software before and those did not have half the features of Workday. That's why we switched to Workday.
Features
BambooHRWorkday Human Capital Management
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.9
385 Ratings
4% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
9.0
100 Ratings
9% above category average
Employee demographic data8.3342 Ratings8.985 Ratings
Employment history8.1339 Ratings8.195 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.1352 Ratings8.997 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.7317 Ratings9.092 Ratings
Organizational charting7.8362 Ratings9.891 Ratings
Organization and location management8.1339 Ratings9.888 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.4204 Ratings8.663 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.6
265 Ratings
7% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.6
83 Ratings
5% above category average
Pay calculation8.1197 Ratings9.871 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.0147 Ratings7.259 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment7.4144 Ratings9.121 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.2205 Ratings8.966 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.3198 Ratings9.072 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.9215 Ratings9.069 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.6131 Ratings7.345 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.8
335 Ratings
7% above category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.6
78 Ratings
4% above category average
Approval workflow8.7335 Ratings8.977 Ratings
Balance details8.5321 Ratings8.177 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment9.2129 Ratings8.963 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.5
372 Ratings
3% above category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.2
98 Ratings
1% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.5257 Ratings8.187 Ratings
Update personal information8.9372 Ratings8.196 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.4322 Ratings7.976 Ratings
Employee recognition7.9241 Ratings8.959 Ratings
View job history8.8335 Ratings8.187 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
9.1
74 Ratings
12% above category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.4
25 Ratings
4% above category average
Tracking of all physical assets9.174 Ratings8.425 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.3
272 Ratings
4% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
7.4
82 Ratings
3% below category average
Report builder7.4266 Ratings8.978 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.5263 Ratings6.380 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data6.9199 Ratings7.168 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.2
305 Ratings
2% above category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.9
60 Ratings
10% above category average
New hire portal8.4292 Ratings8.955 Ratings
Manager tracking tools7.9264 Ratings8.956 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.9
224 Ratings
3% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.9
64 Ratings
9% above category average
Corporate goal setting7.0166 Ratings8.954 Ratings
Individual goal setting7.9216 Ratings8.963 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility9.169 Ratings8.954 Ratings
Performance tracking7.6213 Ratings8.962 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.8
242 Ratings
2% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.1
67 Ratings
1% above category average
Performance plans7.3229 Ratings8.166 Ratings
Performance improvement plans7.3196 Ratings8.158 Ratings
Review status tracking8.697 Ratings8.162 Ratings
Review reminders8.1101 Ratings8.161 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.7217 Ratings8.154 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
9.1
81 Ratings
14% above category average
Workday Human Capital Management
7.9
44 Ratings
0% above category average
Create succession plans/pools8.946 Ratings8.038 Ratings
Candidate ranking9.067 Ratings7.938 Ratings
Candidate search9.068 Ratings8.042 Ratings
Candidate development9.359 Ratings7.840 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.9
247 Ratings
0% below category average
Workday Human Capital Management
8.4
52 Ratings
6% above category average
Job Requisition Management7.6187 Ratings8.849 Ratings
Company Website Posting7.6203 Ratings8.942 Ratings
Publish to Social Media9.291 Ratings7.237 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting7.3198 Ratings8.943 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.588 Ratings8.743 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.0219 Ratings8.043 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.1235 Ratings8.047 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BambooHRWorkday Human Capital Management
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.2 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BambooHRWorkday Human Capital Management
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(406 ratings)
8.2
(134 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(18 ratings)
9.0
(18 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(333 ratings)
8.0
(15 ratings)
Availability
9.3
(5 ratings)
6.6
(8 ratings)
Performance
8.7
(5 ratings)
7.3
(7 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(175 ratings)
8.0
(27 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(6 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(5 ratings)
7.0
(7 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(6 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
Configurability
7.4
(5 ratings)
7.5
(2 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.4
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.6
(2 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.9
(5 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(4 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(4 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
BambooHRWorkday Human Capital Management
Likelihood to Recommend
BambooHR
Pros: You can handle multiple time-off requests from your team members at once. A complete list of directories is available to all the employees of the organization. As a result, communication with other employees is easier. All the important documents and agreements are available in one place. Cons: You need to manually check how many team members are on leave on a given day and whether there are any conflicts.
Read full review
Workday
Large organizations with extensive back-office support functions. With that in mind, WD is a great HCM system for mastering and controlling downstream data and providing strong support. Where WD falls short is the front-end user experience. If your intent is for the average Jane/Joe to use the system, you will find them frustrated or disappointed.
Read full review
Pros
BambooHR
  • Ease of use for established staff and admins, all the way down to brand new hires.
  • Integrations, especially for posting and managing jobs during the hiring process.
  • Making regularly occurring things like meetings and assessments easy to customize and to action easily.
  • Being able to assign out tasks for onboarding and offboarding.
Read full review
Workday
  • I think what it does is not having worked on the side of talent acquisitions. Whenever we have a job interview, for example, you can go right there, you can put in everything in Workday Human Capital Management. If I need to go in and see what a coworker put in or notes all that, I can document everything there in Workday Human Capital Management. I think the other thing that makes it a lot easier is for performance management, goal setting. All these things can be done right there in the platform and it just makes it easier. So to store documents, I can do that. I mean it is like a one-stop shop all in one, so it's excellent.
Read full review
Cons
BambooHR
  • I think it could display PTO in number of days, as well.
  • I wish that the benefits page was easier to navigate.
  • I don't like that the pay stub area is hidden, since I am typically alone at home when I review that data.
Read full review
Workday
  • Should have more option in time sheet like choose project code or something.
  • On The pay page, it should have options to view past salaries; it may be there already but not in the version that I use.
  • The employee information page does not have a back button to navigate to the previous page.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
BambooHR
There's nothing wrong with this platform. I would recommend it to any business starting with more than 10 employees. I will continue to use the program for as long as I need to, hoping they continue being tremendous and finding other ways to incorporate more technology.
Read full review
Workday
It is work to make one system the source of truth for our data, but now that it is done, there is less work involved in staying on this path. This means for us that maintaining and/or implementing new modules like performance, finance, talent, etc. is simple. It's a no-brainer
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Usability
BambooHR
I often have trouble finding where a setting or task I need should be. It's gotten better since we started using BambooHR®, but it's still hard to find things. Support chat is ALWAYS unavailable when I do have a question, even during their posted business hours.
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Workday
Workday's on a great path in terms of user experience. Their goals is to deliver a use experience that doesn't require training or instruction, like Amazon on the consumer side for example. That's hard to do when you're talking about complex business processes and important and sensitive employee information, but they're doing it well
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Reliability and Availability
BambooHR
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.
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Workday
In 2014, Workday has changed the update process. There will be two updates a year; the updates will be delivered to customers typically in a 24 hour window during these two weekends a year. They also keep the Community up-to-date about any planned outages, etc. There is weekly scheduled downtime on Friday night.
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Performance
BambooHR
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.
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Workday
From my perspective, the system runs like a well oiled machine and I have not had any issues with customers complaining about speed. If a report is taking long to run, the report can run in the background and you can go about your business. For larger enterprises, there is additional space and machines to process the application in what Workday refers to it as Extended Configuration Tenant
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Support Rating
BambooHR
I think that the Bamboo customer support team is great. I've only had to contact them twice, but both times they were very easy to work with, assisted me quickly, and made sure I fully understood the solution and that it worked the way I needed it to.
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Workday
Workday is still learning about the needs of higher education. I have seen rapid improvement in support and knowledge over the last year so am confident this will continue to improve. Overall however, I have found the Support Team to be extremely responsive and Workday offers the advantage of having support across several timezones so that we never wait more than a few hours for a response.
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In-Person Training
BambooHR
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).
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Workday
Some training is offered online. Cost is per-person. This also gets quite expensive. Training doesn’t follow a logical path A to B. Starts in middle. When you try to do it afterwards at your desk, difficult.
• Training scenarios are not very real
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Online Training
BambooHR
Overall this training was great and our implementation specialist was wonderful and very helpful. We felt really prepared once our training was completed, But we could get additional help immediately even when we were live. The continuation Support heros after implementation are wonderful and you can always get a LIVE person each time you call into their office.
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Workday
I have done for report writing and mass imports (EIBs). They give materials and you run through examples, i.e. you don’t just watch them do tasks, so that is helpful. Training is expensive – a single reporting writing class is $600 per person for virtual training
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Implementation Rating
BambooHR
We implemented bambooHR in Fall, 2023 then implemented Payroll 1/1/24. A vital piece of information was not known or missed in that we are exempt from State Unemployment Tax and have a Reimbursement Set-up, so bambooHR did not send Payroll Reports to the State. Those reports need to be sent regardless if we are exempt or not.
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Workday
It was implemented before my joining the company. At my last company, we used Workday professional services.

Based upon my experience at my last company, I would rate the implementation experience an 8/10. There are different ways to set things up and we had different people telling us different things. It set us back a couple of times.

Regarding configuration advice, we could set things up where every manager has supervisory organizations, or have it financially based i.e. aligned to cost center/department. We chose the individual manager path and I think we should have chosen a department route. Going down the individual manager path, to maintain the information, we have to inactivate a supervisory org whenever a manager changes/leaves.
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Alternatives Considered
BambooHR
Compared to other software, Bamboo is more modern and intuitive, especially in terms of user experience. But there is other software with more capabilities and features; maybe Bamboo is pretty good for a small- to mid-sized company.
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Workday
Workday is an incomplete product, by this I mean it must work alongside other products and does not work by itself. Trying to make several different products work smoothly together becomes very challenging. As compared to ADP products, when purchased all together work very well all together. Also, ADP has extensive Training programs and extensive Customer Support. So ADP's products are far superior to Workday's products in my opinion.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
BambooHR
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.
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Workday
No answers on this topic
Scalability
BambooHR
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.
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Workday
Workday has released Financials and is continuing to develop it's Human Capital Management footprint with the addition of Workday Recruiting. I think customers will find that is easy to add on additional functionality in the system. Workday does make it easy for customers to make changes without relying on IT resources. The Business Process framework is a visual tool that allows functional resources to make changes and see the flow of the transaction
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Professional Services
BambooHR
VERY professional!
Read full review
Workday
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
BambooHR
  • We were able to cancel our ATS monthly subscription with another provider to use the Hiring module with BambooHR®. We save on average $600 a month!
  • We cancelled another monthly subscription that we were using for time off tracking saving hundreds a month.
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Workday
  • To get the most value out of all possible automation in Workday you really need to use a lot of their modules, otherwise you may not be able to solve for some pretty important and necessary needs.
  • The system maintenance is way more than what I have seen with some other systems and therefore you need a quite large team dedicated to it.
  • The ability to automate a lot of administrative tasks and the ability for employee and manager self-service definitely create a lot of opportunity for HR to spent time and effort elsewhere. A lot of the automation that can be leveraged in Workday also allows for eliminating third party vendors as well as the cost of their maintenance and integrations.
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ScreenShots

BambooHR Screenshots

Screenshot of the Job Info tabScreenshot of Onboarding TasksScreenshot of a New Hire PacketScreenshot of an Employee Performance ReportScreenshot of Employee Satisfaction (eNPS®)Screenshot of Open Enrollment

Workday HCM Screenshots

Screenshot of Workday Human Capital Management HomepageScreenshot of Workday Human Capital Management Manager Insights HubScreenshot of Workday Human Capital Management HR Partners HubScreenshot of Workday Human Capital Management Expense AnalysisScreenshot of Workday Human Capital Management Skills DashboardScreenshot of Workday Human Capital Management HR Operations and Compliance Dashboard