BrightHR vs HRdirect Smart Apps

Likelihood to Recommend

BrightHR is great at showing who is on holiday, who is in the office or working from home; which team and who reports to who. It is great at setting up new employees and it is very intuitive with setting the new employees up.You can add all HR documents to individual employee folders and you can give permission to those employees to view documents or you can turn that off. You can set reminders for reviews and PDRs as well as you receive reminders from Bright HR letting you know if the information is missing; for if someone needs holiday/TOIL approval.I find the fact that documents cannot be viewed in the application frustrating as sometimes I do not want to download the document to my laptop.

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Ella Malin

Business Support Manager

Lely Atlantic Ltd.Machinery, 11-50 employees

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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).

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Margaret Wood

HR & Accounting Administrator

Poly Pharmaceuticals IncPharmaceuticals, 11-50 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Approval workflow

Balance details

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Update personal information

View company policy documentation

View and generate pay and benefit information

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Employee demographic data

Job profiles and administration

Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Report builder

Pre-built reports

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

New hire portal

Manager tracking tools

Pros

Holiday management
HR storage
Absence reporting
Track vacation

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Ella Malin

Business Support Manager

Lely Atlantic Ltd.Machinery, 11-50 employees

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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.

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Margaret Wood

HR & Accounting Administrator

Poly Pharmaceuticals IncPharmaceuticals, 11-50 employees

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Cons

none that I can think of

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Barbara Boyle

Buyer

WineMasonWholesale, 1-10 employees

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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.

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Margaret Wood

HR & Accounting Administrator

Poly Pharmaceuticals IncPharmaceuticals, 11-50 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

HRdirect Smart Apps 1.0

Based on 1 answer

As previously described, there are too many unresolved issues.

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Margaret Wood

HR & Accounting Administrator

Poly Pharmaceuticals IncPharmaceuticals, 11-50 employees

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Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

HRdirect Smart Apps 1.0

Based on 2 answers

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.

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Margaret Wood

HR & Accounting Administrator

Poly Pharmaceuticals IncPharmaceuticals, 11-50 employees

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Alternatives Considered

I chose BrightHR as it offered a one-stop platform for HR management for which we have dedicated UK and ROI HR specialists who not only give HR advice but also write policies and handbooks, etc. They are a one-stop-shop, which was very important as when I signed the contract I did not have an HR person in my team and they were essentially my back office.Also, by signing up, I got access to Bright Safe too; which is great as again it's a one-stop-shop for Health and Safety in the workplace. So I can roll out toolbox talks, training, and accident management.

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Ella Malin

Business Support Manager

Lely Atlantic Ltd.Machinery, 11-50 employees

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No answers on this topic

Return on Investment

Saved admin time in filing and then searching for documents.
Saved admin time in chasing for managers' approvals for holiday requests.
Saved admin time in chasing managers/employees to update their profiles.

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Ella Malin

Business Support Manager

Lely Atlantic Ltd.Machinery, 11-50 employees

View all 2 answers on this topic

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.

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Margaret Wood

HR & Accounting Administrator

Poly Pharmaceuticals IncPharmaceuticals, 11-50 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

Yes

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Likelihood to Recommend

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Feature Rating Comparison

Approval workflow

Balance details

Update personal information

View company policy documentation

View and generate pay and benefit information

Employee demographic data

Job profiles and administration

Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)

Report builder

Pre-built reports

New hire portal

Manager tracking tools

Pros

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Cons

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Likelihood to Renew

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Support Rating

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Alternatives Considered

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Return on Investment

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Screenshots

BrightHR

HRdirect Smart Apps

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

Rating Summary

Add comparison