Iris HR Software (formerly Octopus HR, acquired by Iris Software Group April 2016) is an HR suite.
$1.50
per month per user
UKG Ready
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
The UKG Ready® software suite is a centralized HCM solution designed for small to mid-sized businesses. It automates and streamlines HR, payroll, benefits, time, talent, and scheduling processes. UKG Ready's suite of tools offer actionable insights while helping to ensure compliance. Using AI, it draws on work, people, and culture data to boost efficiency and productivity. For example, UKG Ready streamlines core HR functions by centralizing…
Our staff is kept updated with more company policies and we are able to track their holiday and sick days much better. The help and support of their contact support are super good. They reply super fast and are very kind. Also, their sales department isn't pushy like other services they are very knowledgeable and kind.
UKG is great for storing personal information and is easy to use for clocking in and out. And you can easily find the next payday at the bottom, your calendar with requested time off, and the available hrs. UKG is less user-friendly and more difficult when editing your personal information, like your phone number, and requesting time off is a little confusing to me.
It's simple. I really appreciate that the layout of Octopus HR isn't something I have to question. I know where to look for something because it's clearly labeled, that's more than I can say for a lot of other HR systems I've seen.
Support. If I ever have a question about setting something up, or if something goes wrong, they're always on top of it. For instance, I had no idea how to set up employee photos on our accounts. I tweeted them and they responded right away, I'm based in LA and they're a UK company, I was impressed that they were able to respond right away. They make sure their customers are taken care of.
Great self guide. If there's ever an ordinary question I need answered their "Octopus Guide" is very thorough and walks you through everything.
The mobile app experience is terrific. Once the employees figured out the navigation, they now prefer the app over the web version. The app mirrors the web version, although the navigation is somewhat compressed due to the mobile view. Other than that, the tools in the app work exactly as the web.
Reporting - there hasn't been a time when I couldn't run a report on the information I needed. And the reports dashboard is very robust - my most important reports were already built in the system. I saved so much time because I didn't have to cobble together the data from multiple reports or contact support to build the report for me.
Community page - I log into UKG's Community page daily. I learn so much from experienced UKG users and the UKG moderators are quick to provide answers and best practices. When I have a question about how to use a feature in UKG Ready, my first stop is the Community - I almost always find what I need without the need to submit a ticket/case or call Support. When I can't find what I need using Community, I can trust that Support will be responsive and helpful. For example, I needed help learning how our onboarding process was configured and submitted a case for assistance. The representative scheduled multiple meetings with me to help me not only navigate the onboarding setup but also to teach me how to revise the associated workflows and test the changes. I was also able to ensure our onboarding was set up correctly as well as modify it as needed.
Employee Self-Service - Once employees were trained to find their HR Actions tool, they quickly adapted to submitting their requests through UKG Ready rather than asking for help from an admin. Now, they readily submit change requests to update their direct deposit, address, and withholding. Sure, they still need a little help from time to time, but employees are initiating these changes without the need for payroll or HR to chase down signatures or paperwork.
Learning and training is poor and has not provided our team with a way to approach our problems in a cost-effective and meaningful way
Consistent glitches in some areas result in errors that persist through multiple payrolls despite a thorough review of all settings
Reports don't live in the same place, multiple types of reports exist in multiple places with little explanation of the difference. We often build custom reports only to have them disappear or have to spend a long time trying to find them.
We plan to renew our support and use of UKG Ready each year unless it becomes unavailable or the district seeks another vendor. As of now, there are no plans to changes vendors. The district staff is now familiar with using UKG. Another vendor will need to meet the same expectations we have come to enjoy with using UKG
Iris HR Software is a stable and fairly intuitive product which has had a positive impact on our organisation. We have had some support issues but generally feel we've had a positive experience and our personnel and finance teams have benefitted from this process structure. Whilst contacting the correct Iris HR Software support channel has been our biggest issue once we have established contact our tickets have been raised and resolved promptly.
We have been very happy with the product. Occasionally, there are things we run into that do not seem so clear, yet the customer service provided by UKG community and service cases is unparalleled. Their specialists have been great to take the time to walk us through how to properly set up open enrollment and we appreciate the written follow up from the service cases so we can save the instructions.
The system seems very stable. Being hosted in the cloud, we are vulnerable to internet speeds and busy times. The system has been down a couple times over the 3 months we have been live, but Kronos resolved the issues very quickly. To have access from a desktop, tablet, time clock, or phone app is one of the best features....users have almost NO REASON they can't clock in.
We were always told that Kronos was the best, but there are reports that we got out of ADP and other payroll providers that we cannot get out of Kronos. One example is a report of Productive/Non-productive hours by department. We also need the dollar amount associated with the hours. This is information that is required on our cost report and we were told that that report is unavailable. It is very frustrating when I can't get what I need.
If I was only rating support itself that would be a 10. Every support case I have entered has been addressed efficiently and with the desired result. On the implementation and transition to support there were multiple issues that those doing the implementation or transition could not answer or workflows and various settings left undone only to be discovered later. We implemented 3 different modules and the expertise we got for each one varied widely.
Our in-person training was a hybrid. Live online training with an instructor. They were very knowledgeable of the product & the area they were training on. I asked several specific questions and if they didn't know the answer immediately they followed up after class.
Pretty good online training, you have many how to options and can watch them several times. It can be hard at times to dig through the amount of data online but can usually find what you are looking for. Also you can download documentation for setting up the profiles and policies.
Make sure the people who are doing the build have extensive knowledge on employment law and asking the right questions. I would bet that the people who helped with our builds did not read any of our employment contracts or ordinances; and when I asked questions about how other companies handled certain basic dictates from federal employment laws, they didn't have any idea what FMLA, FLSA, etc were.
I would say the pricing is good but it could be better. Also, the customer service is amazing they do such a great job and you can tell they know what they are doing. Visually it is very easy to use and looks very professional. It is a quick set up and they do their best to give you what you want and need.
UKG is much easier to use and customize for our business needs. I enjoy that the time piece is directly connected with the payroll function. This is something that we didn't see when working with Paylocity. There was a manual time data upload that we needed to process into the Payroll function to process payroll. UKG has this setup and it's just a click of a button, so simple!
