Namely vs. Sapling Onboarding by Kallidus

Namely is aesthetically very pleasing and navigates like other social media platforms which can be appealing to potentially a remote workforce who interacts more online than in person. Unfortunately, it did not serve our population well as we are primarily manufacturing where people are not as interested in utilizing the HRIS for interactions when they would rather connect in person.

It's a good space to have a high level overview of the organization (especially Org view). Places for improvement include extra levels of complexity when you need to click on the person and you are navigated to the pop-up that is hard to use and only one pop up can be used at a time. I wish there wasn't so much of clicking in and clicking out.

Incentivized

• Namely has helped with our COVID sick leave response. It has made a major difference both with the weekly payroll and the 941 tax filing
• Keeping track of our multiple PTO plans. Thank goodness for Namely, I have shredded my old PTO spreadsheets.
• Employees like the convenience of the cell phone app. As a payroll administrator, I like the Geo Tracking tool where I can see where some are when the clock is in or out.
• The flexibility inside of the payroll system both as you are finalizing an employee profile and when you are processing payroll is a major advantage.
• The reports I get out of Namely in Excel format work well for me.

Incentivized

• Very customizable. Very easy to create new workflows and tasks to meet the unique needs of your organization.
• The system is easy to navigate, so minimal training is needed for users.

Incentivized

• Limits to custom reporting
• No direct feed for Ohio Workers Comp (now a manual process on our end)
• No option to place an employee on Leave of Absence and exclude them from payroll while they are "inactive"
• No option to suppress certain deductions for certain pay types (i.e. allow 401K for commissions but block remaining deductions - also now a manual process to uncheck the suppress box for 401K for each commission check)

Incentivized

• Deeper data management/review - dashboard experience could be better and deeper
• Ability to drill into reports within the tool- right now it takes you out to a sheet to view
• Org planning/org chart sharing

Incentivized

Administrators and employees love Namely. It is very easy to use and streamlined. Employees stay engaged with news feed updates and enjoy all the self service options. The time cards are very easy to access and clocking in and out for non-exempt employees is a breeze. Namely is part of our family.

It is hard to rip out and replace systems and Sapling is doing what we need

Incentivized

It is very simple to use for myself, the HR team, and our employees. I find the payroll process very user-friendly. Reporting is simple to navigate and produce the required information requested. I know our employees enjoy the self-service feature and use it on a regular basis, which saves me time.

Incentivized

To use this system you need to buy several add-ons. If add-ons do not fit your business model you will have to access platforms from different companies. The system is not easy to use for onboarding. Candidates cannot change and update settings. To use the system a person must click in the correct spots. If not it leads you someplace else. Then you have to start clicking all over again.

Incentivized

Unfortunately, in more recent years we've had a lot of difficulty with Namely as they've undergone a lot of internal changes. It took 4 returned emails saying the person no longer worked at Namely to find someone to help me (I finally called payroll) and it took a while to get connected with a direct source of help. Namely now has set up their "pod" feature of communication which works well for the most part, but is different. I felt spoiled when we first started with Namely, but now it feels very much like working with most large companies' help centers. There is a system to go through and you do have the option to click "urgent". In general the help is efficient, but it still takes a few days and it's hard to speak with someone directly. It is all done via online communications and is difficult to actually speak to someone on the phone. This works well for most cases, but I do feel frustrated more often than I'd like to with this type of communication. (2019/2020)

Incentivized

Sapling HR helps my HR team keep track of our personal information like contact information or t-shirt sizes (who doesn't like free shirts), as well as helping new hires onboard. I think it's super simple to use and keeps everything pretty nicely organized.

Incentivized

Implementation was a bit complicated and our company had to carry most of the weight. It often felt like our implementation manager was giving us extra work that she did not want to do herself. It also took much longer than expected - I believe almost 2 months. I believe our company carried a bit too much of the weight.

Incentivized

If you have someone internally that can run it that definitely helps!

Incentivized

Namely has a robust suite of offerings, and fallows for a la carte selection of add-ons (rather than a single bundled option). This has allowed our company to save money by not purchasing options / functionalities that we dont need, but may drive up the cost for other companies who need more a la carte selections. In all, the size of the company, the size & capabilities of the internal HR team, and considerations like managed payroll and benefits should be key drivers in selection.

Incentivized

Sapling [HR] was our first and only HR automation platform. We ran a trial campaign with them and did not compare them to other vendors.

Incentivized

• When we were over 100, it provided a huge benefit to us due to the accuracy of payroll, benefits integration and management, and org chart and performance tracking. Having all of that in one place was a huge improvement from the former disjointed user experience.
• When we dropped below 100 due to covid, our insurance rates went up 93% to offer comparable plans, and we had to move over to a PEO for benefits which meant we also had to move payroll. It was hugely disruptive, and now our employees have a bad experience when trying to manage their HR lives in multiple places. It is confusing and, again, disjointed.

Incentivized

• We were able to get the system implemented very quickly, which was of great importance to us as we were undergoing rapid growth.
• The system has helped us keep and stay organized and allowed team members to work collaboratively to get tasks done. Many of these tasks were previously managed with various spreadsheets and other trackers that were quickly becoming unmanageable.
• Sapling has greatly decreased the time we needed to onboard and employee and has prevented many errors.

Incentivized