Streamline the entire employee management lifecycle—from the moment they apply till they retire—with these five top-rated tools for HR professionals.
What we will cover
Human resources (HR) teams don’t just take care of hiring and onboarding but also manage various other employee processes, including training, performance management, professional development, and benefits administration. Completing these workflows manually is time-consuming, prone to human error, and increases paperwork for HR professionals.
Fortunately, there are plenty of HR software solutions available on the market that Canadian businesses can benefit from. HR tools digitize all paperwork and automate tasks such as posting jobs, sending offer letters, tracking work hours, and tracking performance milestones. They also integrate with platforms such as recruitment and payroll, allowing HR teams to manage the entire employee lifecycle, from job application to retirement, from a centralized platform.
Selecting the right HR tool requires a careful evaluation of company-specific HR needs. To help businesses choose, this article lists five of the best-rated online HR management tools reviewed on Capterra Canada, presented alphabetically. For this list, we considered products with company headquarters in Canada and the core features of HR software (i.e., employee database, employee profiles, reporting). The tools also have a minimum overall user rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars. You can find the full methodology at the bottom of the article.
1.
- Overall rating: 4.7 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.6 / 5
- Customer service: 4.8 / 5
- Features: 4.6 / 5
- Value for money: 4.6 / 5
Celayix is a workforce and HR management platform with scheduling, time monitoring, and attendance tracking capabilities. Its shift scheduler feature leverages AI to analyze historical work schedules and give recommendations on employees best fit for future shifts. Shift managers can define specific rules to create shifts, such as overtime rules, qualification rules, and double-booking prevention rules.
The software offers GPS tracking and geofencing settings to manage distributed field workers. Employees can access a dedicated portal to check their leave balance, submit time-off requests, and fill in timesheets. Additionally, HR teams can integrate the software with payroll tools as well as import and export data for single or bulk file transfers.
With a dedicated mobile app, employees can communicate their real-time availability to supervisors, self-schedule for open shifts, bid on open shifts, and check in and out of their shifts. They can also use the geofencing functionality, chat with their supervisors in real time, check off their shift tasks, and review the auto-generated timecards.
Celayix has three paid plans: Basic, Pro, and Ultimate. Pricing is based on the number of employees an organization has. The Basic model includes only scheduling tools, while the Pro plan covers all core HR areas (payroll, attendance, and time management). The Ultimate plan features additional features, including an AI recommendation engine, integrations, GPS clock-in, and advanced time and attendance capabilities. A 14-day free trial and a free demo are available on request.
2.
- Overall rating: 4.6 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.6 / 5
- Customer service: 4.8 / 5
- Features: 4.5 / 5
- Value for money: 4.7 / 5
Folks HR is a web-based HR management tool that also has a dedicated mobile app. It maintains a centralized staff data repository that HR professionals can import and export to simplify data transfers and management. Its time and attendance tracking capability offers standard and project-based timesheets and allows managers to set overtime rules.
The software includes an applicant tracking system (ATS) with job board integration and pre-built interview templates. Its automated onboarding functionality enables HR teams to define onboarding tasks, assign them to team members, set deadlines, and send reminders to ensure everything is completed on time.
The employee performance module enables 360-degree evaluations, including manager feedback, employee self-assessment, and peer feedback. It also helps HR teams track employee demographics, goals and key performance indicators (KPIs), engagement levels, and performance metrics.
Folks HR doesn’t have a free trial or freeware option but provides a free demo. Businesses can then opt between two paid plans: Essential and Performance. The Essential plan offers a suite of employee management, onboarding and offboarding, time tracking, and performance management tools. The Performance plan adds on more features, including e-signatures, applicant tracking, third-party integrations, and virtual meetings.
3.
- Overall rating: 4.3 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.4 / 5
- Customer service: 4.4 / 5
- Features: 4.0 / 5
- Value for money: 4.4 / 5
Humi is a modular HR management platform that allows HR teams to set up a knowledge base and track employees’ learning progress and contributions. It creates dedicated employee profiles with self-service options. Employees can update their personal information, such as their address, and the changes are approved by their managers.
The software offers a custom training program builder to keep track of organization-wide training initiatives. HR professionals can assign training tasks to employees, send deadline reminders, and get notifications about employees’ expiring certifications. Data import/export, 360-degree feedback for employee evaluations, a recruiting module with applicant tracking capabilities, and a payroll dashboard are a few other key features of the software.
Humi offers three paid plans: Basics, Advanced, and Works. The Basics plan comprises core HR functionality such as employee database, employee profiles, hiring and onboarding workflows, task management, and training tracker. The Advanced plan includes the time-off and payroll modules besides the core HR module, while the Works plan adds on the recruitment and performance modules.
The software doesn’t offer a free version or trial, but a free demo is available. Businesses can also customize the Humi platform with additional modules such as managed payroll, employee benefits, and time tracking.
4.
- Overall rating: 4.8 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.8 / 5
- Customer service: 4.7 / 5
- Features: 4.7 / 5
- Value for money: 4.7 / 5
Kudos is an online HR management platform with a focus on staff engagement and recognition. HR teams can create multiple award categories, and employees can nominate their colleagues for the awards. They can also recognize each other’s achievements by posting recognition messages. Additionally, team managers can automate employee milestone celebrations, such as birthdays and work anniversaries.
The software helps set up a points-based rewards program to give employees access to rewards such as merchandise, travel, and gift cards. HR teams can run sentiment surveys to get a sense of how employees are feeling at their jobs or about the work culture. People analytics, data import/export, integrations, and 360-degree feedback are a few other notable software features.
Kudos doesn’t have a free version or free trial, but it does offer a 30-minute demo call. Actual pricing depends on the number of users and contract length. Volume discounts are available for companies with more than 500 employees. For quotes, users can submit a query or book a call on the software website.
5.
- Overall rating: 4.9 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.8 / 5
- Customer service: 4.8 / 5
- Features: 4.7 / 5
- Value for money: 4.8 / 5
As an employee and workplace experience platform, WorkTango brings together multiple HR management functions, including employee performance, recognition, and analytics. Its goals and feedback functionality enables HR teams to set employee goals and objectives, track their progress, conduct regular performance check-ins, and provide 360-degree feedback from co-workers and other areas.
The software offers analytics capabilities to measure employee engagement via surveys and reports. A centralized reporting dashboard showcases the survey results, engagement metrics, trends, diversity demographics, etc. Employee leaders can even access role-based dashboards to view results and assess sentiment for their direct reports and hierarchies. The software also supports time and attendance tracking and employee data import and export.
The employee recognition and rewards module enables peer-to-peer recognition, automated milestone celebrations, awards and nominations, incentives tracking, budgeting, and compliance management. It also offers a global rewards catalog for employees to redeem their points for products, gift cards, travel, hotels, ticketed events, and more.
WorkTango offers a modular pricing scheme. Users can opt between the Employee Surveys & Insights plan, the Recognition & Rewards plan, and the Full Employee Experience Platform, which combines the first two plans. Actual pricing depends on the annual contract value. Users can request a demo on the software website.
With multiple software options available on the market, shortlisting the right HR tool can be overwhelming. Here are a few steps to ensure you select a suitable tool:
- Set a clear budget for software purchase.
- Identify must-have features, such as applicant tracking, candidate pipeline management, onboarding and training, or payroll and benefits calculation.
- Evaluate your existing HR platform and compare the benefits and cost of a complete overhaul versus some specific integrations or upgrades.
- Compare HR suites against stand-alone tools that focus mainly on a few core HR areas.
- Test drive the top contenders with a free trial or a less expensive software version.
- Appoint a few decision-makers who can bring their teams on board and test/provide feedback on the shortlisted tools and their functionality.
By understanding the unique features and benefits each product offers, businesses can effectively choose software that aligns with the unique requirements of their HR teams. Whether you're a small startup or a seasoned enterprise, embracing the right online HR management platform can be a game-changer, paving the way for sustained success in the competitive Canadian market.
Methodology
To be included in this list, all five tools had to meet the following criteria as of September 2023:
- All five tools justify the market definition of human resources software: ‘Human resource software, also known as a human resources information system (HRIS) or human resources management system (HRMS), enables an organization to manage employee data. HR software allows you to organize an employee's contact details, department, attendance, salary, training, benefits, and more. Many human resource management systems and resource management software also interface with applicant tracking and payroll software.’
- All tools have their headquarters in Canada.
- All tools have the following core features:
- Employee database
- Employee profiles
- Reporting
- All tools have a minimum average overall rating of at least 4.3 out of 5 stars.
- All tools have received more than 25 user reviews over the past two years (10 September 2021 to 10 September 2023).
- Out of the resultant list, we selected the five best tools with the highest review count.
- The tools also have the highest ratings for the following four features: customer support, ease of use, value for money, and functionality.
