37. Which HRIS do I need?

The Operations Room: A Podcast for COO’s

In this episode we discuss: Which HRIS do I need? We are joined by Matt Bradburn, Founder & CEO of the People Collective.

We chat about the following:

• What are our views on Rippling? Personio? Factorial? BambooHR? HiBob?
• What is a good vendor choice for a scaling company of a few hundred people that wants something that is very customisable?
• What is a good all-in-one vendor choice that is good at employee engagement and for UK companies supports international expansion into the US?
• What are the “gotchas” when buying an HRIS?
• What is the hidden, dark secret of all employee engagement tools?
• What is a good vendor choice for a mid-market ATS?
• What is a good vendor choice for compensation?
• Which products are really exciting for 2024?

References:

HRIS vendor evaluation

• Rippling
• HiBob
• Factorial
• Personio
• BambooHR

Other HRIS vendors mentioned

• CharlieHR
• Humaans
• ATS vendors
• Ashby
• Pinpoint
• Workable
• Greenhouse
• SmartRecrruiters

Other products mentioned

• Sana Labs
• Pando
• HarrietHR

Biography:

Matt is a globally recognised People and Talent leader. Through his work as the founder at People Collective, he's helped over 150 companies shape forward thinking people and talent strategies to scale sustainably.

Passionate about how talent shapes business outcomes, he loves to discuss the best ways to help employees reach their full potential.

He previously led People Ops at Peakon prior to their exit to Workday.

Summary:

• Healthy eating habits and vegetable subscriptions. 0:05
• Bethany is trying a new vegetable subscription service called Odd Box, which delivers a random mix of fruits and vegetables each week.
• Bethany is not excited about the included cauliflower and tuna, but is looking forward to trying new vegetables during the summer.
• HRIS options for a 100-person company. 3:02
• Bethany is frustrated with the lack of great options for HRIS systems, especially for smaller companies.
• Brandon has a utilitarian experience with Rippling, with a cluttered drop-down menu and limited performance review functionality compared to other HRIS systems.
• Brandon and Bethany discuss their experiences with Rippling, a HR platform founded by former Zenefits employees.
• Rippling's sales process was qualified and thorough, but the product did not appeal to Brandon due to its utilitarian nature.
• HR software options for employee experience. 7:28
• Hi, Bob has a mature talent module with performance reviews, goals, and check-ins, making it a strong choice for employee experience.
• Hi, Bob's org view module is a visualization tool for headcount planning, but it's only available for enterprise companies with 200+ employees.
• Brandon gives Bamboo HR a rating of 4.5 out of 5, praising their sales engagement experience but criticizing their basic performance and ATS modules.
• Bethany notes that Bamboo HR's pricing is high and their product is trying to eat up the market, but their sales experience is professional and crisp.
• HR software options for a small business. 13:03
• Bamboo HR's reporting and custom field functionality was frustrating for the speaker, with delayed responses from the customer success team and limited flexibility.
• Bethany suspects a churn issue at a company, possibly due to Hi Bob's functionality and Personnel's focus on being an all-in-one solution.
• Personnel aims to differentiate themselves from Hi Bob and other competitors by offering a modern and progressive product with a focus on employee experience.
• Brandon and Bethany discuss HR software options, with Persona and Factorial being the main focus.
• Factorial is positioned as an all-in-one solution with a focus on finance and operations, while Persona is seen as a more utilitarian option with a better user experience.
• HR tech stack for scaling companies. 20:18
• Bethany and Brandon discuss HR tech stacks, with Brandon providing insights on various products and their pros and cons.
• Bethany describes her experience with bamboo HR, expressing frustration with its limitations and lack of good analytics, and Brandon agrees that it's not the best option for scaling companies.
• HR software for mid-market companies with limited options. 22:38
• Matt Bradburn is frustrated with Bamboo's prescriptive performance module, wanting more flexibility in choosing what to assess.
• Matt recommends Humans for an employee data layer that's easy to manipulate and connect to other software, making life easier.
• Matt Bradburn recommends using Hi, Bob as a mid-market HR platform due to its ease of use, reasonable performance, and ability to download Excel files for analysis.
• Matt Bradburn advises reducing HR tools to the bare minimum to achieve a loved stack, citing Lattice and Deel as examples.
• ATS and employee engagement tools. 27:49
• Matt Bradburn shares insights on employee engagement tools, revealing their limitations and the need for more prescriptive actions.
• He highlights the importance of using AI to improve employee engagement, rather than just measuring it.
• Matt Bradburn prefers Ashby, Workable, or SmartRecruiters for ATS, citing ease of use and new features.
• He believes these options are the most popular and well-regarded in the market, with Greenhouse being the most expensive option.
• HR tech trends and product strides in 2024. 32:07
• Matt Bradburn is impressed with summer laps' learning creation landscape, particularly their multi-threaded approach to onboarding and sales.
• He also appreciates Panda's performance development, which connects employee journey to career growth, and Harriet HR's ease of access to HR information through Slack.
• Matt Bradburn notes that Rippling, a CRM system, is great for US-focused companies with international employees, but lacks customization for US benefits.
• Matt Bradburn hears anecdotal evidence of frustration with Rippling among European users, including those who experienced difficulty with European SAS compliance.
• HR tech consolidation and customization. 36:33
• Matt Bradburn discusses the challenges of creating a comprehensive HR platform that meets the needs of various countries and legal requirements, while also providing customization options for users.
• Matt Bradburn and others discuss the Goldilocks problem of finding an HR platform that is not too rigid or too fluid, but rather just right for the user's needs.
• Matt Bradburn: Too many Workday implementation consultants on LinkedIn, making it hard to find accurate data.
• Bethany: Consolidation is needed in the compensation space, but no one has a good product vision for a single tool that does everything.
• HR tech, security, and due diligence. 40:46
• Matt Bradburn: Security and corruption are top concerns when buying an ISS solution.
• Bethany: Integration and customization are crucial, but vendors may not deliver on promises.
• Matt Bradburn advises businesses to prioritize simplicity and due diligence when selecting technology.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy