BambooHR

Comments: We've had a great experience with BambooHR. Going into it we knew very little about the software and had just heard great things. Now that we've been on it for a few years I can say that the software has grown along with our business. It seems like BambooHR really takes the customers needs and requests to heart and tries to make the software fit each customers needs. We look forward to the new feature releases and just being able to use the software as it is for years to come!

Pros: My favorite thing about BambooHR, in general, is that they are always trying new things and releasing new features. They just released a sync feature that syncs with TRAX Payroll software and cuts out the time needed to reconcile the 2 systems. The software is very user-friendly and you are able to find a help article about nearly anything you could ever want to know. One of my favorite features is the e-signing you can set up for HR documents. Our on-boarding goes a lot smoother not having to print out each form and fill out by hand. The Hiring module also works great. In that module, I love the ability to rate each individual candidate and keep internal notes about them. I really appreciate the ability to track conversations had with that candidate within the module so I don't have to hunt down the communication in my inbox each time.

Cons: I've only been able to find one single thing that I would change about the software and that is that I would make it possible for one person to be a manager for operations purposes and another person manager for compensation purposes. I've ran into the problem where the operations person doesn't need to see the compensation of their co-worker, but another person at a VP level should be able to request and approve compensation, essentially skipping over the Operations Manager for compensation purposes. I haven't yet found a way around it, so we just eliminated the Operations Manager from the profile and have the VP listed as manager, but this doesn't change my opinion that I would recommend this to anyone!

Comments: If you need to be FULLY integrated, this may not be the right solution for you - you would have look at their partnerships prior to implementation. But the integrations they lack, they have made up for it with the tools the provide.

Pros: We experienced a disaster when we migrated from Zenefits to another HRIS. While we experiencing such challenges, we found BambooHR and made the immediate switch. It has been a huge, pleasant adjustment for our company! After dealing with the customer service from Zenefits and the overall issues with the other HRIS, we finally landed in a place that provides a great product and great customer service that suits our needs. The implementation was incredibly smooth. Our rep, was knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, available, efficient, loyal to the brand, etc... She went above and beyond on all of her commitments, worked hard to keep us on track, and was available throughout all of implementation. Once we were in the product, I was concerned about not having an assigned Account Manager. But the customer service desk is well trained and a wealth of knowledge, so we have not needed an assigned account manager. Reports are incredibly easy to access, company metrics are incredibly easy to understand, the features provided solve all of our business needs, and employees enjoy using the product. Time off works well, the app is super helpful, the esign feature makes any HR project easier to complete, the approvals have kept all the correct parties in the loop. Onboarding has been a major improvement - new hires get to see their teammates before their first day, which new hires have loved! No glitches every time. So reliable. Lastly, they don't have contracts. They are a month-to-month service.

Cons: We wish there was more flexibility for integration, but I understand why they are choosy with their partnerships. We have to manually upload data into our payroll which has caused some errors. Also, the approvals aren't flexible. It's either all or nothing meaning - if a single participant involved in a multilevel workflow is out of the office, the entire approval is bypassed. I would like the flexibility to approve on the behalf of the absent individual while allowing the other participants to still play their part. Outside of that, we are very happy with the product.

Comments: BambooHR software and management system is not the cheapest option out there but you get what you pay for. Well-organized, visually appealing tools that are simple to set up and run. This solution has an open API that allows the software to be integrated with a company's existing HR tech vendors, and the performance review function fits with the way more companies are working. I would suggest this product to small to medium companies.

Pros: BambooHr has allowed our management team to be on the same page with employee Management. Our managers are able to access our Bamboo account from anywhere, allowing them to keep updated on their team. This product also allows employees to enter & update their own personal information reducing user error. This software reporting has several automated functions for manual reports that my company generates for the corporate office. We continue to automate more processes with the help of the Bamboo development team. The onboarding and offboarding processes are streamlined and offer electronic onboarding, task assignments, and e-signature documents. Bamboo HR is able to support every aspect of employee administration and HR management.

Cons: The biggest complaint I have with BambooHr is their customer service and support team. While the team was really hands-on with us for implementation, the support has since left us to figure out our problems with the software ourselves and basically just sends us links to tutorials. The tutorials are ok but we usually end up having even more specific questions after watching them. It would be nice to see them be more hands-on after implementation.

Comments: BambooHR has been really helpful in storing and reporting on employee information, giving employees access to view their benefit and personal information, and I can't rave enough about the Applicant Tracking feature. As a one person HR department, BambooHR has allowed me to become a strong, communicative and organized recruiter in the midst of the million other things I do. As I learn more about email alerts and forms, I'm finding more and more ways for BambooHR to support and automate processes that otherwise take up a lot of time and paper. I love that you constantly seek, and act on, customer feedback to make continuous improvements that are relevant to improving our day to day operations. I love that you are responsive to questions and patiently provide guidance and instruction on how to use features. I don't feel like I've purchased this software, and fell into a black hole. The Bamboo team is accessible and supportive, welcoming questions and feedback. I look forward to learning more about how I can use BabmooHR's current features, as well as waiting to see what new features and updates you'll roll out next. Happy Bamboo-ing indeed!

Pros: BambooHR's customer support is second to none. How they find such cheerful, helpful people, I don't know. They are happy to work with you to help you get the most out of the system. The system is user friendly and can be customized in a lot of ways. You can report on any information in the system, with easy to use standard reports, or you can create your own. They constantly add features and make improvements based on customer feedback. In some cases, they can make requested changes immediately. But they really seem to listen to what you want, and work to get there. Employees can see and request updates to their information, as well as complete & submit forms electronically. I'm able to create approval workflows to support many request processes, allowing us to become more automated and maintain files electronically, which we can then report on. I love the applicant tracking system. I think it's the strongest feature they have, allowing collaboration with hiring managers, as well as communication with candidates. It's helped me manage and improve our recruitment process with the click of a button. All candidate records are maintained in one place, and can be seamlessly on-boarded.

Cons: It is only as good as the data you enter, and does not currently integrate with the other systems we use. So, it requires constant data maintenance to keep employee information up to date, for effective reporting. There's no seamless automation for benefit enrollment. The time off system is easy to use, but does not currently show enough detail to be useful for our needs. I hope that BambooHR will focus on automating the integration of information from other systems, and provide a simpler update of benefit plan information at year end.

Pros: I did a lot of research on HRIS before choosing BambooHR. For those thinking about using BambooHR, really look at how your structure is set up and how you want it to work when the product goes live. For example, we have two divisions in two different locations. Both divisions are very unique and what one division needed the other did not. Getting this figured out before implementation will help alleviate the need for a lot of change once the system goes live. For our company, BambooHR was by far the best fit for us. The best thing about this product is the customization and the ease in which we were able to implement the system. From the time we decided to go with BambooHR to the time it was implemented and functional was a little over a month! My dedicated implementation specialist, Carol Brogdon was great to work with during the implementation of the system. I am not IT expert or tech person, and this was easy! The customization of the system allows (from the beginning) you to create a system in which each user can see as mush or as little of the information as needed. Since implementation, I have even been able to customize more information on the site that is specific to our needs with two different locations and divisions. The time off feature allows our employees to request time off from their smart phones or pc quickly and for our admin and foremen the calendar of "Who's Out" is extremely useful, especially for looking ahead and seeing who will be out on vacations or sick/holiday time. Anniversary dates and birthdays are visible and there is no longer a need to keep a spreadsheet with this information. The reports that can be generated on training, time off balances, licensing, etc has been a time saver. The ability to transform these reports into PDF, excel and even share custom reports as needed has been very beneficial to us. On-boarding, off-boarding, completing forms as needed has been extremely efficient utilizing the uploading of files and then setting up the signature templates (no more paper pushing or waiting for people to sign and return documents). Uploading files to share with all employees or just a few employees is also a great tool. We utilize the company announcements to send important information to some or all of our employees. The notes section has been invaluable for our managers to document information and if an employee moves to a new location, the new manager now has that information at their fingertips. Our employees can update their address, marital status, with-holdings, etc all from their dashboard. No longer do they have to wonder if the HR department has their most current information because they see what is on file for them with the company when they log in.
We have yet to utilize the Job Openings component yet. This was a big draw, as we had experienced a large growth last year. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending) our hiring has tapered off, so we have not had the opportunity to try this out. As far as BambooHR responsiveness to any issues I have encountered, they have been very quick to resolve. I like that they are constantly trying to improve the product and take ideas and suggestions on areas of concern. This type of progressive thinking and action will make them and keep them a front runner in the HRIS world.

Cons: Like any product, the more you use it, the easier it seems. There were kinks to work out when we first went live. Permissions, setting up employee fields and email alerts all needed some tweeking, but again, the system and BambooHR support was great getting through the learning curve.
I did opt to go with Maxwell health for the online health care enrollment piece and I have been live with BambooHR since January 2016 and I am still not live with Maxwell Health and do not know when I will be, so if you are thinking of that option, I would really look into other options as it does not seem to be as responsive or as dynamic as BambooHR despite what the sales pitch shows.