Performance management software helps organizations track, analyze, and improve employee efficacy through goal setting, feedback, evaluations, and development planning. Here’s a rundown of our top products based on our internal review process and user reviews.
- Rippling: Best Overall
- BambooHR: Best Mobile App
- Namely: Best for Mid-Sized Companies
- Paycor: Most Flexible Option
- Zoho People: Best for Automation
- ClearCompany: Best for Goal Alignment
- Engagedly: Best Integration Options
- HelloTeam: Most User-Friendly Option
1 Rippling - Best Overall
Why we chose it: Rippling combines performance management with a broader set of HR, IT, and operations functions, making it our top pick for workforce management. It’s a full HR system, so its performance management module is seamlessly integrated with other features like payroll, benefits administration, and computer and software management. This allows firms to manage employee performance alongside other tasks within a single system.
Rippling’s automation capabilities extend to onboarding, offboarding, and everything in between, ensuring that employee performance data is up-to-date and reflective of any changes within the organization. This integrated approach saves time and provides managers and HR professionals with a full view of the overall employee lifecycle.
2 BambooHR - Best Mobile App
Why we chose it: We added BambooHR to our list because of its strong mobile app, ensuring that employees and managers can easily access vital information, request time off, and receive updates without being tied to a desktop. This level of accessibility enhances the user experience, making BambooHR an ideal choice for companies with a mobile workforce or those that prioritize flexibility and convenience.
BambooHR’s mobile app includes features such as performance assessments and feedback tools. It also provides a centralized calendar that displays who is currently out of the office and upcoming time-off schedules, aiding managers in coordinating coverage effectively. Incorporating e-signatures, BambooHR’s app simplifies document signing processes, improving employee experience, reducing turnaround times, saving paper, and ensuring compliance.
3 Namely - Best for Mid-Sized Companies
Why we chose it: We found Namely best for mid-sized companies due to its scalability and full HR suite, including payroll, benefits, talent management, and compliance. The platform grows with businesses, supporting their evolving operations through a high degree of customization. This includes custom workflows, fields, and reports, ensuring that the software adapts to the company’s unique way of operating rather than the other way around.
Additionally, Namely supports mid-market firms through its advanced performance management features. These include goal setting, performance reviews, and feedback tools, essential for maintaining and improving employee performance and engagement in a growing company.
4 Paycor - Most Flexible Option
Why we chose it: Paycor is our most flexible option due to its modular design, which allows businesses to customize their HR solutions by selecting only the modules they need.
Integrating Paycor’s payroll and HCM modules is necessary for comprehensive performance management capabilities. While this modular approach might not suit businesses searching for a unified solution, it offers a significant advantage: the ability to tailor the system according to specific business needs.
Companies have the flexibility to enhance their HR functionalities by incorporating additional services such as benefits administration, recruiting, onboarding, time tracking, employee surveys, and talent development, ensuring a perfect fit for their unique operational requirements.
5 Zoho People - Best for Automation
Why we chose it: Zoho People made our list because it delivers various HR tasks, from onboarding to time tracking and performance appraisals. Its self-service portal empowers employees to manage their personal information, apply for leave, and check their schedules, reducing administrative burdens on HR staff.
Zoho People’s integration with Zoho’s extensive suite of products, including Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects, streamlines workflows and improves efficiency. The software’s flexibility in creating custom forms and workflows allows firms to tailor the platform to their unique processes, making it a solid choice for companies looking to enhance productivity through automation.
6 ClearCompany - Best for Goal Alignment
Why we chose it: We picked ClearCompany for its goal alignment feature, which ensures that individual objectives are directly linked to the company’s strategic goals. This alignment is facilitated through the platform’s advanced goal-setting and tracking capabilities, which allow for the establishment of clear, measurable goals at every level of the organization.
ClearCompany’s real-time feedback and performance review features also support continuous progress toward these goals, ensuring employees remain focused and engaged. By fostering transparency and accountability, ClearCompany helps firms create a unified workforce collectively working towards common objectives.
7 Engagedly - Best Integration Options
Why we chose it: We added Engagedly for its extensive integration capabilities, connecting with a wide range of third-party applications and systems. This interoperability allows businesses to incorporate Engagedly into their existing tech stack without disrupting workflows, making it a versatile choice for companies with complex software ecosystems. Popular apps include Asana, Trello, Outlook, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
Its API support further enhances customization and scalability, catering to businesses with specific integration needs. Engagedly’s suite, including performance management, employee engagement, and learning management, benefits from these integrations by offering a more cohesive and efficient user experience.
8 HelloTeam - Most User-Friendly Option
Why we chose it: HelloTeam is a top pick because it’s fairly user-friendly. It provides a single, easy-to-use platform for employee retention that includes single sign-on and multiple integration options, making the user experience smooth and hassle-free. HelloTeam also aims for quick and easy implementation for quicker return on investment and provides responsive customer support.
Flexible, digital performance reviews are another highlight, designed to be easily adopted by managers and embraced by employees. HelloTeam’s dynamic organizational chart and profile tools are readily accessible to all users, further enhancing the user experience by making it easier to understand team structures and individual roles.
What is Performance Management Software?
Performance management software tracks, analyzes, and evaluates the performance of your employees to ensure individuals and teams are engaged and on track with organizational goals. By coordinating and collecting performance reviews, these performance management systems help train managers and employees by letting companies better understand employee performance and productivity.
Performance management software can sometimes be referred to as a talent management system, a specific type of human resource software. Managers can collect data on their people in many different ways but will primarily use this software to better align their employees with organizational goals set by upper management. The most productive employees who consistently meet their goals can be awarded for quality work, and feedback can be provided for those who do not.
For employees, a performance management solution can help inform management of how beneficial of a team member you’ve been–which can influence compensation, career trajectory, company goals, and even streamline hiring decisions. This can be through annual performance reviews or self-assessment tools where employees can set individual goals.
Employee performance management software can be considered a subset of human resource software. It provides a more advanced approach to what might be offered as a basic performance management functionality found in a more integrated program. HR teams best use these programs utilizing other finite HR software options, such as applicant tracking software and onboarding software.
What Are The Features of Performance Management Software?
- 360-Degree Feedback: Provide employees with confidential and anonymous feedback from their colleagues, subordinates, and supervisors. Multi-layer feedback can be passed across the company hierarchy that relates to abilities surrounding problem-solving, interpersonal skills, business acumen, technical capabilities, influence, and communication skills.
- Goal Management: Manage and track performance goals for your employees and management staff. Set weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. Conduct audits to maintain ongoing communication about goal setting and progress.
- Performance Reviews: Self-assessment can let employees evaluate their own performance which can be compared with real-time feedback received from their team members or management. Help facilitate management/employee communication, identify employee strengths and weaknesses, set individual goals, make informed compensation decisions, and ensure human resources are leveraged for the organization’s maximum benefit.
- Succession Planning: Craft and execute strategic and long-term succession plans to help employees take the next step in their career based on competencies and skills. Track and analyze employees to discover high-performing individuals who can succeed as company leaders. Keep track of employee talents and skills and ensure training and development can be encouraged for replacements.
- Reporting: Run performance reports and share information among key personnel, department heads, and senior leaders. Create customized reports based on performance evaluation needs such as completion status reports.
What Are The Benefits of Performance Management Software?
The top benefits of a performance management platform include:
Improve Employee Engagement and Autonomy
A high-performing workforce is essential for your business to continue to grow and survive against your competitors. An engaged workforce will be more productive, innovative, and deliver better results at a more consistent pace.
Performance management software can help automate employee engagement surveys that ask clear questions that measure employee satisfaction. These surveys help your business break down what is working and what isn’t, along with what your employees are the least satisfied doing. By providing this information to senior management, you can inform better strategies moving forward.
Employees can use performance management software for their own benefit as well. This includes tracking their career progression, their evaluations (from other employees or management), and their overall understanding of their performance in relation to the goals of the company.
A survey by Harvard Business Review found that 71% of respondents said employee engagement was important to success. 72% ranked the recognition given to high performers as one of the most significant motivators.
Gather Continuous Feedback On Employees and Management
Rather than conducting annual reviews of employees, continuous performance feedback helps align and develop your workforce more consistently. This human-centered approach helps promote, evaluate, and improve the performance of your employees. By continuously meeting with employees to review their current workload, you ensure all employee goals are aligned.
It may appear to be a form of “micro-managing,” but the transparency helps communicate progress across your organization and enables response to changing business needs. Performance management software helps create this trusted environment where employees feel empowered to take control of their development. One example is through the use of an employee recognition program. Constructive feedback can become more normalized by clearly displaying all employee goals and their progress toward them.
Other features offered by performance management software that tie in with a continuous feedback philosophy include:
- Check-ins: Allow managers to check in with employees regarding their performance periodically
- Crowdsourced feedback: Let employees ask for advice from their coworkers and managers through message boards and chats
- Performance dashboard: A unified view that displays feedback, summaries, and established goals for each employee with their own login.
Discover Professional Development Opportunities and Promote From Within
Career mapping and development planning components within performance management software are the most critical part of planning the long-term careers of the individuals in your company. Performance management software will identify areas for improvement, set goals, measure progress, and outline a strategy to ensure the person can stay on the path to new career opportunities to serve the company better.
Performance management software provides personalized development plans, letting your employees feel empowered to direct their professional development and correct performance within your team. This combination will allow both employees and managers to evaluate their own career goals to ensure their contributions to the company are within their skillset.
Many activities may come about for your team members to prove their worth. A performance management software will conduct performance reviews and prepare performance development plans by monitoring employee performance on new projects, workshops, seminars, and even new qualifications they may garner, such as certifications.
What Does Performance Management Software Cost?
The cost of performance management software pricing starts between $4 to $8/employee/month. The pricing model is generally a subscription, considering the total number of employees you will run performance reports on. It may sometimes be stated as a per-user/month cost, but as long as your employees log in to access a portal or view information about their performance, they will require their user license.
For example, if your business has 100 employees and finds a performance management software advertised at $6/user/month, you will be looking at an overall monthly cost of $600/month. These solutions may have upfront costs, such as the cost for implementation and training.