Best Performance Management Software for 2024
Our expert picks for the best performance management software. We cover key benefits, pricing data, demo questions and more below.
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Best Performance Management Software
Performance Management Software assesses and manages the relationship between employee output and organizational goals to advance company-wide productivity and prosperity.
You might wonder how a single piece of software could do all that. Your inner skeptic may scream, “It’s too good to be true!” But it’s not. This tool is known for its colossal operational impact. Employees benefit from task clarity, and leadership better understands the daily activities that impact the bottom line.
Is that same inner skeptic now trying to find the catch? In this case, it’s not a “gotcha!” but more of an old saw: this tool isn’t magic. It’s a tool. The time and effort you put into using it will be proportional to what you get out.
To help you understand the performance management software landscape, I will share some of my experiences from my years in HR. I have also enlisted the help of Tracie Marie (talent acquisition leader, CEO, and founder of Hire Incentive) and one of our in-house HR experts, CEO Phil Strazzulla.
One benefit of our collective experience is that we can help you avoid the traps others fall into. Another is the hands-on experience of working with these tools.
Keep reading to learn why we love these tools and how to use them wisely.
To select the best performance management software, our editorial team attended demos with dozens of vendors, gathered user feedback, and consulted field experts. We’ve also looked into the feature sets of each of these platforms and we think the most important features to look for are scheduled performance reviews, continuous feedback and coaching, goal setting/tracking, and integration capabilities.
- Scheduled performance reviews with custom frequency: Instead of doing performance reviews annually, the best platforms in this space help you schedule and conduct them as frequently as your team needs, so improvement is continuous and you aren’t overwhelmed with a year’s worth of performance data.
- Continuous feedback and coaching: We’ve looked into how each platform enables managers to give feedback and coaching to their teams. Features like automated check-ins, 1:1 meetings, and text feedback through notes ensure they’re on top of things, identifying blockers early on and realigning team members as needed.
- Goal setting and progress tracking: We examined how performance management platforms handle goal-setting and progress tracking. Clear objectives and measurement mechanisms ensure meaningful progress. The tools on this list stood out for us because they let you see and track individual and team objectives side by side, integrated into your existing calendar. This offers a clear view of progress at any scale and across time.
- Integrations: Great performance management software facilitates employee learning and development, either through built-in modules or by integrating with the top learning management systems. This empowers employees to enhance existing skills and acquire new ones, benefiting both their careers and your company.
For more details on our software vetting and selection methodology, check out our editorial guidelines.
Deel
Leapsome
ClearCompany
Peoplebox
Rippling
Officevibe
Synergita
Quantum Workplace
Culture Amp
Profit.co
ChartHop
eloomi
Trakstar
WorkTango
PerformYard
Betterworks
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Deel
While Deel is best known for global payroll, they have expanded into a comprehensive system encompassing HR, employee development and performance management features.
PROS
- Deel features a clean and modern interface that most people can quickly get the hang of using.
- You can effortlessly run 360-degree reviews to gather holistic and unbiased feedback from all corners of your company.
- It’s completely free to get started with Deel’s HR offering.
- Users praised Deel's customer support for being responsive and quick to resolve issues.
- One of the best features of Deel is its customer service. They offer 24/7 in-app support and the fastest-in-class onboarding speed of 2-3 days. Users get access to local payroll experts in each jurisdiction, and support is available for contractors facing challenges setting themselves up as an LLC.
- Integrates seamlessly with common platforms like Quickbooks, Bamboo, Greenhouse, and more. They also offer custom integrations to automate and sync processes.
- Self-service approach; tech-enabled features so customers can jump in quickly and easily. Our user researchers found it quite easy to set up: the identity verification process consistently took less than 24 hours, and in some cases, it took mere minutes.
- Automated invoices, which are a breeze to do as long as they’re in English, both on the company and the contractor or employee’s side.
CONS
- Not the cheapest performance management system out there.
- The HR offering isn’t as developed as specialized HRIS/HCM solutions.
- Deel currently doesn’t have a mobile app - only a web version.
- Some of Deel’s best and most powerful services, like onboarding automation, appear to be add-ons, which might be too costly for some companies
- There is little to no flexibility when it comes to altering their contracts or service agreements, so many changes would require an addendum.
- There is a $5 fee per payout
- As far as we’ve seen, it’s not possible to generate invoices in another language.
Deel has come a long way from its origins as a global payroll tech provider; their platform now offers comprehensive modules for HR, employee learning and development, as well as performance management, which is what we’re having a look at in this review.
At the heart of Deel's performance management offerings is a set of tools designed to foster high-performing teams. Depending on the feedback you want to collect, you can choose from and deploy up to four types of performance reviews: Self Review, Manager Feedback, Team Feedback, and Peer Feedback. You can also combine two, three, or run all four review types at the same time to gather holistic feedback and adjust the frequency of any review type so you don’t have to remember to manually run it each time.
Complementing the performance reviews module is Deel's OKR and goal-setting module, which enables alignment between individual, team, and company objectives. You can seamlessly link the goals you create with performance reviews. You can also tackle any skill gaps with targeted training via Deel’s recently released LMS, which features a drag-and-drop course builder for easy creation, quizzes and surveys for higher interactivity, and automatic course assignment based on predefined criteria, ensuring targeted and relevant training delivery.
Deel's career development tools are also worth highlighting. Designed with transparency and growth in mind, this module facilitates the creation of detailed career pathing frameworks for various roles/levels to help employees visualize their potential trajectory within the organization.
All in all, it’s been great seeing Deel’s platform expand so quickly and thoughtfully into a holistic HR suite, with modules covering various aspects of the employee lifecycle. If you’re in the market for an integrated solution combining payroll, people management, and analytics, Deel is definitely worth checking out.
Over 35k companies use Deel including Nike, Shopify, Redbull, and Zapier.
Deel’s pricing varies according to the tools you need. It is structured as follows:
- Deel Contractor Management: Starts at $49/contractor/month covering payroll and compliance in 150+ countries.
- Deel EOR: Starts at $599/month for hiring employees without local entities in new countries.
- Deel Payroll: Multi-country payroll for existing entities in 100+ countries starting at $29 per employee per month.
- Deel US Payroll: Compliantly pay U.S. employees for $19 per employee per month.
- Deel US PEO: This plan packs a host of tools to simplify HR, payroll, and benefits for employees hired in all 50 states of the U.S., from $79 per employee per month.
- Deel HR: The plan packs features for you to automate HR admin and reporting for any worker with a global HR system. Pricing starts from $0. That’s right, it’s completely free to start using this plan.
- Deel Engage: Starting at $20 per employee per month, you can use this plan to drive performance, growth, and engagement.
- Deel Immigration: Visa sponsorship in 25+ countries. Contact Sales for a customized quote.
Best For
Deel is a great choice for companies seeking an integrated solution for payroll, HR, and performance management.
Leapsome
Leapsome is highly flexible; you can quickly set up your review process from the performance management software’s best-practice templates and frameworks or customize everything — from questions to timelines and anonymity settings.
PROS
- The user-centric design makes the platform easy to navigate.
- Integrates personalized learning and compensation management into the performance management system
- The Praise functionality allows users to give credit publicly
- Users found the training videos and articles comprehensive and helpful.
- Great meeting features: reminders, drag-and-drop talking points, tag meeting participants in relevant talking points, and shared and private notes.
- Available in Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. Surveys can be translated into 19 languages.
- There’s no setup fee.
- A free trial is available for 14 days.
- Leapsome is quite feature-rich; the platform packs modules for employee onboarding, learning management, engagement, performance management, goals tracking and much more.
- The majority of users find Leapsome’s UI to be friendly and easy to navigate.
- There are lots of third party integrations options to choose from, including Slack, which many users appreciate.
- The platform has transparent pricing, and you only pay for the modules you need.
CONS
- Doesn’t have a mobile app
- Some users found it annoying not to be able to use the keyboard but to use the mouse when switching to the next questions or entering scores.
- A few users integrating Leapsome with Google Meets encountered sync issues when changing a meeting or schedule.
- The org chart isn’t very easy to navigate with multiple layers and can’t be filtered by role.
- Sometimes automatic emotion detection can misdetect positive feedback as negative if it contains "negative" words.
- The customer success team is available to customers with an annual contract of US$6,000 or more only.
- There is currently no way to post or upload an image or file into your feedback.
- Since Leapsome can do so many things, you may need some time to get used to it. The implementation process can also take some time.
- There currently isn’t a mobile app that users can download and access Leapsome quickly on-the-go.
- Free 14-day trials are available but you need to book a demo with the sales team first to sign up for one; you can’t do so on your own.
Leapsome allows companies to measure employee performance across all critical skills and competencies. Through the platform, you can customize and run simple performance reviews, agile project reviews, 360° reviews, and anonymous leadership reviews — all of which are easy to access and complete. The gathered employee data is actionable and linked to learning and development.
Leapsome's platform offers a range of features to support ongoing learning and development, regular feedback and recognition, and structured performance reviews. Employee users appreciate that the performance management software enables them to collaborate with the manager on setting and tracking goals, get regular feedback and recognition from my colleagues, and gain insights into their performance and how it aligns with the company's objectives.
Mercedes Benz, Spotify, Trivago, Eventim, Babbel, Plus Dental
- Leapsome’s pricing depends on the number of your employees, the modules you want to use, and the length of your contract.
- Its modular pricing starts from $8 per user per month when billed annually. To get a detailed quote, contact Leapsome’s sales team.
- You can also test out Leapsome free of charge for a full 14 days with no credit card required.
Best For
Leapsome’s multilingualism makes it suitable for teams across different continents. However, with its current pricing and customer service, the performance management software is best for mid-market businesses.
ClearCompany
ClearCompany offers a holistic approach to performance management, taking employee recognition and satisfaction evaluation into account. The UI is easy to use, and users have had a lot of positive things to say about ClearCompany’s setup process and customer service.
PROS
- Great customizable review cycles.
- Users find the UI quite intuitive and easy to navigate.
- Highly rated for speed and helpful customer support.
- Smooth implementation experience and integration process.
- Offers an API available for use.
- Supports ten languages.
- ClearCompany offers a host of HR solutions that work well with another. You can choose the solution you need or combine them all to have a comprehensive talent management platform in your stack.
- The majority of users find ClearCompany’s interface to be quite intuitive and easy to navigate.
- Many users have highly rated ClearCompany’s support team for speed and quality of response. Several users have also reported a smooth implementation experience.
CONS
- Undisclosed pricing
- No free plans or free trials
- The reporting feature, according to some users, is limited in customizations
- The search function doesn’t always bring up the correct results
- No mobile app, but the platform is well-optimized for mobile use
- ClearCompany’s pricing is not readily available on their website. You also can’t create a trial account on your own from the website and have to go through the sales team for more info.
- Some users felt that the reporting feature is limited in customizations.
- According to a few users, the candidate search function doesn’t always bring up the correct candidate(s) and could use some improvement.
- ClearCompany doesn’t currently have a mobile app, but the platform is well optimized for mobile use both for hiring managers and candidates.
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ClearCompany’s performance management solution comes with a wealth of features that foster a meaningful and transparent experience for your entire team. Users can choose to organize employee performance reviews annually, bi-annually, or quarterly — the frequency that works best for them. The platform’s customizations and pre-built templates allow managers to create a personalized and actionable review experience in less time.
Employee users like that they can do the reviews on their mobile devices and in the language they want. ClearCompany also incorporates goal-planning tools within its performance management product so employers can measure employee satisfaction with continuous feedback loops, employee surveys, and anonymous polls. As a cherry on top, the performance management software even provides features like shoutouts and celebrations to recognize high performers.
Goodwill, Aveda Institute, and Chick-fil-A are some of 2500+ ClearCompany’s customers.
- It has two pricing plans for different types of businesses. The modular access plan lets users purchase certain modules individually, while the platform access plan offers all modules within ClearCompany’s suite.
- ClearCompany’s pricing isn't detailed on their site. According to a few users, however, it can start from $7 per employee per month. For the exact quote, you need to contact their team.
Best For
Midsize businesses and large companies looking for customizable performance review rollout.
I used ClearCompany as an applicant tracking system from requisition inception to candidate start date. One of the features that ClearCompany provided was onboarding tools and performance management. Unlike other ATSs, ClearCompany was a one-stop shop for all things talent acquisition and HR.
It is a one-stop shop that makes it easy for the recruiting team and HR team to communicate and see where every candidate is in the hiring process. ClearCompany also has LinkedIn integration, which is very valuable for the talent acquisition department. The base price is inexpensive, but addons will increase the price depending on company needs.
ClearCompany was an easy choice for one of the small clients I supported in the US. They were looking for an inexpensive applicant tracking system to manage candidate steps and statuses. I have used ClearCompany for one year. In addition to an ATS, ClearCompany also provided employment verification and background checks post-offer.
The interview scorecards were not user-friendly for recruiters. The pricing was a bit unclear as to what is included and what is an upgrade. The reporting of recruiting metrics was limited.
In terms of ease of use, it is very easy to navigate. I prefer more detailed systems such as Taleo, SuccessFactors, and Workday as their capabilities have no end. ClearCompany is an average ATS with a slight edge for the onboarding and performance management tools also included.
Think about how many people in your organization will be using the system. While it is only a base price of $5.00 per license, once you figure out how many people will need access, it will add up, particularly if you need upgraded features. Their customer service is easily accessible and helpful. Ease of use is crucial, and the dashboard is set up well, making it easy for users to navigate.
While I have only had one year of experience, I know they are constantly making improvements to make it a better and more user-friendly system.
This depends on the needs of the company. I think a smaller-sized organization is best suited for a tool like ClearCompany, especially if you aren't looking for all the bells and whistles.
Fortune 100 companies or similar-sized companies with 10,000+ employees may not get the most out of ClearCompany. Those companies would benefit from one set price rather than a per-user fee.
Peoplebox
Peoplebox deserves praise for many reasons, but our top three are its customizable reviews, seamless integration with Slack and Microsoft Teams, and ability to link reviews to OKRs/Goals. It also features an employee survey module, helping you promote open feedback and drive engagement further.
PROS
- Peoplebox’s performance reviews are easy to create, customize, and schedule.
- The platform seamlessly integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams for employee participation and notifications
- It’s easy to link reviews to OKRs and Goals
- follow-up 1-on-1s can automatically be scheduled upon review completion
- There’s an employee engagement module too, to run pulse surveys and gain feedback on workplace environment and culture, and not just performance.
CONS
- The platform is only available in English at this time, though forms can be created in any language.
- Occasional bugs and lags may be experienced.
- The minimum contract size is $4000, and the free trial can be accessed after scheduling a demo.
- There isn’t a mobile app at this time, but the web app is fully optimized for mobile use.
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Peoplebox offers a comprehensive and user-friendly performance management solution for both employees and managers. We tested their performance reviews and were impressed by how effortless they were to create and customize. We also appreciate how employees can participate in these reviews and receive notifications directly within Slack and Microsoft Teams for a friction-free experience.
Managers and HR can choose from four types of performance reviews, depending on who the reviewers and reviewees are: Self Reviews, where employees at any level review themselves; Peer Reviews, where employees provide feedback on their co-workers; Direct Report Reviews, where employees review their managers; and Managers' Summary, which are top-down reviews conducted by managers on their direct reports. You can define the frequency of these reviews, set a minimum and maximum number of reviews each reviewer can give, and add an Approval stage where a manager or third party checks the reviews for bias before they're factored into any evaluation.
Once reviews are complete, it's easy to link them to OKRs and Goals to ensure that all meaningful feedback is implemented. Setting, aligning, and tracking OKRs and Goals is straightforward as well. You can define goals at the individual, department, or company level, have them be public or private, and further break them down into milestones and smaller targets for better tracking and collaboration. Another notable feature of the review process is the ability to have follow-up 1-on-1s automatically scheduled upon review completion. For the evaluation process, HR and relevant managers can calibrate and analyze the review results in real time and visualize data in various ways, including a 9-box talent grid.
In summary, there's a lot to like about the Peoplebox platform. Its performance management and goals modules are well-designed and work together seamlessly. It's also worth mentioning that Peoplebox offers an employee engagement module, which enables you to run pulse surveys and foster an open, feedback-driven culture.
Over 500 companies use Peoplebox solutions, including HackerRank, Veriff, Disney, and Recruit CRM.
Peoplebox has five plans, priced as follows:
- Talent Management: for $7 per user per month, this plan gives you access to performance reviews, engagement surveys, goals, and check-ins.
- OKR Platform: This plan costs $8 per user per month and comes with features for employee/team alignment, namely goal setting, business reviews, project management, 1:1s, and KPI boards.
- Full Suite - Professional: For $12 per user per month, this plan gives you access to everything in the Talent Management and OKR Platform plans.
- Full Suite - Premium: This is Peoplebox’s most popular plan, priced at $15 per user per month for everything in prior plans plus customer success management, as well as onboarding, implementation, and training support.
- Enterprise Plan: This is Peoplebox’s most premium plan, with all features included, plus custom integrations, dedicated customer success, tailored onboarding/implementation services, and SSO.
Note: Billing can only be done annually at this time. There’s also a minimum contract limit of $4000.
Best For
Midsize companies and enterprises looking for a performance management solution that can work within Slack or Microsoft Teams.
We use Peoplebox for performance reviews and tracking employee progress based on coaching and feedback. It also provides analytics, including employee satisfaction, progress, and goal completion. We monitor team-based performance for rewards and recognition, as well as organizational management, including updating the org chart and strategic workforce planning.
OKR management, transparency, and communication are also key workflows, driving collaboration across teams and improving performance management. The tool enables clear expectations and alignment on company goals, ensuring everyone is working towards the same objectives.
- Centralized OKR tracking: it allows us to streamline the tracking of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), ensuring transparency across teams and alignment with company goals.
- User-friendly interface: its simple, intuitive interface makes it easy for users to adopt and integrate into daily workflows.
- Seamless integration: it integrates well with other HR and performance management tools like Slack and Jira, preventing the need for switching between platforms.
- Employee engagement tools: it includes features like pulse surveys, performance check-ins, and feedback loops, fostering continuous feedback and improving engagement.
We needed a centralized platform to manage talent and performance, and integrating OKRs was crucial for the company. Tracking progress against critical goals and core priorities became essential as we began to scale. We also needed to gauge the organization’s engagement, satisfaction, and leadership performance to better manage employee retention. When we decided to invest in Peoplebox, we were struggling with alignment and visibility into key performance metrics and goals.
As we scaled, it became increasingly difficult to maintain transparency across teams and ensure everyone was working toward the same objectives. We also needed a solution to simplify performance management and improve employee engagement, as our existing systems were fragmented and inefficient. Peoplebox provided us with a comprehensive platform that centralized our OKRs, tracked progress in real time, and improved collaboration across departments. Its robust analytics and reporting helped us make data-driven decisions and quickly identify areas for improvement.
Additionally, its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with our existing tech stack allowed for a smooth implementation, empowering our teams to stay focused and aligned with company objectives.
- Limited customization: the platform lacks flexibility in customizing dashboards, workflows, or reporting, and more options to tailor it to specific needs would be beneficial.
- Onboarding tools: more robust onboarding management tools would be ideal.
- Occasional bugs: while generally stable, a few users have reported minor bugs or glitches, particularly during integrations or updates.
- Learning curve for advanced features: while basic functionality is user-friendly, the more advanced features, such as deep analytics or custom reports, can be harder to learn.
- Mobile app limitations: the mobile app is useful for quick updates but lacks the full functionality of the desktop version, making complex tasks harder on the go.
Leapsome offers a better onboarding experience, which is driving us to consider switching to that platform as an alternative.
Consider ease of use, integration capabilities, and whether the features align with your needs. Also, look at the product roadmap: will the tool evolve with your organization? Ensure that the tool fits your internal culture and can scale as your company grows.
Peoplebox has expanded its integration capabilities with key communication and data tools.
Peoplebox is a good fit for scaling startups, tech companies, and SaaS businesses.
Peoplebox may not be ideal for early-stage startups or companies with highly regulated and rigid standards.
Rippling
Rippling performance management tool is super adaptable. You can tweak it to fit pretty much any review type you're into: peer, upward, downward, self-reviews, and even milestone ones where you set the condition, and the system will auto-proceed the review with the right staff.
PROS
- One platform for performance, payroll, benefits, and HR.
- Supports peer reviews, downward reviews, upward reviews, and self-reviews.
- Assign employees to your cycle in bulk and add targeted questions using attributes.
- Calibrate groups for consistent ratings and objective managers.
- All-in-one platform for employee management + PEO services offered, and even a suite of other IT products
- With 500 integrations, it’s very likely that they integrate with other key tools from your tech stack.
- Operates globally with any currency
- Workflow automation
- Analytics opportunities
- Provides a holistic view of company outflows—headcount costs included
CONS
- Requires a minimum commitment of one year.
- Although Rippling has been around since 2016, the Performance product is new to the market compared to dedicated tools like Officevibe, Culture Amp, and Lattice.
- Payment on a per-user basis means you may have to pay for performance for all employees, including independent contractors.
- Total buy-in to Rippling is essential
- Very SMB-oriented, in case you’re a larger company.
- New features tend to be buggy in ways that tech teams are not accustomed to fixing
Rippling can handle different kinds of reviews, be it peer reviews, upward reviews, downward reviews, or self-reviews. Our favorite, though, is milestone reviews. This feature lets you determine the condition, such as when the employee's start date is 30 days, and the system will automatically give them the type of review you have set.
For those having to manage the performance ratings of multi-group teams through spreadsheets, you won’t want to go back after you try out Rippling. The in-app role-based permissions enable you to set up who can do what. Based on that setting, the system makes sure only appropriate managers can access their team's ratings and compensation— fully automated.
Other than performance, Rippling can handle pretty much any other HR process: time and attendance, surveys, benefits, and payroll. More importantly, everything you input into this platform syncs up across the board. This means if you pick up another one of their products, it just gets it - all your data is right there and ready to go.
That said, Rippling isn't the best choice if you're after a seasonal vendor in this space. In fact, its performance module has only been around since fall 2023.
On another note, Rippling’s price is not exactly budget-friendly. There's no monthly subscription option, so you'll have to pay a considerable amount of money to get things started. To be fair, though, they do sometimes offer a free trial (for example, there’s one running until Oct 31, 2024) for those wanting to test the waters before buying.
16,000+ companies, including Five Guys, Crumble, and Sword.
Rippling's pricing is quote-based and starts at $8 per month per user.
Best For
Teams seeking to migrate all of their HR processes, including performance management, into one platform.
We used Rippling to input new hires and manage current employees. Employee information was stored on the platform. We used it to enroll employees in benefits and provide the team with an easy way to enroll in their plans or download their plan summaries. We also used it for payroll and to process yearly bonuses. Additionally, we relied on Rippling for compliance purposes. Their team would provide advice on compliance issues, HR support, and updates on new laws applicable to us.
I love the ease of use and the way it's laid out. I appreciate that there’s one place for all information. I also like that they have many useful tools, so as the company grows, they can adapt other features within their system (like performance evaluations, tracking, and learning management trainings).
Our company needed an HRIS system that would allow us to handle payroll, administer benefits, and provide compliance advice. We used Rippling for one year. The key benefit Rippling provided was a one-stop shop where everything could be tracked and kept together in one place, rather than having to visit different sites for various tasks (e.g., payroll, compliance, etc.). We were originally using an Excel file to track employee data. We switched to Rippling to store this data on their platform in a more secure and user-friendly way.
We used it as a PEO, and the health plans offered weren’t as competitively priced as if we had brought benefits in-house. Additionally, the benefit rates increased during open enrollment. I also dislike the $65 per employee, per month fee, which I find a bit steep.
Rippling is very comparable to other PEOs. What sets it apart is that they allow you to continue using their HRIS platform for HR, employee data tracking, and payroll even if your company decides to leave the PEO and bring benefits in-house. This flexibility is helpful, as it allows you to start with them as a PEO and transition to their standalone platform without searching for a new system, making the process easier.
The fees per employee per year are important to consider. If you’re in a period of rapid growth, make sure to account for expected new hires in your budget. You’ll also want to decide which features you’ll actually use. For example, we didn’t use their recruitment feature because we had a different system for that, but Rippling does offer a recruitment tool. The more features you use, the higher the cost, so be mindful of that.
I think their customer service improved from the time we started using them until we stopped. Initially, they didn’t have a designated rep for companies, so you had to go through their experts and didn’t always get the same person helping you, which could be frustrating. By the end of the year, we noticed improvements in their customer service, which was a positive development.
Rippling is great for any company with more than 10 employees. It’s ideal for small companies using a PEO, especially if employees are spread across multiple states. For larger companies that want to stop using a PEO and bring benefits in-house, Rippling is still very effective as an HRIS system for data tracking.
Rippling may not be worth the cost for companies with fewer than 10 employees. In that case, it might be better to avoid the PEO fees. If all employees are in one state, I would recommend using a broker for insurance and managing employee data and recruitment in-house instead.
Officevibe
Officevibe helps companies engage employees and increase their satisfaction - all while nurturing managers and improving how they tackle challenges in the workplace.
PROS
- Officevibe is easy to use and has a free plan that a team of up to 10 users can use.
- To ensure that feedback is truely anonymous, without the manager, or anyone with higher access being able guess who submitted what response, a minimum of 5 responses need to be sent in before the survey manager is able to access the anonymous feedback.
- The platform has a feature for peer-to-peer recognition, giving your employees the ability to praise one another for outstanding work.
CONS
- Some users have reported that Slack integration sometimes malfunctions.
- Officevibe does not include a complete performance management solution among their offerings. They have an OKR tool that lets you set goals but there isn’t a mechanism in place to track those goals or conduct performance reviews.
- There currently isn’t a mobile app that managers and employees can use on the go.
Officevibe is a cloud-based platform that focuses on employee engagement and manager growth. It allows managers to measure employee satisfaction through pulse surveys, then provides them with guidance on how they can improve work environment and culture. The platform packs several pre-made templates and questions to ease the survey creation process. It also offers features for OKR tracking, polls creation, reporting, 1:1s planning, scheduling, and more.
WeTransfer, Dyson, Bose, PayScale, Trivago
Pricing: Officevibe has three plans:
- Free: This plan is free of charge for 1 team with up to 10 users.
- Essential: This plan allows for unlimited teams and costs $5 per user per month.
- Pro: Designed for larger teams, this plan costs $7 per user per month.
- Business: Available for companies with over 500 users, this plan has custom pricing. Contact Officevibe’s Sales team to get a quote.
Best For
Officevibe can be used by companies of all sizes.
I use Officevibe several days a week. I am the admin of the tool for our organization, so I am the one who manages teams and adds new employees to the program. We use the tool to report on each manager's team, as well as on department ratings, and all-company ratings. We also use the tool to send out any company-wide surveys, including our yearly Employee Engagement survey. Team members engage regularly with Good Vibes recognition.
- It allows you to build as many teams as you would like.
- It is clear on its anonymity policy so that team members feel comfortable sharing honest feedback.
- It allows you to conduct custom surveys on any topic.
We bought this tool for our organization because we take employee feedback very seriously. We have been using the tool for 3 years. I have been using it as a regular employee for 2 years and as an HR professional (admin of the tool) for 1 year. It allows you to get regular feedback (at whatever frequency you prefer) and allows you to put team members into teams so that managers can get team-specific feedback. It also allows you to give "Good Vibes" so that any team member can provide recognition to their peers.
- It does not have a Performance Management feature, which other similar tools do. For the price point, I would expect more features.
- It does not have industry benchmark data for specific questions, which is something our ELT was hoping to see.
- It currently does not integrate with our HRIS, which I mostly fault to the HRIS but it means I have to manually add all of our members and put them on teams.
I have not personally used comparable tools but I have done demos with others. I think this tool is very clear (more so than competitors) on its anonymity policy which is very important to our employees. I also think Good Vibes is a fairly unique feature that our team heavily uses and appreciates.
People should consider what features they need the tool to have. This tool does not have performance management, which is something that many similar tools do. They should also consider pricepoint. Officevibe is a high price point for the limited number of features. Overall, I think it is a great tool, just hard to justify the price considering it is lacking a crucial feature (performance management) that we will need soon.
Officevibe has launched new features throughout our time using it and I know it is currently working on others. Good Vibes was a feature that was added due to requests, and it has been a great addition to the tool. It also has an amazing Customer Support system, where you can answer your own questions or if you can't, they are very prompt at responding.
It is very good for large organizations that want specific team feedback. It is also good for teams that have a large budget for employee engagement metrics.
It is probably not a good fit for a small company or a start-up due to its price point. However, I do think any company could benefit from the tool.
Synergita
Synergita helps companies dig deep to understand their employees’ performance and company culture. The platform’s natural language processing (NLP) feature allows you to uncover sentiment, while HiPo Score helps you identify top performers.
PROS
- Synergita is affordable and scalable. Users can choose between its modules or combine them as needed.
- NLP feature analyzes the tone of employees’ responses and assigns the team a sentiment score— a valuable data point to improve the employee experience.
- Can integrate with HRIS, CRM, ERP, Learning Management Software (LMS), and Single Sign-on (SSO) servers.
- Has a 7-day free trial, no credit card is required.
- Synergita’s platform is affordable and scalable. On top of that, you get to choose between their modules for employee engagement, performance management, and OKR tracking, or combine them as needed.
- The majority of users find Synergita’s UI to be user-friendly and fairly easy to navigate.
- With the help of natural language processing (NLP), the platform can analyze the tone of your employees’ responses and assign team a sentiment score, which is valuable data you can use to improve the experience of your employees.
CONS
- Several users noted that the reporting module lacks customizations, and speed/performance issues can be experienced with it, particularly when working with larger reports.
- A few users have also reported that the support team isn’t so responsive
- Doesn’t offer a mobile app.
- Several users noted that the reporting module lacks customizations, and speed/performance issues can be experienced with it, particularly when working with larger reports.
- A few users have also reported that the customer support team is slow to respond and resolve issues.
- The platform currently doesn’t offer a mobile app for on-the-go access.
Synergita is a cloud-based solution for employee engagement, recognition, performance management, goal setting, and tracking. To achieve all of the above, the platform certainly packs a broad set of features, including engagement surveys, AI-powered sentiment analysis, measure culture score, performance reviews, 1:1 meetings, e-communication, peer recognition, HiPo rating, and employee development planning.
Synergita’s affordability and scalability are the top reasons we chose it over dozens of options in which we have reviewed the PM software market. However, we expected better reporting capabilities from the software. Despite its user-friendliness, the reporting module is quite limited in customizations, and there are occasionally issues regarding speed/performance issues. We also found that Synergita doesn’t offer a mobile app. Lastly, Synergita didn’t get good ratings from our research due to its delayed responses, as reported by some of our HR community members.
Lotte, Secova, Global Edge, Indegene, American Micro.
Synergita has three modules, Engage, Perform, and OKR. They can be combined or purchased separately. When billed annually, those modules are priced as follows:
- Synergita Engage: costs $2 per employee per month and includes basic talent information, continuous feedback, rewards and recognition, e-communication, culture score, and employee and feedback reports.
- Synergita Perform: costs $4 per employee per month, including features like advanced talent information, SMART goals and achievements tracking, performance reviews/appraisals, custom workflows and feedback templates, and people and performance reports.
- Synergita Perform Plus: costs $7 per employee per month, Synergita Perform Plus packs everything in Synergita Perform, along with 360-degree feedback, promotion cycle, career aspirations, appraisal letter distribution, skill repository and mapping, HiPo score, employee headcount trends, and employee performance trends.
- Synergita OKR: costs $4 per employee per month and includes basic talent information, personal OKR, company/dept OKR, and OKR reports.
Best For
Global, US-based, and India-based organizations looking for a simple system that adapts to what they already have in terms of performance management.
Quantum Workplace
Quantum Workplace excels through extensive customer service, providing not just one-time software implementation but also long-term support to ensure customers fully benefit from their investment.
PROS
- The user interface is intuitive and easy to use. You can easily find what you’re looking for as the most critical items are pinned at the top.
- You can personalize surveys, make them from existing best practices templates, or build them entirely from scratch.
- You can share and review recognition with your teammates in a social newsfeed format. What’s great is that you can make it as detailed and scheduled or as succinct and impromptu as possible.
- Quantum has an ever-present customer service team. Many users have complimented them on their responsiveness.
- Easy to use, the user interface is intuitive, you can find what you’re looking for and still see the most important items pinned on top.
- The option to personalize surveys, make them from the best practices templates, or build entirely from scratch.
- The ability to share and review recognition with your teammates in a social newsfeed format. What’s great is that you have the option to make it as detailed and scheduled or as succinct and impromptu as you please.
- An ever-present customer service team. Many users have complimented on their responsiveness.
CONS
- Users commonly experienced problems with 1:1 canceling and rescheduling. Scheduling 1:1s on short notice was also difficult at times.
- Feedback being visible to coworkers was a frequent complaint. Some wanted more anonymous options.
- Navigation was confusing for some users, struggling to find certain menus or older goals/feedback.
- A few users wanted more customization options, like adding more details when updating goals or customizing feedback questions.
- No free plan or free trial.
- While this may not be a deal breaker, but a few users wished the platform UI had more vibrant colors.
- Many users have expressed their issues with canceling, rescheduling, and the inability to schedule 1-on-1s on short notice.
- Some users have found the goals feature to be a little confusing to understand because of its extensivity.
- This is a rather unprecedented one, but we found many users wishing for more vibrant colors for the platform.
Focused on growth, development, and team alignment, Quantum Workplace’s performance management software is a suite of integrated tools that allow businesses to boost employee performance in myriad ways. Employees can set clear goals and see their progress, and managers and employees can schedule 1-on-1 meetings. Anyone in the organization can request or give feedback. Managers can create different coaching strategies based on talent reviews. And employees can get public recognition for their efforts from their managers and peers alike in a fun and interactive way. What makes this performance management software up a notch, however, is its succession planning tool that helps users find suitable successors for their critical jobs.
Quantum Workplace is used by over 10,000 companies, including Dentsply Sirona, Panera Bread, Fossil Group, DSW, BKD, and Getty Images.
Pricing is not disclosed upfront, but you can get it after booking a demo.
Best For
Mid-sized and large enterprises (50+ employees) looking for goals, 1-on-1s, real-time recognition, talent reviews and feedback in their performance management software.
Culture Amp
While relatively new compared to other products in the Culture Amp suite, Culture Amp’s Performance Management solution has caught the attention of hundreds of businesses with its helpful customer service and science-backed reviews and surveys.
PROS
- A simple interface makes the platform easy to navigate.
- The Skills Coach feature delivers daily micro-learning experiences directly through Slack, Microsoft Teams, or email. Users find them practical, on-the-point, and digestible.
- Lots of pre-built surveys, which users find insightful.
- Follows scientific evidence to provide insights and recommendations, which according to several users, are helpful.
- Product updates and new releases are on a monthly basis.
- No setup fee.
- Responsive and knowledgeable customer service.
- People science team
- Tons of engagement surveys
CONS
- The People Science Plus plan is not available for very small companies.
- Billed on an annual basis.
- The onboarding process differs based on the service tier you select.
- The mobile app’s functions are pretty limited compared to the web version.
- Integration options are quite limited.
- Undisclosed pricing. No free trial or free plan.
- Their people science plus offering is not available for very small companies
- Enterprise clients might find that they lack some of the integrations and customizations a bigger team needs.
Culture Amp offers a full range of tools to improve employee experience including performance check-ins and reviews (Perform), coaching plans (Develop), and engagement surveys (Engage). The Perform module is relatively new compared to Engage. Unlike traditional once-a-year performance reviews, Culture Amp enables continuous performance management through more frequent check-ins and feedback opportunities.
The platform also streamlines 360-degree feedback, integrating peer and multi-rater reviews for a comprehensive view of performance. Features like calibration ensure consistency and fairness in evaluation across the organization. To top it all off, Culture Amp’s people analytics and reporting capabilities give you reliable insights you can base your talent management and development plans on.
Culture Amp is used by 6,000+ companies, including Nasdaq, McDonald's, Coles, Foundry, and WisdomTree.
Culture Amp customers can choose between its available modules, i.e. Employee Engagement, Employee Development, or Performance Management, or combine all three in one plan. The pricing depends on the number of module(s) you’d like to buy and the size of your team. Contact Culture Amp’s Sales dept for more information.
Best For
Culture Amp serves companies with 200 - 1,000+ employees all over the world and across different verticals.
Culture Amp has been a great tool in my work as an HR Consultant. I primarily use Culture Amp to streamline employee reviews and track employee engagement. Culture Amp's system and support team guide you through every step of the implementation process. It is fantastic for tracking employee goals. Culture Amp also provides survey templates that are easy to follow.
- Culture Amp is easy to set up.
- Culture Amp has an intuitive system.
- Culture Amp supports large organizations seamlessly.
My client purchased Culture Amp after rehauling the employee experience post-covid. I have been using the platform since then.
- Culture Amp has outdated terminology on occasion.
- It can take a lot of time to sort through what surveys are applicable to you.
- Setting up multiple users can take time.
Culture Amp is one of the better HRIS/Employee Feedback tools available. I would recommend it to 90% of their competitors.
Employers should consider the time it takes to properly analyze an effective survey before purchasing Culture Amp. If you are unfamiliar with the 360 process, it can be a learning curve.
Culture Amp has consistently maintained high marks among my clients based on their evolving to users’ needs.
Public-facing, growing organizations (particularly after M&A or high employee turnover).
Small businesses that are not culture-focused.
Profit.co
Profit.co is more than just an OKR solution. The platform also packs features for performance management, task management, employee engagement, and recognition.
PROS
- Provides a broad set of features for an OKR tool
- In-depth customization options
- The OKRs coaching program is highly rated by users for its clear instructions and practical case studies
- Supports multiple languages besides English, including Spanish, Chinese, Dutch, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Bahasa, German, Portuguese, French, and Finnish
- 24/7 phone and chat support
- Offers a free plan as well as free trials.
- The platform has tutorials available that walk you through how to use the system and guide your team onto the platform. There are also examples of different types of goals, objectives and KPIs, so it's easy to see how they work in practice.
- Profit.co offers an intuitive interface that makes it easy for teams to set goals, collaborate and track progress. The tool allows users to set up OKRs for each team member, which can be done fairly fast with the help of step-by-step instructions.
- Users can choose from several pre-defined KPIs that range from sales to customer satisfaction, which helps them visualize their progress over time with just one glance at their dashboard.
CONS
- The customer success team is great, but there could have been more online materials for self-service training
- Not all the features in the mobile app are working as well as in the website
- Users find the platform confusing to navigate at times due to its wide feature set
- Connects with several apps, yet according to some users, the Asana integration isn’t easy to set up.
- While Profit.co offers a free plan for up to five users, it has limited features. The only way to unlock more features is by upgrading to another plan.
- One complaint about Profit.co is that there are too many features in one platform. While this might sound like a good thing at first glance, it can actually be frustrating for users who want something simple and straightforward – especially if they’re new to OKRs and performance management.
- As an administrator, you can create and edit tasks and goals. However, there’s no way to edit or upload tasks or goals on a mass scale. For example, if you want to change the title or description for every task, then you’ll have to manually do it one by one.
Profit.co allows companies to create and track corporate, departmental, team, and individual OKRs. The top management defines the corporate objectives and sets them up on the platform with in-app customization. The various departments can create their OKRs to further the corporate vision, while teams and individuals can set their own objectives to serve those larger goals. Through Profit.co’s real-time reporting dashboard, managers can check the real-time progress of their teams, catch potential problems early on, and make decisions as needed.
We appreciate that the software has transparent pricing, a free version, and a free trial. Plus, Profit.co supports multiple languages, making it friendly to distributed teams.
SunTec, Wex, Telmar, Sandvik, CWB Financial Group
- Launch: This plan is free for up to five users.
- Growth: This plan costs $7 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: This plan has custom pricing.
Note: Growth and Enterprise have free trials with no credit card required.
Best For
Startups and small to medium-sized businesses — either office-based or distributed teams can find a lot of value in Profit.co.
ChartHop
We like that ChartHop is constantly evolving. It started as an org chart tool and gradually built features for performance management, employee engagement, DEI, and people planning/analytics.
PROS
- Integrates well with several existing HRIS and ATS systems
- Strong customization and reporting capabilities
- Transparent pricing. The Basic plan is free for the first 150 employees.
- The Map feature enables remote teams to see where each employee is located.
- Has open API
- Supports Single Sign-On (SSO).
- Charthop nicely integrates with your existing HR and ATS systems. Having everything under one roof means not having to use ten different applications.
- Charthop’s organization chart is its biggest asset. Their drag-and-drop feature to edit the chart is a hit amongst a majority of the users. Overall, the tool makes navigation throughout the company really easy - you can find the people you need, figure out their responsibilities, and track changes after the latest company re-organization.
- Charthop's goal tracking interface is simple, intuitive, and easy to build. There's not much else you can ask for.
- Charthop's Map feature allows businesses to see where each employee is located. For organizations that work remotely, this promotes a feeling of togetherness, which is crucial for employee engagement.
CONS
- Organization chart navigation isn't the best. The chart zooms in and out quite quickly, and the gestures aren't intuitive, making it difficult to use.
- Takes time to implement and get used to
- The search function sometimes throws the wrong results.
- The UI is somewhat dated and clunky.
- Charthop's organization chart navigation isn't the best. The chart zooms in and out quite quickly, and the gestures aren't intuitive, making it difficult to use.
- Charthop can be a little complicated to figure out. Also, the fact that there are so many features is a little intimidating.
- Charthop's search function isn't user-friendly. There's not much information on how to use it effectively, and it sometimes throws the wrong results.
- Charthop's UI is somewhat dated and clunky.
ChartHop’s performance management solution helps you conduct different types of reviews, gather feedback and check in with your employees as frequently as you want. Users love its feature coverage and customizability; they can build distinct processes, questions, approval flows, and access controls by department, location, manager, role, and more.
Another thing we’ve in our testing is that ChartHop takes data protection seriously, with fine-grained controls, role-based access, auto-on/offboarding, full encryption, biometric access control, mandatory SSO, and more options included in the security settings.
If you have observed ChartHop for a while, you may have also noticed that they have updated the pricing of the Basic plan to be free as long as the number of employees is no more than 150, which has made the platform a lot more accessible to smaller businesses.
Sequoia, Plaid, Locus, InVision, BetterCloud
ChartHop has three plans:
- Basic: Free for your first 150 employees, $2 per employee per month for every employee beyond 150.
- Standard: $8 per employee per month (billed annually) plus $20,000 minimum annual contract plus a one-time implementation fee.
- Premium: $16 per employee per month (billed annually) plus a $28,000 minimum annual contract plus a one-time implementation fee.
- Add-ons start at $2 per employee per month.
Best For
Mid-sized organizations and global teams looking to gather and centralize people data in one place.
Charthop was primarily used for its org chart functionality. It pretty much replaced the org chart module within our HRIS system. We were able to upload a file exported from our HRIS to build a variety of org charts. We were working on the integration between the two platforms. We were also exploring Charthop's other capabilities like Headcount Planning and Engagement.
Charthop was user-friendly and intuitive making it easy to navigate. Charthop was flexible in that one could build many different org chart versions and permission them based on who needed access to them. Charthop also allowed for customizable fields within the system to meet the needs of your business.
Charthop was a tool we used at a previous company for about 1-2 years. It helped us create and easily maintain organizational charts throughout the company. The HRIS system we used did not have strong org chart capabilities. Making changes was very cumbersome and clunky, and downloading them was impossible. Charthop allowed us to create several different org chart versions while allowing us permission access as needed.
I don't recall having any concerns with Charthop as it was a very good solution for our team and company.
Similar tools to Charthop were not as customizable and limited in how we could use the tool. We tried other tools but decided to go with Charthop in the end.
When looking for an org chart tool, think about how many people in your organization will need to access the charts you develop. If talent planning, you'll want to keep certain charts confidential and hidden from certain users. Also, think about other tools you could bundle with this feature in the long run so that the system can be used to solve more than one problem for your company.
I'm unaware of the evolution of this product.
Charthop is good for HR teams in companies.
A very small and flat organization may not benefit from this tool if multiple org charts were not needed.
eloomi
Eloomi’s offering is quite flexible; you can choose from their employee learning, development and appraisal solutions, or combine them all into a holistic platform that’s all about employee growth.
PROS
- Admin and employees can navigate the tool fairly easily with little to no training.
- Users can have all three eloomi modules (i.e. Learning, Development, and Appraisals) in a complete solution or buy each individually.
- Surveys are customizable and private — good for getting specific and honest employee feedback.
- The peer-to-peer feedback feature allows employees to get each other's input on performance.
- Helpful and responsive customer service.
- Eloomi is quite comprehensive, with modules for onboarding, training/learning, performance management, employee engagement, and recognition.
- The platform comes with a library of ready-to-use templates to help you create online training faster. It also has a mobile app for your employees to access training materials on the go.
- Their surveys are customizable and private, helping you get specific and honest feedback from employees.
- You can request other members of the organization to provide feedback on certain skills of employees.
- You can make use of Eloomi’s micro-sized online training content to prevent overwhelming onboarding experiences.
CONS
- Isn’t the fastest and simplest setup process due to the number of features it offers.
- Glitches may occur as users generate reports with a large volume of data. But users have noted that Eloomi’s customer support team is quick to resolve such issues.
- The pricing isn’t transparent.
- A free trial isn’t available.
- Because of the sheer number of features Eloomi offers, there’s a steeper learning curve for the average user to get the hang of the platform and understand it to its fullest.
- A few users reported experiencing bugs and speed issues when generating reports, especially ones with a large volume of data, but have noted that Eloomi’s customer support team is quick to resolve such issues.
- The platform’s pricing isn’t transparent and free trials aren’t available at this time.
Widely known for their learning management system (LMS), eloomi also offers a solid performance management solution for employee coaching and feedback.The platform’s features include manager-employee check-ins, reports with insights, automated to-dos, 360-degree feedback, and performance appraisals.
The People Dashboard offers an overview of employees' performance, while 1:1 review and coaching conversations can be initiated with a single click using expert-built templates. Eloomi's ease of use and excellent customer support are also strengths worth noting. Though some glitches may be experienced with certain features like reporting, the eloomi support team is always quick to respond with helpful solutions.
Eloomi’s customer list includes BONUS Vorsorgekasse AG, Breakout Games, Carne Group, ElectricBrands, Nufarm, Domino’s, and more.
Eloomi offers custom pricing, so the best way to find out how much it costs is to request a demo.
Best For
Mid-sized and large businesses and NGOs with more than 50 employees.
Trakstar
Trakstar is notable for adding learning management capabilities to its performance management suite. We love that they didn’t stop there and have integrated employee engagement and succession planning features.
PROS
- User-friendly for employees and administrators.
- Responsive live support.
- Extensive knowledge base and video tutorials.
- The automated feature helps schedule reviews on a routine basis.
- Provides unlimited storage.
CONS
- Does not provide reports that show progress over time.
- No free trial or free version.
- Undisclosed pricing.
- Doesn’t have a mobile app.
- May take a while to complete the setup.
Trakstar’s performance management solution (Trakstar Perform) allows companies to deploy performance reviews, set goals, and monitor results in real-time. The platform also has learning management, employee engagement, and succession planning capabilities.
Users can customize performance evaluations, import users, design forms, and configure workflows to fit their organization. The 360-degree feedback feature allows managers to control who can access it and request feedback from people inside and outside the team. The 9-box grid is another highlight in Trakstar's succession planning module, which ties in nicely with the performance management one, providing insights into employee performance and potential for advancing within the organization.
Charles River, Beta Calco, Task Rabbit, Chemline, Minsterbank.
The pricing of Trakstar’s plans and services isn’t disclosed on their site. You have to demo with the vendor to get a price quote.
Best For
Organizations looking to track performance at the individual and team levels via a ratings-based review format.
With a large staff, I use this platform around 3 times a week. I typically add users, send passwords, and review and send performance reviews. Annually, the entire review language is reviewed, and I probably spend another 10-15 hours a year updating the framework of the reviews.
It is extremely adaptable, allowing for multiple different processes and rules. It has unique features and the ability to change language, save anything, and add dates that make sense for your organization. The support staff is helpful and accessible, ready for unique requests and retraining.
My organization purchased Trakstar Performance Management before I arrived. I took on the training, design, launch, and implementation of the tool. I developed processes and policies and distributed them to the staff of 30+. I used all functionalities in the performance management tool. Our team built this tool for our organization over the course of 3 months, rolled it out over another 3 months, and have been using it for about 2 years.
The titles of the functions are rather confusing, as "policy" and "review" are not what I expect them to be. Its high adaptability can make it challenging to build and maintain. The reports are simple, but I believe they are being developed further; I never got much value from them.
Trakstar stands out for having some of the best service I've experienced and the most practical adaptability I've seen.
When seeking a tool like this, consider cost per user, functionality/adaptability, system integration, and support available. This tool is especially useful if you have multiple existing processes to change over. It is easy to set up users, and it would be much more streamlined if personnel data came from recruitment and fed into learning and development paths using the additional platforms.
I'm unsure of all changes, but the reporting was advancing when I was using it more. Metrics were available for performance but not in minute detail from what I recall.
Our organization is a nonprofit with about 100 employees. However, we had high turnover, so user build-out was a frequent function. It's great for organizations looking for adaptable performance reviews, with the resources to afford and build out the platform package (hire, recruit, learn). There is more value in time and money with the additional areas. Once built, it's a breeze.
If an organization has high turnover and is unable to take advantage of the integrated systems, this can be cumbersome, and there may be a better option as an add-on to a payroll/benefit application.
WorkTango
WorkTango (formerly Kazoo) achieves the right balance of comprehensiveness and simplicity. The platform combines surveys, performance reviews, goals, and recognition and rewards, driving engagement and helping everyone stay aligned with team-level and business-wide objectives.
PROS
- Available in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Korean.
- Simple implementation process with training sessions available.
- Supports anonymous surveys.
- Straightforward UI that’s easy to navigate.
- The mobile app has undergone significant improvements, offering more built-in features and enhanced performance.
- Flexibility — users can buy the modules they need then add more as they go.
- Unlimited surveys available in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Korean.
- You can add modules as you go and these will be charged on a prorated basis.
CONS
- Billing is only done annually; all plans require a minimum agreement for a 24-month subscription.
- There isn’t a free trial or free plan.
- Billing is only done annually and all plans require a minimum agreement for a 24-month subscription (see our FAQs for more and their pricing page for full details).
- Several users have complained about the rewards redeeming process being not very intuitive.
WorkTango combines continuous performance management, employee recognition, rewards, and surveys into one platform to help businesses improve employee experience and, by extension, company culture.
One aspect that stood out to us is its three-pronged approach, which seamlessly connects the Survey and Insights, Goals and Feedback, and Recognition and Rewards modules. This allows users to easily share data across all three areas and ensures that individual goals align with their overall business objectives.
The platform's Surveys and Insights features have proven to be invaluable. We appreciate the ability to create surveys using pre-built templates or customize our own, gaining valuable feedback from employees, including anonymous responses. WorkTango's ability to analyze this feedback data and provide actionable suggestions is also highly praised by users as it helps them address areas of concern more effectively.
WorkTango offers a user-friendly interface, and we like that the mobile app has undergone significant improvement, offering enhanced performance and more built-in features. Additionally, the availability of training sessions has made the implementation process a lot simpler, ensuring a smooth transition for their organizations.
1000 organizations, including Allianz, Hitachi, Kia Motors, and Patagonia.
The pricing of WorkTango's modules depends on your business size and needs. Contact their sales team for an estimate.
Best For
While the majority of WorkTango’s customers are in tech, FSI, healthcare, and business services, the software can work great for mid-sized to large businesses, US-based or otherwise, across most industries.
I use WorkTango regularly, several times a week, at various stages of the employee lifecycle. One of the key things we use it for is the onboarding survey (30 days in). This helped us to fix some new retention issues. We also use it for exit interviews and engagement surveys, as the organization had some issues with staff attrition. Additionally, we use it for culture surveys, which have again helped us improve retention.
The fresh and welcoming design is perfect for an engagement tool. Constructing lifecycle surveys on this tool is quick and easy. The detailed real-time reporting is great, and I especially like the Excel and PowerPoint reporting.
Our existing employee satisfaction surveys were laborious, time-consuming, and rarely acted upon due to a lack of follow-up analytics and reporting. As a result, employee surveys were not welcomed by staff. We wanted a slicker, more automated, and user-friendly engagement survey with sophisticated analytics and reporting. WorkTango offers all of these benefits and more. I have used this tool for about 12 months.
I don't have anything particularly negative to say. WorkTango has nailed it. But, if pushed, the setup could be faster; it took several weeks to be ready. A shorter, more flexible contract term would be desirable. It could also be more affordable with tiered pricing.
I have used tools like Culture Amp and Motivosity, and I found that WorkTango was harder to set up and administer but had the same functionality and was more cost-effective.
Flexible pricing is important so you can get an appropriately priced offering to suit the size of your organization. A range of surveys that cover the entire employee lifecycle and are deliverable on mobile (Android and Apple devices) is crucial. Ease of use and setup, along with excellent reporting and good automation, are also key factors.
I have only used it for a year and didn't use it long enough to see any developmental changes.
WorkTango is suitable for all sizes of organizations due to its flexible pricing. The tool also works on a broad range of operating systems, making it great for organizations with employees working on different platforms.
WorkTango is quite feature-rich and functionality-heavy, which could be overkill for smaller organizations that want to do basic employee surveys.
PerformYard
Sharply focused on the performance management software niche, PerformYard is best known for being flexible and feature-rich. They also stand out for constantly rolling out new features based on customer feedback.
PROS
- Covers nearly all the bases of performance management
- Regularly incorporates new features based on customer feedback
- Supports Single Sign-On
- Highly customizable in terms of content
- High focus on flexibility within performance management, they can handle a myriad of approaches to PM, adapting to your current strategy.
- The PerformYard team constantly listens to their clients, incorporating new features based on their feedback and suggestions.
CONS
- Focuses exclusively on the North American market
- Not the most intuitive tool for new users
- Little lengthy in some processes to get where you need to be
- Some of the action-to-do descriptions for performance evaluation lack clarity on what to do and what the next steps are.
- Lacks features to auto-transfer data from HRIS to PerformYard
- As of mid-2022 at least, PerformYard are mainly focused on the North American market, so for businesses in other geographies and with non-English speaking team members, it wouldn’t be the best fit.
PerformYard’s flexible performance management system helps managers and employees stay on top of areas for improvement and track success. Its unique goal management feature allows each team member to define and track their goals, tying them to business objectives and facilitating collaboration.
Performance reviews and check-ins offer customizable content templates, while continuous feedback helps recognize accomplishments, document performance, and track notes. The platform's customer service receives positive feedback, with dedicated success managers guiding users. However, some users feel uncertain about the next steps after completing their evaluation due to the complexity automation features.
Blue Nile, The Catholic University of America, Eggstrategy, College Track, Metro Credit Union, Friedman LLP.
PerformYard has two plans. When billed annually, they cost as follows:
- Professional: $5-10 per employee per month with access to performance reviews, goal management, continuous feedback, 360s, and peer evaluation tools. It also comes with dedicated customer success management, knowledge base access, and phone or email support.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing and unlocks additional perks to what’s in the Professional plan, including senior-lead customer success management, enhanced on-boarding/training, custom implementation, data integrations, custom single sign-on (SAML), custom service level agreement, additional document storage.
Best For
PerformYard is best suited for organizations (both for-profit and nonprofit) between 30 to 2,000 employees in the United States.
Betterworks
Betterworks is more common among large teams due to its sheer amount of features. Businesses choose it to get a wider set of data points and tools for employee engagement, performance, and goal management.
PROS
- Supports manager-employee conversations on planning and setting up quarterly objectives and key results
- Users highly praise the e-learnings along the OKR setups.
- Has a user-friendly and clear UI.
- The customer support team gives timely responses and is helpful.
- BetterWorks helps you get the performance data you need, whenever you need it. You can calibrate the system to your standards and objectives – annually, quarterly, monthly, or on demand – or choose from a wide selection of filters to get exactly the information you want.
- There are a few features in place that can help you uncover hidden biases and uphold your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. For example, you can learn if talent decisions – such as promotions – are impacting certain employee populations unfairly.
- The platform is fairly easy to use with built-in analytics that help you understand how well you are doing toward achieving your goals.
CONS
- Limited integration capabilities
- Filtering isn’t in the best shape, leading to confusion as users navigate between individual and team goals.
- Its price tag makes it not friendly to budget-minded teams
- No free trials
- It can be difficult to know which goals are active, because the label ‘Active’ is set as the default.
- Betterworks offers considerable integration options with third-party solutions, but its main focus is on sending and receiving employee information between systems.
- Some users may find the Goals and OKR module overwhelming due to the sheer number of features, buttons, and options available. For example, a user complains that there's no need for three separate modules: Goals, Conversation, and Appreciation. The user should be able to click on a Goal and immediately start a conversation with the manager about it.
Betterworks provides a smooth performance journey to end users with an intuitive UI that’s easy to navigate. The software enables employees and managers to understand where the organization is trying to go and how they impact these goals by providing users with regular check-ins, OKRs, feedback, and recognition.
The web-based performance management platform gives visibility into the objectives of both individuals and the whole team, their progress, and how it all ladders to the set goal. Admin users can create regular reports to keep track of all conversations and measure the impact. We heard a lot of positive feedback from users on the tutorials built-in along the OKR setups and also its customer support.
Hulu, Kroger, FedEx, Udemy, Posadas, University of Phoenix.
- SMBs (5 to 1000 people): $7.00 per user per month (billed annually)
- Mid-Market (1000+ employees): custom pricing
- Large enterprises (5000+ employees): custom pricing.
Best For
Organizations (midsize or larger) looking for a robust and feature-rich PM software.
I primarily use Betterworks for team building. It is helpful in tracking progress toward goals. Betterworks has helped the team in strategizing improvements across the organization. The service also allows for feedback between staff. It also has a very helpful scoring system for employees.
Betterworks is great for building team collaboration. It has a well developed information hub. Betterworks also has a mobile app that is popular with employees.
Betterworks was purchased to streamline collaboration among the team. It is primarily used in employee goal setting across the organization. It provides team members with the ability to recognize and congratulate each other on accomplished goals. It integrates with multiple systems that we use. I have used Betterworks for 1 year.
It is very expensive and not suitable for small teams. It also has issues with integration across several systems that we use. Customer service isn’t super responsive.
There are other more cost effective and less buggy tools to use. However, its goal setting capabilities are impressive.
Betterworks is built for teams that are 1000+. It is an investment at its price point. I have run into technical issues and had issues with customer service occasionally.
They have added features to be more competitive and updated their goal setting capabilities.
Betterworks is good for large organizations with a large budget and someone to keep track of interface issues.
It is not a good fit for organizations with a small budget or those that can manage their OKRs on their own.
Lattice
Lattice helps managers form a well-rounded approach to performance management, packing reviews, OKRs, goal management, and engagement in single, enterprise-ready platform.
PROS
- Has a modern design
- Helps you conduct 1-on-1s and reviews smoothly and in an organized manner
- Allows you to keep track of all meetings’ agendas, action items, and shared notes
- It’s quick and easy to see people directory and org structure
- Seamless integration with Slack and Google Workspace
- Lattice allows managers to record their 1:1 meetings with employees in real time. That way, both parties can go back later and revisit what was discussed during the meeting – as well as make sure nothing gets lost in translation!
- The platform has a host of tools supporting employee development and performance-based compensation setting, which isn’t common for the average performance management product.
- Review templates and survey questions are among several things that can be customized to ensure you’re getting relevant data.
CONS
- Updating OKRs is not the easiest. The goal view resets as users add or update a goal.
- Doesn’t have the option to do the feedback/suggestion box anonymously yet
- Sometimes it's not always intuitive when it comes to looking back at old reviews or adding someone to a survey.
- The mobile app has very limited functionality.
- Starting at $11 per person per month, Lattice’s pricing is on the expensive side compared to competitors.
- The platform is feature-rich, which is great but also means that it takes some time for the average user to get acclimated with it.
- The available selection of third-party integrations is rather limited, with a few users complaining that their HRIS isn’t covered. That said, Lattice does have an open API that allows users to plug-in other third party tools.
Lattice’s performance management solution provides managers and HR teams with a comprehensive view of their organization. It features highly customizable reviews, with built-in tools to help users automate review cycles. Engagement is also taken into account, with users having the option to give feedback and appreciation privately or publicly (on integration apps like Slack or Teams), and request feedback from people both inside and outside the company.
Furthermore, the Updates feature connects employees and managers on progress and roadblocks. There’s also a mobile app available on both iOS and Google Play stores, but it has limited functionality compared to the web-based version.
Lattice has over 2,000 customers, including Reddit, Slack, and Asana.
Lattice pricing is very flexible:
- Performance Management costs $8 per person/month
- OKRs & Goals costs $8 per person/month
- Performance management plus OKRs & Goals costs $11 per person/month
- Performance plus OKRs & Goals plus Engagement costs $15 per person/month
- Performance plus OKRs & Goals plus Grow (targeting employee growth and development) costs $15 per person/month
- Performance plus OKRs & Goals plus Compensation (linking performance and compensation) costs $17 per person/month
- Enterprise plan has custom pricing
Best For
Growing teams looking for a platform that combines surveys, performance management, feedback, and goals will benefit most from the scalability and feature wealth of Lattice’s offerings.
We typically use Lattice once a year for annual reviews. There are other components to Lattice but we haven’t utilized them. It has been hard to get managers on board. And we are also a small company. But with reviews for employees it is very easy to use
The ease of submission and completing review forms is A+. The ease of onboarding the software was great. There really are great elements to it but it isn’t utilized enough with my company at this time. Adding and removing employees is also very simple
It’s been about two years since we bought Lattice. I shopped around and had a demo with them. We needed a way to streamline annual reviews and found this to be the best at the time. It has helped for a quick review process but I have been asked to shop around again. Not sure what will happen moving forward.
Wish there was a cheaper option for just reviews and not all the add ons. As well as the ability to pause membership or maybe only have it be monthly and not annually. We don’t need it all year but understand that is not a great business model for them
I have not used others but we needed something that would incorporate many companies into one where there was crossover of management and employees
How useful it will be. Who will be using it and if it will be utilized to its full potential
I have not experienced many changes for the use case that we use it for
One that has strong management eager to grow and develop their employees
A very large organization but get overwhelmed by the interface and use of it.
What Is Performance Management Software?
Performance management software's most commonly used features are structured 1:1s, annual reviews, development plans, and workflow automation. Each of these modules relies on this tool's powerful, underlying function: discerning analytics.
Performance management software is like an employee analytics flashlight. Whether taking it all in from a distance or closely looking at one tiny element, the illumination can help HR and business leaders observe and interpret the entire scope of company activities.
I saw the impact this tool could have early in my career. I was consulting for a bootstrapped startup, helping them identify spending leaks. It was a young company, so their recordkeeping could have been better. By chance, one of the founders had a beta version of a performance management platform she’d been asked to test drive. So we thought, why not? Nobody expected what would happen next.
The software uncovered overspending in multiple areas, including unused software and hardware expenses that were four times higher than necessary. We also found operational redundancies and costly oversights.
It’s ironic that the free software saved the day, but it really did!
This anecdote illustrates an important point. What we were slowly uncovering with hours of work, the platform captured at a glance.
This is the magic of performance management tools. The ability to comprehend all the moving parts, from the whole org to a tiny element, can rapidly empower improvement at any scale.
Not only can these platforms drive significant, systemic overhauls across departments, but they can also work on the individual level. They can provide the context and perspective to help employees understand where they fit into the larger organization, which can lead to performance improvement.
Performance Management Software answers questions like:
- Big picture: what is the entire organization working on?
- Mid-range: what are departments, divisions, and teams working on?
- Small-scale: what are individuals working on?
With the above questions answered, leadership can develop innovative, precise, and effective strategies to enhance the company’s performance.
What Are Use Cases for Performance Management Systems?
Performance management software is helpful to an organization in more ways than we can cover in one article. The following are among the most common, but every company is different, and your mileage may vary.
According to our contributor Tracie Maire, who has used performance management tools for team sizes from 25 to 3,000, the tool can benefit teams of any stature. She notes that the right time to start using one isn’t based on headcount. Instead, factors specific to your business, your culture, and your structure determine the right time to buy.
Among our team at SSR, our collective experience of buying and implementing these systems with companies of all types aligns with her sentiment. Among our staff of writers and HR professionals, I agree that there is no good standard time to start, but luckily, the use case for performance review software is evident.
1:1 meetings: Make the most of these critical interactions by using a tool to fold them into your Big Picture strategy. Performance management software can help managers and employees collaborate to create (and actually stick to!) an agenda and a regular schedule. They can review notes from past meetings, use pre-built conversation starters, and tie 1:1s back to goals and feedback. From either side of the manager or direct report line, I agree: 1:1s with purpose enhance productivity. But in my experience, that’s not all they can do.
When I worked in HR, a new manager approached me for support. He was overwhelmed by his new responsibilities, so I suggested that he use the company's performance management software, particularly structured 1:1s, as a training tool. I encouraged him to look for insights into goal-setting, targeted feedback, productivity measurement, and data analysis. He incorporated these strategies into his fledgling management philosophy, his confidence grew, and he became a well-respected member of leadership.
Objectives and key results (OKRs): Most performance management software contains a goal-setting feature that allows businesses to list their OKRs and record progress toward them.
Goal setting cuts an unambiguous path between an output (whether individual or division-wide) and the organization’s goals. The benefits of clarity around a central purpose and the ability to track progress toward it are conspicuously missing in many organizations, often due to the effect of information silos.
Performance Reviews: Many need help remembering what happened last week, let alone any details from six months ago!
The right platform can facilitate meaningful conversations that stand the test of time. By implementing structure, cadence, and documentation, companies can avoid the two worst types of performance evaluations. First, the rushed, scattershot, far-too-general-to-be-useful type, and the second, the rushed, narrow, we-can’t-remember-last-week-let-alone-details-from-six-months-ago type.
Employee Performance Management: From onboarding to 360-degree feedback and regular check-ins, modern performance management systems provide managers with a complete picture of employee performance. It creates and monitors measurements for productivity and illuminates the connection between daily activities and long-term company goals.
I’ve seen this from both the direct report and the manager's side. While the benefits are not as easy and obvious as the focused 1:1s (more on that later), a well-managed review cycle can be transformative.
People Analytics: Fluent in both process and people, these platforms generate high-value analyses that can illuminate the relationship between the two. Insights on using the platform, the need for more training, adherence to OKRs, and the formalization of 1:1s are abundant.
6 Common Pitfalls of Performance Review Software (And How to Avoid Them!)
Now that you know what it can do, let’s look at a few common mistakes companies make in buying, implementing, and capturing the value of this tool.
1. Limited Product Suite: Some vendors offer stripped-down suites with limited capabilities or single features a la carte. Though they are often more affordable, they should be avoided.
We recommend a feature-rich product with supplemental offerings you can use now or deploy in the future. Your long-term people strategy should always be top of mind, especially when shopping for a tool deeply embedded in a worker's daily activities.
For example, if you plan to roll out an employee engagement initiative in the next 18 months, a performance management platform that lacks this feature is a bad choice.
2. Culture Change Catastrophe: A common mistake to avoid is inadequate planning for this tool's impact on company culture.
I’ve seen things get ugly when this kind of tech is applied at the wrong time or with the wrong message. What do I mean by “ugly”? Ugly is what happens when the effect of buying and implementing new software is net negative either in terms of ROI or in terms of employee engagement.
The topic of worker productivity is well-studied and notoriously complex. The U.S. has a long-established history of laws and institutions created to protect workers’ rights, but a persistent sense of threat remains. Some believe the best interests of workers and the scrutiny of their output are at odds.
While I’m not suggesting that using performance management software requires a company-wide curriculum on the comprehensive history of labor relations, you should be aware that adopting a tool that monitors your worker’s daily activities may cause alarm. Keep reading for our recommendations on handling this, but first, let’s survey the landscape.
If you’re shopping for an enterprise-level tool, the culture change process will be part of the package you buy. In most cases, you’ll have access to a professional change management team to help with messaging and implementation. However, if you are like us and most other small businesses, you can’t afford Deloitte! So focus on what you can control: the message and how you deliver it.
While a white-glove consultancy service may not be your thing, you do have distinguished, dependable, and highly skilled messengers at your disposal: your human resources team.
A known and trusted entity, HR has a tremendous advantage over a consultancy: they are the architects of your culture. No team is more well-suited to bring people on board (literally and figuratively) with enthusiasm and solidarity.
Pro tip: Focus on the development aspects of the tool. Advocate for a frame of mind that sees the implementation primarily as a means to develop each employee’s strengths. To this end, integrations with tools that manage incentives like bonuses, rewards, and recognition can be helpful to the cause.
When I used the words “get ugly” earlier because this critical element was overlooked or under-resourced.
3. Misguided Compensation Alignment: Are YOU ready to question one of the foundational elements of modern capitalism? Sorry if I caught you off guard, but here we go!
Compensation is often tied directly to an individual’s achievement of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). It follows that a person who meets 100% of their OKRs has earned their keep by doing 100% of the job they were asked to do. This makes sense until you consider how one might measure and reward accomplishments that exceed expectations.
The solution: OKRs should only be 60-70% attainable.
The space between 60-70% and 100% is the domain of discretionary effort, and that should be made clear to your employees as you roll out your very OKR-focused program. Let your team know that their compensation and achievement of OKRs are not directly proportional, and support them in the counterintuitive task of creating goals that they won’t meet 30%-40% of the time.
When I’ve laid this out to the various teams I’ve worked with, truthfully, only about half of the minds are blown. The other half have MBAs or have otherwise acquired business acumen that made them immune to the effects of this news.
4. Rushing the Roll Out: Avoid whiplash going zero to sixty with your rollout: don’t redline your implementation! 1:1 meetings with OKRs are an excellent place to start. If possible, you can pace yourself as you shift to a new program by finding a solution that overlaps your current system. The same is true if you’re starting from scratch— avoid the temptation to do too much, too fast.
How do I know this? This advice comes straight from the headlines of the team's real-world experience at Select Software Reviews. In other words, been there, done that: rushed it, regretted it.
I once witnessed a performance management software rollout tank because it was both rushed and scatter-shot. The tool's promise was squandered by pushing too hard: the training was minimal, the expectations needed to be more attainable, and the integration needed to be more robust. The company lost thousands of dollars and invaluable measures of trust from the workers.
You should schedule one to four months per module and dedicate copious resources to education for managers and employees. It’s essential to be patient when asking people to change their behavior. With a thoughtful, phased rollout, you’ll give your team time to adjust and the software the chance to justify itself.
5. Adding Another Login: If you chose a tool that requires your team to log in to anything other than what they already do, you’ve chosen the wrong tool. Many factors contribute to workplace stress, and extraneous tools can be counted among their ranks. Fortunately, many of these systems are built with an open API and integrations in mind.
Your platform should provide seamless integration with email, internal comms tools like Slack, project management tools like Jira, and any other virtual environments where you will likely find your team. Well-integrated tools increase the chances of high engagement and bottom-line impact.
Here’s some water cooler gossip: unless your team is using a password management system like it 100% definitely should all of the time, one of the best ways to introduce security threats to your company is to tempt people to reuse passwords by giving them too many things to log into.
6. Misaligned Goals: Employees will instinctually set OKRs that are directly related to company goals, but sometimes this needs to be corrected.
For example, if an organization aims to cut costs, you can expect to find this item listed among individuals’ OKRs.
But here’s another true story from one of our HR pros who was an eyewitness to this misalignment pitfall: following what they thought was the direction of the company, a person from the marketing team included “cut costs” among their OKRs. Somehow, nobody noticed. The sun didn’t crash into the earth. Still, heaps of time was wasted scrutinizing transactions to cut costs when the company's needs would have been better served by this person spending on initiatives that support creativity and innovation.
The key to goal alignment is education. When structuring OKRs, individuals must be supported by managers who, in turn, were well supported when learning how to educate their direct reports.
4 Key Performance Management Platform Features
The features listed below represent the fundamental functions standard to these platforms. Your company may require more, less, or alternate options, but these four define the baseline.
1. Integrations: Though more of a characteristic than a feature, software seamlessly integrating with your existing tools is crucial for maximizing productivity and reducing operational costs. A tool that integrates with your current stack minimizes the need for manual data entry, avoids potential data errors, and allows for a smooth workflow between different systems. In short, easy integration saves time and resources and provides for a more effective and streamlined operation.
2. Check-ins: Employees want and deserve frequent check-ins with managers. Comprehensive annual reviews have their place too, but OKR-driven 1:1s and regular check-ins keep employees engaged and focused. They can be an opportunity to teach skills that improve performance.
100% of Select Software Reviews employees agree on this one. It’s a no-brainer and should be baked into the platform you buy.
2. Automation & Workflows: Look for a tool with integrated automation options from top to bottom—one must-have feature: automated 1:1's with templated questions and built-in scheduling. Integrations with your other HR tech and internal comms like Slack and Outlook are also critical.
3. Annual Employee Evaluations: The awkward yearly review is quickly becoming a thing of the past (hooray!), but that doesn't mean employee evaluations have disappeared completely – they've simply evolved.
When choosing your software, take a hard look at how the tool streamlines and improves this part of your talent management strategy. Ideally, the tool will ensure the year’s worth of 1:1s and check-ins have been purposefully designed to lead to a meaningful, comprehensive retrospective. The best among the best will also curate a well-informed vision of the future.
Our take on this feature is unified: it is essential to get this right! All roads of your performance management system should lead to this point, and it should be (assuming the best of everyone) a positive experience across the board.
4. Development Plans: Look for a platform with features focused on helping your workforce develop skills to meet company and personal goals. At a minimum, the system must track OKRs to ensure development is headed in the right general direction. On the other end of the spectrum (and, usually, price range), we’ve seen companies reap massive benefits from platforms with built-in learning management capabilities. The more specific the educational material, the better.
About half of our team (all dignified HR professionals, mind you) scoffed at this and said something like, “Okay, we’ll just take the company jet to meet with the dignitaries from the Learning Management Department of the Performance Management Software most small businesses can barely afford.” Point taken, fellow pros. There are not many options for SMBs who want good performance management software. But keep this in mind: while much of what I’ve discussed is specific to (game-changing) software, much of what I hope to get across are tactics that can be deployed for the low price of free-ninety-nine.
For example, here are three things that zero dollars can buy you:
1. A Source to Learn Better People Management Skills
2. A Nuanced Understanding of Performance Management
3. A Way to Ensure a Positive Effect with a Performance Management Strategy
Questions to Ask in a Demo
Ask these questions to each company you speak to. Do your research beforehand, but have these in your back pocket.
- What is your product roadmap? How do employee engagement, recognition, and rewards fit into that vision?
- How does your solution integrate with my existing HRIS or HRMS?
- How does this tool integrate with our project management software?
- What is your change management playbook? How will you help our employees and managers transition to this solution?
- Do you have recommendations for the rollout? Which modules go first, and why?
- If I’m already doing OKRs and 1:1s, how much time will this save my team?
- Is this solution designed for specific types of organizations? Is it best for small businesses, enterprise/knowledge workers, retail, remote teams, etc.?
- Can I export the data to cross-reference with other KPIs kept in other systems? Which systems?
- How does the annual performance review process work?
- How does the tool navigate systematic reviews?
Our #1 Pro Tip: Divvy up the Lift
Don’t underestimate the resources involved in making this choice or the impact of your selection. You’re not simply buying another piece of software.
You are introducing an operational paradigm shift by selecting and deploying a change-making, eyebrow-raising, OKR-activating transformative powerhouse. Don’t do it alone! Build a team for this task.
A cross-functional buying committee is a small team assembled to speak to the needs of the departments they represent. In addition to the benefit of their perspectives, their collective knowledge, skills, and “weight” will help secure the budget you need to support the program. Equally important is the personal connection to their divisions, amplifying the sense of safety and trust needed for a successful implementation.
I have seen firsthand how helpful this type of coalition can be, and I cannot recommend this enough.
Performance Management Software FAQs
What does performance software do?
It does a lot! This includes but is not limited to scheduling and scoring performance reviews, measuring OKRs and goals, scheduling check-ins, and analyzing employee data.
What benefits does it provide?
Increased retention, a better understanding of your organization, easy tracking of performance data, and increased employee engagement.
What are the primary features?As mentioned above, check-ins, workflow automation, annual evaluations, and development plans are the standard functions, but integration is the feature that ranks above the rest.
Final Advice
Performance management software is a powerful tool that operates in the space between behavior change and analytics. For maximum effect, sustained resource requirements must be accounted for.
Buying, implementing, and maintaining this type of software requires a commitment to the continual process of operating it. Out of the box, it provides a framework and analytic capabilities, but it must be tuned into your team’s specific needs to be effective and well-received.
Remember that HR tech is a highly dynamic market, so be patient and prepared to sort through dozens of options on your way to the best fit.
Don’t underestimate the pace of evolution in this space. Fundamental business principles and HR best practices are essentially unshakable, but HR tech tools are in a state of constant, rapid development. Don’t fall behind!
HR pros and decision-makers: subscribe to our newsletter to keep pace with the progress.
About Us
- Our goal at SSR is to help HR and recruiting teams to find and buy the right software for their needs.
- Our site is free to use as some vendors will pay us for web traffic.
- SSR lists all companies we feel are top vendors - not just those who pay us - in our comprehensive directories full of the advice needed to make the right purchase decision for your HR team.
