The 21 Essential Apps to Power Up Your HR Tech Stack
There’s an app for almost everything nowadays, including most of the tasks on your HR to-do list. But when it comes to human resources applications, more isn’t necessarily better. And if they don’t work well together, more HR apps can actually hinder your efficiency goals and increase vulnerabilities rather than save time and make your work easier.
So what HR applications are the best choice for you and your business? The apps listed here provide solutions to your top HR responsibilities:
- Hiring and recruiting
- Time tracking and management
- Payroll and compliance
- Internal communications
- Company culture and employee engagement
Bonus: Each HR app listed in this article already has a built-in integration with BambooHR, meaning you can connect the systems in just a few simple steps to create a robust, integrated tech stack, where everything works together.
The 4 best hiring apps for effective recruiting
Recruiting and hiring the best talent was cited as a top challenge for HR in 2024. From labor shortages to the influx of AI-assisted applications, it’s harder than ever to stay on top of staffing needs, but with the right human resources applications, you can smooth out the roughest parts of your process so you can focus on strategy.
Here are a few of our top hiring integrations to level up your company’s recruiting efforts:
BambooHR® Applicant Tracking
Give your in-house recruiters and hiring managers the modern recruiting tools they need to help find and hire the right talent fast. The BambooHR ATS is fully integrated with BambooHR and includes the BambooHR Hiring mobile app (available for iOS and Android) for hiring on-the-go.
Checkr
Our friends at Checkr have made background checks a breeze. Although you can use Checkr as a standalone tool, when you integrate Checkr with BambooHR, you can run background checks directly from BambooHR, making your hiring process that much easier.
Indeed
If you’re trying to promote a job listing, Indeed is probably one of the first places you’ll go. In most cases, integrating Indeed with your ATS means automatic postings to the job platform. And you know what that means? You’re one and done when it comes to entering job information.
Greenhouse
With a powerful suite of built-in HR tools for hiring, onboarding, and inclusion, Greenhouse is a great partner for your hiring team.
The 4 best compliance-boosting payroll apps
If there’s one HR app to prioritize when integrating all your systems, it’s your payroll app. Even if you’re not the one in charge of running payroll, you may oversee processes that are directly affected by it, like time tracking and benefits administration. Just by integrating all your people and payroll data, you’re automatically increasing compliance, simplifying your payroll process, and saving yourself valuable time.
US-based payroll
BambooHR® Payroll
Integrations are great, but when all your major HR tools live together under one roof, well, that’s when you’ve really unlocked the key to efficiency. Designed for US-based employees, BambooHR Payroll allows you to pay your people confidently.
Global payroll
Remote
As a global payroll solution, Remote helps companies hire and pay international contractors and employees from around the world. Remote simplifies payroll management while ensuring compliance across diverse and complex standards and regulations worldwide.
UK-based payroll
PayCaptain
PayCaptain does more than pay employees—it sets a new standard in UK payroll by embracing the latest technologies, banking capabilities, and strategies for radically improving the payday experience. As a payroll and financial wellbeing solution, PayCaptain is on a mission to help UK-based employees take control of their financial futures.
Canada-based payroll
WorkLinks
Designed for Canada-based employees, WorkLinks ensures compliance in every province or territory for companies of all sizes. Whether you want to process payroll yourself or outsource the entire process to WorkLinks payroll specialists, this integration may be the perfect option for you.
The 4 best time tracking apps for accuracy & security
Because they’re so closely related, time-tracking and payroll solutions perform best when they’re integrated. When these systems are disconnected, you have to deal with double data entry and other opportunities for error that put compliance and employee trust at risk.
That’s why BambooHR offers both a Time Tracking and Payroll add-on, as well as other time tracking and payroll apps that merge seamlessly with BambooHR.
Here are a few of our favorite time tracking apps:
BambooHR® Time Tracking
BambooHR Time Tracking stands out in two key areas.
- Ease of use—for both admins and employees.
- Everything lives seamlessly together under the BambooHR umbrella. Your employee records feed into Time Tracking, and Time Tracking feeds into Payroll. A very happy ecosystem!
Deputy
Deputy is a powerhouse workforce management solution. With this robust HR app, you can create schedules, track hours, ensure overtime compliance, and send hours worked directly to your payroll software.
Synerion
Synerion lets you easily and securely track employee time and attendance. You can use face scanning that also checks temperatures, fingerprint scans, door access systems, and even location tracking on phones.
SwipeClock
With shift scheduling and a mobile app for remote clock-ins, SwipeClock offers the core time tracking features you can expect from a modern HR time tracking app. But one of SwipeClock’s biggest differentiators is its Schedule Trade Board, which allows employees to easily find coverage if they need to drop a shift.
The 6 best integrations to add to your hr tech stack for business efficiency
Too much technology can have a negative impact on efficiency. Say you have 15 software platforms you log into daily. That’s 15 different usernames, 15 different passwords, and multiple times a day you’re having to log in to a new platform. It’s a lot to keep track of, and all those extra keystrokes and mouse clicks add up.
Here’s where the power of software integration really comes through—when you integrate your HR apps, you create efficiencies that save time and boost security.
Single sign-on applications
Microsoft Single Sign-On
Google Single Sign-On
SAML
OneLogin
Okta
According to OneLogin, over 80% of security breaches involve weak or stolen credentials. And it’s no surprise. Your employees have to keep track of a lot of login information. Making use of a single sign-on software makes life easier for them, and even more importantly, increases security for you.
Internal communications
Slack
There’s a lot to love about Slack. First on the list: It’s a top-rate communication tool. And don’t just take it from us. 87% of Slack users said the platform improves communication and collaboration within their organization.
Second on the list: It’s absolutely free to integrate with BambooHR. Through our integration, Slack + BambooHR users can look up teammates, view PTO balances, see who’s out of office, and more.
The 3 best hr tools to enhance people and culture
Building a great company culture takes strategy, intention, and buy-in from every level of the organization. As the architects of company culture, HR is responsible for the plan, tools, and programs that go into creating a great culture and getting everyone on board.
Here are a few HR resources applications you can use to apply a process to your approach and ensure you’re focusing on the right things. Whether you’re looking to implement a rewards and recognition program or start measuring employee engagement, there’s an HR app for it.
BambooHR® Performance Management
According to Gallup, only 2 out of 10 employees say their performance is being managed in a way that motivates them. When the majority of performance reviews are unplanned, unstructured, and not biased toward action, it’s no surprise that employees would feel this way.
Implementing a performance management software can help you put a process in place to conduct meaningful, actionable performance reviews.
Gifted
As a BambooHR integration, Gifted syncs with employee data to automate gifting campaigns for special occasions and milestones. With access to over 3,500 gift card brands, physical gifts, and custom swag, Gifted offers something for every budget, without user fees or monthly minimums, allowing you to create an effective and affordable employee recognition program at scale in minutes.
Culture Amp
One of the reasons we love Culture Amp: It includes tools that guide you on next steps based on your employee engagement data. Survey data from your employees contributes directly to tools like turnover forecasting, competitive benchmarking, and engagement action planning.