BambooHR is a complete HR management system built to support growing businesses as they expand their teams. Its intuitive design simplifies everything from hiring and onboarding to performance and offboarding. As businesses scale, BambooHR provides tools to manage increasing HR complexity without overwhelming administrators.
The platform includes a powerful applicant tracking system that manages job postings, interviews, and hiring steps all in one place. Time-off tracking is flexible and customisable, aligning easily with UK bank holidays and leave policies. Managers can monitor team availability at a glance and automate approval workflows. Performance management is robust, allowing structured feedback cycles and goal-setting. Its reporting and analytics modules also provide data-driven insights that aid strategic planning.
BambooHR is a full-service HR platform designed to help small businesses grow smoothly. It combines hiring, employee records, time tracking, and performance tools in one clean interface.
Customisable Reporting: Generate detailed, custom-built reports on turnover, retention, PTO usage, and demographics, helping HR make data-driven decisions.
Mobile App Access: Employees and managers can request and approve time off, check balances, and access documents directly from mobile devices.
Employee Self-Service: Staff can update personal info, view policies, and access payslips, reducing the administrative load on HR.
E-signature Integration: Upload documents like contracts or offer letters and capture legally binding e-signatures, streamlining onboarding and compliance.
Training Tracking: Assign, monitor, and report on employee training or certifications, helping teams stay compliant and skilled.
Gusto is an HR and payroll platform purpose-built for small businesses that want to simplify their payroll, taxes, and benefits administration. It’s designed to handle everything from employee onboarding to automated salary payments, making it an ideal solution for small teams who want to offload payroll complexity.
The software automatically calculates and files UK-specific payroll taxes and National Insurance contributions. It supports contractor payments as well as permanent staff and includes features for pensions, expenses, and holiday tracking. Gusto also offers a fully integrated time tracking solution, syncing employee hours directly to payroll. New hires can be onboarded digitally with offer letters, contracts, and self-service document submission, minimising admin time and ensuring a smooth start.
Gusto is a user-friendly payroll platform that automates salary payments, tax filings, and benefits, all built for growing small teams.
Automatic Tax Filings: Calculates and files payroll taxes with HMRC, ensuring timely compliance with PAYE, NI, and year-end summaries like P60.
Employee Benefits Sync: Integrates with pension and insurance providers so that deductions sync automatically during payroll runs.
Contractor Payments: Pay freelancers or contractors directly through Gusto with automatic recordkeeping and self-service document access.
Built-in Compliance Alerts: Receive real-time notifications on changing tax laws or pension thresholds to stay compliant without manual research.
Hiring & Onboarding Checklists: Create step-by-step onboarding workflows for new hires including forms, policies, and direct deposit setup.
Rippling is more than just HR software, it’s an all-in-one workforce platform that seamlessly merges HR, payroll, and IT. It’s particularly useful for tech-forward small businesses or remote teams looking to automate employee onboarding, equipment setup, and compliance.
One of Rippling’s standout features is its IT provisioning: as soon as someone is hired, the system can assign them a laptop, software accounts, and relevant permissions, all managed through the HR workflow. Payroll is processed globally, supporting UK tax compliance and pension contributions. The onboarding process can be completely automated, ensuring that new employees have all the tools they need from day one. Rippling’s modular structure allows businesses to start with core HR and scale up to more advanced IT and finance integrations.
Rippling goes beyond HR, it automates IT onboarding, payroll, and compliance, making it ideal for growing or remote teams.
Org Chart & Directory: Visualise your company hierarchy and quickly access employee roles and contact info—helpful for onboarding or restructuring.
Custom Role Permissions: Restrict or grant access to sensitive data based on job function, location, or team, keeping information secure and compliant.
Automated Workflows: Trigger actions based on events (like hiring or promotions) to automate tasks like assigning training, benefits, or access credentials.
GDPR/UK Compliance Toolkit: Includes access logs, retention policies, and consent tracking to help meet UK GDPR requirements out of the box.
Expense Management Integration: Employees can submit expenses within Rippling, and finance teams can review, approve, and reimburse quickly.
Zoho People is an ideal HR platform for small businesses on a tight budget. It provides a strong suite of core HR tools at a fraction of the price of competitors, without compromising on functionality. It’s especially well-suited for businesses already using other Zoho applications like Zoho CRM or Zoho Books.
The platform includes customisable leave and attendance modules that support various UK public holiday calendars and custom absence types. It also features a built-in performance appraisal system with goal-setting, review cycles, and 360-degree feedback. With Zoho People, you can build automated workflows to manage approvals, employee data updates, and task assignments. The system is cloud-based, mobile-friendly, and offers strong flexibility through API and integrations.
Zoho People is an affordable HRIS with a strong set of customisable features ideal for startups and budget-conscious teams.
Shift Scheduling: Allows managers to create and assign shifts, avoiding conflicts and helping teams manage working hours more efficiently.
Learning Management System (LMS): Create internal courses, assign them to staff, and track completions to ensure continuous learning and compliance.
Employee Case Management: Log and monitor sensitive HR issues like grievances or performance incidents in a confidential, centralised space.
HR Chatbot Integration: Employees can interact with an AI-powered chatbot to check leave balances, request time off, or find HR policies instantly.
Custom Role Hierarchies: Define reporting structures and approval chains so HR workflows align with your org chart.
Homebase is designed specifically for businesses that rely on hourly workers—think retail shops, restaurants, and service-based companies. It makes shift scheduling, attendance tracking, and communication between teams simple and efficient, even for managers with no HR background.
The drag-and-drop schedule builder allows managers to quickly assign shifts, manage availability, and publish updates in real-time. Employees can clock in and out using a mobile device with GPS verification, ensuring location accuracy. The system automatically calculates hours worked and syncs them with payroll systems to reduce errors. Homebase also includes in-app messaging and announcements, so staff can stay informed and coordinate directly within the platform. It’s an excellent solution for businesses needing real-time, operational HR support.
Homebase is tailored for small businesses with hourly staff—like retail or hospitality—making scheduling and time tracking simple and efficient.
Hiring & Job Posts: Post jobs directly to multiple job boards, receive applications, and schedule interviews without switching platforms.
Tip Distribution Tools: Automatically calculate and allocate tips fairly among hourly employees based on hours or roles.
Labour Cost Forecasting: Predict staffing costs in real-time as you build schedules, useful for keeping within budget.
Availability Management: Staff can submit their availability via the mobile app, allowing managers to build more accurate, fair schedules.
Compliance Alerts: Get notified of potential violations (e.g., overtime breaches or missed breaks), helping you stay compliant with UK working time regulations.
CharlieHR is a lightweight, startup-friendly HR platform built with UK compliance and simplicity in mind. It’s perfect for small businesses and startups that want to handle the essentials—onboarding, leave tracking, and performance, without overcomplicating processes.
The platform automates onboarding by inviting new hires to input their own data, upload documents, and access contracts digitally. Holiday and absence tracking is pre-configured for UK rules and allows TOIL, sick leave, and custom time-off types. Performance management features include structured feedback templates and review cycles, helping young teams build a performance culture from the start. It also lets businesses publish HR policies and track employee acknowledgements, making it easier to meet regulatory standards.
CharlieHR is a lightweight HR platform made specifically for UK startups and small teams who need a quick, compliant solution.
Custom Time-Off Policies: Build and apply unique policies such as unlimited leave, compassionate leave, or volunteer days—tailored to your culture.
Slack Integration: Automatically notify teams about time off, upcoming reviews, or company updates directly in Slack.
Document Templates: Upload reusable contracts, offer letters, or policy documents, saving time with consistent, compliant templates.
HR Compliance Calendar: Tracks key dates like contract reviews, probation periods, or right-to-work expiry reminders.
Manager Dashboards: Give team leads controlled access to review performance, approve time off, and monitor engagement.
Sage HR is a modular HR software solution ideal for UK SMEs who need flexibility in how they implement and scale their HR tools. Whether you're managing a small in-office team or a hybrid workforce, Sage HR lets you pick and pay for only the modules you need.
The platform offers employee self-service portals where staff can request time off, submit expenses, or update their personal details. Core HR features include document management, e-signatures, and secure employee records. Shift scheduling and rota management make it especially useful for businesses with non-traditional working hours. With additional modules for recruitment, performance management, and timesheets, Sage HR can evolve alongside your business without overwhelming it from the start.
Sage HR offers flexible, pay-as-you-need modules perfect for UK SMEs that want to build their HR stack incrementally.
Recruitment Module: Manage the full hiring process—create job listings, track applicants, assign interviewers, and make offers in-platform.
Custom Approval Flows: Set up layered approval chains for HR requests like expense reimbursements, promotions, or contract renewals.
Custom Reports & Dashboards: Build and export HR dashboards tracking headcount, turnover, absences, and time allocation.
Multi-Language Support: Localise the system to fit multilingual teams, ideal for companies with UK and international operations.
Custom Fields & Forms: Tailor employee profiles and processes with specific fields (e.g., visa type, certification level) relevant to your industry.
Deel is purpose-built for businesses that hire international contractors or remote employees, helping them stay compliant with local laws in 150+ countries. It’s particularly valuable for UK businesses expanding globally or managing distributed teams.
Through Deel, you can generate compliant contracts based on each worker’s location, taking into account local tax laws, benefits, and employment standards. The platform handles multi-currency payroll, contractor invoicing, and global tax filings. It also supports right-to-work documentation, visa tracking, and other compliance essentials. Deel removes the legal and administrative burden of international hiring, giving small UK companies the confidence to scale their teams beyond borders.
Deel simplifies international hiring by handling contracts, payments, taxes, and right-to-work compliance across 150+ countries.
On-Demand Payslips: Generate and send payslips tailored to each country’s legal requirements, including tax breakdowns and employer contributions.
IP & Data Rights Agreements: Include country-specific clauses in contracts that protect your company’s intellectual property and data.
Country Knowledge Base: Access detailed breakdowns of employment laws, minimum wage, notice periods, and required benefits before hiring in new countries.
Global Support Team: Get 24/7 human support with local legal expertise—crucial for navigating complex hiring laws and labour codes.
Custom Compliance Documents: Automatically include legal addendums or benefits disclosures tailored to the country you’re hiring in.