Employee database software is the folder kept properly, and the four things to check are what a folder cannot do. Documents dated and locked at the signature. Access by role, so the sensitive section is not on every screen. A retention rule applied on exit. One record exported in one action. The tools on this site print every document free, without an account; this page is the four checks and the prices from the vendors' pages.
Dated and locked
Sign the review template on this site as both parties in the trial, then try to edit it. A signed document that can change is not a record; every version should be kept and the date fixed. A product that passes this test has a record; one that fails it has a shared drive with a subscription.
Access by role
Log in as a manager on the trial and try to open another team's record or the sensitive section. The owner sees all, a manager their people, an employee their own, payroll the forms. The sensitive section holds the tax forms and anything medical, and the trial should show it closed to the manager's login.
Retention
A rule per document type applied on the anniversary of exit, recorded when applied. A database with no rule is a liability that grows. The rule is set once per document type, the software applies it, and the removal is recorded so the absence is itself a record rather than a gap.
Export, and the price
One person's record in one action, documents included. From the vendors' own pricing pages, cited below: Homebase lists its Essentials plan at $30 per location per month billed monthly or $24 billed annually, with unlimited employees, and a Basic plan at $0 for one location with up to 10 employees; BambooHR starts at $10 per employee per month for Core and $17 for Pro; Deputy's Core plan is $6.50 per user per month. HeadcountDesk Pro is $24 per month per location.
Questions people ask about employee database software
Is a spreadsheet employee database software?
It holds fields; it cannot lock a signed document or limit access by role.
How much data should the database hold?
The fields payroll and a manager need and the documents; nothing the business has no reason to keep.
What is free here?
Every document tool, without an account.