An employee management application is judged on a phone, because that is where the manager of a small business is. Three tests on the trial: the hire signs the contract and acknowledges the handbook from their phone before day one; the manager approves a timecard and writes a feedback note from theirs in under a minute; the owner opens a full record, documents included, from theirs. The tools on this site print the documents free, without an account; the vendors' prices are cited below.
The hire's phone
Contract and handbook signed and acknowledged from the phone, with the date; the onboarding checklist visible; hours submitted. The employee contract tool and the employee handbook template on this site print what is signed.
The manager's phone
Approve the timecard against the schedule with the overtime shown per workweek on the DOL rule cited below; write a dated feedback note against a person; see who is overdue for a review; start a write-up from the handbook policy. The PTO and overtime calculator on this site is the arithmetic behind the approval.
The owner's phone
The record per employee with the documents, the overdue reviews, the export. If the phone shows less than the desk, the application is a notification service. The test is to open the record of the person hired last month and find the signed handbook acknowledgment in under a minute.
The price
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 management application
Do employees need the app installed?
For signing and hours, yes; the ones worth having make it light.
Does the app work offline?
Check on the trial; a manager on a site without signal still needs to approve hours.
What is free here?
Every document tool, without an account.