Top 10 Alternatives to Workday: List of Best HR Management Tools in 2024

An online streaming giant used to have numerous, discordant back-office solutions. But because they are not integrated, the company had to contend with manual processes. These led to low visibility across the board, so important information and opportunities would fall through the cracks. Enter one of the well-known enterprise HR software, Workday. The global business managed to resolve different challenges at once—finance, HR, and procurement—through a single platform. This broke down silos and allowed its employees to share and access information as needed.

But while it worked for the streaming company, the same may not be the case for your organization for one reason or another, especially because of the pandemic. For instance, if you have a smaller operation, Workday may be too robust for your needs. This is why we listed down the top 10 alternatives to Workday based on various factors, including affordability, scalability, and intuitive interface. All of them, however, ensure that you’ll stay on top of your employee’s lifecycle and keep close tabs on job applicants.

In 2018, the average number of years that an employee stays with a company is 4.2 years. By 2020, it slightly went down to 4.1 years. A 2020 survey found that the top reasons employees leave or are planning to leave their jobs were due to salary and benefits (52%), career advancement, (43%), and lack of recognition (19%). Unlike the first two reasons are expected, the third cause for turnover—the lack of recognition—indicates the urgency for employers to recognize their workforce’s efforts and good work.

Turnover costs US businesses $1 trillion per year. This is because replacing a single employee can cost an employer as much as 2x the employee’s salary for a year. But the fact remains: 3 in 4 employees who quit could still have been retained by a company. So, where did they go wrong, and what could have they done to prevent it? They could have utilized HR software that would have assisted them in figuring out what makes employees stay and what forces them to leave. Then, they could create strategies according to their findings.

Fortunately, more and more businesses realize the immense benefits offered by quality HR management software platforms. They are investing in suitable solutions, and as a result, the HR software market is booming and is expected to exceed $10 billion by 2022. But how do you select the right system for your specific HR needs, given the scores of good applications out there? To help you, we have prepared a detailed analysis of the well-known HR app Workday as well as 10 alternative products.

What is Workday?

Workday combines finance, HR, and planning in a single platform. This makes it attractive to medium and large organizations that already require numerous tools to run things on the backend smoothly. Its HCM system, in particular, is full of advanced features, such as workforce scorecard, global compliance, LMS, talent marketplace, and curated experience for each user. You can also expect other components like audit and internal controls, talent management, benefits and compensation, and reporting and analytics.

Business processes are also involved in Workday. That is because the platform supports custom definitions so that users can have bespoke workflows that meet their needs. On the same note, Workday tailors the experience of each user.

Benefits of Workday

• It is a comprehensive HCM solution with numerous components built for established enterprises.
• It has very specific tools that allow users to get to the tiniest detail of their tasks.
• It unifies HR and finance, giving you predictive analytics, real-time insights, and global visibility.
• It integrates seamlessly with a large number of business apps and systems.
• There are no complex and disruptive upgrades, and the vendor ensures you always get to use the latest version.

If you think Workday is too basic for your needs, don’t sign off. We also analyzed the top functionalities and benefits of the top 10 Workday alternatives. You get good reasons to consider each of the alternative HR systems instead of Workday and vice versa.

Top 10 Alternatives to Workday

1. BambooHR

BambooHR is an award-winning cloud-hosted human resources solution for freelancers, small businesses, and medium-sized firms. With a user-friendly interface and best-in-class tools for applicant tracking, recruitment, onboarding, and employee lifecycle management, it helps companies streamline all workforce management processes. The platform integrates with a slew of other business applications, making data import and export easy. Moreover, as the platform is completely web-based and mobile-ready, both managers can access the HR database and employees can access their files wherever they may be. It even comes with smart reminders so users can get notified on important announcements in real-time.

In addition to the above-mentioned, the platform comes with a robust report generation system that allows managers to oversee employee performance and attendance. There are also goal setting and tracking tools so it is easier to map out career paths for employees. Lastly, the vendor offers this solution on a by-quote basis. This way, users can get pricing plans that are customized according to the unique requirements of your business and the size of your team. In case you want to look for more options, be sure to check out these BambooHR alternatives.

BambooHR

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Why use BambooHR instead of Workday?

• BambooHR is created to cater to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses.
• The solution offers a great workforce management tool that lets you oversee all employee activities.
• BambooHR supports various languages, making it great for international .
• The platform can easily integrate with an extensive set of apps through their marketplace and Zapier.

Why use Workday instead of BambooHR ?

• Workday has the capacity to support large teams.
• The platform has a flexible and highly scalable user interface.
• The solution offers enterprise-grade security such as multi-factor authentication.
• Workday offers fast customer support across several channels and timezones.

2. monday.com

Despite being designed as a project management and collaboration platform initially, monday.com has since expanded its use cases, and management is one of them. This is due to the solution’s flexibility, which enables users to adapt it to their needs and existing workflows. That is also what makes monday.com the best project management tool. Doing so is easy and can even be enjoyable because of the visual interface. Moreover, knowing where each stage of the workflow stands is easy–one glance is all it takes to keep yourself up-to-date with the goings-on in the HR department.

Aside from process management, monday.com can capture job applications directly from your website. The solution has a form you can tailor to your hiring processes. Thus, you can add fields and ask questions relevant to your organization and industry. Tracking employees’ time and measuring their performance is also possible with monday.com. And if you want to include other HR processes, you can do so from scratch or build upon any of the available templates. However, if these are not the features you are looking for, you can still find monday.com alternatives here.

For pricing, monday.com has packages that start at $8/seat/month. They also have an Individual plan available for free.

monday.com

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Why use monday.com instead of Workday?

• It provides a visual workspace.
• It has templates that you can tailor to your processes and requirements.
• It enables you to assess the individual work performance of employees.
• It lets you track time spent on tasks.

Why use Workday instead of monday.com?

• It is highly rated when it comes to ease of use.
• All tools in its different modules are within easy reach.
• It has a robust reporting and analytics tool that offers deep visibility.
• Its time and absence management module has proactive alerts for time-off requests.

3. ADP Workforce Now

ADP Workforce Now is a comprehensive cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solution that centralizes payroll, HR, talent, time, and benefits administration. It is an all-in-one suite that adapts to your unique HR management processes. Designed for midsize businesses, ADP Workforce Now uses a single database to manage the organization’s human capital. Combining deep insights and cutting-edge technology, ADP Workforce Now transforms the human resource function from administrative to strategic advantage.

Using the platform’s scalable database, you can manage your entire workforce from a single dashboard. ADP Workforce Now provides workflows and dashboards that increase adoption and productivity. In addition, it features a benefit plan creation wizard that can be configured based on your company’s unique onboarding processes.

ADP Workforce Now

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Why use ADP Workforce Now instead of Workday?

• Offers strong customer support
• Online resources are available for customers
• Employs cutting-edge technology
• Streamlines HR processes

Why use Workday instead of ADP Workforce Now?

• Strong workflow management
• Intuitive dashboard
• Simple onboarding process
• Preferred by larger enterprises

4. OnPay

OnPay is a payroll system designed for small and medium businesses. It has an automatic tax calculation feature, too, which makes paying employees and dues to the government seamless. The platform guarantees accuracy and promptness so you can count on your tax filings to be done without errors and on time. In case there are miscalculations, they are ready to take responsibility. This cloud-based application also has tools for incorporating benefits for regular employees as well. On top of that, if you have by-the-hour workers, you can take advantage of the solution’s compensation insurance.

Furthermore, OnPay has a payroll service. This enables businesses to pay their workers via check or direct deposit from the platform. However, this feature is only available to select organizations. If you are interested in availing such, you need to undergo OnPay’s risk assessment test. However, if you are looking for something else, you can browse through OnPay alternatives here.

OnPay

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Why use OnPay instead of Workday?

• This is a pure payroll system, so you can add it to your HR tech stack and not change other systems.
• It divests you of manual tax calculation.
• You can find features for managing benefits for regular and by-the-hour workers.
• It offers a service for you to pay salaries by check or direct deposit.

Why use Workday instead of OnPay?

• It is a complete HCM system that you can use to replace other HR tech solutions.
• It integrates compliance in every aspect.
• All HR transactions go directly to the payroll module. Thus, you do not have to reconcile anything.
• It has a continuous payroll calculation timeline that helps you find areas that can still be improved.

5. Greenhouse

Greenhouse is a comprehensive applicant tracking system that is a great alternative to Workday. It prides itself in helping businesses of all sizes in optimizing hiring processes to ensure a positive candidate experience. Among its key functionalities are job board setups, email tracking, interview permissions, and onboarding management. However, what sets it apart is its ability to facilitate a data-driven hiring process by using candidate scorecards. This allows hiring teams to quickly filter through applicants who best match their requirements.

Aside from the abovementioned, Greenhouse is also completely accessible via mobile devices for your convenience. Meaning, hiring teams can access candidate profiles and make approvals wherever they may be. And in case you run into issues, you can always count on the support team to lend you assistance. Does this product not answer your HR challenges? Look through Greenhouse alternatives here.

Greenhouse

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Why use Greenhouse instead of Workday?

• It comes with expert tools made specifically for employee recruitment and onboarding.
• It leverages scorecard summaries to help hiring teams accomplish candidate assessments faster.
• It comes with anonymization tools to promote inclusion and diversity in hiring decisions.
• It has over 360 pre-built integrations

Why use Workday instead of Greenhouse?

• It is a comprehensive HCM platform that connects with the business planning and financial aspects of your organization.
• It is a powerful solution out-of-the-box but still customizable.
• You can divest of other applications as it combines different business software into one platform.
• It systematizes every workflow within the HR realm, such as employee lifecycle management and compliance management.

6. Sogolytics

Sogolytics (formerly known as SoGoSurvey) is a top-of-the-line survey tool with a module dedicated to assessing employee experience. It is a secure platform that lets you gather the thoughts of employees. Through this channel, they can tell you what they really think and feel. Because they feel secure, they are most likely to offer honest feedback as well as suggestions on how you can improve the workplace.

When it comes to building surveys, Sogolytics lets you create ones that enable you to draw out the answers you need. But you can also take a look at the solution’s templates library, which you can customize before distributing. Either way, you can make the surveys your own. But if a survey tool is not your cup of tea, you can check Sogolytics alternatives here. Additionally, if you are looking for a survey software that you can use to gauge your customers’ satisfaction instead, you can read the comparison of 10 cloud-based survey tools.

Why use Sogolytics instead of Workday?

• It has a wide array of employee experience surveys.
• Its survey templates are customizable.
• It is secure, so employees can say what they honestly think and feel.
• It analyzes surveys and presents the results visually.

Why use Workday instead of Sogolytics ?

• It creates personal experiences for each user to make them enjoy using the platform.
• It can analyze workforce demographics on any device.
• It offers insights into diversity trends within the organization.
• It helps plan successions.

7. Freshteam

Recruitment is one of the things that Freshteam does best. It keeps applications in one place so that hiring managers can find the candidate best for particular roles easily. But first, it sources applications from different places like job boards, career sites, referrals, social media, and more. It is not just one recruitment manager who can work on a particular open position–HR staffers can collaborate and assess candidates together to determine their fitness with the organization.

Freshteam has proactive onboarding as well and has an information system where all important data is kept. You can also create your own time-off policies and ensure that they are integrated with approval workflows. Then you can generate reports to gain insights on time-offs, absenteeism, and other things. If this does not have the features you are looking for, you can read on Freshteam alternatives here.

Why use Freshteam instead of Workday?

• It provides a 360-degree view of your candidates.
• You can track and record each step of the recruitment procedure.
• It enables collaboration during the sourcing, assessment, and hiring stages.
• The system lets you create time-off policies.

Why use Workday instead of Freshteam?

• It has a workforce planning module.
• Its recruitment software puts all information in one place for an efficient hiring process.
• It can handle job requisitions like promotions.
• It has a calendar sync feature that ensures all hiring professionals can perform interviews and other assessment tasks together whenever needed.

8. Sage HR

Sage HR is a solution that can help you resolve your HR challenges from onboarding to shift scheduling. For one, it takes only a single click to upload a whole list of employees to the system. This removes a lot of grunt work from the process, leading to the HR department becoming more efficient and productive. In line with this, Sage HR has a self-service portal for employees. It empowers them to finish onboarding tasks and to request leaves. The solution has a mobile app as well, allowing all employees to finish their jobs and more while on the go.

Speaking of mobility, Sage HR lets users input expenses on the mobile app, too. With this, it would not be difficult for HR to reimburse authorized expenses and track those that have been paid. Additionally, this cloud-based software can track employee overtime through its timesheets. You can also get a comprehensive summary of the number of hours worked by employees and the status of overtime approvals with reports. If this product does not meet your requirements, you can find Sage HR alternatives here.

Why use Sage HR instead of Workday?

• It lets you upload your entire employee list for convenient management.
• It helps you streamline your HR management efforts for efficiency.
• Employees get a self-service portal, and there is a mobile app as well.
• It has an approval workflow for overtime work.

Why use Workday instead of Sage HR?

• Its full HCM system and integrations mean that your employee information is all in place.
• Because it is connected to other essential business modules, it can streamline not just HR processes but other workflows as well.
• It empowers employees by offering them a learning portal.
• It analyzes global overtime trends to help you curb labor costs.

9. Rippling

Designed as an all-in-one HR software, Rippling offers versatile features for managing payroll, benefits administration, and employee productivity. The software automates various HR activities, freeing up HR teams’ time and helping them focus on more important tasks. For instance, the platform allows users to complete onboarding workflows and run payroll in less than two minutes.

Additionally, Rippling comes with task management features that help streamline workflows. The system automatically creates tasks for every step of the workflow, so employees, managers, and HR teams don’t have to engage in lengthy email threads. All these tasks can be tracked through the dashboard, so bottlenecks can be easily identified.

Rippling’s core functionalities can be extended through integrations with over 500 third-party applications. Additional services for talent management and device management also complement the Rippling platform’s functions. If you’re looking for software with similar features, you can check out our list of Rippling alternatives.

Why use Rippling instead of Workday?

• Rippling lets users run payroll and complete onboarding processes in 90 seconds.
• The platform also automates various workflows, including approvals processes.
• Rippling comes with task management features to help improve employee productivity.
• The Rippling mobile app lets employees view pay stubs and submit PTO requests.
• The platform offers report templates for easier tracking of key metrics such as employee turnover.

Why use Workday instead of Rippling?

• Workday combines a wider range of HCM activities, including employee experience, talent management, and workforce planning.
• The software allows users to model various workforce scenarios to ensure preparedness.
• Workday also offers features for tracking attendance and hours worked.
• The platform’s compliance dashboard monitors tax updates and provides best practices.
• Workday also streamlines HR service delivery through self-service portals that provide answers to common HR questions.

10. Hibob

Hibob is an innovative people management system built to cater to the needs of fast-growing businesses. Equipped with everything from onboarding tools to payment processing options, this platform aims to help companies manage a modern workforce by increasing productivity and improving their work experience. Its key features include attendance management, time tracking, benefits management, and survey management. It also offers a robust reporting function and custom dashboards to help you get a bird’s eye view of employee performance.

Aside from the abovementioned functionalities, Hibob also comes with great tools that enhance company culture and boost employee engagement. For starters, it comes with a club management tool that lets users connect with fellow employees that they share interests with. In addition, it has an anonymous reporting tool that helps HR personnel address complaints while keeping the safety and privacy of the complainants. If this is not what you need exactly, however, you can look through Hibob alternatives here.

Hibob

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Why use Hibob instead of Workday?

• It has a simple end-to-end people management system.
• It offers custom dashboards for a more proactive performance management.
• It lets users perform employee surveys.
• It has club management for better employee engagement.

Why use Workday instead of Hibob?

• It helps people within the organization to apply for open positions.
• It can process numerous candidates at once.
• Its interactive dashboards enable you to hire better.
• You can build immersive career sites with the system.

Should You Choose Workday or Another HR Software?

Workday is a powerful system that has an HCM as well as finance and planning modules. Its HR management tools are robust and cover all the bases, including special areas like compliance and audit. On top of it all, it has a learning platform that allows employees to develop their knowledge and skills further.

This platform may not be for everyone, though, as it could have components that small businesses and even some medium enterprises may not need. So, it would not be a smart investment in that case. The list above could help you determine whether Workday is the platform you are looking for. If not, then you have plenty of options to choose from, such as the ones on the list. You can also look at tips and tools how to choose the best applicant tracking system to help you decide.

However, we recommend BambooHR as the top alternative; it is feature-rich without having the bells and whistles you may not need. It is comprehensive, but it still gives you room to add more applications to your HR tech stack later. It is also economical, making it an excellent choice for small and growing businesses.

Still unsure of making a choice? You can read about HR software and its features as well as its benefits to help you make an intelligent selection.

Key Insights

• Workday Integration: Workday offers a unified platform that integrates finance, HR, and planning, providing a comprehensive solution for large enterprises.
• Top Alternative – BambooHR: BambooHR is highly recommended for small to medium-sized businesses due to its user-friendly interface, extensive features, and flexibility in integrating with other business applications.
• Importance of HR Software: Effective HR software can significantly reduce turnover costs, enhance employee retention, and streamline HR processes.
• Employee Turnover: Key reasons for employee turnover include compensation, career growth opportunities, and recognition, highlighting the need for effective HR management.
• Market Growth: The HR software market is expanding rapidly, with an expected valuation exceeding $10 billion by 2022.
• Scalability and Customization: Many alternatives to Workday, such as monday.com and Rippling, offer customizable and scalable solutions suitable for various business sizes and needs.
• Automation and Efficiency: Solutions like ADP Workforce Now and OnPay emphasize automating HR processes to increase efficiency and reduce manual workload.

FAQ

1. What is the best alternative to Workday for small businesses? The best alternative to Workday for small businesses is BambooHR. It offers a comprehensive HR solution tailored to the needs of small to medium-sized enterprises. With features like applicant tracking, onboarding, and employee lifecycle management, BambooHR provides a user-friendly interface and integrates seamlessly with other business applications.
2. Why do employees leave their jobs most frequently? Employees most frequently leave their jobs due to issues with compensation (52%), career growth opportunities (43%), and lack of recognition (19%). Addressing these concerns through effective HR management and employee engagement strategies can help reduce turnover rates.
3. How can HR software reduce turnover costs? HR software can reduce turnover costs by streamlining HR processes, improving employee engagement, and providing insights into employee satisfaction and performance. By addressing the root causes of turnover and implementing targeted retention strategies, businesses can minimize the expenses associated with replacing employees.
4. What features should I look for in HR software for my business? When selecting HR software, look for features such as employee lifecycle management, payroll integration, benefits administration, performance tracking, and compliance management. Additionally, consider the software’s scalability, user interface, and ability to integrate with other business systems.
5. How does Workday support large enterprises? Workday supports large enterprises by offering a comprehensive HCM solution that integrates HR, finance, and planning. Its features include workforce scorecards, global compliance, talent management, and predictive analytics, providing deep visibility and real-time insights across the organization.
6. Are there any HR software solutions specifically designed for international businesses? Yes, solutions like BambooHR and Sage HR offer multi-language support and features suitable for managing an international workforce. These platforms provide tools for global compliance, employee management, and seamless integration with other business applications to support international operations.

By Emily Watson

Emily Watson is a human resource management expert specializing in workforce planning and HR development. Throughout her years in the industry, she has also dabbled in career path development, employee training, and workforce management. In her four years as a contributor for FinancesOnline, she has reviewed over a thousand HR tools ranging from recruitment platforms to unified human capital management suites. She has also created in-depth analyses of emerging HR technologies and trends to provide companies worldwide with the data they need to keep up with industry shifts.