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Onboarding is one of the most important steps in the employee lifecycle and among the first impressions a company makes on new hires. It can boost employee engagement and set the tone for long-term retention. Companies that excel here create a top-notch experience from day one.
Human resources (HR) and People teams use onboarding software to automate paperwork and personalize training. These tools reduce manual tasks and improve accuracy. Read on to learn how your HR department can leverage onboarding software to minimize busywork and errors while welcoming new hires the right way.
What is onboarding software?
Onboarding software is a tool that streamlines the new hire integration process. This software walks People teams through each step, including gathering document signatures, setting up payroll, and launching employee training modules.
Employee onboarding software also helps companies stay compliant, with built-in guidance on tax and labor regulations—not just at home but around the globe. This way, People teams can correctly apply benefits and withholdings when running payroll.
Benefits of using onboarding software and tools
Here are some of the ways these human resource information systems (HRIS) help make your life easier:
- Save time: Tasks like requesting signatures and entering data take up time your HR team could better spend on other work. Onboarding tools automate routine steps, efficiently gathering information for you.
- Commit fewer errors: Doing data entry by hand heightens the potential for errors, and in processes like payroll and benefits, even a minor mistake could be costly. HR onboarding tools collect the essential information for you, ensuring accurate data capture and integration with HR systems.
- Improve compliance: Onboarding software helps teams follow labor laws and tax rules. It can correctly classify employees and contractors and calculate withholding and benefits contributions—even in remote or global settings.
- Enhance the employee experience: A structured, hassle-free onboarding process for employees and contractors helps establish trust. Workers appreciate clear communication and secure handling of their information.
- Centralize data: HR software serves as a single source of truth for cross-functional and global teams. It stores documents and profiles that multiple departments—from legal to accounting—can easily access without delays.
The 7 top onboarding tools for your company
The following are seven of the best HR onboarding software. Each platform offers unique strengths for different company sizes and hiring needs.
1. OysterHR
Oyster is a global employer of record (EOR) platform. It streamlines remote onboarding and payroll processes in more than 180 countries. The software leverages efficient HR automations and expert compliance guidance, helping organizations correctly pay and tax employees and contractors.
Strengths:
- Cross-border hiring capabilities
- Time-saving automations
- Numerous integrations
- Easy-to-use interface
Best for: Oyster is a standout platform for organizations that frequently hire remote employees or contractors. It’s also excellent for limiting onboarding errors and improving the employee experience with straightforward tools.
2. Rippling
Rippling is a compliance-focused HR platform helping teams run onboarding and payroll. It also performs automated IT provisioning, securely managing worker accounts and devices.
Strengths:
- Time-saving IT automations
- Global compliance guidance
- Speedy onboarding tools for document collection and data entry
Best for: Rippling is ideal for mid-sized and large companies looking to house multiple HR tasks under one digital roof.
3. Deel
Deel is a global hiring platform that focuses on simple, stress-free processes. It helps companies onboard employees and contractors in over 160 countries with built-in compliance and payroll support.
Strengths:
- Compliant hiring in over 160 countries
- Easy-to-use interface
- Support for multiple-currency payments
Best for: Deel is a solid option for global teams seeking basic onboarding and payroll functionality. But users wanting more may need to purchase add-ons or use other products in conjunction with this one.
4. BambooHR
BambooHR is an all-in-one human resources tool that assists teams with onboarding, payroll, benefits, and performance management. It also integrates with a partnered EOR capable of supporting global onboarding compliance.
Strengths:
- End-to-end HR workflows
- International compliance
- Metrics tracking (such as for performance, turnover, and retention)
Best for: BambooHR is useful for large, international operations wanting to streamline a wide range of basic processes. However, the platform is lighter on customizations and features than some competitors.
5. Gusto
Gusto provides HR teams with onboarding support, payroll management, and data-driven business analytics. It boasts a user-friendly interface with customizable views.
Strengths:
- User-friendly interface
- Analytics and custom reports
- Customizable workflows
Best for: Gusto offers efficient onboarding software for small businesses, but larger operations may find the tool too costly to efficiently cover their needs.
6. ADP
ADP provides a full range of services catering to the employee experience. The platform supports payroll, benefits management, and candidate sourcing, aided by AI automations.
Strengths:
- Welcome videos
- Onboarding with mentor-pairing
- Productivity-driving automations
Best for: ADP is a solid option for HR teams that need a comprehensive onboarding experience.
7. Paycor
Paycor is a U.S.-focused human capital management (HCM) software. It supports a wide range of HR processes, from talent acquisition to payroll—the latter being this application’s greatest strength.
Strengths:
- Time tracking tools
- Automated payroll processing
- Shift scheduling features
Best for: Paycor works best for U.S. companies that rely on hourly workers and need detailed tracking tools. This includes companies in healthcare, hospitality, and retail industries. But global hiring is limited, as it only offers international EOR services through a partner.
How to choose the best onboarding software
There’s onboarding software for every organization, and choosing the right tool means defining which one meets your unique needs. Here are a few key questions to guide your selection process.
What are our needs?
Maybe you’re looking for onboarding support without any other bells and whistles. Perhaps you’re seeking a comprehensive HR software solution. Determine how much of your HR processes you need the software to cover. You’ll also want to consider how it will support your workflows. Do you need the platform to automate global payroll? Are you paying local employees or remote contractors? Make a comprehensive wish list, and explore tools that can deliver.
What about existing applications?
Research whether the applications you currently use integrate with the onboarding software you’re considering. If the idea is to streamline processes, avoid low-integration options. It’ll be frustrating to bounce between applications when you could be running workflows from one central tool.
How’s the interface?
Save time training your HR team to use new software. Only consider options with user-friendly interfaces to help reduce training time. For larger organizations with complex needs, a learning curve is normal, but you can still prevent undue stress by prioritizing user-friendly platforms.
How much can we spend?
Determine your budget and pricing for each software option. Some onboarding platforms offer tiered pricing. Others offer flat monthly rates and charge a per-user fee on top of it. There are also customizable packages for organizations that want to select their base features and add-ons.
Onboarding software features
Once you know what your organization needs from onboarding software, the next step is to translate those pain points into features. Here’s what to look for:
- Digital forms and e-signatures: HR onboarding software lets you send and receive virtual paperwork, like contracts or tax documentation. Employees can sign documents digitally using these features.
- Compliance management: This feature is especially useful for companies that hire remote and international employees. It ensures proper payroll calculations, figuring in withholding and benefits by geographical area so your organization stays compliant.
- Self-service portals: This feature lets employees complete onboarding on their own schedule and perform routine HR tasks—like viewing pay stubs and scheduling PTO.
- Customization: Often, onboarding tools allow you to customize the interface and data views, as well as control functionality. For example, you can generate organization-specific forms and design automations that follow your ideal workflow.
- Mobile access: Some platforms allow new hires to fill out and sign paperwork right from their phones. This feature gives employees more options for how they onboard, boosting flexibility and productivity.
Onboarding made easy, anywhere
Enrich your employee onboarding program with a process that inspires confidence in your operation.
You can hire the best talent from all over the world and onboard them with Oyster’s employer of record (EOR) solution, which supports compliant hiring and onboarding in over 180 countries. Oyster’s services extend far beyond onboarding, supporting you and your workforce throughout the entire employee experience, from training through payroll and beyond.
When you’re ready to streamline your onboarding process and employee engagement, explore Oyster’s onboarding solutions so you can start building your global team with confidence.
About Oyster
Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, engage, pay, manage, develop, and take care of a thriving distributed workforce. Oyster lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.
Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world—with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.
