BambooHR Review

Pros

• Free trial
• Easy to use
• Intuitive software
• No annual contract
• Responsive customer service

Cons

• Pricing not disclosed on website
• Clunky integrations
• Payroll, benefits administration, and time-tracking are all add-ons

What is BambooHR?

BambooHR is an HRIS (Human Resources Information System) designed to help businesses with all aspects of HR management, from hiring and onboarding to coordinating and approving schedules and facilitating training. With the addition of payroll and benefits management (which are add-ons to the base platform), BambooHR is designed as a one-stop shop for managing your employees.

BambooHR is more HR-centric in its function — companies needing more robust payroll help might be able to find a cheaper alternative.

BambooHR Pricing

BambooHR doesn’t disclose prices online, and that hurts its rating. We prefer companies to fully disclose price ranges on their websites, even if they are 100% quote-based. Requiring in-person contact to glean all pricing information, including ranges for different-sized businesses, is a hindrance to small businesses on a time crunch. And since it’s mostly a sales tactic vs. being consumer-first, it hurts the score.

We gave BambooHR a 2.5/5 for pricing.

I did find that it was easy to get a quote from a sales rep. I answered a few questions about my small business, and within an hour, I had a quote and cost breakdown sent to my email. Some reviews mentioned that it was arduous to get a quote, or they didn’t hear back. However, I found that the BambooHR sales reps were eager to get in touch with me.

But is it affordable?

There are two basic plans:

BambooHR Core

The Core plan includes:

• Employee Records
• Company Directory & Org Chart
• Document Storage – 20 GB + 500 MB per active employee
• Applicant Tracking System – 5 Job Openings
• Standard & Custom Reporting & Analytics
• Custom Access Levels
• Custom Email Alerts; Custom Tabs & Fields
• Time-Off Management
• Training Tracking (add-on price)
• Benefits Tracking (add-on price)
• Company Calendar
• Mobile App
• Onboarding/Offboarding
• eSignatures
• Company Branding
• Audit Trail
• Access to the Partner Marketplace
• Open API
• Total Rewards
• Employee Wellbeing
• Employee Satisfaction with eNPS

BambooHR Pro

The Pro plan includes everything in Core, plus:

• Performance Management Software
• Performance Management Metrics
• Employee Community

BambooHR is not cheap, and it may be too expensive for smaller businesses with fewer than ten employees. The cost is a flat-monthly rate, and it’s the same for companies with 25 or fewer employees. As mentioned, pricing is not disclosed. (We were quoted a $250/month flat rate for three employees for its Core package.)

BambooHR Extra Costs & Fees

Payroll is an add-on. Time-tracking is an add-on. Benefits administration is also an add-on. And those things can add up if they are the core features you are looking for.

Extra fees can also drive up your monthly pricing. There is an implementation fee if you wish to add payroll and benefits administration — with one-time costs totaling more than $2,000. And for payroll, there are extra fees for wage garnishment and off-cycle payroll runs. If you run into problems with the software? There’s also a steep per-hour research and problem-solving fee to get someone to assist you.

While BambooHR does disclose all these fees in its price quote, it seems like if you need payroll extras, the price could climb easily.

Is BambooHR Easy To Use?

Ease of use is where BambooHR picks up some ratings points. The interface is easy, simple, and intuitive. That’s true for the HR management side, as well as the employee interface. It’s easy to navigate between screens, pull up reports, and ask for time off: It’s Luddite-proof!

Once you add some of the add-ons, the movement back and forth between systems can cause some clunkiness. BambooHR uses Trax payroll systems (it acquired the product to integrate with its systems), and some users report needing to input information in two-locations, or not all data pulling from the main interface into payroll. So, it would appear the integrations aren’t seamless — but this isn’t a large complaint, either.

If ease of use is your primary concern, BambooHR is a great choice.

BambooHR Features

BambooHR has ample features for HR management and great add-on tools like payroll and time-tracking. With all the add-ons included, it is a robust system. However, if the program doesn’t have exactly what you need, it also integrates with 125+ other programs to help you round out your full HR suite.

Here’s what to expect from BambooHR.

BambooHR Customer Service

Support hours are available MT 6 AM – 6 PM, Monday – Friday.

BambooHR Reviews

BambooHR has a lot of positive reviews on G2 (4K reviews), where it scores 4.4/5.  It has a 4.3 average rating on Trustpilot. It also has an A- on the BBB, although it is not accredited. For the most part, people are happy with BambooHR and its HR platform. The bulk of the negative reviews come from frustrations with a lack of help regarding integrations (especially with third-party payroll providers).

Here’s the rundown of the feedback from the review sites.

Negative BambooHR Reviews

• Small feature issues like the inability to cancel PTO days
• Doesn’t support contractors
• Lack of customizations
• Doesn’t always play well with third-party integrations

Positive BambooHR Reviews

• Easy to use
• Good reporting
• Makes onboarding, HR compliance, and employee management easy
• Supportive and responsive customer service team
• Strong features

Is BambooHR Secure?

BambooHR implements a range of security measures to keep sensitive data safe.

Here’s how it protects your information:

• Regulatory Adherence: BambooHR meets the requirements of key data protection laws such as GDPR and HIPAA, helping businesses stay compliant with industry regulations.
• Data Encryption: BambooHR uses TLS 1.2 to secure information as it moves across the system, while robust encryption safeguards data stored within the platform, lowering the chance of unauthorized access.
• Enhanced Authentication: With both two-factor and multi-factor authentication options, BambooHR ensures that access requires more than just a password, adding an extra layer of protection.
• Access Control: The system allows for precise customization of user access, ensuring employees only see the data relevant to their responsibilities.
• Ongoing Security Assessments: Regularly conducted third-party audits, penetration tests, and SOC 2 Type II certification highlight BambooHR’s strong commitment to maintaining high-security standards.

Final Verdict: Is BambooHR Worth It?

Most users who implement BambooHR with the goal of assisting with employee management, onboarding, and other HR tasks, find the software easy to use, intuitive, and reliable. For a full HR suite with up to 25 employees, the cost is reasonable, as well. It can get expensive once you add in all the extras — for payroll, benefits administration, etc. And if you want employee management functionality, you’ll need to get the Pro plan. However, with its available integrations, API, and commitment to creating a seamless process, it’s worth looking into. BambooHR might be the right HRIS for you if:

• You are hoping to scale your growth
• You need a user-friendly platform for both employees and managers

For small businesses with under ten employees, this is probably not the most cost-effective route. However, if you have plans to grow/scale your company, the pricing model is designed to grow with you — with discounts for adding more employees. Once you get over 25 employees, your pricing model changes to a per-employee price. That pricing is not disclosed on its website nor available through an online quoting process.

Payroll Software Review Methodology

We research, evaluate, and test each payroll software app that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate granular ratings.

Our exhaustive, 76-point rubric guides the star rating of each payroll provider we review, examining pricing, ease of use, features, customer service, and user reviews. Each section is weighted differently.

• Pricing (10% of the overall rating)
• Ease of Use (20% of the overall rating)
• Features (40% of the overall rating)
• Customer Service (20% of the overall rating)
• User Reviews (10% of the overall rating)

When rating payroll software, we are looking for very specific qualities. The speed and cost of payroll runs and the availability of tax filing services are given high weight, as are the quality and availability of accounting, time-tracking, HR integrations, and user onboarding services. We also look for the presence of client and employee portals, benefits administration, PTO and time management tools, and many more vital features.

Learn more about how we rate payroll software providers.