Human Resources

Conducting a reference check is a vital part of your hiring process as it helps verify information a candidate has given you and provides additional details about the candidate’s work performance and abilities. You’ll generally want to speak to professional references, but on occasion you might speak with a personal reference. Either way, you will often have limited time with a reference, so you want every question to count. Let’s dive into some of the best reference check questions to ask, along with some tips for getting the most out of your time with each reference. Download our sample lists of reference check questions to get started. Basic Reference Check Questions Start your reference check conversation with a friendly greeting, thank the reference for their time, and tell them anything they say will be kept confidential. You’ll generally start with a “housekeeping” question to get the basic details. 1. What was your job title, the candidate’s job title, and how long did you directly supervise the candidate? This is a great way to verify the reference was a direct supervisor of your chosen candidate. It also helps you determine how much weight to give this reference’s answers. If the reference only supervised your chosen candidate for a few months, they may not provide as full a picture as you’d like. You should keep speaking with them but also understand the limitations of their answers. If you happen to be talking to a personal reference, use your first question to establish the reference’s relationship to the candidate. Work Ethic & Experience Questions This is the meat of the employer reference discussion—where you gather specific information about the candidate’s abilities and what it’s like to manage them. Pay close attention to the answers provided and ask follow-up questions frequently. 2. What kind of work did the candidate do for you? This will give you an idea of the candidate’s daily duties. Ensure these line up with the duties you need them to do for your organization. Here’s a great opportunity to ask detailed follow-up questions to probe a little deeper into the candidate's abilities, specific projects the candidate handled, or how much training the supervisor had to provide. If you’re speaking with a personal reference, you’ll cover the candidate’s job by asking a question about what the reference knows about their success at work. 3. How did the candidate handle difficult or complex projects? Asking this question helps you understand the candidate’s ability to work well under pressure. Be sure to ask follow-up questions and dig deep into specific examples. If the job you’re hiring for requires quick thinking and action, spend time here asking for more details and examples. For a personal reference, ask how the candidate handles stress or conflict in their personal life. 4. Can you give me an example of a setback the candidate faced and how they dealt with it? Especially in challenging situations, workers may become overwhelmed and face setbacks. No one is perfect and understanding how someone handles tough situations can prepare you to effectively manage someone. It also gives you insight into the candidate’s ability to pivot and overcome obstacles. 5. What are the candidate’s greatest strengths? This is a common question—one any reference should be able to answer with confidence. If there’s any hesitation by the reference, that’s a red flag. Ask follow-up questions to ensure you get the full picture of the candidate’s strengths and how they relate to the job you need them to do. This question, combined with the next one, is great for personal references as well. 6. What are their most significant weaknesses? A common question to follow the one above, this lets you know where you might need to provide support or guidance to the candidate if you hire them. As their manager, you need to know what will make this candidate successful in your company. Many references give responses like the candidate “works too hard” or “cares too much.” If you get those superficial responses, dig deeper. 7. Given the requirements of this job, what training or education would the candidate need in the first few weeks? If the answers given here aren’t job- or task-focused (like the candidate needs to work on handling anger or stress or managing their work schedule), that may present huge red flags. However, if the responses are more focused on aspects of the job (like the candidate may need more training on your company’s proprietary systems or software), that’s different and generally easy to overcome. Knowing this information can even help you prepare a modified onboarding plan for the new hire. 8. What do I need to know to effectively manage this candidate? This is an extremely important question to ask references as it gives you insight into how to manage the new hire. Every employee may need slightly different management. Some need a more hands-on approach, while others need more independence and hands-off management. Knowing what this candidate needs allows you to set the right tone from day one. 9. Why did the candidate leave your company? Some references balk at this question or provide vague information. What you’re ultimately looking for here is verification of what the candidate told you about why they left the company. Ask follow-up questions about whether they left on good terms and how much notice they gave. This is good information to have so you know what to expect if the candidate ever decides to leave your company. 10. Would you rehire the candidate? Any response other than an immediate yes is a red flag. If there’s hesitation, ask why. If there’s a caveat, ask why. If the reference hesitates on rehiring this candidate, maybe you should hesitate on hiring them. For a personal reference, end your questions with this one: Is there anything else you want to share about this candidate? This gives the personal reference the option to elaborate and provide you with additional information. Character Trait Questions Understanding a candidate’s character is vital. You need to be sure they fit with your company culture and can work well with their colleagues. 11. Does the candidate work better alone or with a team? Some people are simply better workers on an island. If the reference notes that the candidate didn’t work well with others or regularly faced interpersonal battles, take note. If the job you’re hiring them for doesn’t require working with others, this may be acceptable. But if you need them to work as part of a team, this could be a deal breaker. 12. Was the candidate a good communicator and listener? Especially if the candidate will work closely with others, or manage workers, they’ll need to have these soft skills. If the reference can’t provide concrete examples to show the candidate’s good communication and listening skills, take note and possibly reevaluate the candidate. Reference Check Question Tips Have the candidate alert their references before speaking with them. This lets the candidate know you’re going to speak with their references but also helps you avoid playing phone tag. Do the reference check over the phone or video call. This allows you to actively listen to the responses and ask follow-up questions (unlike reference checks via email). Also, do the reference check yourself instead of delegating it to someone else. This makes it a more personal experience and lets you gauge the person’s hesitation in any responses. Record the call or take detailed notes. If allowed, record the call so you can focus and not worry about taking notes. Some applicant tracking software will even do this for you. If not, take detailed notes about the conversation and review them immediately after the call to elaborate and clarify your notes. Always verify data with your initial question. You must verify the employment information the candidate gave you. If there’s any discrepancy, that’s a red flag. Ask mostly open-ended questions. Besides your information gathering questions, keep your questions open-ended. You want the reference to expand on their responses as much as possible and not simply answer with a yes or no. Keep an eye out for fake references. This happens, so be aware. When candidates have burned bridges or left a job in a blaze of glory, they may give you a fake reference from that company. A great way to combat this is to always ask for office or company phone numbers instead of personal phone numbers. Be gracious and brief. With every reference check, you’ll probably take about 15 to 30 minutes of their time. Thank them for doing this and be as brief as possible. A great way to be brief is to do as little talking as possible. Ask your questions and let the reference talk. Bottom Line Doing reference checks requires asking the right reference check questions. While you should have a standard list of questions to ask when checking references, you’ll want to actively listen to the responses so you can ask follow-up questions and get as much useful information as possible. Done well, your reference checks can give you a great head start on managing your new employee.

Aside from being affordably priced, the best payroll software for small business users calculates employee wages and deductions accurately and pays and files payroll taxes automatically. Most offer unlimited pay runs, two-day direct deposits, employee self-service portals, and access to employee benefits. To find the ideal payroll systems for small businesses, we evaluated more than a dozen solutions and narrowed the list down to our top 10 recommendations: : Best overall small business payroll software : Best for QuickBooks accounting users : Best for solopreneurs and small companies that need support from a dedicated payroll specialist : Best for restaurateurs, retailers, and Square POS users looking for automatic tips tracking and multiple payment options : Best for small companies that need a reasonably priced payroll solution with robust system permissions : Best for employers looking for a modular human resources (HR), payroll, and information technology (IT) platform : Best for businesses that want an all-in-one HR payroll solution for handling simple to complex pay runs : Best for rapidly scaling startups that need flexible payroll plans that can be adjusted quickly : Best for mom-and-pop businesses looking for a low-cost do-it-yourself (DIY) payroll service, even though provider also has a full-service option : Best for businesses with hourly workers Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses Compared See fullscreen table × *Pricing is based on a quote we received; includes time tracking, payroll, and access to Rippling’s core workforce management platform. **Patriot Payroll also offers a full-service payroll option with tax filing services that costs $37 plus $4 per employee monthly or $924 annually for 10 employees. ***You have to get Homebase’s main time tracking and scheduling platform (which is free for one-location businesses) before you can purchase Homebase Payroll. Gusto: Best Overall Payroll Software for Small Business Users ranks high among its competitors as its payroll and HR features enable small businesses to operate with the amenities that some larger companies offer. Apart from running payroll automatically as scheduled, it notifies each new hire so that they can complete the required paperwork. If you’re in one of the 11 states―Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming―where it doesn’t offer insurance, consider any of the providers in this guide except Patriot Payroll and Homebase Payroll as neither offers benefits. Scoring 4.71 out of 5 in our evaluation, Gusto earned perfect marks in pricing, reporting, and popularity among users. However, the limited coverage of its health insurance and having to subscribe to one of its higher tiers to access HR tools, such as time tracking and online PTO requests, prevented Gusto from getting a higher score. In terms of user feedback, many find it a valuable payroll software given its intuitive interface and efficient tools. However, several reviewers are unhappy about the long hold times when contacting customer support. Gusto Features Automatic and unlimited payroll runs in all 50 states: Unlike ADP and Paychex, Gusto allows you to process unlimited payroll runs, including bonus and off-cycle payments, at no extra cost. On top of that, you can even set payroll to run on autopilot. Automated tax payment and year-end report filing: Gusto withholds, pays, and files taxes on federal, state, and local levels automatically (QuickBooks only files local taxes in higher-tier plans). It handles year-end tax reporting (W-2s and 1099s) for free, unlike ADP Run, which charges a fee for this service. International contractor payments: Businesses can pay their contractors in more than 80 countries, including India, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines. Gusto is currently working on expanding its support to 100 countries. Employee benefits: Gusto provides employee benefits in all 50 states but its health insurance is available only in 39 (as of this writing). While some payroll software for small business are cheaper or may cost the same (OnPay is $40 plus $6 per employee monthly, for example), they don’t offer some of the employee perks that Gusto does, such as 529 college savings accounts, health reimbursement plans, and Gusto Wallet—a free financial management app that even has time tracking tools: In case your employees have emergency expenses and need early access to their salary, they can get the funds easily through the Gusto Cashout feature of the Gusto Wallet. Aside from Square Payroll and Homebase Payroll, none of the other providers on our list offer an in-house solution. Multiple pay options: With Gusto, employees are paid through manual checks, pay cards, or direct deposits. The standard direct deposit timelines are two and four days but subscribing to Gusto’s higher tiers gets you a next-day option. However, if you require fast processing timelines, QuickBooks Payroll’s starter Core plan comes with next-day direct deposits (same-day for higher tiers). Square Payroll also offers instant payouts through its Square Payments solution. Efficient time tracking and workforce management tools: Aside from monitoring your employees’ and contractors’ time through its system or via the Gusto Wallet, Gusto offers project tracking and workforce costing tools. You can even create custom PTO policies and send/approve time-off requests online. However, these features are available only in Gusto’s higher tiers. If you require affordably priced, full-service payroll with PTO and time tracking tools, consider either OnPay or Patriot Payroll. Professional HR and tax experts on support: Gusto helps you avoid expensive compliance mistakes through its team of HR and tax experts that you can reach out to for help whenever you need them—provided you get its Premium option. QuickBooks Payroll: Best Payroll Solution for QuickBooks Accounting Software Users is the best option for most QuickBooks accounting users. It integrates seamlessly—you access it within the same system with the click of a button—and all information flows throughout both systems (you don’t have to enter twice). As with Gusto, it offers full-service payroll with automated tax filings (federal and state, local taxes if subscribed to the Elite plan), year-end reporting (W-2s and 1099s), and an online portal where employees can access their pay stubs, tax forms, and PTO balances. It also has fast direct deposits; its standard timeline is next-day, but it has same-day options if you get one of its higher tiers. In our evaluation, the platform earned a 4.54 out of 5, with perfect scores in ease of use, pricing, and reporting. While all of its other ratings are 4 and above, it scored the lowest in popularity, given the limited number of user reviews (less than 500) on third-party review sites like G2 and Capterra. However, many users still appreciate its ease of use, especially its seamless integration with QuickBooks accounting. A few others complained about having experienced occasional software glitches while some said that it can be pricey for small businesses. QuickBooks Payroll Features Automatic and unlimited payroll: You can approve and set payroll to run automatically with QuickBooks. It also lets you process payroll as many times as your business requires. Automated payroll tax services: Like most of the payroll providers on this list, QuickBooks Payroll handles all tax calculations, payments, and filings, including year-end reporting, for you. However, its tax filing services only cover federal and state taxes. You have to be on an Elite plan if you want automated local tax filings; otherwise, you’ll have to file local tax forms yourself. Fast direct deposits: Apart from next-day direct deposits, you can pay employees through same-day direct deposit at no extra cost, provided you subscribe to QuickBooks Payroll’s higher tiers. Note that most of the providers on this list have a standard two-day processing time, although Square Payroll offers instant payments if you have a Square Payments account. Tax penalty protection: QuickBooks will cover the penalty and interest for any payroll tax error for up to $25,000 a year, regardless of who made the mistake. Note that you must purchase its Elite plan to have your errors covered. Experts will also represent you before the IRS and concerned agencies and will assist you to resolve the problem. No other providers on our list will offer to represent you to help fix tax issues or cover mistakes you make under any circumstance. Payroll and tax filing while on the go: You can access QuickBooks Payroll’s online tools via the web browsers of mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, allowing you to process payroll, pay taxes, and e-file tax forms in all 50 states. The other payroll software for small business we reviewed may either have a similar feature or provide mobile apps, such as Square Payroll, ADP Run, and Paychex, which let you run employee payroll while on the go, but none have the tax e-filing feature that QuickBooks Payroll offers. Paychex: Best for Solopreneurs & Companies That Need Dedicated Payroll Support has solutions suited for different business sizes. Its Paychex Solo package includes payroll, startup/incorporation services, and access to retirement plan options, making it a suitable solution for one-person businesses. It also offers Paychex Flex as its main payroll platform, which comes with several tiers flexible enough to cater to companies of different sizes (its higher plans include a dedicated payroll specialist). Unlike Gusto, which provides health insurance only in 39 states, Paychex lets you offer health insurance in all states in the United States. The platform earned a 4.33 out of 5 in our evaluation. It scored perfect marks on HR, reporting, user popularity, and expert review criteria. However, it doesn’t have transparent pricing for all of its plans and charges extra for payroll tax administration and W-2/1099 filings, which are services that most of the providers in this guide include without additional fees. Paychex Features Flexible plan options: Its Paychex Solo plan is perfect for solopreneurs and the self-employed. Aside from running payroll, Paychex can help them set up their business as an employer and select a retirement plan. None of the other providers in this guide have this package. Paychex even offers flexible HR and payroll subscriptions that target businesses of all sizes. If you ever go through a growth period in which you need an HR expert but aren’t ready to hire, Paychex has a PEO service to help you manage essential day-to-day HR processes. Workers’ compensation and benefits management: Paychex handles workers’ compensation and, unlike Gusto, offers health insurance in all 50 states. It also has retirement plans and garnishment payment services that include remitting the garnished wages to the appropriate agencies. Multiple payment options: Aside from direct deposits, Paychex supports employee payments made through pay cards and paper checks. It even offers check logo and signing services. Similar to Square Payroll and QuickBooks Payroll, Paychex also has a same-day payment option but via automated clearing house (ACH) transfers—provided you get its Select plan. HR tools: Paychex Flex’s higher tiers not only come with payroll tools but several HR solutions as well. In addition to a library of HR documents and an online employee handbook builder, you are granted access to a learning management module to help you run e-training courses for your staff. Screening applicants and welcoming new hires will also be easy with its background checks and online onboarding solutions. Experienced customer service: During implementation, Paychex will assign you a representative to help you set up. Once its system is up and running, you get access to US-based support with experienced professionals you can contact 24/7 in case you need assistance. You even have the option to submit payroll via phone to your designated payroll specialist. Live chat features, in-app help options, and how-to guides are also available. Square Payroll: Best for Restaurants & Small Retailers Using Square POS is the best choice for restaurants and small retailers that are already using Square’s POS system. It enables you to pay both employees and contractors and import online timecards from Square POS and other third-party software partners into its system. It also has tip reporting features that allow you to record tip amounts, deduct taxes, and report them on your tax forms. You can run payroll as often as you need to at no extra cost (unlike some plans under big-name providers like ADP and Paychex), file quarterly and annual taxes, and sign up for pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation insurance. In our evaluation, Square Payroll earned an overall rating of 4.28 out of 5, with a perfect score in reporting and high marks in nearly all of our criteria. It took a hit in ease of use and popularity among users because while it is easy to use, it doesn’t have a customizable interface. It also didn’t meet our subcriteria of having more than 1,000 average user reviews online. Plus, several reviewers complained of having experienced difficulties contacting its support team. Square Payroll Features Low-cost contractor-only plan: Square Payroll has the lowest contractor-only plan among all the providers on this list. Priced at only $5 per contractor monthly, it comes with all the features of its “pay employees and contractors” plan, including unlimited pay runs. Similar to Gusto’s contractor-only option, Square Payroll will only charge you for contractors that you paid for the month. Square POS integration: Square Payroll seamlessly integrates with Square POS, making it easy for you to track and import employee time cards, including tips and commission data for pay processing. Multiple employee payment options: Aside from direct deposit, employees and contractors can be paid through manual checks or via Square’s Cash App. Square Payroll also offers next-day and instant payment options through its Instant Payments feature. You can even use its On-Demand Pay tool to allow eligible employees to get a portion of their earned salary before the pay period is over. Online tax filing and reporting: Square Payroll will file your quarterly and annual taxes automatically as well as prepare and file your W-2s or 1099s, whether workers are paid an hourly, salary, or custom amount. This is unlike Patriot Payroll (if you’re on the self-service plan), Paychex, and ADP, which charge fees for some of its payroll tax services. QuickBooks Payroll may not have add-on fees to file taxes for you, but you have to get its highest tier if you want automated local tax filings. Employee benefits: Square Payroll will provide your employees access to health insurance, pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation plans, and even retirement packages that will automatically sync with your payroll. OnPay: Best for Small Companies That Need Affordable Payroll With Robust System Permissions If you have a limited budget, provides a reasonably priced payroll solution that comes with basic HR tools for managing PTO, employee benefits, and onboarding. While it only has a single plan ($40 plus $6 per employee monthly), it’s one of the lowest-priced full-service payroll packages on our list excluding Patriot with its DIY option. Plus, you get complete access to all of OnPay’s tools as other providers require you to upgrade to higher plans to unlock additional features. Its six-level system permissions even provide you with enough flexibility to control who has access to and visibility into payroll and HR. For agricultural companies, OnPay handles Form 943 filings and processes payments and taxes for workers on H-2A visas. It can also handle the payroll needs of businesses in other industries such as healthcare and restaurant industries—from filing tax forms, such as forms 941, 1099, and W-2, to withholding your employees’ state and federal unemployment insurance payments and other contributions. The platform received an overall score of 4.19 out of 5 in our evaluation. Similar to Square Payroll, it received ratings of 4 and up in almost all criteria. It didn’t rank higher on our list because while OnPay provides payroll services for different business types, it has limited third-party software integrations, customization options, and user reviews on G2 and Capterra. Those who left feedback complained about the occasional software and integration glitches. However, many users still find its online tools efficient as it helps them simplify and automate employee pay processing. OnPay Features Unlimited payroll runs: Like Gusto, Square Payroll, and a couple of the other payroll systems for small businesses on our list, OnPay lets you run payroll for both employees and contractors as many times as you need and want without having to pay extra. You can also generate year-end W-2s and 1099s without paying a per-employee rate (Paychex and ADP Run charge extra). For those with special tax requirements like agricultural businesses, OnPay offers automated tax payments and filings of Form 943. Multiple employee payment options: With OnPay, employees can get their wages through direct deposits, debit cards, and paychecks. Your staff can also see their pay stubs online through OnPay’s self-service portal. Essential HR tools: Streamline onboarding processes with OnPay’s in-app offer letters, online I-9 and W-4 forms, e-signature tool, and automated onboarding workflows. It handles state new hire reporting, plus you can create custom checklists to ensure that incoming employees complete all the new hire requirements. If you need HR guides and legal templates, OnPay has an online HR resource library that you can access. Employee benefits: Unlike Gusto’s health insurance, which covers only 39 states (as of this writing), OnPay’s health plans are available in all US states. Your employees are also granted access to dental, vision, disability, and retirement plans. Furthermore, OnPay can generate employee census data reports that you can use when requesting insurance quotes from carriers and benefits providers. Payroll support: Aside from phone, chat, and email support, OnPay can guide you through pay processing if you need help. However, if you require payroll assistance from OnPay’s support team on a weekend, you won’t be able to contact them via phone. It only offers email support on Saturdays and Sundays. ADP Run and Paychex are great choices if you require 24/7 support. Paychex even offers a dedicated payroll specialist, although this service is available only in its higher tiers. Rippling: Best for Businesses Looking for a Modular HR, Payroll & IT Solution What makes a good payroll option for businesses is its modular HR, payroll, and IT tools that allow you to choose only the solutions you need. While its workforce management platform is a must-purchase, the cost of adding full-service payroll is still reasonable—Rippling can even create a custom plan based on your needs. However, it isn’t as cost-effective as most of the payroll software for small business users in this guide such as Square Payroll and Patriot Payroll. It still made our list because it is the only HR and payroll software that we reviewed that can help you manage essential IT processes such as assigning and deploying computers and business apps that employees can use. It earned a 4.13 out of 5 in our evaluation, scoring high (4 and up) in nearly all of our criteria. It posted the lowest ratings in ease of use, primarily because it lacks free phone support—you have to purchase its HR help desk add-on that includes phone and email support from HR experts. In terms of user feedback, many appreciate its user-friendly platform and efficient payroll and HR tools. It has solid payroll analytic tools to ensure you don’t make any mistakes before running. However, some said that it can be glitchy at times with occasional login issues. Rippling Features Modular solutions: Rippling has a flexible workforce management platform that lets you choose the payroll, HR, and IT features that you need. You can start with its workforce management (a necessity) and full-service payroll tools, and then add more solutions like employee benefits and applicant tracking as you grow your business. Payroll analytics: Rippling automatically pulls your last payroll numbers when you begin processing a new payroll so you can easily compare the two. It helps you identify any obvious errors quickly to prevent you from having to backtrack to correct them later. Full-service payroll: With Rippling, you can run payroll with just three clicks. It automatically calculates all employee payments, taxes, and deductions. Payroll tax filings are also automatically done by Rippling. If you have employees and contractors based in satellite offices outside of the US, Rippling can help you manage international payroll processes so you can pay your workers accurately and on time. Robust HR tools: Rippling offers more than payroll and employee information management solutions; it also has applicant tracking, benefits administration, time and attendance, and learning management tools. However, these modules are paid add-ons to Rippling’s core workforce management platform. IT solutions: Rippling’s IT tools are designed to streamline and automate device and apps management processes. If you have new hires, Rippling can help you assign the computer units and identify business apps that employees have access to. For resigning employees, you can easily disable access to business apps and lock their computers on their last day. Rippling even stores your unassigned computer units in its warehouse, and you can check the inventory through its system. None of the providers we reviewed have robust IT solutions. Flexible PEO: Rippling offers PEO services to businesses that need help managing payroll and day-to-day HR operations. And, unlike ADP and Paychex, if you decide that you no longer need a PEO, then you can simply turn Rippling’s PEO services off from your account. Paycor: Best for Businesses Needing an HR Payroll Solution for Handling Simple to Complex Pay Runs For businesses looking for a cloud-based platform that comes with all of the essential tools to manage the entire employee lifecycle, is a good option. It offers a robust suite of solutions for handling basic to the most complex payroll and HR tasks. It has recruiting, onboarding, time and attendance, benefits, learning, and employee information management tools in addition to payroll and automated tax services. However, Paycor isn’t the most affordable payroll system for small businesses as its starter Basic plan costs $99 plus $5 per employee monthly, which is pricier than big-name payroll and HR providers like ADP and Paychex. Scoring 3.86 out of 5 in our evaluation, Paycor received high marks in nearly all of our criteria with perfect scores in reporting, HR features, and popularity among users. However, its expensive pricing and limited interface customizability prevented it from ranking higher on our list. Several users said that not being able to fully customize some of its features, such as creating special vacation accrual rules, is one of the things they like least about Paycor. Others commented that while it offers solid payroll and HR tools, its support team isn’t always responsive and can be difficult to reach at times. Paycor Features Time and attendance: Paycor enables you to collect and monitor employee work hours, helping manage attendance and labor costs through automated and accurate processes. Its system is much more robust than Gusto’s simple time tracking tool. Employees can clock in and out, and you can use it to schedule shifts. All-in-one HR platform: Paycor offers an all-in-one platform that combines its payroll software with onboarding, time tracking, scheduling, performance management, employee surveys, and recruiting tools. You won’t get these robust HR features with traditional payroll software for small businesslike OnPay, Patriot Payroll, and Homebase Payroll. Customizable pay grids: Paycor’s payroll solution is flexible, allowing you to create intuitive workflows and build an online pay grid to fit your unique pay processing needs. You can select the pay data columns you want, remove those you don’t need, and choose whether you want the system to display the applicable hours or amount (or both) for each data type. You can even create a customized pay stub. Accurate payroll and tax filing: Aside from calculating employee payments and deductions, Paycor handles your quarterly tax payments and filings, including year-end reports. It also pays and files your taxes automatically at the federal and state levels on time. You can pay employees via direct deposits and manual checks. Paycor even offers check stuffing services. ADP Run: Best for Scaling Startups That Need Flexible Plans is ADP’s payroll system for small businesses with up to 49 employees. It comes with all of the essential payroll and payroll tax management tools you need, plus new hire reporting, onboarding, background checks, and access to job postings (via ZipRecruiter). Its higher tiers even come with extra HR support and handholding that you don’t get with your typical small business payroll software like Square Payroll. ADP also makes it easy to transition from one plan to the next if your company scales and you need additional HR tools. In our evaluation, ADP Run earned an overall score of 3.71 out of 5. It was rated highly in ease of use, payroll and HR features, reporting, and popularity among users. However, its setup costs and nontransparent fees contributed to its very low rating in our pricing criteria—and users even commented that it can be expensive for small businesses. However, many reviewers said they do appreciate its easy-to-use platform, adding that its payroll solution helps simplify employee pay processes. ADP Run Features Fast and accurate payroll and tax filing: In addition to its solid payroll tools, ADP Run offers automated payroll tax payments and filings. While it also handles year-end reporting (W-2s and 1099s), ADP charges extra for this. Its built-in compliance tools also notify you of payroll errors. Multiple employee payment options: With ADP Run, you can pay your employees via direct deposit and paychecks and through the Wisely Direct Debit Card. It also offers secure paychecks with check signing and stuffing services. ADP will even deliver the sealed envelopes containing employee paychecks to your office so that you can distribute these to your staff. Flexible plan options: In addition to ADP Run’s multiple tiers with full-service payroll and access to essential HR tools, ADP has a wide range of products that can cater to midsize and large businesses. It offers a PEO option, ADP TotalSource, for companies that need to completely outsource their payroll and HR administration. Certified, experienced payroll professionals available 24/7: Similar to Paychex, ADP Run allows you to get in touch with payroll and HR experts whenever you need them. You also receive legal assistance on employment matters from Upnetic Legal Services—provided you subscribe to its highest tier. Recruitment and HR tools: ADP’s partnership with ZipRecruiter makes it possible for you to post open jobs to leading job boards. It also offers background checks, state new hire reporting, and onboarding, in addition to training tools and an online library of HR forms and documents. You won’t get this level of HR support with any other provider on our list except Paychex and Paycor. However, if you need time tracking, pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation, and benefits, these solutions are paid add-ons to ADP Run’s payroll plan. Patriot Payroll: Best for Mom-and-Pop Businesses That Want a Low-cost DIY Option offers a flexible option that others in this guide don’t: a choice between full-service payroll and a more affordable DIY version. Both come with unlimited payroll runs, multiple pay rates, automated PTO accrual calculations, and customizable deductions and contributions. You can pay employees through direct deposit or manual checks, and if you choose its full-service plan, Patriot will pay and file all federal, state, and local taxes. It even has payroll packages that include access to time tracking tools and an HR solution for managing employee information. Scoring 3.69 out of 5 in our evaluation, Patriot Payroll received perfect marks in reporting, pricing, and popularity among users. It posted the lowest score in HR functionalities because it doesn’t offer new hire onboarding and employee benefits that most of the payroll software in this list provides. However, users still appreciate its reasonably priced plans and helpful support team. Others said that while it has user-friendly and efficient payroll tools, they wished Patriot Payroll offered faster direct deposits and additional integration options. Patriot Payroll Features Self-service plan: You can save the most money if you have a couple of employees and are willing to file payroll taxes on your own using Patriot’s Basic Payroll plan. Priced at only $17 plus $4 per employee monthly, this is the most cost-efficient option among all the payroll providers in this guide. Flexible payroll system: In addition to unlimited pay runs, Patriot Payroll supports multiple pay rates, plus you can either use its standard deduction and contribution types or create your own to capture payroll details for garnishments, health insurance options, and retirement plans. Employees and contractor payments are made through direct deposits, but the processing time is four days. If you want fast direct deposits, consider QuickBooks Payroll (its basic Core plan comes with next-day options) and Square Payroll (its Instant Payments feature lets you pay employees instantly). Multiple full-service payroll packages: Aside from its standard Full Service option, Patriot has payroll packages that include time tracking and employee information management tools. All plans include one state filing, but if you need to file taxes in multiple states, each additional filing costs $12 monthly. Tax penalty guarantee: If you subscribe to one of its Full Payroll plans, Patriot ensures that your taxes will be calculated and filed on time. Any disputes will be resolved and paid for by Patriot for tax filing mistakes that its representatives commit. Compare this to QuickBooks—under its Elite plan, it covers the penalty and interest for any payroll tax error for up to $25,000 a year, regardless of who made the mistake. Homebase Payroll: Best for Businesses Employing Hourly Workers is an add-on module to Homebase, which has a suite of time tracking, hiring, and scheduling solutions. Similar to Square Payroll, it offers flat pricing for its easy-to-use pay processing solution that includes automated payroll tax payment and filing services. Its payroll platform is designed specifically for hourly teams as it comes with scheduling and time tracking solutions for managing your hourly workforce. It even offers job postings, applicant tracking, PTO management, new hire onboarding, and time clock apps. Homebase Payroll earned an overall score of 3.64 in our rubric. Its reasonably priced plan with flat pricing and efficient HR tools contributed to its high scores (4 and up) while the lack of online reviews resulted in it getting a zero rating in our popularity criteria. Homebase Payroll Features Flat pricing: Both Square Payroll and Homebase Payroll offer flat pricing, allowing you to plan your payroll software expenses easily. You also don’t have to worry about having to pay extra fees if you exceed a plan’s user limits or need additional payroll and essential HR solutions. Homebase Payroll has only one plan that includes all the tools you need to hire, onboard, and pay employees. Robust payroll plan: Homebase Payroll is one of the payroll systems for small businesses that we reviewed that’s reasonably priced and comes with several HR features. For only $39 plus $6 per employee monthly, you get hiring, onboarding, time tracking, and scheduling tools in addition to full-service payroll and automatic tax filing services. Paycor, ADP, Paychex, and Rippling may offer similar functionalities, but you either have to pay extra or subscribe to its higher tiers to get these solutions. Full-service payroll: Unlike Paychex and ADP Run, Homebase Payroll offers unlimited pay runs so that you can process employee and contractor payments as many times as you need in a month. Salaries are sent to the employees’ accounts via direct deposits, although Homebase Payroll also supports payments made through printable checks. In addition to W-2 and 1099 reporting, Homebase provides automated payroll tax payments and filings. Early access to wages: Similar to Gusto and Square Payroll, Homebase Payroll offers an employee perk that grants your staff early access to wages. Your workers can transfer a portion of their salary to their bank account before payday to help pay for emergency expenses. How We Chose the Top Payroll Software We checked and compared the best payroll software for small businesses across industries; most of them offer many of the same basic payroll tools with certain nuances in features such as same-day vs two-day direct deposit or unlimited pay runs vs limited pay runs. Generally, the top payroll software offers direct deposit, tax filing, and year-end tax report preparation. Some even provide benefits and HR support. Click through the tabs below for a more detailed breakdown of our evaluation criteria: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Bottom Line Small businesses need reliable payroll software to save time and money. Most providers calculate wages, offer direct deposit, and pay taxes. However, you should consider your business needs and budget limitations. Small businesses can benefit from features such as automated tax payments, year-end report filing, and unlimited payroll runs. We found that offers all of the features that most small businesses need at a very competitive price. Users find it very easy to use and navigate, and the software is widely used in different industries. Sign up for a Gusto plan today. For more payroll software options, check out our buyer’s guide on the best payroll services to help you find a payroll software or service that fits your business’s needs. You can also check out our top picks for payroll solutions by industry and use case. Best Restaurant Payroll for Small Eateries Best Payroll Software for Accountants Best Construction Payroll Software Best International Payroll Services for Global Companies Best Human Resources Payroll Software Best Free Payroll Software Best Payroll Apps Best Payroll Software for Mac Users Best Nanny Payroll Software for Household Employers Best Payroll Software for Paying Contractors Best Church Payroll Software Best Payroll Software for Trucking Companies

The Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) tax is what employers pay the IRS to fund the unemployment program that pays eligible workers who have lost their jobs. This is separate from state unemployment taxes (SUTA). Federal regulations only require employers to pay a maximum of 6% on each employee’s first $7,000 of earnings. At the end of each year, you’ll use Form 940 to determine and report the total amount of FUTA taxes you owe and have paid. If you want to automate your FUTA tax payments and filing, consider using a payroll solution, like . Gusto tracks earnings and calculates your FUTA taxes per employee up to the required threshold. It also remits your taxes to the IRS quarterly, ensuring you aren’t penalized for waiting until year-end to pay. Sign up for a free trial today. Who Pays FUTA Tax While FUTA taxes are calculated and processed every time employers do payroll, the taxes aren’t deducted from employee wages. Employers have to pay FUTA tax if they meet the following requirements: Paid $1,500 or more in employee wages during a calendar quarter of this year or the previous year Employed staff—such as full-time, part-time, and temporary workers—with hourly or salary wages for more than 20 weeks of the year (note that the weeks don’t have to be consecutive) Employed household staff (someone who performs housework in a home, college club, or fraternity/sorority) and paid more than $1,000 in wages in a quarter Paid a farmworker more than $20,000 cash wages during any calendar year, or employed 10 or more farmworkers during any 20 or more different weeks in the current or preceding calendar year How FUTA Tax Is Calculated The maximum tax rate for FUTA tax is 6%. The tax is applied to the first $7,000 of each employee’s earnings. This includes tips, commissions, and other payments, including moving expenses. However, fringe benefits—like meals and contributions to employee health plans, life insurance, and retirement accounts—are exempt. For example, if you paid an employee $5,000 in a year, you will owe $300 for that employee ($5,000 x 0.06 = $300). If the employee earns $11,500, you only pay FUTA tax on the first $7,000, which amounts to $420 ($7,000 x 0.06 = $420). Note that states may also have unemployment taxes under the SUTA. A few states even allow employee contributions to SUTA (like Alaska, for example, where employers pay 73% of the costs and employees pay the remaining 27%). If your business is required to pay SUTA tax, you may get a tax credit from the federal government, which can reduce your FUTA tax by as much as 5.4%. For example, if you pay SUTA tax and get a 5.4% credit on your FUTA tax, then your FUTA tax rate is only 0.6%. This means that you owe $30 for an employee earning $5,000 in a year ($5,000 x 0.006 = $30) and $42 for an employee earning over $7,000 ($7,000 x 0.006 = $42). FUTA Credit Reduction States Some states borrow money from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits to state citizens. If they don’t pay the federal government back, they become a credit reduction state. For employers, this means that they will pay a higher FUTA tax rate as the government reduces SUTA tax credits by 0.3% for each year that the state owes on its loan. When FUTA Tax Payments Are Due FUTA tax payments due for the calendar year should be deposited before filing your annual Form 940. It requires quarterly payments, but employers have the option not to pay every quarter, depending on the amount of tax liability. If your FUTA tax is over $500 for the calendar year, you need to deposit at least one quarterly payment and then remit the remaining amount by the fourth quarter following the schedule below. Employers whose FUTA tax is less than $500 in a calendar quarter can carry it over to the next quarter. You can continue carrying the tax liability over until the cumulative FUTA tax is more than $500. However, you have to pay the entire amount—even if it never exceeds $500—by Jan. 31 of the next calendar year. If your FUTA tax balance exceeds $500 and you don’t send in quarterly payments, you can be charged penalties. How to Pay FUTA Taxes You need to pay FUTA taxes via the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). This is a free system provided by the Department of Treasury for paying federal taxes. You can enroll online through the EFTPS website, or call 800-555-447 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time. If you have a payroll service, your provider can make FUTA tax payments for you. However, the IRS recommends that you create an EFTPS account anyway so that you can check payments, switch companies, and have the option to deposit payments yourself. FUTA tax payments must be submitted by 8 p.m. ET at least one calendar day before the tax due date. In extraordinary circumstances, same-day wire payments are allowed. Note that this type of transaction requires a Same-Day Payment Work Sheet, which you can find on the EFTPS website. Submit both filled-out pages to your financial institution. When to File FUTA Tax on Form 940 Form 940 is due by Jan. 31 of the year following the year you need to report. However, if you deposited all your FUTA taxes quarterly when they were due, you can file as late as Feb. 10. The IRS prefers that you submit your form electronically. However, if you decide to mail the form, you must use the U.S. Postal Service, as most delivery services will not deliver to P.O. boxes. There are different addresses depending on the state and whether or not you are including a payment. You can check the Form 940 instructions for the appropriate mailing addresses. Where to Get Form 940 & How to Complete It Employers can get Form 940 from the IRS website. It is an interactive document that allows you to fill out specific data fields online. You can also download and print it before and after completing the form. Download IRS Form 940 View IRS Form 940 instructions How to Complete Form 940 FUTA tax payments may require quarterly payments, but preparing Form 940 to report your taxes owed should be done at the end of every year. While Form 940 is used by most businesses, some companies in specific industries need a different form (such as Form 943 for agricultural employees). You can check the IRS website if you think you require a tax document other than Form 940. Note that the IRS typically releases annual versions of Form 940 toward the end of each calendar year. For example, during the latter part of 2022, the IRS will release an updated version in the fourth quarter. To complete Form 940, you have to provide information about your business, total employee earnings, and FUTA tax details. The form has the following sections: General information: This is where you enter your contact information and employer identification number (EIN). Fill out the trade name box if your business operates under a name different from your business’ legal name. Check the box to the right (titled Type of Return) to see if any of the conditions apply to you; generally, they won’t. Part 1: Indicate whether you paid unemployment tax in one state. If you’re a multistate employer and/or one of the states is a credit reduction state, you have to attach a completed Schedule A form. Unless all your employees are exempt from state unemployment taxes, you must fill out this section. Part 2: Calculate the total FUTA that you owe. The form asks for total wages, exempt wages, and salary payments made to each employee earning over $7,000 (you can check the Form 940 Instructions for other taxable FUTA wages). Then, multiply the total amount by 0.6% (0.006) to determine your base amount. Part 3: Calculate any adjustments you need to make to your FUTA calculation. This is required if you were either partially or fully exempt from SUTA taxes. You’ll need to add in any FUTA amounts that you didn’t pay SUTA on. Note that if you’re a multistate employer, you may need a completed Form 940 Schedule A for this section. Part 4: Follow the form’s directions to determine your FUTA owed. If you accidentally overpaid, you can choose to apply the excess to your next FUTA tax payment or have the IRS send you a refund of the balance. Part 5: Show your total FUTA liability for each quarter. If the FUTA reported on line 12 (in Part 4) is less than $500, skip this section. Part 6: If you have a third-party handling your accounts and want to allow the IRS to contact them for questions, fill out this section. This has to be the name of a specific person, not an organization’s name or a person’s job title. You and your designee need to choose a five-digit PIN that the IRS will use to confirm the person’s identity when talking to them. Part 7: Sign and print your name and give the phone number for contacting you during the day. Bottom Line Businesses that employ workers for more than 20 weeks or pay an employee more than $1,500 in a calendar quarter are required to pay FUTA taxes. While you owe 6% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages, you can get a discount of up to 5.4% if you pay state unemployment taxes. Further, paying your FUTA taxes on time each quarter and filling out the IRS Form 940 correctly each year can help you avoid penalties or tax errors. If you prefer not to deal with calculating and making FUTA tax payments, consider using payroll software like . The software performs all calculations, taking into account required thresholds, and will file your FUTA tax report at year-end. And if on the off chance you incur any penalties because of errors its representatives make, Gusto will cover them 100%. Try it free today.

Small businesses use personnel training software, such as learning management systems (LMSes), to keep their employees compliant and allow them to continue their career education. Designed for the delivery of educational and training courses, the LMSes we evaluated all offer a large library of created courses, as well as the ability to import and/or create your own custom courses. The six best employee training management software for small businesses are: : Best overall employee training software : Best for collaborative learning : Best for industry compliance : Best for onboarding/new hire training : Best for supporting employees in multiple locations and languages : Best for performance management and testing Best Personnel Training Software Compared Note that all personnel training software in this guide have these in common: Large library of training courses Create customized courses from scratch Integration with common software Mobile-friendly Thinkific: Best Overall Personnel Training Software for Small Businesses is a content-creation platform; it allows small businesses to create engaging employee training programs through customizable templates for quick course creation or an easy-to-use course builder when creating courses from scratch. You can use live streams, presentations, and other media to build content. At the end of the course, you can also reward your employees with certificates of completion. You can easily track employee progress, course completion rates, and monitor engagement. Thinkific even offers a plan for those planning to rebrand their training courses for corporate clients or for high-volume businesses. Although it doesn’t have a mobile app, it’s designed for easy access via any browser on mobile devices. In building content, you can even check how the course looks on both desktop and mobile browsers. Thinkific’s overall score is 4.94, with perfect marks on pricing, functionality, training tools, reporting, and popularity. While user-friendly, its platform can take time to explore, especially for beginners—something that hindered it from getting a perfect mark for ease of use. Thinkific Features Thinkific lets you focus on creating good employee training materials. Here are its features to let you do that: Free Plan: Of the software in this list, only Thinkific and TalentLMS offer free plans. With Thinkific’s free forever plan, you can try its core features and create a trial course for an unlimited number of employees or students. It comes with one site admin account, website templates, drag-and-drop course builders, email, and phone support. Wide range of multimedia: Thinkific really shines when it comes to the variety of content you can add to your training courses. You can create training materials using various media, including videos, text, downloadable content, PDF, and presentation. You can even add surveys within the platform to help you gather feedback from employees. Employees can provide feedback in different ways, including ratings, scales, and providing answers. Organized admin dashboard: The dashboard is organized but could use a more modern touch. Despite it looking a bit outdated compared to other software on this list, Thinkific works smoothly when creating a course and even supports more than 30 languages, which makes it even easier for businesses using languages other than English. User-friendly student or employee interface: On the employee/student side, the course player is simple to use. The user can immediately access the chapters in a drop-down style menu. Your employees can also access the training via mobile browsers to make learning more accessible and flexible. Drip scheduling: If you subscribe to Thinkific’s paid plans, you can schedule your lessons or training as you please. If you plan to have a weeklong training session, you can, for example, schedule one lesson per day. This helps ensure that your employees have enough time to digest the training lessons and prevent information overload. What Thinkific Is Missing Thinkific has all the tools typically needed to create an employee training course—plus, you can check its basic features for free. However, the platform has a slight learning curve and may take some getting used to. For a friendlier experience, you may want to look at 360 Learning or Trainual. 360Learning: Best for Collaborative Learning is an LMS best suited for small to midsize businesses and nonprofits due to its employee and compliance training, customer training, employee onboarding, and extended enterprise support. The platform is based on collaborative learning, where employees can share their skills and expertise with each other—very much unlike the traditional top-down learning style. It outranked most of the other employee training management software with a score of 4.75 out of 5. This is primarily because of its ability to deliver an interactive experience with a large library of over 6,000 content resources at an affordable price—starting at $8/month per user. 360Learning’s mobile app does generally well with users, scoring a 4.8 out of 5 on the Apple App Store and 4 out of 5 on the Google's Play store (due to some minor bugs). The only thing preventing 360Learning from achieving a perfect score in our review is its lack of a free plan. However, its 30-day free trial should give users enough time to learn its features and make a final decision. 360Learning Features 360Learning offers easy course creation features, as well as advanced content integration. These features help make learning easy for employees. Free Trial: 360Learning offers an impressive 30-day free trial. This will give your business plenty of time to learn the system, explore its over 6,000 available courses, and even create your own customized courses. Additionally, courses can be integrated with over 200 institutions, including Coursera, to bring you thousands of available content modules, including employee policy training, workplace harassment, OSHA training, and more. Collaborative Learning: 360Learning’s platform is based on “collaborative learning” (peer learning), in which anyone can address questions within training courses as well as suggest improvements or changes to the training based on a specific department, project, or organizational needs and desires. User-friendly: Flexibility, ease of use, and customization make 360Learning an ideal employee training management software. It is available in several different languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Russian, and Japanese. Unlike other software—such as Trainual, which is only available in English—360Learning allows you to translate content into just about any language and then offer that language to your users. Additionally, the dashboard and course content are easily distributed to any mobile device for on-the-go learning and management. Course Creation Enhancements: It offers an intuitive platform that can reduce course creation time to as little as 17 minutes. Additionally, you can leverage content across your legacy LMS and integrate it into 360Learning’s platform, as well as create new or use existing content. Personalized Learning Experience: The learning experience includes blended learning, incorporating live training and online study. Besides that, companies are equipped with the ability to assign paths based on the learner’s needs, with assessments to ensure knowledge retention. Certificates are awarded upon course completion, highlighting the newly acquired skills your employees have obtained in their industry, which can lead to promotions. What 360Learning Is Missing While 360Learning offers a 30-day free trial, it does not come with a free plan, nor does it offer transparent pricing. Some pricing is noted on its website; however, custom features and plans must be discussed with a representative. Additionally, the features available are basic, lacking varied tools to build courses and certain “extra” features such as integrated gamification. SAP Litmos scores better for customization and features. TalentLMS: Best for Industry-specific Compliance is ideal for businesses that need to offer industry-specific training. Its tools allow for personalized and customized training no matter your industry. It serves a broad range of industries—be it in automotive, hospitality, or even in technology—and offers leadership courses that can help employees rise within the company. It ranks in our No. 3 spot with a score of 4.57 out of 5 due to its easy-to-use interface and customizable features, such as branding and colors, giving users the experience that they are working only with your company. TalentLMS fell short with its limited live customer support and lack of a free trial (the only LMS on our list that doesn’t offer this feature). Thinkific and TalentLMS are the only personnel training software in our guide to offer a fully free plan, but it is limited in scope, as well as in the number of users allowed. TalentLMS Features TalentLMS offers a buffet of features to help businesses with tracking, compliance, and course creation, and the user with course completion. Customized Courses: Employers can easily create customized courses with various types of media such as videos, presentations, and documents. Training includes quizzes and tests to help measure success, as well as gamification for an overall enhanced user experience. Additionally, TalentLMS offers the ability to build your courses seamlessly. Industry-Specific: TalentLMS courses are offered across a wide range of industries. Its corporate training platform enables businesses to offer compliance training to their employees that result in the issuance of certificates and certifications. Industries include: Automotive: Inform technicians about new regulations and introduce new models to dealerships Aviation: Ensure your employees are compliant with regulations, systems, and standard airline procedures Call Centers: Train your employees to handle a variety of call types Education: Allow for distance learning and traditional in-classroom training for your educators Food and Beverage: Help with onboarding and employee training Franchise: Train your employees across multiple locations in company core values and standardized procedures Healthcare: Train your workers on new medical devices, procedures, and compliance Hospitality: Instill customer service values in your staff Manufacturing: Instruct employees on standardized procedures as well as OSHA compliance Nonprofit Organizations: Train your volunteers on all organizational procedures and policies Retail: Build your own online procedural training courses to use for employees across multiple chain locations Supply Chain: Train your warehouse employees on new and existing operational procedures Technology: Share best practices in the IT field and train on new procedures Telecommunications: Reach thousands of customer service reps and technicians with specialized training Adaptive Interface: This software is equipped with a simple, customizable interface where users can learn and adapt. This means that users experience training that feels comfortable from the very start. Additionally, TalentLMS offers the ability to toggle between an online learning experience and mobile applications. However, the mobile application does not offer as many features as the web version, causing TalentLMS to score 4.2 out of 5 among Android users and 4.7 out of 5 among iOS users. Extensive training software: It includes compliance training, onboarding, sales, partner training, and extended enterprise training. With it, companies have the tools available immediately to onboard new employees with a seamless training experience. TalentLMS also allows companies to provide compliance training to employees to keep them on top of industry standards and requirements. The only difference is that this provider does not provide standard operating procedures and policies in its platform like Trainual does. Quick Setup: It offers the ability to create customized courses in just a few short steps, allowing you to offer training to your employees quickly (sometimes on the same day). You simply log in to your portal, navigate to the Add Course page, and build your course from there. Experiences can be personalized to match your employees’ career needs by creating sub-accounts, allowing for individual department content. What TalentLMS Is Missing TalentLMS doesn't offer a free trial (the only LMS in our guide that doesn’t); therefore, you must buy the software without testing it out first. TalentLMS does offer a free plan, although it is only for up to five users and 10 courses. This may not be enough user capacity—so 360Learning may be better suited for a small business that needs to test out the product first, as it offers a 30-day free trial. Trainual: Best for New Hire Training & Onboarding brings together all your company’s processes, procedures, and training policies into one system to make onboarding and learning easier. With all your training and onboarding documents in one place, your newly hired employees will be fully trained and ready to start their new jobs quicker. It is ideal for smaller businesses; pricing is custom and increases by 25 user increments. Trainual, with a score of 4.43 out of 5 on our evaluation, provides a customizable dashboard for creating documentation and manuals and allows for continued employee training. Keeping Trainual from achieving a perfect score is its lack of ability to customize reports and limited language support. Trainual Features Trainual’s capabilities are largely in policy, SOP, and handbook creation. Additionally, it offers features for onboarding and delivering content to employees based on their roles, department, or location. Policy (SOP) Creation: Over 150 templates are available for the creation of policies and SOPs. Trainual stands above other LMSes, such as Bridge, for its ability to not only create courses but provide policy training manuals. These templates allow for the creation of training materials that can be accessed by multiple employees at one time, including onboarding documentation. Some templates include: Diversity and Inclusion Policy Bereavement Leave Policy Solicitation Policy Compensation and Development Policy Workplace Harassment Policy PTO and Sick Leave Policy Anti-Discrimination Policy Disciplinary Action Policy No Retaliation Policy Sexual Harassment Policy Employee Performance Review Mobile-friendly: Trainual is easy to access, track, and update from any device. Policies can be reviewed and studied from a mobile device, giving your employees on-the-go participation. Trainual scored an impressive 4.7 with Android users based on the ease of having all training at their fingertips. Its iOS score was 4.5; however, the experience was similar to Android users based on the ability to search all policies from a mobile phone. Easy to Manage: A simple and intuitive interface makes it easy to create and manage policies. There are built-in guidelines and tutorials to get you up to speed, and it is easy for employers to create and manage custom courses in minutes. Customized Features: Companies can supplement training by adding videos, in-house stock photos, and GIPHY integration. While all of the LMSes we reviewed support some of these features, they do not support all, giving Trainual an edge by enhancing the overall user experience. Organization: Policies and SOPs are easily organized in one place for instant access from any device. It is a “playbook” in your pocket. Training is highly searchable, right down to the word, making it easy to find the policy you are looking for. What Trainual Is Missing Trainual is heavily focused on employee onboarding and training policies—and therefore does not offer a large library of continuing education courses, like the 6,000+ courses offered by 360Learning. Additionally, while Trainual is ideal for small businesses with 25 or fewer employees, if your company has more than 25 employees, it will cost you more—up to $335/month for 100 users. If you employ more than 25 workers, then TalentLMS, at just $279/month for up to 500 users, is a better overall value than Trainual; however, it is limited to English-only courses. SAP Litmos: Best for Businesses With International Employees works for companies of any size, from small businesses to enterprises, in any location. We’ve determined it best for those with a global workforce because you can create courses in some three dozen languages, on top of its offered courses on Determining International Employee Compensation, Managing a Remote Team, and Culture Series - Discrimination Prevention. This makes it our top pick for businesses with international employees. With a score of 4.27 out of 5, it was dinged for issues related to customer service quality and the lack of transparent pricing. Its solutions are tailored toward an industry’s—or company’s—specific needs and learning styles (in areas such as security, ease of learner use, and scalability, for example). This gives SAP Litmos an advantage over other LMS software, such as Bridge, which doesn’t offer as broad a range of services. It is also one of the best at taking its pre-packaged content and merging that with companies’ specific needs and interests relating to employee learning. SAP Litmos Features SAP Litmos has a range of user-friendly features, including interface options, multiple learning types, and security. Mobile users agree on its user-friendliness, according to the 3.8 out of 5 review score in the Google's Play store and the 4.6 out of 5 score in the Apple App Store. Diverse Learning: Courses are offered in multiple languages to assist learners of all backgrounds in achieving their educational and career goals. SAP Litmos facilitates courses in 35 languages, including English, French, Chinese, Spanish, and more. Learning Tools with Gamification Features: Enhanced mobile and cloud-based learning tools provide the ability to develop training modules to appeal to gamers, remote and international learners, and blended learning types. These tools increase learner engagement by awarding achievements, badges, and points within the system, competitions with others and structured gameplay designed to assist users in actively completing courses. Companies can also issue badges that users can download to accentuate their achievements. While this is also offered with other LMSes, such as 360Learning, it is worth noting that SAP Litmos relies heavily on this feature for course interaction. Gamification features can make learning for those with language barriers or cultural differences easier. Customizable Platform: Companies can create their own branding within the platform, creating a personalized experience for both business owners and users. Courses can be grouped together to create personalized learning paths for employees. Third-party Integrations: SAP Litmos offers a learning management system marketplace to integrate with multiple applications, including DocuSign, ADP, BambooHR, Centrify, Dropbox, Mailchimp, Namely, Salesforce, and more. By offering an expansive library of integrations, SAP Litmos can seamlessly integrate with your current operations. What SAP Litmos Is Missing With its gamification features, SAP Litmos’ courses may be less structured than some companies require. Additionally, some features of the program, such as compliance management and document management, are not included in the subscription plans, meaning you must add them on at an extra cost to get the value. SAP Litmos lacks certain customizable features such as reporting, templates, and quizzes, making it less desirable than others on our list, such as 360Learning, which offers these customizable options. Bridge: Best Performance Management Platform delivers tools that talent and HR leaders, organizational and leadership development managers, and supervisors will enjoy due to the customizable way that this product works. As our best for performance management, Bridge offers skills assessments and performance analytics that help managers evaluate their teams and deliver necessary learning enhancements. This will, however, require businesses to purchase the second-tier plan: Learning + Performance. Bridge’s training platform also engages learners by requiring the user to click into specific modules at designated times and soliciting responses to questions that are based on actual real-world situations. Due in large part to its limited affordability for small businesses, Bridge placed sixth on our list, scoring 3.98 out of 5. User reviews lean toward those businesses with 1,000+ employees. Bridge Features Bridge offers contemporary features that businesses can use to enhance their employee course experience. Additionally, supervisors and managers have multiple options for tracking and analyzing employee success. Customized Courses: Bridge does a nice job of taking out-of-the-box courses (over 20,000 courses available) and making them customizable for customers so they can add to or evolve the training to their liking. Courses include HR compliance, onboarding, performance management, and sales training, among others. Ongoing Support: It offers 24/7 live phone and online chat support. Live phone support is a feature that is not offered in all LMS platforms, such as TalentLMS and SAP Litmos, giving Bridge higher customer satisfaction. Mobile-friendly: Platforms are available on Android and iOS, making it mobile accessible. Users find Bridge’s mobile platform to be intuitive and easy to use. It scored a 4.1 out of 5 among Android users for its simple layout. Similarly, Bridge scored 4.4 out of 5 among iOS users. Analytics and Insights: The platform allows for easy tracking, and learners can pause and resume as desired. Supervisors can run reports or check in on individual employee progress, as well as create customized downloadable reports. Employers can track employee performance, align individual goals, and manage skills assessments. Bridge outperforms Trainual and SAP Litmos in this category due to its customizable reporting. Skill Development Planning: Customized development plans can be created to assist employees in meeting their career objectives and goals. This enables employee growth by aligning skills and career development into one vision. Trainual offers similar plans, but these are more geared toward policy implementation. What Bridge Is Missing While Bridge offers transparent pricing on its website, the minimum requirement of $12,500 annually makes this option less affordable for small businesses. Other personnel training software on this list is more affordable, with TalentLMS offering a free plan option. Additionally, some system functionality, such as text editing, video uploading, and quiz responses, is slow and/or insufficient. Other LMS Software to Consider The following LMSes didn’t make the cut for our best overall employee training management software; however, you may want to consider them. Udemy Business (Overall Score: 3.93 out of 5) - Offers a consumer-first, on-demand learning platform through which employees can learn at their own pace. There are tons of courses you can choose from, each with reviews available so that you know how effective they are. Additionally, you can leverage your own content and distribute it through the platform if you’d prefer. It’s cheaper than purchasing a complete LMS and gives you more flexibility until you’re ready to commit. Tovuti (Overall Score: 3.83 out of 5) - Delivers an all-in-one cloud-based LMS that small businesses can benefit from. Tovuti offers creative features, including technology compliance, an integrated course content library, and personalized learning paths, that can help you create a robust learning platform to drive engagement among your employees. LearnUpon (Overall Score: 3.77 out of 5) - Offers strong mobile learning software components. Best for small businesses with diverse needs by providing learning tools for impactful training directed at employees, partners, and customers. Although LearnUpon may be costly for small businesses, it offers excellent customer support, according to user reviews. Lessonly by Seismic (Overall Score: 3.32 out of 5) - Now part of Seismic, Lessonly personalizes professional growth. If you’re looking for on-demand training and coaching, Lessonly received excellent reviews from its customers. Although the above LMS software applications offer strong features and course options, these didn’t make it into the top six due to their inability to offer various customized options and lack of affordability for small businesses. How We Evaluated Employee Training Software When evaluating each LMS for employee training, we took into consideration the most popular training tools for small businesses. For specifics on our evaluation process, click through the boxes below. To see our full evaluation criteria for the best free time tracking software, click through the tabs in the box below. Bottom Line Our guide is meant to be a tool for deciding which employee training management software is the best for your business. While each LMS we reviewed offers something different and specific for your company’s needs, the overall winner, Thinkific, outperformed the others in value and features available.

To create an employee database in Excel, you’ll first need to collect and collate the information you’ll be tracking. Some of the most common employee information to keep track of in your database includes: Employee Name Birth Date Address Contact Details Job Role Supervisor/ Department Details Pay Rate Start Date Once you have entered all of the employee information, you can use it to track employee performance, run payroll reports, and more. Follow the steps below and with just a little bit of effort, you can turn your Excel spreadsheet into a powerful employee database. Download our free template to help you get started. Step 1. Create a New Spreadsheet & Name Your File Open Excel and click on the "New Blank workbook" box. This opens a new blank spreadsheet. Start by creating a title for your employee database. We’ll go with “Employee Database - Template.” Do this by clicking “File” and then “Save As.” In the top left, you’ll now see your file has a name. Step 2. Add Columns to Your Spreadsheet The columns you add will depend on the information you want to track for each employee. The most basic information to keep track will be the employee's name, birth date, address, phone number, department, job title, manager, pay rate, and start date. To enter these fields, type each one in row 1. We recommend bolding and centering them so you know they’re the column titles. It’s also nice to freeze the row if you have lots of employees for easy viewing. Remember, these are templated columns, and you should configure this to fit your company’s needs. If your company has lots of employees, then you may want to include a column for “Department” or “Team” so that you can easily narrow down a search. You do that by right clicking at the top of the column to the right of where you want to add a new column, then click “Insert Column.” If you’re a fully remote company and provide computers or other costly items to employees, then you may want to keep a list of the serial numbers for each item so that you can retrieve the items when an employee leaves your company. Just don’t include too many columns—only the necessities. Too much data, and you’ll overwhelm your data entry whenever you hire a new employee or when you need to run a search. Notice we haven’t included Social Security numbers in this example. That’s because we don’t recommend putting confidential employee data in a spreadsheet—that information should be kept in your company’s personnel files or your HR software. Those places provide much greater security than an Excel spreadsheet, which could get into the hands of an employee who shouldn’t have access to confidential employee information. Step 3. Enter Employee Information Here’s where you enter your employee data. We’ll put a few fake employees in here so you can see what it looks like when filled in. It’s vital that you enter this information every time you hire a new employee. If you don’t do it right away, you may forget and make the spreadsheet an inaccurate or incomplete source of information. Step 4. Set Permissions & Access Although we recommend against entering confidential information in your Excel spreadsheet, it will contain personal information about your employees. You’ll want to restrict access to this sheet, giving permission only to specific employees who need to reference this information. Make sure you share the sheet only with authorized users. Click “Share” and enter specific user email addresses to give access to only the people who need it. Then, protect the sheet further by restricting what data users can edit. You see in the gif below that you can click “Options” to expand more detail on which cells, columns, and rows are protected, or you can protect their entire sheet. This will restrict anyone else’s ability to edit the sheet. If you’re going to be the only person entering and editing data, you may want to leave all of the protection options unchecked so you’re the only one who can change data. Step 5. Keep Your Employee Database Updated Make sure you update this file regularly—we recommend doing so at least annually. As you grow, consider creating a data entry form to have your new employees enter their information so that it auto-populates in your spreadsheet. This would also be useful to have your existing employees update annually or as their personal situation changes. When you keep your employee database in Excel updated, it makes it easy for you to keep track of your current employee headcount, employee tenure, and payroll details (to help determine how much of your annual revenue goes toward your payroll costs). Without an updated employee database, you’ll need to go digging in files and systems every time you need to find employee information. Bottom Line An employee database in Excel can be a valuable tool for any small business. It can help you keep track of employee information and make it easier to access employee data, though the larger your company, the more likely you are to need employee software instead of a spreadsheet. Creating an employee database in Excel is a simple and free process that only requires a few steps. Get started today with our free template. Need More HR Excel Templates? Check out some of the other Excel templates we have: Employee Schedule Templates Applicant Tracking Spreadsheet How to Do Payroll in Excel

CareerBuilder does not have forever-free job posting options, but it does offer a five-day free trial and provide access to more than 250 million resumes. It’s great for businesses wanting smart, user-friendly job postings and applicant matching tools as it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to match you with qualified candidates. Once you set your budget, you can choose a plan, create and post your job ad, and watch applicants roll in. Learn more from our CareerBuilder review or sign up for a free trial today. Step 1: Sign Up for a CareerBuilder Account To start, you’ll need to create a account. Go to the signup page and fill out your information. Make sure you select the “Employer” box. Step 2: Choose Your Plan While it doesn’t offer free plans, CareerBuilder has many pricing options. Here’s a quick breakdown: For most small businesses, one of the first two plans listed will be most efficient and most economical. CareerBuilder also offers a free demo so you can at least try out the product to make sure you like it before you commit to a plan. After you’ve signed up for your account, you’ll need to choose one of these plans. Remember, the monthly plans each come with a five-day free trial so you can try it out. Upon successfully signing up, you’ll receive an email confirming your plan selection and reminding you of the free trial period. Step 3: Sign In to Your Account & Fill Out Your Company Details CareerBuilder will direct candidates to your employer page for additional information about your company. Don’t leave this empty. Fill it out before you post your job so it’s ready for candidates to view. On your dashboard, click on your company name in the top right corner and select “Admin Tools.” Then select “Company Branding.” Then select “Add Company Profile” next to the Company Profiles section. This opens a new page where you fill out all of your company information, including your company overview and benefits. This is also the place where you can add your company branding, like your company logo and pictures from employee retreats. Step 4: Post Your Job Ad From your employer home page, click on “Post Job” to start the process. CareerBuilder walks you through building an attractive job ad. You should absolutely have your job description handy, but make sure you don't just copy and paste. You need to add some details about what makes your company special and why a candidate would want to work for you. Step 5: Review Resumes Once your CareerBuilder job ad is posted, you’ll probably start getting applications the same day. Review these resumes and continue with your standard hiring process. You can also track candidates and leave notes. The number of candidates you can keep in your file depends on your plan. You can also search for candidates by clicking on “Candidates” at the top. If you’re posting multiple jobs at once, you can save searches specific to each job. You can also save candidates to lists broken down by job. CareerBuilder Alternatives Depending on your needs, CareerBuilder may not be the best job posting site for you. We recommend the following alternatives to CareerBuilder. You may also check out our comprehensive list of the best job posting sites for more options. Bottom Line Finding employees you love doesn’t have to be hard. Using CareerBuilder to post your job ad, you immediately gain access to millions of potential candidates. Get your job ad up today and start receiving applications immediately. You May Also Like… Learn how to hire employees in five easy steps Discover important recruitment statistics to understand hiring Check out the best free job posting sites

Part of the Zoho product suite, is a secure, web-based HR solution that provides an intuitive platform to help manage human resource matters, like onboarding, attendance tracking, or training delivery. It has a free version for companies just starting out and enterprise-level tools for large companies planning to hire. Payroll isn’t included in this product but is available in the Zoho product suite. Zoho People Overview What We Recommend Zoho People for core product is its human resources platform, which is great for companies adding to their workforce. It provides tools to manage the entire HR process—from recruiting to offboarding, including onboarding, training, performance tracking, time tracking, compliance, and advanced reporting. All tools are online, and Zoho provides mobile apps as well. In short, Zoho People is best for: Small businesses that want to start transitioning to HR software at no cost: Zoho People’s free forever plan, which comes with an HR employee database and time off management, earned it a spot in our best HR software for small businesses guide. If you’re not yet ready to spend money on HR software but want to start organizing your employee data and establishing set processes, this plan can work for you. You can always upgrade the plan and add more Zoho products later. Companies planning on hiring: This solution helps HR departments and managing teams recruit talent, create hiring flows, build branded career pages, track applicants, and run background checks. Its free plan, which features basic employee data management and PTO monitoring tools, helped it secure a spot on our best HRIS systems guide. Businesses that want to improve their employees’ performance: Named one of our best performance management systems, Zoho provides advanced training functions, such as course management, assessments, blended learning, discussion forums, and a learning portal. Performance can be tracked by managing goals, performance appraisals, self-appraisals, and key result areas (KRAs). When Zoho People Would Not Be a Good Fit Companies that just need payroll processing: While the compatible Zoho Payroll product provides payroll processing, it costs more than some top payroll software, which may charge only $10 to $15 per employee (paid monthly). In comparison, Zoho starts at nearly $200 per month for just three employees. Businesses that require 24/7 year-round support: Even the paid support plans offered by Zoho do not include 24/7 support. Paid telephone and chat support are also limited to 24/5. If you need customer service available anytime, an HR payroll service like or could be a better fit for you. Zoho People Alternatives Zoho People Pricing Zoho People is available in six versions, including a free version for companies with fewer than five users. Small companies can easily start with the first paid tier, Essential HR, to help with employee onboarding, employee data management, time off tracking, approval and workflow management, and reporting. If needed, you can sign up for Zoho Payroll at $190 per month for up to three employees. A 30-day free trial is available. The Professional version includes more time-tracking features. The next step up, Premium, adds performance tracking, job scheduling, and advanced analytics. The Enterprise version adds training. The top-tier product, People Plus, adds modules to help companies manage expenses, passwords, talent acquisition, collaboration, and communication. *Annual pricing is available at a 10% discount. Using Zoho People Essential HR, the second-lowest tier, businesses can manage basic HR functions easily. Compatible services such as payroll, expense management, and recruiting can be added if you’re willing to purchase additional products. Zoho People Calculator Want to know how much you’ll need to use Zoho People? Use our online calculator to compute the estimated monthly and annual fees. Zoho People Features With Zoho People, you can maintain an employee database and manage your workforce while ensuring smooth HR processes. Let’s take a look at some of Zoho People's standout features: Zoho People Ease of Use Simple to use HR tools Employee self-services tools Free 24/5 email support Professional setup services available Single Point of Contact (SPOC) available Zoho People is simple for administrators, managers, and employees to use. All features are accessible online, and iOS and Android apps are available for free in the Google's Play Store and Apple App Store. Employees can use their phones to clock-in and out or submit hours worked. Basic email and telephone support is available to all customers with a guaranteed 24-hour response time. Paid support includes faster response time, chat support, a dedicated support contact person, and training. Zoho People released a new feature called Zia, an AI bot that is a virtual support assistant. Accessible from any screen, Zia guides users through routine tasks virtually using AI technologies, so you can get help at any time without the need to contact a customer support person. Zoho products are customizable. You can set up Essential HR (the second tier) to your preferences and add to it as needed. It is simple to upgrade to the other HR versions or to add other Zoho services. Zoho People integrates with other Zoho modules, including CRM, Invoice, Books, Payroll, Mail, Recruit, Expense, Analytics, Projects, Writer, Sign, Vault, and Directory. This HR solution also integrates with third-party services, such as QuickBooks, AdobeSign, DocuSign, Google Calendar, Zapier, Xoxoday, and Microsoft 365. What Users Think About Zoho People Overall, Zoho People received positive reviews from new and experienced users. Many reported that the HR tools are simple to learn and that Zoho tools make their day-to-day HR tasks more manageable and less tedious. Users related that they were able to connect the software with third-party business solutions without too much difficulty. Of course, Zoho People integrates with other Zoho products easily such as its payroll solution. The most common negative comments about Zoho are about customer support. Some users reported that even with paid support, they experienced slow response times. Users also said they’d often get email responses but not direct telephone or chat support. At the time of publication, Zoho People reviews earned the following scores on popular user review sites: Capterra: 4.3 out of 5 based on 190+ reviews G2: 4.3 out of 5 based on 180+ reviews Bottom Line is fully customizable, making it a fitting HR solution for small, growing, and large companies. Numerous Zoho modules are available to add additional features as the company needs to evolve. Entry-level HR tools are affordably priced or free for limited users. Plus, advanced recruiting, onboarding, and training features can be added for a low monthly rate, making it optimal for businesses in active hiring phases. If you’d like to learn more about Zoho People’s features, sign up for a free trial—no credit card required.

ZipRecruiter is an online employment marketplace and recruitment platform that allows you to post job listings on 100+ job sites with just one submission. With its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technology, you can easily find the best candidates for your job openings. Its daily fees start at $16 (monthly fees start at $299), and it’s best for recruiters and businesses that need a wide network to source talent. ZipRecruiter Overview What We Recommend ZipRecruiter For Finding a platform that can efficiently distribute your job ads and help you find qualified candidates fast is critical for business owners. ZipRecruiter offers that and more with its AI candidate matching tools, unlimited candidate applications, and one-click job postings that share your open roles to multiple job boards. This explains why it’s one of our top-recommended job posting sites. Its monthly plans even provide you with sub-tiers and levels, allowing you to select the number of job posts you need and how your listings will be distributed. In short, ZipRecruiter is best for: Businesses that need to post jobs, even niche ones, to several job boards: With just one click, ZipRecruiter will instantly distribute your job listings to more than 100 job boards, some of which are specialty sites that target certain demographics (i.e., veterans). It also captures all your candidate data—saving you from having to collect and filter applications from multiple job sites. Companies that regularly hire: ZipRecruiter’s monthly packages come with reusable job slots (from one to more than 50 per month), making it a great option for businesses that are scaling and growing their workforce. When ZipRecruiter Would Not Be a Good Fit Companies with limited recruiting budgets: ZipRecruiter’s monthly packages can be pricey, with fees starting at $299 per month for one job posting. While it also offers pay-as-you-go “Usage” plans (the lowest tier costs $16 per job post daily), this can get expensive, especially if you have several open jobs to fill and it takes longer than a week. If you’re looking for cost-effective options, consider , or check out our list of top free job posting sites. Those wanting to hire hourly workers like line cooks, retail workers, housekeepers, and cleaning staff: While you can post listings that target applicants looking for hourly jobs in ZipRecruiter, we recommend since it specializes in connecting businesses with hourly workers. Plus, it has a database of 6 million job seekers and smart matching tools to help you find qualified candidates. More ZipRecruiter Top Alternatives ZipRecruiter Pricing Fees and the full details of ZipRecruiter’s plans aren’t published on its website. However, its help articles indicate the starting price of its monthly plans is based on your business location, the industry you belong to, and the number of job posts, user seats, and resume views you need. These monthly packages have sub-tiers (Simple, Starter, Team, Company, and Enterprise) based on the number of job posts you need. ZipRecruiter also offers “Usage” plans that follow a pay-per-job-post per-day scheme, according to the rep I spoke with. Both options have sub-levels, depending on the type of job ad distribution chosen. *Usage plans are billed either on a monthly basis, when your account reaches $500, or upon cancellation—whichever comes first. Usage plans are great for businesses that hire infrequently. You pay only for job posts that you need, plus your job listings can be distributed in either non- or semi-competitive markets. Compared to the usage plans, ZipRecruiter’s monthly packages are more complex since the pricing is based on the job ad distribution level and job posting allocation you need. After having chatted with ZipRecruiter’s customer representative, I was able to get pricing details for its Simple tier that includes one job posting credit. Note that you can’t purchase additional credits if you have used all your job posting credits for the month. You can, however, upgrade your subscription if you need more, and then just downgrade to your original plan. However, ZipRecruiter will automatically close and remove open jobs—in the order of oldest to newest—that are over the job posting limit. ZipRecruiter Features Some may ask, “Is ZipRecruiter legit?” and wonder whether it’s an effective job posting site. To answer that question, yes, it is. ZipRecruiter is a well-known recruiting solution that connects you to millions of job seekers. It aims to enhance your talent sourcing and recruitment management processes, enabling you to efficiently find quality candidates to fill job vacancies. To help you determine if it is the right recruitment tool for you, let’s take a look at some of its essential features. ZipRecruiter Ease of Use One-click posting to 100+ job boards AI candidate matching Online guides and help articles Phone, email, and live chat support What makes ZipRecruiter a great recruiting solution for small business owners and recruiters is its one-click job posts function that makes distributing job ads to more than 100 job boards easy for users. Creating a job listing is also a straightforward process, with ZipRecruiter providing a step-by-step guide, including access to job descriptions that you can customize based on your hiring needs. In addition, ZipRecruiter’s machine learning platform automates candidate searches. Its AI tool learns from your resume searches and sends you profiles of candidates who fit your hiring requirements. If you need assistance or have questions about its features, you can send an email, start a live chat, or call ZipRecruiter’s support team. Online help articles are also easily accessible through its website and via the ZipRecruiter dashboard. What Users Think About ZipRecruiter Many users who left ZipRecruiter reviews online like its user-friendly interface and efficient job posting tools. While they appreciate its resume search filters and smart candidate matching technology, the search results aren’t always accurate, and the recommended candidates sometimes don't fit their hiring requirements. Others said that its pricing plans are expensive compared to similar job posting solutions. At the time of publication, ZipRecruiter earned the following scores on popular user review sites: Capterra: 4.2 out of 5 based on roughly 10,500+ reviews G2: 4.7 out of 5 based on about 800+ reviews Trustpilot: 4.7 out of 5 based on around 10,000+ reviews Bottom Line is a good recruiting solution for those looking to streamline their job posting and candidate sourcing processes. It allows business owners to distribute job ads to over 100 job boards, enabling them to find qualified candidates and close job vacancies faster. ZipRecruiter accomplishes that through its efficient online tools that include one-click job postings, customizable job description templates, AI-matching technology, and a database of more than 30 million resumes. To learn more about its functionalities, ZipRecruiter offers a free trial that lets you explore all of its features at no cost for four days. Note that you have to provide your credit card details for the free trial.