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Home Blog We’ve Tested 10 Essential HR Tools and Here’s What We Found

We’ve Tested 10 Essential HR Tools and Here’s What We Found

Photo of Andy Cakebread Andy Cakebread 30 January 2024
Man in black suit greets a woman in brown blazer with a handshake

It’s no secret that if you work in HR, your job is multifaceted, integral to the success of your organisation, and can sometimes feel overwhelming. HR pros essentially support the structure of any organisation, and such responsibility means that there’s little room for error. 

Fortunately, you can lighten your burden with the right HR tools. 

These tools are designed to help you master various areas of people management using less time and energy.

So, join Thankbox as we dive into some valuable tools to boost your HR efficiency. Our careful selection of 10 HR tools is ready to help you elevate. 

Let’s dive in! 

Here’s our list of 10 game-changing HR tools 

HR tools come in various shapes and sizes, so it can be a bit confusing to monitor which tool works best for a set of tasks. Fortunately, we’ve laid the groundwork for you and grouped them into these easy-to-understand categories:

  • Recruitment 

  • People and performance management 

  • Employee appreciation 

  • Leave management 

Now, onto the tools!

Trust icon The HR tools you never knew you needed

Acknowledging employee achievements is an important facet of HR. Fortunately, it can be super simple with Thankbox. From sentimental e-cards to special gifts, we’ve got the perfect solution to help you show employee appreciation.

Recruitment

Recruitment tools specialise in helping you with talent sourcing, candidate engagement, screening, and onboarding new hires.  

1. Greenhouse

Greenhouse is a one-stop shop HR tool that helps you with employee recruitment, onboarding, and training. It’s a great choice for HR professionals with little experience with applicant tracking systems because it teaches you the best ways to attract, screen, and hire the best of the best without bias.

Greenhouse recruiting

2. Teamtailor 

Teamtailor is an all-in-one recruitment platform that allows you to manage every stage of the recruitment process from a single dashboard.

Teamtailor Dashboard

It uses smart triggers to automate interview scheduling, communicating with candidates, and setting specific actions when a candidate passes a certain stage. You’ll also get a customizable career page builder to help you post job openings.

3. Willo 

If you’re looking to streamline talent screening for a global pool of candidates, Willo is a great solution because it helps you set up one-way video interviews.

Willo Interview Dashboard

All you have to do is create your list of questions, send out the invitation links, and review the video responses as they come in. It works well to reduce the time spent scheduling and participating in screening interviews.

People and performance management

People and performance management tools are designed to help manage your employees–which is essentially the bulk of HR. This includes day-to-day functions like internal communications, performance reviews, employee compensation, and employee development planning. 

4. BambooHR

BambooHR is quite the titan when it comes to HR software. 

It helps you at every stage of the employee lifecycle to make sure your HR processes run smoothly. With BambooHR, you can track hours worked, manage payroll, gather employee feedback, and keep track of all your valuable employee data for a smooth-running ship.

BambooHR account

5. Monday.com

Monday.com is a reliable HR app that provides a way to easily manage your HR tech stack. 

It essentially offers a holistic task list with a unified view of all your HR tasks from over 40 platforms, including Gmail, Trello, and Evernote. Better yet, you’ll also find a catalogue of HR templates to get help for any HR-related task. 

Monday HR app

Employee appreciation

HR professionals wear many different hats in their evolving roles.

One of these responsibilities includes fostering employee wellbeing and inclusion for a positive work environment. Here are the HR solutions that can help. 

6. Thankbox

Thankbox is a fun, impactful way to show employees and peers that they're valued and appreciated.

Through personalised, digital cards, employees can show appreciation and recognition for their colleagues' hard work. This boosts morale and overall employee satisfaction in the workplace. It’s easy to create truly unique e-cards with sentimental messages, GIFs, photos, and videos.

Thankbox Thank You Card Sample

The best part is that creating a Thankbox is simple—you can create and send your e-card in minutes.

To make it extra special, we offer digital gift cards that you can add in. The process of gift collection is hassle-free and there are over 700 retailers for recipients to choose from, including Amazon, Airbnb UK, Uber Eats, and more.

Thankbox digital gift cards process

And if we don’t offer a direct connection to an online retailer of your choice, you can still add in a prepaid Visa gift card!

7. WorkTango

WorkTango is an adaptable employee recognition tool that encourages employees to recognize and reward each other. It allows you to build team culture across a globally distributed team, made simpler by its Slack integration for smooth communication.

 WorkTango

With Worktango, you can customise employee incentive programs and rewards. You’ll also have access to insights on how well your programs encourage employee engagement. 

8. Bonusly

Bonusly is a fun-to-use and easy-to-learn employee recognition platform that allows you to reward employees for their professional achievements. It uses a reward point system that employees can exchange for physical gifts, cash, or gift cards. 

Bonusly app

Leave management

Leave management tools make it super easy for you to keep track of clocked-in hours and staff time-off.

9. Calamari

Calamari is a well-known HR tool that’s designed to help you manage employee time clocks, attendance, and leave in over 100 countries. You can easily customise it to the country of your choice and apply different paid time off, holiday calendars, and leave policies that fit your employees. 

Calamari app

10. Vacation Tracker

Vacation Tracker takes a unique spin on leave management by allowing you to contribute to sustainability (much like Thankbox!). The platform plants one tree for completed actions like fulfilling 100 leave requests, answering a Vacation Tracker survey, and signing up for an annual subscription. 

Vacation Tracker app

Trust icon The HR tools you never knew you needed

Acknowledging employee achievements is an important facet of HR. Fortunately, it can be super simple with Thankbox. From sentimental e-cards to special gifts, we’ve got the perfect solution to help you show employee appreciation.

Wrapping up

As you can see, HR tools are quite diverse and allow you to streamline various aspects of people management. With the right help, you’ll be able to work more efficiently, boost productivity, and foster employee motivation and engagement. 

Let’s not forget that a valuable trait of people management is showing your employees that you care. Why not create a Thankbox today and pave the way for a happier workplace?


Images: Cover | Greenhouse | Teamtailor | Willo | BambooHR | Monday | WorkTango | Bonusly | Calamari | Vacation Tracker