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Customization is a crucial part of any good HR suite – if you can make your solution work for your business, everyone involved will find it easier and more effective to use. It’s no surprise, then, that the software teams at Cezanne have built an HR product that places customization at its core.

You can tailor this system to your workflows, automate key tasks, and simplify and improve efficiency across the entire employee lifecycle.

When it launched in 2013, Cezanne was the first fully cloud-native HR system designed for UK businesses, and now the organization serves companies around the world thanks to a renewed focus on global success and international collaboration.

If you’re an SMB or enterprise that needs to connect HR systems in multiple countries, then Cezanne could be the best HR software for the job, although the UK focus may put off some users.

Cezanne HR: Plans and pricing

As with many HR solutions, Cezanne doesn’t publish pricing details publicly. Instead, pricing is devised on a case-by-case basis. Companies pay for Cezanne on a monthly basis, with the fee adjusted based on the average number of employees in the business during the previous month.

Bespoke pricing means that Cezanne’s customers can choose the modules they need and scale the solution to fit their organization, although a lack of pricing information available publicly can make initial budgeting and research more difficult.

Happily, Cezanne doesn’t charge additional setup or support fees, unlike some other providers. Sadly, no free trial is available.

(Image credit: Future)Cezanne HR: Features

Cezanne’s Core HR functionality begins with an employee database that’s packed with every kind of information you’ll need about your staff – it’s a single source of truth that informs functionality across the rest of your modules.

By combining customizable workflows at every stage with a robust system of alerts and notifications, Cezanne enables HR teams to effectively manage large teams and create systems that work for their organizations.

Employee self-service enables staff to update their own details. Details can be updated in the Cezanne mobile app, too, and employees can submit PTO requests, complete HR forms, and access payslips. Managers can use the app to respond to all of those requests.

Cezanne supports electronic signatures and document-tracking, it offers an HR form builder with plenty of customization options, and integrated SMS messaging provides another avenue of communication.

The app automatically generates and distributes timesheets, and you can configure them with your own working patterns and methods – and employees can clock in and out using the Cezanne system, the mobile app, or tablets installed at your workplaces. Sadly, there’s no mention of the biometric systems you’ll find supported by other HR solutions.

Cezanne’s performance management module is built for continuous and periodic employee reviews, with features to quickly conduct and analyze 1-1 meetings. Managers can build their own goals for employees and those staff members can update progress and upload evidence, and you can use SMART objectives, rate competencies, and generate development recommendations. And for compensation reviews, Cezanne makes it easier with benchmarking, an integrated planning module, and automated notifications.

Cezanne supports 360-degree feedback, too, and includes employee recognition options like peer-to-peer systems, badges, and categories. This recognition can be seen on your company news feed, which mimics social media functionality by providing updates, images, videos, and more. You can also send pulse surveys to gauge your employees' mood.

When it comes to PTO and absence, Cezanne handles calculations once you’ve defined your organizational rules, and employees can book absence from within Microsoft Teams. There’s support for TOIL and Bradford Factor reporting, too.

Cezanne provides a content library to support employee learning and development. You can integrate your company’s custom training programs, and you can automate learning communications to save your HR team time.

When you’re ready to promote, interactive performance and employee potential charts help you identify candidates and plan succession, and you can evaluate employee readiness and key attributes alongside business needs.

Data visualization makes succession planning simpler, and that’s a theme within Cezanne – because every module includes dashboards and reporting options that present data in graphs and charts that are easier to understand. Reporting across the app is also bolstered by good exporting options, including Power BI support.

It’s a crucial tool for effective decision-making by HR teams, and the graphical dashboards offer complete customization, too, so your HR teams can choose which data is included, pick the best display methods, and generate reports and presentations that can help make a difference.

As with many HR solutions providers, Cezanne has recently begun integrating AI features into its software. Cezanne’s AI integrations can help you build documents and emails, refine your writing, and accelerate workflow creation. In the near future, Cezanne plans to add a knowledge search feature that will pull answers directly from your documents and policies.

Cezanne’s recruitment module, powered by Occupop, delivers end-to-end hiring functionality and can integrate with Cezanne’s HR system or function as a standalone product.

You can build a branded career site, publish vacancies on global job boards, and use a job requisition management system to keep control of your hiring. You can build a talent database, use employee referral incentives, and provide hiring managers with clear overviews of candidates so you can pick the best prospects.

Smart shortlisting tools, candidate evaluation metrics, and workflows keep the hiring process moving at pace, interview scheduling is straightforward, and interview scorecards help you consider candidates.

When you’re hired, you can built customized onboarding portals with embedded videos, data, and welcome messages, create task lists for new hires and managers, and personalize the entire experience for specific candidates and positions.

Cezanne offers two payroll options. If you want to handle it in-house, Cezanne’s system delivers configurable dashboards, payslip generation, deduction reviews, and fast payroll processing – alongside seamless, real-time data management, payment calculations, pension reports, and pension auto-enrollment assessment.

This system is fully compliant with UK regulations, including HMRC and GDPR, and the software is ISO 27001-compliant. It’s a great slate of features but, sadly, the downside is that Cezanne’s payroll module only functions in the UK, even though the company’s HR system functions globally.

If you’re an international business, then your payroll options are simple: use a third-party tool or use Cezanne’s managed payroll services, which come at an additional cost. Once you’ve signed up, just make sure the pay-related details in your system are correct, and Cezanne’s team will handle the rest.

Cezanne offers an open API, which makes it relatively easy for your tech teams to connect this tool with third-party systems, and the company also offers plenty of pre-built third-party integrations.

This HR solution integrates with the full suite of Google and Microsoft products, as well as tools from Greenhouse, Workable, and Slack. That’s helpful, but at the time of writing the Cezanne website only included a couple of dozen integrations – other HR solutions offer hundreds.

As with most HR suites, the features you get with Cezanne depend on which modules you buy – and, in turn, that can increase costs to your organization. Also bear in mind that native payroll is a UK-only offering, so international businesses will need to look elsewhere or pay more for Cezanne’s managed payroll services.

(Image credit: Future)Cezanne HR: Ease of use

Cezanne HR is an easy system to start using, with a gentle learning curve and loads of configuration – you can build the solution to work with your organization’s existing processes and tools, and it can be as complex or as straightforward as you like.

Navigation follows a conventional blueprint with modules opened from a menu on the left-hand side of the page and content displayed in the main window. It’s a modern, good-looking system that effectively balances complexity and usability.

Straightforward visuals and modern fonts make the system’s information easy to understand, color-coded calendars make planning and tracking simpler, and windows pop up with additional data in smart, helpful locations. You can drag-and-drop candidates based on visual data when recruiting, customize graphs in the insights module, and choose different permissions for various user groups throughout your business.

There’s plenty of customization available on Cezanne’s dashboard, too – it’s one of the most editable options we’ve seen anywhere. You can drag and drop widgets, adjust their size, alter colors and backgrounds, and build a home screen that works for you.

Indeed, customization is baked into Cezanne at every opportunity, which is great news for managers and administrators – and the reporting is versatile and robust, too, with plenty of chances to build outputs around your needs.

(Image credit: Future)Cezanne HR: Support

Cezanne’s customer support starts with a knowledge base that’s packed with guides, resources, news, and videos on using the product. There’s also an AI chatbot that can help answer common questions and triage customer issues.

If you do need to get in touch, Cezanne offers an online ticket-based support system and phone support, with lines open from 9am to 5.30pm UK time on weekdays. There are no higher tiers of support and no additional charges.

It’s a reasonable support offering, but the UK-based office hours put Cezanne slightly behind rivals.

(Image credit: Future)Cezanne HR: Competition

Cezanne’s customer support starts with a knowledge base that’s packed with guides, resources, news, and videos on using the product. There’s also an AI chatbot that can help answer common questions and triage customer issues.

If you do need to get in touch, Cezanne offers an online ticket-based support system and phone support, with lines open from 9am to 5.30pm UK time on weekdays. There are no higher tiers of support and no additional charges.

It’s a reasonable support offering, but the UK-based office hours put Cezanne slightly behind rivals.

Cezanne HR: Final verdict

Cezanne is a good option for any organization that needs flexibility throughout its HR processes – customization is a highlight throughout Cezanne’s various modules, the workflows are excellent, and the product offers a broad set of modules and features that cover the entire employee lifecycle.

Reporting is good, too, and Cezanne offers a reasonably accommodating learning curve, even for beginners.

Negatively, you can only use native payroll here if you’re based in the UK, and Cezanne’s library of integrations isn’t as deep as you’ll find elsewhere. Pricing transparency is lacking, and other products will have more accommodating support options – even if you have to pay for them.

Cezanne is an HR solution that you can build around a growing business, but we’d consider the payroll and integrations situations carefully before investing.

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The specialists behind Employment Hero founded the company after seeing poor HR processes at work – and now their platform promises to tackle every HR challenge while making employment easier, more effective, and more valuable for everyone involved.

The business has grown quickly since it was founded in 2014 – it’s reached unicorn status, with 300,000 businesses supported and over two million active users.

The company’s HR software is collected under a platform called EmploymentOS and aims to tackle hiring, payroll, management, learning, engagement, compliance, and more. It’s designed for SMBs facing a wall of employment complexity as they begin to grow, and there’s a strong emphasis within the business on adding AI functionality to enhance operations and improve efficiency for every customer.

The software was originally designed for Australian businesses. It now works globally, and the company especially focuses on Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, and Malaysia.

For more picks, see our guide to the best HR software

Employment Hero: Plans and pricing

Employment Hero is transparent about pricing - a refreshing attitude in a market where many companies won’t give you a price until you talk to sales. A free trial is also available, which is not the case with all HR solutions.

Employment Hero’s Standard package costs £4 (about $5.35) per employee per month and includes basic HR functionality like timesheets, employee record management, entry-level recruitment tools, and options to manage staff performance and leave. There’s also a basic, free payroll plan.

HR Premium costs £7 (about $9.37) and adds functionality including rostering and scheduling, budgeting, advanced recruitment tools, and performance reviews.

The HR Platinum product is only available directly from sales, although it will likely cost around £10 (about $13.38) per employee per month. At this tier, you get every feature from the previous two levels alongside learning and growth modules.

And if you want the maximum functionality from the solution, the Employment Unlimited tier unlocks additional learning tools, enhanced support, managed payroll, HR advisors, a recruitment agent, and a candidate-finding system called SmartMatch. This tier also adds Earned Wage Access and EAP Standard.

If you’d like more functionality and customization, all of those Employment Hero tiers are available with add-ons. Managed Payroll costs £12 ($16) per employee per month, and you can get HR and Employment Law Advisory for £6 ($8) monthly. A Learning Plus module provides development content to staff for £7 ($9.37) per employee per month.

Employment Hero’s full payroll functionality is sold as a separate product, too, that you can add to your HR package while you’re creating your overall solution.

(Image credit: Future)Employment Hero: Features

While functionality depends on the Employment Hero package you choose, the platform is packed with features and focused on providing end-to-end management for SMBs, along with a “single source of truth” for vital data.

You’ll also find a solid amount of customization in Employment Hero’s higher-tier products, including the ability to create your own workflows and automations - a key part of any HR solution, especially one that aims to make life easier and maintain data integrity.

A central employee database, bolstered by ISO 27001:2013 certification, ensures accessibility and security, and an employee management module handles compliance, reporting, and certification to avoid bottlenecks and delays.

The time and attendance module can use optional photo-capture and geolocation features to support attendance tracking. Managers can create and manage schedules, track headcount, and analyze costs. There’s also a full leave management section.

Employees can log their own hours using a dedicated app or use a PIN-protected on-site system, and you can even let employees claim open shifts and create your own approval flows to avoid staffing shortages. On top of this, you’ll find budgeting, compensation, extensive reporting, and real-time alerting to ensure your staffing and spend stay on track.

The learning management system serves up tailored development journeys, industry-specific bundles of learning content, and options for tracking progress and tackling employee 1:1 meetings and reviews. If you’re interested in recruiting, depending on the tier you buy, you’ll get job posting, candidate screening, talent pipelines, recruitment analytics, and DEI tools. Employment Hero also functions as an Employer of Record in over 180 countries.

Sitting above this functionality is AI Hero - the software’s new artificial assistant. It’s designed to answer repetitive employee questions and save HR teams time by writing messages, job descriptions, and more. It can help personalize 1:1 meetings and summarize interviews, too.

Elsewhere, Employment Hero provides an employee management app for Android and iOS to simplify administration. There’s an API for easier integration with other systems, and Employment Hero integrates with third-party payroll tools like Xero and MYOB.

Employment Hero’s feature set is impressively broad, positioning the tool as an SMB-focused all-rounder. This solution combines core HR functionality with time and attendance tracking, recruitment, learning, automation, and now AI assistance – and it’s even better when you consider the features that are included once you go up the pricing tiers.

That said, be careful when checking which features you’ll actually get if you decide to invest in one of the more affordable tiers, because key features like workflows, learning tools, and additional HR and payroll support may not be included. This pricing structure is not unique to Employment Hero, but it’s worth remembering.

(Image credit: Future)Employment Hero: Ease of use

Employment Hero’s developers concentrate on streamlined processes, modern interfaces, and user-friendly design, so it’s no wonder that this is one of the better-looking and more straightforward user interfaces on the market.

It’s an attractive system with clean typography and purple highlights. The dashboard includes a company feed, to-do list, key metrics, and a “launchpad” with quick links to common functions. You can add and remove widgets from the home page, create your own quick links, and click a button along the top of the app to launch Hero AI and see your notifications.

This tool makes a strong first impression, and the design is consistently impressive in other modules.

The People section makes it easy to access your employee database, files, vacancies, and offers, and you can also easily see vacancies, contractors, and an organization chart. Head into your employee database and you’ll find straightforward, sensible filtering options.

Other sections of the app are organized just as well. The design is consistent, which makes it easier for your HR teams to use the tool effectively, even if they’re not very experienced with HR software.

Reports are smart, attractive, and easy to parse, too – a common theme among any graphical elements in the Employment Hero interface.

(Image credit: Future)Employment Hero: Support

The Employment Hero Service Center includes easy access to a knowledge base full of articles, an in-depth FAQ section and a system status page alongside a helpful community forum where you can discuss the software with other Employment Hero users.

If you need to contact support, the Hero AI bot is used as a triage step. If that mechanism hasn’t directed you to an answer, you can file a ticket and talk to a support agent using the chat system, and Unlimited customers get the option of phone support, too.

The primary support team is based in the UK and operates from Monday to Friday in UK business hours, which traditionally means from 9am until 5pm. Additional support teams are on hand to pick up tickets around the world if you file a support query outside of those UK hours.

(Image credit: Future)Employment Hero: Competition

Anyone looking for an SMB-focused HR solution has plenty of options to choose from, even if you’re considering UK-based products.

Sage HR is another frontrunner if you need an all-in-one HR solution designed for SMBs, and IRIS is another comprehensive tool.

If you’d like to evaluate options that excel in specific areas, then you’ve got no shortage of choice, either. BambooHR and HiBob are superb when it comes to employee experience and engagement, and both have more engaging user interfaces than Cintra – although they’re a little weaker when it comes to payroll.

For a product that’s stronger with the financials, RUN Powered by ADP is an SMB-specific alternative, and Workable is excellent for recruitment.

Employment Hero: Final verdict

Employment Hero is a strong choice for SMBs that want a broad, well-balanced HR system that ticks most of the major functionality boxes, especially if you’ve got the budget to invest in one of the higher tiers and pack the product with add-ons.

The clean UI and automation tools make the system easier to use than many other options, and Employment Hero’s pricing transparency is refreshingly welcome in a marketplace that wants to drive potential buyers into conversations with sales teams.

There are drawbacks, though. The entry-level product misses out on expenses functionality, performance reviews, allowances and more features, while even in the HR Premium solution you don’t get workflows, learning tools, and some extra support – they’re only available at Platinum.

If you want to save money while getting some of those features, it pays to shop around – and, similarly, if you need enterprise-level complexity and functionality, you’ll want to look elsewhere too. Overall, Employment Hero is polished, easy to use, and a good all-rounder, but make sure you definitely get the features you need.

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