Breathehr Brighthr Charliehr or other HR software?

[Gareth83]

Small business of 10 staff involved in construction, which would you go with and why?

Ideally an all in system that also does timesheets and planning unless we look to use a standalone for that

What do you recommend and why?

 

[Jonesy85]

Ive herd these guys are good.

intellihr

 

[Gareth83]

Anybody else have any thoughts or experiences?

 

[Newchodge]

Apart from 'doing timesheets and planning' what do you want a system to do? Payroll? holiday calculations? what do you mean by 'doing timesheets'?

 

[Gareth83]

We currently use Clearbooks which calculates holiday and also does our payroll.

Just looking for something the staff can log in, see any updates, company documents etc.

Currently use google drive to store things but thinking of something 'all in'

 

[Newchodge]

We currently use Clearbooks which calculates holiday and also does our payroll.

Just looking for something the staff can log in, see any updates, company documents etc.

Currently use google drive to store things but thinking of something 'all in'

I think you need to define what you need a little better.

 

[Gareth83]

We currently pay for Peninsula but have never really utilised the Bright HR elements or Brightsafe. It comes to an end in December and we will be doing away with them and need to ensure we stay compliant for H&S

So I'm alos looking at software that can be used to store handbooks, guides, send out bulletins, staff can see their holidays at a glance, book holidays etc.

BreatheHR looks like it does all this. we could then store any H&S documents within the portal (which we will look elsehwere to get as they don't do H&S)

 

[IanSuth]

1 of the 2 companies i do work for is about to launch a system that not only pushes out H&S info to staff (inc things like audits of homeworkers environments) but has proactive steps to ensure compliance is signed off by a manager (and if not flagged to HR) but I think it would be a bit of a sledgehammer to crack your nut.

I would PM @Newchodge exactly what you want/do and I bet she can give you a better answer than most on here as to your options and pros and cons of each

 

[Newchodge]

1 of the 2 companies i do work for is about to launch a system that not only pushes out H&S info to staff (inc things like audits of homeworkers environments) but has proactive steps to ensure compliance is signed off by a manager (and if not flagged to HR) but I think it would be a bit of a sledgehammer to crack your nut.

I would PM @Newchodge exactly what you want/do and I bet she can give you a better answer than most on here as to your options and pros and cons of each

I haven't used any of the software that is out there, so I am really not the best person to ask.

 

[IanSuth]

I haven't used any of the software that is out there, so I am really not the best person to ask.

Ok I take it back - you do however know what they need to ensure is covered so they don't think they have set up a foolproof bottom covering system only to find they have created a possible future disaster instead

 

[Newchodge]

Ok I take it back - you do however know what they need to ensure is covered so they don't think they have set up a foolproof bottom covering system only to find they have created a possible future disaster instead

There is that, yes.

 

[Gareth83]

@Newchodge how do most of your clients store documents etc?

A portal like breathehr sounds like it would be a good method of making everything really accessible to staff.

 

[Newchodge]

@Newchodge how do most of your clients store documents etc?

A portal like breathehr sounds like it would be a good method of making everything really accessible to staff.

How long is a piece of string? What documents do you want your employees to have access to? How often are they amended? How many employees do you have? Are they office-based or mobile? Do they all have access, via work, to the internet?

 

[Gareth83]

We have 4 in the office, 4 soon to be 5 out on the field

Might be worth you having a look at the portal. It's a free trial. For my business £11 a month for everyone to have access and keep track of contractors safety documents etc without using a spreadsheet etc and keeping everything centralised has sold it to me

We're in week 1 of the trial and I think it's good for what we need. Certainly breasts saving things on Google drive etc

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Peninsular rings the alarm bells loud and clear

MAKE SURE YOU READ THE CONTRACT ABOUT CLOSING THE ACCOUNT as they have a resoling contract and if your a day out giving them notice in their time frame your likely to not be able to cancel

 

[fisicx]

There used to be a number of threads here about Peninsular and their business practices. They have all been removed for legal reasons. Escaping their clutches isn’t easy.

 

[Gareth83]

Already sorted the cancellation process back in June ready for January....

So looking to get something in place over the next 6 weeks to roll out in the new year essentially

 

[Employment Law Clinic]

There used to be a number of threads here about Peninsular and their business practices. They have all been removed for legal reasons. Escaping their clutches isn’t easy.

That is so sad, pathetic. I'm sure someone from Peninsula made threats on here once to sue me, as I commented on their previous work on a case. Still waiting to hear from them.



Karl Limpert

 

[Employment Law Clinic]

We currently pay for Peninsula but have never really utilised the Bright HR elements or Brightsafe. It comes to an end in December and we will be doing away with them and need to ensure we stay compliant for H&S


So I'm alos looking at software that can be used to store handbooks, guides, send out bulletins, staff can see their holidays at a glance, book holidays etc.


BreatheHR looks like it does all this. we could then store any H&S documents within the portal (which we will look elsehwere to get as they don't do H&S)

I've used lots of these things, and they all feel excessive for what is a very occasional thing for the staff.


(They can be useful from a HR point-of-view, where I can get an oversight of an employee over any period of time, see what issues or other matters have arisen with them, and if I’m really lucky a manager will have included some documents on the portal (more often, they haven’t, and I would still have to go back to asking for these) but particularly for small employers, I simply don’t see the attraction with any of them – a small, but unnecessary expense.)

So I'm alos looking at software that can be used to store handbooks, guides, send out bulletins

If you’re currently using Google Drive for these details, why bother changing it?

staff can see their holidays at a glance, book holidays etc.

This looks like the only beneficial change you expect to make, but given

have never really utilised the Bright HR elements or Brightsafe

why would you expect to utilise this new service when you haven't bothered up to now?



Karl Limpert

 

[Gareth83]

Because the company has grown from just myself utilising subcontractors to a team of 10 staff. I want to be more professional and make use. Breathehr would be one way to keep everything HR related in one place without setting everyone up on Drive when they don't need to be etc.

And the time saved in admin would make up for the nominal fees associated and would be useful for keeping next of kin details, medical history, etc etc

 

[Employment Law Clinic]

On that basis, in my experience they all offer pretty-much the same practical benefits, so most important if you actually intend to use them regularly is which one you find easier to navigate - you should be able to get a 7 or 30-day trial of them all (just be sure to cancel in good time), get a feel for the interfaces, what they offer, etc.


Personally I've never been a big fan of them, but the workers being able to know at a glance/click what their remaining leave is alone is a great benefit - relieves you as an employer of having that info to hand.


One you didn't mention, but I was using recently - no better or worse than the others - is https://getsling.com/



Karl Limpert

 

[PaulaS]

We've used BreatheHR for a while it suits our purposes reasonably well and has largely replaced our paper-based personnel files.

It's not perfect though it can be difficult to arrange the organisation chart so that the right people have the right access and permissions.

 

[Employment Law Clinic]

... has largely replaced our paper-based personnel files.

If it does this, I'm sure Breathe (or any of them) can work well, but I never found clients would actually upload personnel files - they'd all keep them in their own folders, share them with a few colleagues, but if I (working externally, only requiring some documents) wanted to see anything (particularly important when it comes to disclosure for an employment tribunal to make sure we released everything), I would still have to chase everything up.

The most important thing is to get everyone to work on the new system, not the files/folders/storage they're used to, and that's not easy. Achieve that, actually get all documents in one place, and the value of any of these is well worth it.


Karl Limpert

 

[Rob@E8]

Because the company has grown from just myself utilising subcontractors to a team of 10 staff. I want to be more professional and make use. Breathehr would be one way to keep everything HR related in one place without setting everyone up on Drive when they don't need to be etc.

And the time saved in admin would make up for the nominal fees associated and would be useful for keeping next of kin details, medical history, etc etc

Gareth, check out evalu-8.com

 

[Amelia.H]

Hi Gareth, We use Breathe for all our staff info in our small business, just read this and wanted to say you can do timesheets in there and see hours worked by location or employee. Your team can book their holiday in Breathe and you can approve it. I highly recommend it, it’s very user-friendly.

 

[Gareth83]

good t

Hi Gareth, We use Breathe for all our staff info in our small business, just read this and wanted to say you can do timesheets in there and see hours worked by location or employee. Your team can book their holiday in Breathe and you can approve it. I highly recommend it, it’s very user-friendly.

Good to here. Where do you get your HR documents from yourself?

 

[Amelia.H]

We're an HR Consultancy! So we produce those ourselves, and for clients. We do an HR documentation package that covers everything you'd typically need, including a H&S policy.

 

[Gareth83]

We're an HR Consultancy! So we produce those ourselves, and for clients. We do an HR documentation package that covers everything you'd typically need, including a H&S policy.

Can you send me a quote for the services?

Thanks

 

[Amelia.H]

Can you send me a quote for the services?

Thanks

Hi Gareth, Of course, could you email what you're looking for to [email protected] and we'll get back to you that way. Thanks