An estimated 3.2 million small businesses use HR software to manage their internal HR functions. Trying to do it alone with a software programand a dream can be tempting, but is that solution sustainable as your business grows?
Consider Janet. Janet runs a busy twelve-person consulting firm and also runs her internal HR processes. She wants to keep operations in-house to save some money. Yet, month after month, she finds herself overwhelmed by handling payroll, HR, and constantly changing compliance rules on her own. After months of frustration, she decides to partner with an HR service.
Suddenly, Janet can focus on business growth now that she’s outsourcing crucial HR services. With an HR partner, Janet doesn’t have to sift through dozens of questions from her employees or spend time writing job descriptions.
As a small business owner, your time and attention are valuable. We hope you’ll use this article to compare the four best HR services for small businesses to help you find the right fit for your needs. Whether you're looking to outsource payroll, streamline benefits management, or outsource HR needs without making a new hire, we've got you covered.
Read on to see our top picks.
Best HR Services for Small Businesses: Things to Consider
HR helps you handle hiring tasks important to finding top talent, like writing accurate job descriptions, managing posting openings, vetting applicants, and onboarding new hires. HR experts also update company handbooks and policies, conduct audits, and file necessary reports to help keep you out of court. Beyond the legal stuff, HR providers can coordinate with your team to structure processes like payroll, performance reviews, and even staff exit procedures.
On the other hand, being spread thin without enough HR support can create new challenges for your business. The last thing you want as a small business owner is warnings and legal penalties for accidentally violating wage rules; not meeting safety guidelines; or filing deadlines.
Your leadership team can’t focus on growth or strategy if they constantly put our HR fires like team disagreements or handbook questions. That’s why you should consider partnering with an HR provider to get turnkey expertise without the internal price tag.
At ConnectPay, our affordable HR Resource Center is home to dozens of employee training modules, compliance resources, and tools for recruiting top talent. The HRRC also has a hotline connecting you to live HR professionals ready to answer your critical questions.
Explore our HRRC
4 Best HR Services for Small Businesses
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BambooHR
BambooHR is a cloud-based HR software designed specifically for small and medium businesses. It consolidates key HR data into one platform and includes features like applicant tracking, new hire onboarding, payroll, and time-off management.
BambooHR’s simple dashboards, reports, and analytics give you visibility into people's operations data without relying on spreadsheets that need constant updates to stay current. Other key features that make this software great for small businesses include applicant tracking workflows, automated review triggers to standardize recruiting, and streamlined hiring tools to speed up your process.
By centralizing information and paperwork in an easily accessible cloud, BambooHR helps you optimize your HR functions without dedicated administrative staff. One user shares,
“HR responsibilities can become a huge distraction to the work I actually need to get done. Bamboo HR has made it so much easier. Their platform is great and easy to work with. The automation of certain HR responsibilities makes my life much easier.” –BambooHR Customer
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Zenefits
Zenefits also offers full-service HR support designed for small to mid-sized companies with up to five thousand employees. It provides customized package options for specific payroll, compliance, and benefits needs. One of Zenefit’s most popular features is that each business user gets a dedicated HR representative to provide personalized support for their account. Other features include PTO request management, streamlined new hire onboarding, and the ability to make organizational and personal charts.
Startups can also scale faster with software like Zenefits. You can upgrade your service level to support increasing HR infrastructure and closely track workforce changes without making any internal changes or taking on new HR-related risks of a bigger team. One user shares,
“We used to use an accounting firm for our payroll, and the experience has been so much easier once we moved it in-house to using Zenefits. We have fewer payroll errors and spend so much less time dealing with documents, email attachments, etc. for new staff onboarding.” –Zenefits Customer
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Partner With an Independent HR Consult
If you want to be completely hands-off but don’t want to outsource to a big-box HR service, consider partnering with a specialized local consultant instead. These HR professionals often hold prior leadership roles across multiple industries and can offer one-on-one expertise without the red tape big companies often have.
Independent consultants can also act as an extension of your internal team without needing to hire them. They can conduct operational audits benchmarked to top performers, help solve workplace issues, and even guide your team on sensitive matters like restructuring or managerial changes.
How do you find a qualified consultant? Ask other small business owners (who have already established trusted relationships after vetting options firsthand) who they work with, and have a vetting process you run every possible partner through. The ideal consultant should genuinely commit to understanding your team and its core priorities before offering hands-on HR support.
Our Connected Payroll model empowers small business owners with the knowledge, tools, and network they need to succeed. We provide our clients with local recommendations for trusted experts in Bookkeeping, Workers’ Compensation, HR Consulting, Employee Benefits, and Retirement Savings–when and if our clients need them. We’re not in the business of upsells–we just make the introductions.
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Break the Mold With ConnectPay’s HR Resource Center
Want the best of both automated HR software and a dedicated professional with personalized service? We offer full-service payroll built for small businesses with an affordable HR Resource Center (HRRC) program to put you back in control of your core HR processes.
The HRRC provides customizable tools and guidance, including an HR hotline staffed by industry professionals to advise on pressing issues, job description and employee handbook builders, a compliance library centralizing fluid regulation material and deadlines, and demo videos spotlighting practical applications of key offerings.
You (or your dedicated internal HR person) can use this expertise and content to build your own structures for recruiting, onboarding, performance management, offboarding, and company policies. Our platform also lets you consolidate multi-faceted HR responsibilities into a single, user-friendly platform supported by our Client Success team of real people ready to answer your questions or concerns.
Best HR Services for Small Businesses: Next Steps
Outsourcing various HR responsibilities lets your growing small businesses manage essential functions like payroll, compliance, and benefits administration without constantly diverting your attention. What’s even better? Finding a partner to take multiple functions at once and provide peace of mind that your support tasks are running smoothly.
Our Connected Payroll model empowers small business owners with the knowledge, tools, and network they need to succeed. We provide our clients with local recommendations for trusted experts in Bookkeeping, Workers’ Compensation, HR Consulting, Employee Benefits, and Retirement Savings–when and if our clients need them. We’re not in the business of upsells–we just make the introductions.
Curious about what we can do for your business? Watch our demo of the HRCC today! If you’re interested in getting started with the HRRC, get in touch with us or contact your Payroll Specialist if you are already on our service.
