What is HRIS?

A human resources information system (HRIS) is software that centralises and automates everyday HR tasks, from daily processes, large-scale activities, to general workforce management.

Key benefits of HRIS software include time savings, secure data storage, automated workflows, and improved employee and candidate experiences.

The right HRIS software should offer a user-friendly interface, a wide range of features and a dedicated customer support and implementation team at the ready.

Most top-rated HRIS systems offer core functionality to manage HR processes at scale. Here are the key features and benefits:

Every business has unique HR challenges, but most can benefit from implementing a modern HRIS system Here are the top advantages of Personio’s HRIS:

Personio can save HR teams up to 60 hours per month by automating data entry, reporting and signature collection, meaning more time focused on strategic work.

An HRIS can help keep teams organised by providing a single source of truth for employee data. This improves transparency, reduces errors, and ensures teams have access to consistent, up-to-date information.

A 100% compliant HRIS aligns with European data standards (GDPR) and other data standards, ensuring employee information is stored diligently and processed securely. After all, people in your organisation need to trust that their data is in safe hands.

A strong HRIS supports recruitment workflows, helping to deliver a seamless and professional experience for candidates and new hires alike. Your processes, productivity and culture all benefit, which is reason enough to implement an HRIS.

Built-in HR analytics allow you to generate reports instantly, giving your team insights to support workforce planning and strategy.

Trust Personio's all-in-one HRIS to help take your work to the next level. From one place, you can recruit, onboard, manage, develop and pay all your employees. Find out why 14,000+ companies trust Personio with their people work.

Here's how we help

Choosing the right HRIS software involves assessing your team’s size, goals, and growth plans. Consider these key factors:

All these considerations only make it more important that your team invests in the right solution. Below, we've provided five of the top questions you should ask when it comes to choosing and implementing the best HRIS for your organisation:

Your HRIS should support your current workforce and scale as your team grows. Look for a solution that evolves with your business needs.

A small HR team needs efficiency now, but also flexibility for the future. Having time to focus on topics like salary benchmarking, diversity and inclusion, or core processes like onboarding or performance, requires a solution that doesn’t need babysitting every time you add new employees.

So, how big is your team? At Personio, we focus on the needs of European companies with 10 to 2,000 employees are trying to streamline and standardise their HR processes for peak performance. Our customisable solution is designed to meet the needs of growing teams and help them scale efficiently. 

Whether large or small, every organisation needs top talent. Therefore, your HRIS must streamline the entire hiring process, from sourcing great talent to ensuring a top candidate experience and recruiting journey.

If you are trying to grow your team or meet your lofty hiring goals (whether quantitatively or qualitatively), you need an HRIS that can manage candidates, automate your responses (like confirmation emails for resumes) and store feedback from interview rounds and potential supervisors.

The greatest competitive advantage: Top HRIS systems can turn a candidate into an employee with one click. Within Personio, we try to make it easy by automating hiring, electronic contract signing, and candidate communication.

What kind of weight does your organisation put on performance and development? A great HRIS not only focuses on storing data but on taking things to the next level when it comes to getting the absolute most out of your top talent.

In addition, it means your organisation doesn’t have to worry about purchasing, implementing and managing a solution for data and a solution for performance. Instead, you can have everything at once.

Performance software looks like this: Automating your performance cycles, automatically reminding managers about performance talks and keeping feedback and goals in one place.

As an HR function, there’s likely a whole host of processes that you want to focus on. So, you need a solution that can help you get started, optimise and master whatever you want to accomplish for your people.

That could be recruiting, onboarding, performance, payroll or anything in between. An all-in-one solution can ensure that you are able to tackle everything that you want, while giving you the time back to approach each of these issues strategically.

How much does it cost to invest in an HRIS? Speaking from our own experience at Personio, our HRIS is positioned around twotypes of plans: Core and Core Pro. The idea is to provide something that works for just about any organisation and is billed on the number of employees that need to be managed, per month.

But, to answer this question, we’d suggest visiting our guide to HR software pricing to learn a bit more about the investment and your return on using Personio.

A great HRIS is not only built for your team today. It's built to help tackle your unique challenges now and into the future.

Personio is an HR software that serves each stage of the employee lifecycle. That means helping recruit, manage and develop your employees. And everything in between!

Speak to one of our product experts about our HRIS solution and implementing Personio in your organisation — for the benefit of your HR team — today.

A robust HRIS system should include essential features such as employee database management for centralised record-keeping, recruitment and onboarding tools to streamline hiring processes, and automated payroll management to ensure accuracy and compliance.

Additionally, performance management features for conducting reviews and setting goals, time and attendance tracking, compliance reporting to meet legal requirements, employee self-service portals for personal information updates, and analytics and reporting tools for data-driven decision-making are crucial.

The right time to invest in an HRIS is when your organisation experiences growth that makes manual HR processes inefficient and error prone.

Indicators include increased employee headcount, the need for more streamlined recruitment and onboarding processes, challenges in managing payroll and benefits accurately and the necessity for compliance with complex labour laws.

If your HR team is spending too much time on administrative tasks rather than strategic initiatives, it’s a clear sign that an HRIS could add significant value.

Yes, there are different types of HRIS systems tailored to specific organisational needs.

These include:

• Basic HRIS for small businesses focusing on core HR functions. 

• Comprehensive HRMS (Human Resource Management Systems) that integrates payroll, benefits, and performance management.

• Strategic HRIS, which includes advanced analytics and workforce planning tools.

Additionally, specialised HRIS platforms may focus on specific aspects such as talent management or learning and development. The choice of system depends on the size, complexity, and specific HR goals of the organisation.