Best Global HRIS Systems for 2023

Discover the top-rated Global HRIS Systems to streamline your human resources management. Explore innovative solutions, cutting-edge features, and user-friendly platforms that empower organizations to optimize workforce efficiency and enhance HR operations on a global scale

Brett Ungashick
OutSail HRIS Advisor
July 4, 2023
user comparing HRIS systems

As more and more companies hire outside of the United States, they need to identify a single source of truth for their global workforce. Here are the leading Global Human Resources Information System (HRIS) systems:

Due to the pandemic and our mass adoption of Zoom-like technologies, many companies have started to view geography differently. Companies are increasingly hiring contractors and employees overseas.

As workforces become more globalized, companies need global HRIS systems that can serve as a single source of truth for all employees.

While many companies can claim to support a global workforce, some nuance is required. Companies should know if global employees get access to the entire system or just limited parts of it. They should know if the company can provide language localization, in-country compliance advice, or has non-US support centers. They should know if the company can provide global payroll, contractor management, and global PEO services.

If you need further help sorting through the market, OutSail's free services can provide you with research and expertise to simplify the process.

Below is an overview of the best global HRIS systems and what sub-categories they fall into:

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Global Enterprise Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

This group of solutions is purpose-built to serve as global HRIS systems with full functionality available to employees all across the globe. These systems offer language localization and global support offices. These systems do not process global payroll aside from in 2-3 countries. However, they partner with several global payroll partners to provide that service.

Workday

Overview: Workday is a leader in the HRIS space for a reason. They create a robust platform to make power users feel confident, informed, and highly catered to. But Workday is also light enough that any frontline employee can easily navigate it. Workday's weakest features are its ATS and recruiting module. Still, the real drawback is simply the price, which includes not just software fees, but also a lot of ongoing consulting/headcount costs to maintain such a robust system.

Average Customer Size: 1,500+ employees

Typical Price Point: $50-90 PEPM

SAP SuccessFactors

Overview: SAP SuccessFactors is a full suite HRIS system that focuses heavily on Talent Management and Employee Experience. SuccessFactors is primarily an enterprise solution and works best for companies with large, complex, global workforces. They provide unique strengths around recruiting, performance, succession planning and employee data engagement. Their Core HR (payroll, time, benefits) tools are not their strongest area and are often replaced by 3rd parties.

Average Customer Size: 1,000+ employees

Typical Price Point: $30-40 PEPM

human capital management, compensation management, applicant tracking system,

Oracle HCM Cloud

Overview: Oracle's HCM Cloud is a rising leader in the enterprise space. Oracle has put numerous development resources behind building an all-in-one HCM offering that can configure to any organization's complexity. Oracle's HCM Cloud gets solid reviews for the recruiting functionality and the employee experience, which can be strong on mobile and has some AI capabilities to simplify workflows.

Average Customer Size: 3,000+ employees

Typical Price Point: $24-34 PEPM

Global HRIS + Global Payroll Systems

Only a few companies can offer the full suite of global HRIS tools and a fully-owned global payroll network. The advantages of these companies are that they can truly serve as a one-stop-shop for all of your team's global needs, including a global system of record, global payroll, and global support. They can be a bit limited when it comes to global compliance, global PEO, and contractor management, however.

human resource information system, employee data management, hr software solution, hr managers

Ceridian

Overview: Ceridian Dayforce is a full-suite HRIS system that can be a one-stop-shop for companies, covering everything from payroll, benefits, and HR to recruiting, onboarding, performance, and learning. Ceridian Dayforce is utilized by companies as small as 100 employees and as hefty as 100,000 but has developed a strong presence in the Mid-Enterprise. Ceridian is known for its strengths in Payroll and Workforce Management. Ceridian has long been a top competitor to ADP in the payroll space, and in 2012, they acquired Dayforce, a leading Workforce Management platform. Since then, Dayforce has become their flagship offering and is an excellent solution for companies with complex payroll, time & attendance, scheduling, and tax needs.

Average Customer Size: 400-5,000 employees

Typical Price Point: $20-29 PEPM

ADP 

Overview: ADP Workforce Now is a full-suite HRIS system that can be a one-stop-shop for companies, covering everything from payroll, benefits, and HR to recruiting, onboarding, performance, and learning. Workforce Now is utilized by companies of all shapes and sizes, but their most vital audience is in the Mid-Market. ADP is known for its strengths around payroll and tax filing and also provides expertise to support virtually any business scenario. ADP also has a unique outsourced service, Comp Services, allowing companies to put their payroll processing and benefits management on auto-pilot.

Average Customer Size: 75-1,000 employees

Typical Price Point: $19-27 PEPM

Mid-Market Global HRIS Systems

These solutions are not as expensive and intensive to implement as the first group (Oracle, Workday, and SAP). However, these systems can still offer a robust global HRIS platform that gives employees outside of the US full access. Each of these companies serves numerous global companies and has global payroll partners. They are, however, limited in their ability to support global PEO, global compliance, and contractor management. Some of these companies have global offices, but some do not.

UKG Pro

Overview: UKG Pro is a full-suite HRIS system that can be a one-stop-shop for companies, covering everything from payroll, benefits, and HR to recruiting, onboarding, performance, and learning. UKG Pro is utilized by companies as small as 100 employees and as large as 100,000 but has developed a strong presence in the Mid-Enterprise. UKG Pro is known for it's strengths in HR and Talent Management. While many of their peers developed payroll first and HR after, UKG has made HR their core competency from the get go, providing strengths around recruiting, engagement and employee development. UKG also has a loyal following from many of their customers due to their 'partners for life' philosophy.

Average Customer Size: 350-5,000 employees

Typical Price Point: $24-36 PEPM

SagePeople

Overview: SagePeople is a scalable HRIS solution designed to be payroll-agnostic and best suited for global organizations. SagePeople is built on the Salesforce platform which makes it a very scalable, secure platform with high quality reporting. They do not offer a payroll module, but are experienced at integrating with a variety of leading payroll providers in the US and abroad. SagePeople can be a great fit for companies that need a single source of truth for a complex global workforce

Average Customer Size: 150-2,500 employees

Typical Price Point: $14-20 PEPM

Paylocity

Overview: Paylocity is a full suite HRIS system that can serve as a one-stop-shop for companies, covering everything from payroll, benefits and HR to recruiting, onboarding, performance management and learning. The system is designed for mid-market companies and gets above average reviews for ease of use. Paylocity is strong in integrations and can support companies with global workforces too.

Average Customer Size: 50-500 employees

Typical Price Point: $15-23 PEPM

Namely

Overview: Namely was built with the employee experience in mind and designed their HRIS from the ground up to be mobile-first, employee-centric and on-par with other consumer apps that younger workforces use outside of work. Their solution covers a large portion of Core HR functionality and, where they can't offer certain functionality, they have integrations with leading 3rd parties.

Average Customer Size: 50-300 employees

Typical Price Point: $16-23 PEPM

BambooHR

Overview: Over the last decade, BambooHR has steadily grown into a market leader in the SMB and Mid-Market. They provide a modern HRIS solution that covers a wide spectrum of functionality - performance, recruiting, onboarding - at a competitive price point. While Bamboo owns a payroll company, called Trax, many customers will use their own payroll / ben admin tools and use Bamboo for more employee-facing activities. Bamboo is also open to integrating with a variety of 3rd party HR tools

Average Customer Size: 20-300 employees

Typical Price Point: $6-10 PEPM

Hibob

Overview: Bob is a great solution for companies that want performance, engagement, compensation and culture to be at the center of their organization. While many vendors add those tools later in their lifecycle, those features were foundational to Bob from the get-go. The emphasis on employee engagement leads to high usage from employees and better reporting for companies. Additionally, Bob is a global company and their solution is a strong fit for multi-national companies.

Average Customer Size: 50-500 employees

Typical Price Point: $7-13 PEPM

GoCo

Overview: GoCo provides sleek, easy-to-use HR tools with some surprisingly robust capabilities under-the-hood. GoCo's strengths are around onboarding, benefits admin and leave management, but they have also developed unique expertise to facilitate payroll integrations and have rolled out a workflow builder tool that allows HR teams to build automated processes from scratch.

Average Customer Size: 5-250 employees

Typical Price Point: $5-10 PEPM

Rippling

Overview: Rippling is the most recent company to join the global HRIS marketplace. Rippling announced a full suite of global employee management tools in October of 2022. These tools include the ability to process payroll globally, pay contractors around the world and the ability to serve as an employer of record. Rippling's global HR also takes place in the exact same platform as their US-HRIS platform, so users have one system for all of their needs. Rippling offers a best-in-class employee onboarding process that checks the box for not just HR processes and employee self-service but also for IT and finance. However, Rippling has more limitations around Workforce Management than many of their peers.

Average Customer Size: 20-250 employees

Typical Price Point: $23-33 PEPM

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Meet the Author

Brett Ungashick
OutSail HRIS Advisor
Brett Ungashick, the friendly face behind OutSail, started his career at LinkedIn, selling HR software. This experience sparked an idea, leading him to create OutSail in 2018. Based in Denver, OutSail simplifies the HR software selection process, and Brett's hands-on approach has already helped over 1,000 companies, including SalesLoft, Hudl and DoorDash. He's a go-to guy for all things HR Tech, supporting companies in every industry and across 20+ countries. When he's not demystifying HR tech, you'll find Brett enjoying a round of golf or skiing down Colorado's slopes, always happy to chat about work or play.

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