10 Top Performance Management Software Programs

Conventional appraisal methods offer infrequent performance reviews. However, according to research conducted by OfficeVibe, about 83% of employees appreciate regular feedback, and 62% wish they got more feedback from their peers.

Based on Gallup’s findings, regular feedback can produce up to three times better employee engagement than annual reviews, which correlates strongly with improved productivity. While it may seem challenging to schedule all of these one-on-one reviews, performance management software solutions can help managers improve engagement and build a unique feedback culture.

Performance management software solutions help businesses monitor, evaluate, and improve the performance of their employees. These tools provide a structured approach to managing employee performance through goal setting, tracking progress, providing feedback opportunities, and furthering employee development plans.

If you’re looking for the right performance and goal management solution, consider our list of top 10 software.

BambooHR

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BambooHR is a cloud-based Human Resources Information System (HRIS) that provides a comprehensive set of tools to manage employee data, streamline HR workflows, and optimize workforce management. The platform allows managers to create custom performance review templates and schedule performance appraisals for their team members.

BambooHR allows managers and talent to set goals for their team members and track their progress toward achieving them. The analytics feature also gives users real-time analytics and reporting on performance metrics, such as employee engagement, turnover, and performance ratings.

HR teams can identify trends, spot potential issues, and make data-driven decisions.

Pros

• Efficient hiring and onboarding strategy
• Time and performance tracking
• Easy and convenient to use

Con

• Limited customization features

Lattice

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Operating with a mission to make work meaningful, Lattice helps managers build and improve work culture for better productivity. The platform allows managers to set clear goals and objectives for projects and people, and enables  360-degree feedback.

The platform provides each employee’s net performance score and helps identify high-performing workers. In addition, it allows you to automate and review your compensation strategy from one place. The platform is trusted by over 5,000 organizations globally.

Pros

• Offers a live demo and Q&A session with experts
• Supports integration with other HRIS
• Quarterly performance review and goals tracking

Con

• Can be difficult to navigate and review goals

Workday HCM

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Workday HCM is HR software that helps companies boost employee experience and track productivity. Besides assisting managers in setting employee goals and managing feedback, the platform provides an optimized user experience across various devices and collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Being an open-source platform, Workday HCM typically gets frequent updates with new tools providing more extensible solutions. Relying on AI, the platform helps managers identify the workforce’s key competencies and suggests areas that need upskilling.

The succession planning feature also enables organizations to identify and develop employees with solid leadership characteristics, ensuring a smooth transition of leadership and building a pipeline of talent for the future.

Pros

• Simple user interface
• Easy to customize and integrate with other business tools
• Organized database management and presentation

Con

• Expensive compared to similar HRIS

Performance Pro

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Simplicity and automation are key features of Performance Pro. The platform provides an extensive learning management system covering technical skills as well as industry and company regulations. The platform also allows managers to assess employee competencies and track their progress as they upskill.

Bringing relevant insights in one dashboard, Performance Pro equips managers to automate payroll and compensation strategy based on merit and performance. The software also provides a configurable goal library that helps you track your corporate strategies over time, helping maintain an excellent work culture.

Pros

• Continuous assessment of employees’ performance and development
• Incentives, bonuses, and salary management systems
• Modern user interface

Con

• New users may need time to adapt to the interface

PerformYard

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PerformYard provides a flexible and customizable suite for Human Resources (HR) managers to tailor their strategies to their organizations. The platform facilitates performance review processes, allowing you to create customizable surveys, run regular check-ins, and visualize results through graphs and charts.

Tailored to support dynamic business goals, PerformYard provides a flexible goal-tracking system that allows you to update your team’s milestones and notify employees about new Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). The platform provides insights for monthly, quarterly, and annual performance roundups.

Pros

• Easy to customize
• Efficient for goal tracking and continuous performance management
• Conserves navigation time by avoiding multiple screens and menus

Con

• Limited integration with other HRIS

ClearCompany

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As an extensive talent management company, ClearCompany provides tools that help with talent tracking, onboarding, employee engagement, and performance management. The employee tracking system uses data from existing top performers to optimize hiring metrics and help you hire people with values that align with the company’s culture.

With ClearCompany, you can automate interview scheduling, candidate communication, and analytics tracking. You can also auto-generate and send onboarding messages, brochures, and digital forms that support e-signatures.

Managers on ClearCompany can set milestones, recognize top-performing employees, encourage peer-to-peer recognition, conduct engagement surveys, and collaborate with employees on different tasks.

Pros

• Responsive customer service
• User-friendly interface
• Effective hiring and onboarding system

Con

• Can only be accessed by web or desktop

Namely

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Namely uniquely targets midsized businesses with 25 to 1000 employees looking for growth opportunities. With its easy-to-use interface, the platform provides extensive tools that cover everything from applicant and onboarding to team communication and compensation strategies.

Among its key performance management tools, Namely allows users to provide 360 degree feedback, continuous feedback, and periodic performance reviews. It can help automate tasks for streamlined workflows and tracking, and helps ensure goals are aligned with the larger corporate strategy.

Pros

• Friendly interface
• Competent payroll and benefits management
• Time tracking

Con

• Noticeable performance glitches

Paylocity

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Paylocity provides an all-in-one solution to modern HR management needs. With Paylocity, team leaders can create chat groups where employees collaborate and get feedback from team members.

Employees can also connect beyond work tasks through their profiles and discussion groups. Besides employee engagement, Paylocity helps automate and simplify recruiting, onboarding, performance tracking, compensation, and development.

Paylocity helps hiring and HR managers track all email and communication with new workers throughout onboarding. Partnering with Checkr, the platform empowers recruiting managers to run background checks on all candidates.

Hiring managers can also enable users to provide details about their identity to promote inclusivity. The platform provides tools to create and manage your business’s compensation strategies and employee training programs.  

‍Pros

• Consistent performance and activity reports
• Easy payroll integration
• Seamless applicant tracking and onboarding process

Con

• Customer service can be slow

15Five

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15Five aims to improve human-centered leadership that drives productivity. The platform combines tools that advance employee development, engagement, data-based decision making, and productivity. Managers can run performance reviews and discover employee strengths and how they align with their career vision.

The platform further helps you create and update workflows, set goals, and monitor them through weekly check-ins. 15Five has a simple interface, allowing users to navigate the software without hassle. The learning tool also contains valuable resources to help managers upskill and conduct one-on-one career coaching sessions.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Provides management training
• Weekly goal tracking and accolades (morale boost)

Con

• Challenging to integrate other software

HiBob

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HiBob has put AI to use to enable its continuous performance management system. The platform equips organizations to build excellent engagement among their workforces. Employees can have a profile where they can share short videos and post their correct name pronunciations, hobbies, pronouns, and location.

HiBob offers a range of performance management features, including goal setting, continuous feedback, and performance evaluations. The platform also allows managers and employees to collaborate on performance improvement plans, track progress toward goals, and create individual development plans.

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Features are easy to integrate and automate
• Flexible applications

Con

• Administrative access is limited

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How to choose the right performance management tool

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Choosing the right performance management tool for your company is crucial for evaluating your employees accurately and making data-driven decisions from their performance reports. In this section, we provide some recommendations and key factors to consider when selecting a performance management tool.

1. Identify your business needs and goals

Start by assessing your current performance management process and identifying areas for improvement. Consider the metrics most important to your organization, such as employee engagement, productivity, and retention. Also, consider what feedback and performance management strategies work best for your company culture and employees.

Next, identify what you hope to achieve with a performance management tool. For example, do you want to streamline your performance management process, improve accuracy and consistency in evaluations, or increase employee engagement and motivation? You should have a clear idea of your OKRs to select a tool to help you achieve them.

2. Evaluate features and capabilities

Once you’ve identified your business needs and goals for performance management, evaluate the software functionalities that will meet those needs. Consider how the employee performance management software aligns with your overall business strategy.

For example, if your organization values transparency and collaboration, you may want to choose a tool that allows for real-time feedback and encourages ongoing communication between managers and team members.

Performance review tools are also important, providing a structured process for evaluating employee performance. Look for software that offers customizable review templates and can track progress over time.

Employee development tools are another important feature to consider, as they help create personalized development plans, training and development resources, and career path guidance.

Finally, consider software that provides analytics and reporting. The ability to track and analyze performance data is essential for making data-driven decisions about employee performance and identifying areas for improvement. Look for software that offers customizable reports, dashboards, and data visualizations.

3. Check for integration capabilities

Another important factor to consider when selecting a performance management tool is its integration capabilities. Specifically, you should check whether the software can integrate with your existing HR and payroll systems.

Integrating your performance management software with your HR and payroll systems can streamline HR processes and ensure consistency across your systems. It can also help you avoid data entry errors and reduce the risk of duplicate or inconsistent data.

Before choosing a performance management software program, ensure it can provide a smooth integration process, allowing you to transfer employee data between systems quickly.

In addition, consider how the software will handle data privacy and security. Ensure the software complies with relevant data privacy regulations and offers robust security features to protect sensitive employee data. It should also comply with existing collaboration and workflow tools to maintain team communication.

4. Consider the pricing

Some performance management software may charge a flat fee per user or a monthly subscription fee based on the number of team members or the features used. Other software may charge based on the number of evaluations conducted or the number of feedback sessions scheduled.

When evaluating performance management software, consider how the pricing aligns with your budget and business needs. Look for scalable software that offers pricing plans that can grow with your business.

Also, consider whether the pricing structure is transparent and easy to understand. In addition to the pricing structure, consider the potential return on investment (ROI) and how the software can help you save time and improve employee productivity.

Hire top talent on Upwork

Choosing the best performance management software solutions is critical to the success of your business. With so many options available, you need to identify your business needs and goals and evaluate software features, integration capabilities, and pricing.

If you want to improve your company’s performance management process, consider hiring top talent on Upwork. With a global network of freelancers, Upwork makes it easy to find and hire experienced HR professionals who can help you achieve your goals. Sign up for Upwork and explore our  talent marketplace to find and hire  top performance management talent.

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Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyse and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.