This product assessment is based on a synthesis of 27 recent reviews analyzing BambooHR® across several dimensions. BambooHR® is primarily used as a central HRIS and employee data management system, with implementations often including onboarding and hiring (26%), time tracking and PTO management (33%), and payroll (30%). Reviewers appreciate its ability to streamline HR processes, manage benefits, compensation changes, and performance assessments. The platform is also utilized for recruitment, applicant tracking, and document retention. BambooHR® excels in several areas. Payroll features are a highlight, with 26% of reviewers expressing satisfaction. Onboarding and offboarding functionalities are also praised by 19% of reviewers for their customizability and thoroughness. Time off/PTO features are valued by another 19% for ease of tracking and management. Positive ROI is frequently attributed to improvements in onboarding (37%) and time savings (30%) from automating HR tasks, allowing HR teams to focus on strategic initiatives (30%). However, there are areas where BambooHR® could improve. A significant concern is reporting and analytics, cited by 26% of reviewers, who desire more advanced features and customization options. Integration capabilities are also an issue, with 22% mentioning difficulties integrating with systems like ADP and Employee Navigator. Customization limitations, particularly within the ATS, are noted by 19%. While most feedback is positive, 7% of reviewers reported negative experiences, including challenges with specific features and disrupted workflows. Overall, BambooHR® offers a comprehensive HRIS solution that streamlines many HR processes, particularly onboarding and time management. However, potential buyers should carefully evaluate the limitations in reporting, integration, and customization to ensure it aligns with their specific needs.

Pros

Streamlined onboarding processes, cited as a positive impact by 37% of reviewers.
Efficient time-off and PTO management, valued by 19% of reviewers for ease of use.
Effective payroll features, with 26% of reviewers expressing satisfaction.
Centralized employee data management, acting as a core HRIS for many organizations.
Time savings through automation of HR tasks, freeing up HR staff for strategic initiatives (30%).

Cons

Limited reporting and analytics capabilities, with 26% of reviewers requesting improvements.
Integration challenges with other systems like ADP and Employee Navigator, mentioned by 22% of reviewers.
Customization limitations, especially within the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), noted by 19% of reviewers.
Specific feature limitations, such as linking 1:1 meetings with Outlook calendars.
User interface issues and concerns around payroll and timekeeping, cited by 11% of reviewers.

What other products like BambooHR® have you used or evaluated?

From 27 reviews

Summary

In a set of 27 reviews, users mention alternative or evaluated products alongside BambooHR®. ADP Workforce Now is referenced by 15% of reviewers (4 mentions), while Gusto and Paylocity are each mentioned by 11% of reviewers (3 mentions each). These mentions often appear in the context of users sharing their experience with multiple HR and payroll platforms, suggesting that organizations may evaluate several options before settling on a solution.

Related topics

ADP Workforce Now Gusto Paylocity

Top Quotes

ADP Workforce Now

“Gusto, Paycor, Paychex Flex, ADP Workforce Now and Zoho People”

Gusto

“Gusto, Paycor, Paychex Flex, ADP Workforce Now and Zoho People”

Paylocity

“Paylocity and ADP Workforce Now”

What positive or negative impact (i.e. Return on Investment or ROI) has BambooHR® had on your overall business objectives?

From 27 reviews

Summary

This report synthesizes 27 recent reviews to assess the return on investment (ROI) of BambooHR®. Reviewers most frequently cite improvements in onboarding (37%, 10 of 27) and time savings (30%, 8 of 27) as positive impacts on overall business objectives. These time savings often stem from automating onboarding, payroll, and employee record management, which allows HR teams to focus on strategic initiatives (30%, 8 of 27). Improved HR efficiency (19%, 5 of 27) and easier access to information (15%, 4 of 27) are also noted as positive outcomes. While the majority of feedback is positive, a small fraction of reviewers (7%, 2 of 27) report negative experiences, including challenges with specific features and disrupted workflows. Payroll integration is also seen as a cost-saving measure (7%, 2 of 27).

Top Quotes

Improved Onboarding

“HR team members have been saved thousands of hours over the 3.5 years we've had BambooHR®. It saved me personally several hours a day once BambooHR® was set up. Specifically, onboarding, offboarding, and a formal Hiring system are the major time savers.”

Time Savings

HR Efficiency Improvement

“Improved HR efficiency.”

Besides BambooHR®, what other software do you regularly use? How likely would you be to recommend it to a friend or colleague?

From 27 reviews

Summary

This analysis synthesizes 27 product reviews to identify software regularly used alongside BambooHR®. Mentions of other software were relatively scattered, with no single platform dominating the landscape. Reviewers mentioned Slack and Microsoft Teams in 11% of reviews (3 of 27), and Bonusly and Employee Navigator in 7% of reviews (2 of 27). These findings suggest that BambooHR® users integrate a variety of tools to manage communication, employee engagement, and benefits administration.

Top Quotes

Slack and Microsoft Teams

“Slack, Freshdesk, Bonusly”

Bonusly and Employee Navigator

“Bonusly, Human Interest, Hireflix”

Describe how you use BambooHR® in your organization. What are the business problems the product addresses and what is the scope of your use case?

From 27 reviews

Summary

This analysis synthesizes 27 recent reviews to understand how organizations use BambooHR®. A strong majority of reviewers (74%, 20 of 27) describe using BambooHR® as a central HRIS and employee data management system. These implementations often include onboarding and hiring (26%, 7 of 27), time tracking and PTO management (33%, 9 of 27), and payroll (30%, 8 of 27). Many reviewers appreciate BambooHR®'s ability to streamline HR processes, with some noting its use in managing benefits, compensation changes, and performance assessments. Several reviewers highlight the platform's utility in recruitment, applicant tracking, and document retention, indicating a comprehensive approach to HR management.

Top Quotes

HRIS and Employee Data

“BambooHR® is our centralized software for employee information.”

Time Tracking and PTO

“I use BambooHR to clock in and out of work, receive notifications for breaks and lunch breaks, and submit time off requests.”

Payroll

“BambooHR® is our centralized software for employee information.”

Please provide some detailed examples of areas where BambooHR® has room for improvement.

From 27 reviews

Summary

Across 27 recent reviews, there are several areas where users indicate BambooHR® could improve. A significant area of concern revolves around reporting and analytics, cited by 26% (7 of 27) of reviewers, who express a need for more advanced features and customization options. Integration capabilities also emerge as a notable issue, with 22% (6 of 27) of reviewers mentioning difficulties or limitations in integrating BambooHR® with other systems like ADP and Employee Navigator. Customization limitations are noted by 19% (5 of 27) of reviewers, who desire more flexibility in tailoring the system to their specific needs, particularly within the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) side. Further, 15% (4 of 27) of reviewers cited specific feature limitations, such as the inability to link 1:1 meetings with Outlook calendars and limited functionality within signature requests. User interface issues and concerns around payroll and timekeeping were each raised by 11% (3 of 27) of reviewers, alongside requests for better training resources and customer support.

Top Quotes

Reporting and Analytics

“More hiring reporting. Reports on applicants to hire, interviews to hire etc would be great”

Integration Issues

“Integration with other pay system (ADP)”

Customization Limitations

“More custom options. Allowing us to tailor the ATS side especially to our unique needs.”

Please provide some detailed examples of things that BambooHR® does particularly well.

From 27 reviews

Summary

This analysis of 27 recent reviews reveals several areas where BambooHR® is particularly well-regarded. A significant portion of reviewers, 26% (7 of 27), highlight the payroll features, indicating satisfaction with this aspect of the platform. Onboarding and offboarding functionalities are also praised by 19% (5 of 27) of reviewers, who appreciate the customizability and thoroughness of these workflows. The time off/PTO features are valued by another 19% (5 of 27) of reviewers for ease of tracking and managing time off. Further, 15% (4 of 27) of reviewers appreciate the customer support and the ability to store employee information within the system. These features collectively contribute to a positive user experience.

Top Quotes

Payroll

“Payroll Approval.”

Onboarding/Offboarding

“Onboarding and Offboarding workflows are extremely useful, customizable, and help ensure no onboarding and offboarding task is left incomplete.”

Time Off/PTO

“Request time off”

Reviews

248 Reviews

BambooHR - User Friendly HR Management Software

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 30, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Bamboo as a holding place for all things HR as well as time tracking of employees. We previously used multiple programs and this combines it into an easy, friendly program to manage Human Resources.

It also allows me to go paperless for most things and if it does require a hard copy I can save and post to the employees file.

Pros

Personal information for employees at a quick glance
A place to keep all documents together for the employee
The time tracking is nice to have included in this package
A good place to keep notes on employees

Cons

Time off balances - it would be nice to see something at a glance when you pull up an employees time off. You have to select the different categories to see what they have used rather than an overall glance of what they have used versus what they have left.
Time entry reports - it would be nice to see what type of PTO the person used rather than the generic PTO. Show the actual type of PTO they used on this report so that you don't have to pull multiple reports.
Onboarding can be a little fuzzy sometimes getting that all to work properly.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think overall it is a great program. Just a few tweaks here and there would be nice and maybe I need better training to understand the areas in question.

Verified User

Manager (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

BambooHR Review

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

June 26, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use BambooHR as HRIS and Payroll system. We also looking to leverage Talent Management and Performance Management tools

Pros

Payroll
HR
Reporting

Cons

User Interface
Intergration with other platforms

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited for small/mid size organizations.

Verified User

C-Level Executive in Finance and Accounting (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Great for Businesses of All Sizes.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 25, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize BambooHR as our leading HR software. We use it to track new hires, training, time-off requests, and other relevant information. It's the source of truth for everything our company does regarding our employees. It has helped us digitalize and simplify the HR process, allowing our HR team to focus on what they do best - people.

Pros

Time off requests.
Employee onboarding processes.
Dedicated customer support.

Cons

Scheduling
Enhanced time tracking features.
Better training tracking features.

Likelihood to Recommend

BambooHR is highly user-friendly. If you want your employees to be utilizing the HR Software you're paying for, BambooHR is the way to go. It addresses every major point that any company, regardless of size, may need to maintain its HR processes on track. If you need an extremely customizable and sophisticated HR program, BambooHR may not be the best fit.

Verified User

Contributor (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

A Valuable Option for HRIS

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 25, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use BambooHR® for all personnel records, hiring, tracking and requesting time off. The software is compatible with our payroll provider, but we don't use BambooHR®'s payroll option. With the CORE level package, we don't get any value with the AI "Ask HR" feature, since you can't upload content to make it work correctly.

Pros

Tracks Vacation accrual
Gives clear history on all time-off taken, scheduled and used
Is the source of truth for titles, pay rates and much more

Cons

The ASK BAMBOO (AI) feature have little value add at the Core plan level
Candidates can't use a phone to sign pre-onboarding documents
Performance tab should be included without having to pay extra

Likelihood to Recommend

BambooHR® is great for communicating with candidates during the hiring process. Lots of ways to automate responses and clearly identify the step each candidate is on in the process. If the company had a bonus structure, the Total Rewards would be a great way to highlight this. If we housed our benefits in BambooHR®, then it would complete the information - but we outsource this so it's of no value to us.

Verified User

Manager in Human Resources (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

6 years of experience

Excellent Solution for Centralized Software for Small and Mid Sized Businesses

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 25, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

BambooHR® is our centralized software for employee information. It helps us with hiring, onboarding, offboarding, payroll, performance management, employee data management, and additionally integrates with several other systems we use for our behavioral health organization. Those integrations include rewards and recognition software, clinical data management software, 401k providers, video hiring software, and more.

Pros

Onboarding and Offboarding workflows are extremely useful, customizable, and help ensure no onboarding and offboarding task is left incomplete. We used a paper checklist system prior to BambooHR®, and transferring to BambooHR® has freed up several hours every single day for our HR team to focus on more strategic initiatives.
BambooHR®'s Integration marketplace is great, allowing us to synchronize our employee data and minimize repetitive administrative tasks.
BambooHR® is setup to allow for company specific customizations. This includes access level customization as well as framework customizations. We can create tabs, tables, fields, etc. within BambooHR® to help support our business operations needs.

Cons

BambooHR® has moved their offerings to a tiered package approach that groups features together at different tier and price levels. To gain access to a specific feature, you may need to upgrade to a whole new tier that includes additional features you may not be interested in. I would prefer being able to add-on one specific feature when needed.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think BambooHR® is an outstanding solution for small and mid sized companies. It may be less well suited for companies beyond a few or several hundred employees.

Jacob Boresow

HR Manager in Human Resources at Consultants for Children, Inc. (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

BambooHR User-friendly and sleek interface does not make up for subpar reporting and Ben Admin feature set

Rating: 3 out of 10

Incentivized

June 25, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As an analyst of a Benefits Broker, BambooHR is an HRIS platform that many of our clients use. We integrate this vendor on the Broker/Employer side for Benefits Administration to assist our clients with employee management, onboarding/open enrollments, and reporting needs.

Pros

user-friendly interface
ESS (Employee Self-Service) model is intuitive and easy to navigate
Simple design suitable for small to mid side businesses

Cons

Reporting functionality and features are lacking and not very customizable.
Limited integration for other external venders that would help streamline processes.
Poor customer support.

Likelihood to Recommend

It has a very user friendly interface with an intuitive and sleek look for employees, but managing them is another story. The platform over compensates with a friendly interface for lack of features for external management, functionality, and important reporting needs.

Verified User

Analyst in Finance and Accounting (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Easy to use and straight to the point

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

June 25, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use BambooHR® to keep track of important scheduling items, to request time off, and to better understand the organization teams at my company. If I am speaking with a co-worker for the first time and become curious as to how our roles are related I can rely on BambooHR® to paint the picture of where in the organization they fall.

Pros

Displays comprehensive organizational tree.
Useful for scheduling and reminders for important dates.
Easy-to-use with regards to time off-requests

Cons

Interface could be updated to feel more dynamic
Integration with employee documentation tool would be ideal

Likelihood to Recommend

BambooHR® is clean and easy to navigate whenever you're curious about the structure of your organization. I can go in and search up a coworker and drill up or down to determine who they report to or who reports to them. It's important to understand the way your company is organized.

Verified User

Employee in Customer Service (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

BambooHR® not a top contender

Rating: 3 out of 10

Incentivized

June 23, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is the payroll/hr company for one of my clients. The reporting is not as user friendly as most. I find it difficult to locate what I am searching. Had a few issues with both payroll and taxes, albeit minimal but when it comes to payroll, this is not truly acceptable.

Cons

Reporting
Reporting
Reporting

Likelihood to Recommend

I would not recommend this company as I find it the reporting difficult and cumbersome. I have had issues with payments and taxes. I have 2 go-to companies I recommend and BambooHR® is not one of them.

Verified User

Executive in Finance and Accounting (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

BambooHR® - User friendly tool that helps with your day-to-day HR

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

June 23, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using BambooHR® mainly for HR purposes, such as quaterly assesment and performance meeting. This is also where all our employee request time off and we store all their informations in their personnal file, such as salary, CV, and other important documents. We also export some vacation reports for pay purposes.

Pros

Request time off
Store company-wide policy
Vacation reports
Store employee informations (salary, CV)
Performance assesment

Cons

Vacation reports (correct number of days for a period instead of the whole request from the employee)
Integration with other pay system (ADP)
Honestly we love BambooHR® and don't have much bad things to say!

Likelihood to Recommend

New employee questions sent to everyone once they've started is fun so we get to know them a bit more before meeting them. Assessment are much more easier to be done in BambooHR® rather than a document we were using before. Request vacation is easy and user friendly! Since we are doing our pay in another software, I don't think a big company could accept working with BambooHR® because the reports would be too heavy to work with. I find it perfect because we have less than 50 employee to manage off BambooHR®. I know you offer your own pay system, but maybe integration with other pay system would be beneficial for you since some company might use BambooHR® only for HR management, vacation request etc.

Anne-Sophie Pouliot

Controller in Finance and Accounting at Kimoby (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Optimizing HR Efficiency

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

June 23, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

BambooHR® is my all-in-one HRIS solution, simplifying hiring, onboarding/offboarding, training records, payroll, and company announcements. It enhances employee engagement and streamlines every process, making HR more efficient. With its intuitive system, managing workforce operations is seamless, ensuring smooth communication and productivity across the organization. A game-changer for HR management!

Pros

Onboarding/Offboarding tasks
Hiring process
Time off tracking

Cons

Custom user reports based on payroll information.
More flexibility with creating custom reports in general.
When errors occur, better direction to where the error needs correction

Likelihood to Recommend

As we expand, managing hiring, onboarding, payroll, and training in one centralized system streamlines operations. With its cloud-based platform, employees can access HR resources anytime, making onboarding and engagement seamless. While BambooHR® provides reporting features, businesses heavily reliant on deep workforce analytics may need more comprehensive data insights.

Verified User

Administrator in Finance and Accounting (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

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