Bambee HR Software Review
Bambee is a human resources outsourcing (HRO) solution that is ideal for small businesses looking for assistance with mitigating HR risks and maintaining HR compliance. When you sign up for a Bambee plan, you’re assigned a dedicated HR professional who can audit your HR practices and help create policies and procedures that support HR compliance. Bambee can automate your processes, retain important documents, help you onboard and train employees, and even navigate corrective action and employee termination when needed. If you’re looking for assistance with processing payroll, Bambee offers that as well. While not traditional HR software, we recommend Bambee for businesses interested in HR risk mitigation.
Bambee HR Software
The Verdict
Bambee is a human resources outsourcing solution that's our best pick for HR compliance assistance for small businesses. It also provides HR guidance, payroll processing and dedicated support.
Bambee Editor’s Score: 9.3/10
Price/value | 9.3 |
|---|---|
Features | 8.8 |
Customizations, add-ons and integrations | 8.9 |
Ease of use | 9.9 |
Customer service | 9.4 |
Why We Chose Bambee for Risk Mitigation
When searching for the best HR software and solutions, we liked that Bambee specializes in offering HR risk mitigation assistance to small businesses with up to 500 employees. We appreciate that Bambee caters to small businesses specifically because it helps ensure the company’s HR representatives can offer custom assistance based on each employer’s needs. Bambee and its experts can help with employee onboarding, training, corrective action and termination.
The service can also automate HR processes, store important HR documents in one centralized location and offer custom support as HR questions arise. This combination of automation and personal HR guidance can play a key role in mitigating HR risks. Bambee reps can also conduct HR audits and create custom HR policies for each business, which isn’t something all competitors offer. That’s because Bambee is more of an outsourcing service than a traditional HR software provider, although it does offer software to process payroll and manage employee performance.
Read our Bambee HRO review for more insight on the company, which is also included in our roundup of the best human resources outsourcing services.
Bambee can help you create policies that support HR compliance and mitigate HR risks. Source: Bambee
What We Like About Bambee
- Bambee pairs your business with a dedicated HR manager.
- Personalized HR support is available by phone, email and chat.
- The vendor can create HR policies based on your company culture and applicable labor regulations.
What We Don’t Like About Bambee
- Bambee doesn’t offer employee time tracking.
- The company charges a one-time setup fee.
Ease of Use
One thing we like about Bambee is how intuitive and easy it is to use the company’s services. Once you partner with the vendor, you gain access to a dedicated HR representative who can help you navigate the complicated world of HR regulations. We appreciate that Bambee simplifies HR processes by offering HR Autopilot, an automation of your essential HR practices, which can help your business comply with HR regulations throughout the year. These features are particularly great for small businesses that don’t have the financial resources to hire an in-house HR professional or the time to stay on top of ever-changing HR regulations themselves.
Since Bambee HR representatives can be reached by phone, email and chat, you can connect with your support rep in the most convenient way for you. We found this noteworthy, as some competitors we reviewed offer support only through select channels.
When we tested the Bambee platform, we found it user-friendly and straightforward to navigate. It has a simple left rail with separate tabs for things like a task center, HR requests, HR practices and trainings, communications, HR policies, staff profiles, employee report cards, and important documents. If you add Bambee’s payroll feature to your plan, you are provided with a guided platform that walks you through the critical steps of processing payroll.
If you’re on the fence about whether you should outsource some HR functions, look for these signs that you should outsource your HR.
Bambee Features
Bambee offers many services to help you manage HR responsibilities and mitigate potential risks. Here are just a few of the functions available.
Risk Mitigation
The main goal of Bambee is to help small businesses manage their human resources in a way that mitigates potential risks. We like how the company conducts HR audits on small businesses to identify their HR gaps. The team then creates custom plans to help fill those gaps. Similar to other vendors, Bambee can take care of critical employee training on topics like sexual harassment, workplace safety and business ethics, but the organization takes it one step further by reporting your employees’ progress.
With Bambee’s Smart Cabinet, you can keep important employee HR documents in one place, which can be essential for complying with EEOC document retention standards. If you have any questions along the way, Bambee offers one-on-one employer coaching and guidance from designated HR managers. [Read related article: HR Compliance Challenges Small Businesses Face Today]
Bambee’s Smart Cabinet is a great solution for meeting document retention requirements. Source: Bambee
HR Administration
Bambee can improve efficiency by automating certain HR processes. This automation is a great way to prevent crucial HR steps from being missed or forgotten. For example, Bambee HR Autopilot ensures your core HR policies are up to date each year and have been acknowledged by each employee. It can also help you create custom HR policies and procedures that are in line with current labor regulations as well as your company’s unique culture.
Payroll Processing
If you choose to partner with Bambee for payroll processing, you get platform features on par with competitors in the industry. For instance, you can get two-day direct deposit for your employees, and Bambee can automatically handle federal, state and local taxes for you. We like that the company can provide guidance on wage and hour regulations as well. For more robust payroll features, however, see our review of Gusto.
Bambee offers guided payroll through its software platform. Source: Bambee
You must use Bambee’s payroll solution if you want to access medical, dental and vision benefits through its partnership with SimplyInsured. However, Bambee can also integrate other third-party benefits with its payroll service as well.
Talent Management
The way you onboard and train employees can make a difference in the success of your company. Bambee provides guidance on how to welcome and develop employees while navigating labor regulations. Bambee Report Cards let you track employee progress against their goals, and Employee Voices gives workers the ability to share feedback — good or bad. We like that Bambee also offers training to help employees grow and ensure you stay HR compliant.
Bambee’s platform has staff folders to help you track employee information and stay HR compliant. Source: Bambee
If an employee violates any company policies, Bambee can help you take proper corrective action. You can easily walk through the platform’s corrective action workflow to report policy violations, and a Bambee HR manager will review the incident for you to ensure it’s the appropriate response. Notably, if you need to terminate an employee, Bambee can help you navigate that as well. [Take note: It’s illegal to fire someone for these reasons.]
Bambee Pricing
Bambee has eight HR plans that differ mostly based on how many employees you have. The vendor offers monthly and annual pricing for businesses with up to 500 employees. Unlike rivals that charge a per-employee fee, Bambee charges just one flat fee for each range of employees. See how its packages compare below.
Number of employees | Services | Price |
|---|---|---|
0 | Access to email and chat support, four core HR policies, two custom HR policies and two job descriptions | $99 per month (billed monthly) or $84 per month (billed annually) |
1-4 | Access to an HR manager with unlimited phone, email and chat support; four core HR policies; two custom HR policies; and three job descriptions | $299 per month (billed monthly) or $254 per month (billed annually), with a one-time setup fee of $500 |
5-19 | Access to an HR manager with unlimited phone, email and chat support; four core HR policies; four custom HR policies; and four job descriptions | $399 per month (billed monthly) or $339 per month (billed annually), with a one-time setup fee of $500 |
20-49 | Access to an HR manager with unlimited phone, email and chat support; four core HR policies; eight custom HR policies; and five job descriptions | $699 per month (billed monthly) or $594 per month (billed annually), with a one-time setup fee of $1,500 |
50-99 | Access to an HR manager with unlimited phone, email and chat support; four core HR policies; 12 custom HR policies; and five job descriptions | $1,299 per month (billed monthly) or $1,104 per month (billed annually), with a one-time setup fee of $2,000 |
100-149 | Access to an HR manager with unlimited phone, email and chat support; four core HR policies; 12 custom HR policies; and five job descriptions | $2,499 per month (billed monthly) or $2,124 per month (billed annually), with a one-time setup fee of $2,500 |
150-249 | Access to an HR manager with unlimited phone, email and chat support; four core HR policies; 12 custom HR policies and five job descriptions | $3,699 per month (billed monthly) or $3,144 per month (billed annually), with a one-time setup fee of $3,500 |
250-500 | Custom services | Custom pricing |
Bambee also offers its built-in guided payroll solution as an optional add-on feature for a fee.
Bambee specializes in supporting smaller businesses. If you have more than 500 employees, you won’t find a Bambee plan that fits your needs.
Implementation and Onboarding
Bambee plans include access to a dedicated HR support person. Once you complete a brief survey about your business, you will be connected with a specialist who can conduct a comprehensive HR audit of your organization and help you create compliant policies. This representative can help with onboarding, training and terminating employees, and their expert guidance is great for maintaining compliance with federal and state employment laws.
Your Bambee HR manager can assist you with creating and implementing as many custom and core policies as your plan allows. Since this number of policies is different for most plans, the creation and implementation time will vary on a case-by-case basis. When selecting a plan, keep in mind the associated setup fee too.
If you want assistance with creating job descriptions or adding the Bambee guided payroll option to your package, you’ll need to get your job requirements and employee information set up with Bambee as well, which can add some time onto your overall implementation. In general, however, we found the vendor’s setup and onboarding to be a relatively quick and seamless process.
Customer Service
We found Bambee’s customer support features to be competitive with what other companies in the industry offer. Bambee provides support by phone, email and chat, whereas some of its peers use only one or two communication channels. Bambee representatives are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm PT, which is standard for the sector.
We love that each plan comes with a dedicated HR manager who can give you personal, remote HR support and coaching as needed. When we spoke with a Bambee representative, we were told Bambee HR requests have a three-hour response time during business hours and a 24-hour response time after hours. Some plans also give businesses direct access to their HR manager’s work calendar, which can be convenient for arranging assistance.
Users can easily submit a request to their Bambee HR representative by navigating to the “HR Request” tab. Source: Bambee
We were also pleased to see Bambee is accredited with the Better Business Bureau and has a B rating with the agency, though some rivals have A+ scores.
At the time of this review, Bambee has an average customer rating of 4.26 out of 5 stars on the BBB’s website, a higher rating than many of its competitors. Paychex, for instance, has only a 1.05 customer rating.
Limitations
Bambee operates as a HRO service, as opposed to a full-service HR software provider. You can access its payroll platform, as well as employee training tools, but the company’s system doesn’t have other HR functions, like employee scheduling or time and attendance tools. This isn’t necessarily a limitation if your main goal is to get HR guidance, but it’s something to keep in mind if you want a platform that can handle all of your HR needs. For a more complete option, check out our Rippling review.
Another potential drawback to consider is that Bambee doesn’t have a mobile app. The platform is web-based, so you can access it on a phone, but the vendor doesn’t offer mobile apps specifically for iOS or Android devices. Mobile apps are especially useful for employers who need to access their HR information on the go, and they give employees the ability to easily access self-service features. If having a mobile app is important to you, check out our Zenefits review and our review of Paycor.
Methodology
To identify the top HR software and solutions for small businesses, we examined dozens of systems, ranging from traditional software platforms to HRO services. Our investigation included evaluating pricing, contracts, recruiting and onboarding capabilities, employee benefits administration, time-tracking features, payroll processing, performance management features, reports, integrations, HR compliance assistance, ease of use, and customer service options. We watched product videos and conducted demos when possible.
When looking for the best HR service for businesses especially interested in risk mitigation, we prioritized features such as federal and state HR compliance assistance, payroll processing and guidance, HR policy guidance, talent management tools, usability, and customer service.
FAQs
What does Bambee HR do?
As an HRO solution, Bambee helps small businesses mitigate the risks associated with human resources. The vendor can assist your company with functions like creating HR policies; processing payroll; paying wages and payroll taxes according to federal, state and local regulations; creating HR documents; onboarding and training employees; managing employee performance; terminating employees; and conducting HR audits.
What is the Bambee app?
While Bambee doesn’t have a mobile app, the vendor’s web-based app is an online platform that helps small and midsize businesses process payroll. It also includes tools for employees to track and manage their performance.
Bottom Line
We recommend Bambee for …
- Small and midsize businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
- Organizations looking for professional HR guidance on mitigating risk.
- Businesses that need help creating and implementing HR policies.
We don’t recommend Bambee for …
- Companies with more than 500 employees.
- Businesses looking for HR software with time-tracking features.
Bambee HR Software
The Verdict
Bambee is a human resources outsourcing solution that's our best pick for HR compliance assistance for small businesses. It also provides HR guidance, payroll processing and dedicated support.