Factorial HR software review | Tech Radar

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It’s designed to streamline SMB operations. Could Factorial be your next HR upgrade?

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A polished HR platform for SMBs with a superb interface, but costs could rise quickly

-Integrations are fine, but broader ecosystems are available

Integrations are fine, but broader ecosystems are available

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Factorial is a Barcelona-based HR software provider that already serves over 15,000 businesses, and its array of features sounds impressive – it covers most of the bases for core HR capabilities and promises to tackle project management, IT management, and procurement, too.

Combine its extensive range of abilities with a transparent structure, and you’ve got the starting point for an effective piece of HR software.

An AI agent has recently launched and promises to further streamline workflows while allowing humans to handle more important tasks, and the company says it will be particularly useful to SMBs across Europe and Latin America.

See more options in our guide to the best HR software

Factorial’s plans start at $8 per user per month, although, as with most HR solution providers, the company will tailor quotes and packages on a case-by-case basis.

Indeed, creating a tailored experience is a key part of the Factorial solution. Every organization that signs up gets access to Factorial Core, which provides a broad range of conventional HR functionality. Beyond that, you can choose from Time, Talent, and Finance Management options depending on your needs.

Unfortunately, the prices for these modules are not listed on Factorial’s website. That’s not particularly unusual in the HR solutions market, but prices could easily accelerate once you start building a package, and you’ll need to talk to sales to get a personalized quote.

That can make it harder, at least initially, to weigh up potential investment against rivals that are more transparent about pricing.

Before you dive in, also check if Factorial is supported in your country. At the time of writing, the website offers localization for the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile - alongside a global site aligned with the US.

Factorial Core includes a comprehensive selection of HR features, from contract and legal management to approvals, permissions, and custom workflows - all designed to keep your business moving.

Task management is included alongside document management, and you get an employee directory, organization chart, onboarding, scheduling, and more. The entire Core module includes accessible reporting and data presentation, which makes it easier for HR teams to spot potential opportunities and issues, and you get mobile access and reasonable customization.

Financially, you can use Factorial Core to get in-depth and real-time insights on company performance, and the platform can guide you through the payroll process.

Step up to the Enterprise product, and you get more customization, from template and report creation to API keys, fillable PDFs, and support for multiple currencies.

The Time Management platform, available as an extra module, adds loads of functionality. If you opt to expand with this, you’ll get an in-depth time-off system that supports overtime and additional flexibility, along with geolocation-powered employee time tracking in the complete working and productivity module. There’s a shift management tool, too, if that’s how your people work, as well as employee self-service for documents, scheduling, and vacations.

The Talent Management solution offers tools for tracking and improving performance, including 360-degree reviews, analysis, and a recruitment suite. Factorial provides employee engagement features like goal-setting, OKR tracking, training management, onboarding, offboarding, and evaluations.

Choose the Finance Management module to add project management, expenses, and procurement tools. Add the payroll module for automated bonuses, custom agreements, and overtime support.

Factorial now includes a new AI agent that promises to streamline processes and save time. It’s the kind of addition that’s being rolled out across many HR solutions at the moment, and Factorial’s AI tool can generate meeting summaries and handle research tasks, reporting, and employee surveys.

There are more than eighty third-party integrations available for the Factorial system, including Zapier, Workable, Slack, Whats App, Jira, and software from Apple and Google. Microsoft support is also extensive and includes Power BI, Dynamics 365, Outlook, and more. The system offers an API, although you’ll find more pre-built, third-party integrations elsewhere.

Factorial’s design is brighter and more engaging than many other HR solutions – the dashboard is immediately colorful, with bold alerts reminding you of urgent tasks and events, color-coded indications of employee locations, and photos used frequently for staff profiles.

One inbox handles every request in Factorial, and most requests include quick-action buttons so HR managers can easily reject or approve common requests. It’s a smart bit of design that speeds up workflows across the system.

As with many other HR solutions, a menu bar on the left-hand side contains links to the product’s various modules, including analytics, recruitment, and performance.

The organization chart is packed with photos, just like those employee profiles, which makes it easier to navigate. The profiles are well laid out, with timesheets, details, current status, and alerts all foregrounded.

A color-coded calendar makes time off easy to manage, and more colors are used to help HR managers tackle recruitment, with bold graphics used to illustrate the funnel of candidates for open positions.

Our impressions of Factorial were bolstered by broad user sentiment. Real-world users of the system praise Factorial’s clean user interface and the breadth of features available for SMBs. That said, some users mention that more customization can be found elsewhere and that you’ll get deeper analytics and reporting with other HR solutions, too.

The first port of call for Factorial support is the Help Center, which includes quick-start guides, FAQs, and helpful articles.

If you need to get in touch, you can file a support ticket, use live chat, or rely on phone support. The latter is advertised as being the best option for urgent support, and phone and live chat support options are available between Monday and Friday from 9am to 6pm in European and Latin American time zones.

Live chat is only available to Factorial users with administrator permissions, and it’s best used for urgent or fast clarifications. The system uses an AI assistant for initial triage.

The SMB HR market is extremely competitive, which means that Factorial has no shortage of rivals that bring something different to the table.

If you need strong core HR functionality with a concentration on onboarding in a growing business, then Bamboo HR could be your best option – and if you want to explore an alternative that matches Factorial’s strong UI and employee engagement options, then consider Hi Bob.

Rippling could be a compelling option for an SMB that wants to prioritize automation and integration with IT systems.

Factorial is a strong option for SMBs that want to streamline HR tasks and deploy one app with a huge range of core HR functionality – with everything covered from time and performance management to recruiting, devices, and learning, there’s a huge amount of capability here inside an excellent interface.

The main issue, though, is cost and modularity. You’ll need to add several modules to get the full Factorial experience, and that could drive costs up to a potentially prohibitive degree. Also bear in mind that integration and payroll depth are stronger elsewhere.

Factorial is a polished and scalable SMB platform that will be easy to use for most HR teams and professionals, but make sure you’ve done your research into features and pricing before taking the plunge.

Mike has worked as a technology journalist for more than a decade and has written for most of the UK’s big technology titles alongside numerous global outlets. He loves PCs, laptops and any new hardware, and covers everything from the latest business trends to high-end gaming gear.

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Key Takeaways

News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards
It’s designed to streamline SMB operations
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission