10 top talent management software systems in 2024

What is talent management?

Talent management spans an employee's entire lifecycle at a company and includes all the processes, guidelines, tools and systems needed to attract, retain, develop, engage and manage employees. It's often driven by the HR department and supported by managers.

Talent management is focused on meeting the human capital needs of the enterprise, including hiring people with the right skill sets, training workers on new technologies and tracking employee information.

What is talent management software?

For today's organizations, the need to attract, reward and engage employees is critical -- but it isn't easy. Talent management software systems can help automate these processes.

Talent management software refers to the systems and applications needed to manage the employee lifecycle in an organization.

Some companies may use multiple HR systems for talent management. For example, an organization may use a core HR system to track basic employee data, another system for performance management and a third for learning management. However, some products provide most or all of the talent management functions in one system with a consistent look and feel.

Talent management software may also provide self-service options for employees and managers. They can enable companies to stay engaged with current, potential and past employees.

Key talent management software features

Talent management software features are often categorized by modules, each of which handles a specific function. For example, a compensation module handles finance functions like pay raises and bonuses. Depending on company culture, size, budget, industry and priorities, some organizations may not need all the functions that are available on the market.

AI is a software feature that's currently gaining more importance in the talent management market. As the technology matures, software vendors are introducing new AI features that can simplify and automate tasks. The initial push for AI was for use in recruiting, but it's gaining momentum in many other areas of talent management as well, such as succession planning.

Here's an overview of each talent management system module. The standard functionality is often similar across vendors.

Core HR

The core HR module carries out the following functions:

• Stores information about all employees in one database.
• Provides employee and manager self-service options.
• Enables moving of HR data to other systems through interfaces.
• Furnishes comprehensive reports on all data.

Employee engagement

The employee engagement module includes the following functions:

• Regularly polls employees on a variety of topics.
• Compares employee satisfaction to peer organizations' employee satisfaction metrics.
• Provides tools for employees to recognize each other's achievements and receive awards.

Recruiting

The recruiting module includes the following capabilities:

• Provides a portal for candidates to apply for open positions.
• Integrates with popular job boards and the company's core HR module.
• Identifies candidates who are already in the database and match new job postings.

Onboarding

The onboarding module includes the following functions:

• Enables new hires to complete employment forms and digitally sign documents.
• Enables new hires to access the onboarding functionality before and after their start date.
• Enables HR staff to share additional information about the company with new hires, such as an organizational chart or a welcome video.

Performance management

The performance management module includes the following capabilities:

• Enables users to apply the performance management data to other functions, such as compensation management and succession planning.
• Enables employees and managers to decide whether to discuss performance and career plans on an ad hoc or formal schedule.
• Enables customization of employee feedback form.

Compensation

The compensation module enables users to carry out the following tasks:

• Determine salary increases, bonuses, stock options and stock grants.
• Incorporate performance management ratings when determining compensation.
• Refer to multiple data points, such as employee performance ratings and market rates, when recommending salary increases.

Reporting and analytics

The reporting and analytics module includes the following functions:

• The ability to combine data from different modules into one report if the system is all-in-one.
• The ability to create custom dashboards and use default dashboards.
• The ability to configure reports and dashboards and send them regularly to certain users.

Learning and development

The learning and development module enables users to do the following:

• Establish a curriculum of multiple courses.
• Include content from third-party vendors.
• Add content such as articles and videos.

Succession planning

The succession planning module includes the following capabilities:

• Identifying employees who meet the skills and competencies for other positions.
• Incorporating performance-related data when identifying successors for key roles.
• Providing employees with career planning tools.

Document management

The document management module includes the following functions:

• Sharing of company documents with all employees.
• Establishing permissions for certain documents.

Advice for buying teams

The most critical aspect of a vendor evaluation is identifying the features that make the product stand out from its competitors and whether the product meets company's requirements. Buying teams should also consider implementation and licensing costs.

When evaluating an all-in-one talent management package, the buying team should consider if the platform enables users to use data across multiple modules. For example, skills data may be valuable in multiple situations, such as rating employees in performance management, looking for internal candidates to fill open positions and auto-assigning development training to employees.

When evaluating vendors that are more specialized, the buying team should consider integration capabilities, since users will likely find it valuable to exchange data between systems. For example, users may find it helpful to push performance management data to the compensation planning tool, then transfer employee compensation changes to the company's core HR module.

10 of the top talent management software systems

A plethora of talent management software products are available and can benefit companies in various ways. These 10 are among the top software products.

360Learning

360Learning is a collaborative learning platform which employees can use to share their expertise with others. Features include a learning management system (LMS) and a learning experience platform (LXP) as well as the ability to create communities and AI tools that help employees find the content most relevant to them.

Pros

• Combines an LMS and LXP in one system.
• Integrates with many other tools to provide learning opportunities in the systems employees already use on a daily basis, such as sales software.
• Enables any user to create content and share knowledge.
• Includes controls for employee sharing.
• Integrates AI capabilities, such as recommending training for employees, into the system.

Cons

• Reporting and dashboards could be improved.
• The number of features and configuration options can make it difficult for new users to learn the system.
• Co-creating courses can be difficult at times, especially when two people are trying to edit concurrently.

BambooHR

Developed for smaller organizations, BambooHR offers many features to support the employee lifecycle as well as a UI that's intuitive for employees and the HR team. The system is easy to integrate with many niche vendors that have prebuilt interfaces with BambooHR.

Pros

• The system is affordable for many companies.
• The software centralizes, tracks and can analyze data.
• Integration and maintenance are easy to carry out.
• Technical support responds quickly.
• The UI is easy for employees to use and understand.
• The company does not require a contract and clients can cancel any time before the next payment.

Cons

• Default reports are not always configurable and don't always contain key data such as employee ID and their first name and last name.
• Configuration options are not always granular enough when setting up security roles.
• Configuration settings, such as hiding an employee's birth year from certain users, are limited.

Ceridian Dayforce HCM

Dayforce was designed for global companies that want payroll included in their HR systems. The system also includes the most common HR modules, including recruitment and core HR.

Pros

• The system enables users to manage a global workforce, with features to support different currencies and country policies.
• The system includes Dayforce Wallet, which enables employees to receive their paycheck at a time of their choosing as long as the timing meets company guidelines.
• The process for resetting the test environment is simple and efficient.
• Users can manage all HR tasks within one system, with modules including core HR, learning, time and attendance, and career planning.

Cons

• The system uses position management, which can add a layer of administration for companies that don't require this feature.
• Ceridian can sometimes take a long time to implement feature requests.
• The UI is acceptable but not very modern.
• Managing the system is fairly complex and a system administrator may find it especially difficult if they're only performing the role part-time.

ClearCompany

ClearCompany's software can help companies with recruiting, onboarding, employee engagement and performance management. The system also includes a reporting and analytics tool so HR staff and company leaders can track the progress of their respective processes.

Pros

• The applicant tracking system includes AI tools for many processes, such as scoring resumes and drafting job descriptions.
• The performance management module includes an integrated library of competencies.
• The software offers prebuilt interfaces for common systems, such as email, calendars and HR systems.
• The UI is modern and intuitive.

Cons

• Reporting and dashboards are not very intuitive or customizable.
• Employee recognition tools do not include points for employee rewards.
• Companies will still need to use an HRIS to manage core HR data.

HRSoft

HRSoft's software enables users to automate performance management, compensation, pay equity and total rewards statements. The overall focus of the software is compensation, including making it easier to allocate pay increases and examine pay equity, and employee total rewards.

Pros

• Users can refer to performance feedback when carrying out compensation planning.
• The software supports multiple currencies.
• The system supports complex compensation plans, such as plans by country and one-time increases as well as stock, options and bonuses.
• Employees can view their compensation data in total rewards statements.

Cons

• HRSoft is slightly more expensive than some of its competitors.
• Companies must pay for some of the administrators' product training.
• Interfaces between HRSoft and HRIS vendors aren't always seamless.

Kudos

Kudos is employee reward and recognition software. The software also includes employee surveys and features for sharing photos and information using the Spaces and Galleries functionality. Companies can integrate the system with many common applications.

Pros

• The system enables employees from multiple countries to redeem their points.
• Users can give awards to employees based on internal goals that match the company's culture.
• The system supports nomination-based recognition, such as employee-of-the-month programs.
• The UI is easy to learn.

Cons

• Users may find it difficult to determine who is the subject of feedback for employee recognition.
• Managers cannot easily access Kudos' employee recognition data when creating a performance review without navigating to the Kudos platform.
• The software is focused on rewarding past behavior and doesn't give users a way to incentivize employees to earn a reward, such as creating a team goal that would give participants a certain number of points when achieved.

Lattice

Lattice's software includes performance management, compensation, development and employee engagement. The vendor is also in the process of developing an HRIS that will integrate each module's data, eliminating the need for a third-party HRIS.

Pros

• The engagement functionality includes many useful tools, such as the ability to survey new hires, calculate employee net provider scores and send out pulse surveys.
• Users can view performance management data when carrying out compensation planning.
• The software integrates with popular messaging tools, which can make public recognition easier to carry out.
• The Grow module helps HR, managers and employees set development goals and manage ongoing employee and manager feedback.

Cons

• The many options available to employees and managers for performance reviews can make the process more complicated.
• The UI is not always intuitive, especially for new users.
• Custom reports can be difficult to create.
• Naming conventions may not meet a company's needs and are sometimes not editable.

Salary.com

Salary.com's software focuses on total compensation, including salary surveys and associated data, pay equity features, job description management and tools for determining pay for a particular job. Salary.com recently acquired the compensation planning company CompXL to further round out its offering.

Pros

• The system includes a wide range of job types for users to review when pricing jobs.
• The software includes prebuilt integrations with many major HRIS vendors.
• The software includes tools to help manage pay equity and diversity and inclusion efforts.
• The software's job description feature enables users to collaborate with other employees when developing or updating job descriptions.

Cons

• Users may find it difficult to push job descriptions written in the Salary.com software to the company's applicant tracking system.
• The database may not include all job types needed for compensation comparison or compensation data for certain regions.
• Users may find it difficult to learn the software, as it includes many features and options.

SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite

SAP SuccessFactors offers all the functionality needed for talent management under the umbrella of human experience management. The software is targeted at large organizations. It's configurable and has a consistent look and feel across the platform.

Pros

• The performance management and compensation modules are well-integrated.
• The system is all-in-one and includes advanced reporting and dashboards.
• The system supports many currencies and languages.

Cons

• The software was built by acquiring many applications, so the current system includes multiple databases.
• The administration of the suite can be cumbersome because acquired modules require their own configuration. For example, users will need to set up security roles in multiple places depending on the applicable modules.
• The system is complicated to maintain from an administrative perspective.

Workday HCM

Like SAP, Workday is one of the biggest vendors in the HR software market. Workday offers a comprehensive and configurable SaaS talent management system for U.S. and international users.

Pros

• Complementary modules are available for finance, planning and analytics.
• The UI is intuitive for employees.
• The system's integrated platform enables HR system administrators to manage the entire system from one place.
• The system supports multinational and large organizations with complex needs.

Cons

• The implementation of a large system like Workday takes more time than implementing midmarket software.
• The process of customizing and implementing new features can be expensive.
• The system can be rigid, requiring the system administrator to approve and configure many changes, such as adding a question to a list of candidate interview questions.
• Tasks such as submitting time-off requests or tracking hours worked can be complicated to carry out.

Although no system will fully remove the complexity of talent management, taking the right approach to choosing software can help HR create a positive candidate and employee experience.

Editor's note: This unranked list is based on sources such as G2, Capterra, Gartner, Forbes and vendor websites as well as the author's personal experience. The list includes both all-in-one talent management software and standalone applications that focus on one aspect of talent management, like compensation planning.

Eric St-Jean is an independent consultant with a particular focus on HR technology, project management and Microsoft Excel training and automation. He writes about numerous business and technology areas.