Honest Review (2024)

Personio

• Very easy to set up and use
• Intuitive interface
• Wide range of integrations
• Streamlined workflow approvals

• Slow loading times
• Login issues on the mobile app
• Free trial is hardly useable because of the pre-existing sample data

Personio offers two paid pricing plans tailored to suit the diverse needs of businesses: Core and Core Pro. The big question is: How much will these plans cost you?

Well, you’ll have to book a demo to find out. Personio does not provide transparent pricing on its website. Instead, they adopt a customized pricing model, which means that the cost of using their services can vary depending on factors like the size of the organization, the specific features required, and the level of support needed. This lack of transparency can be frustrating for businesses looking to assess whether Personio fits their budget quickly.

To know which plan will be a better fit for your company, let’s take a deeper look at what these two plans have to offer.

Core

Core is claimed to be Personio’s most popular plan offering Absence Management, Time & Attendance Tracking, and the Mobile App.

This comprehensive plan brings all your HR needs under one digital roof. You can efficiently manage digital employee files, create advanced employee lists, and even handle salary information, all within a unified platform. However, it’s worth noting that the Advanced Document Management features are somewhat limited in this plan.

Beyond just managing employee data, the Core plan empowers you with features like people workflows and automation. This means you can set up role-based reminders, establish policies for workflow approval, and streamline processes for onboarding and offboarding.

What’s even more impressive is Personio’s flexibility. You have the freedom to customize reports, permissions, and access to match your company’s unique structure and requirements. This customization ensures that only the right people have access to specific HR data and functionalities, which is crucial for maintaining data security and privacy.

While the Core plan may have some limitations, it also includes a valuable ESignature Workflows feature. This feature simplifies the process of legally and digitally signing employee documents using electronic signatures. This is particularly noteworthy given the volume of paperwork that often comes with HR processes, making it a real-time-saver.

Core Pro

The Core Pro plan takes everything great about the Core plan and dials it up a notch, offering a truly limitless experience. You’ll get to enjoy all the features found in the Core plan, but this time, with unlimited access to the ESignature Workflows and Advanced Document Management features, allowing you to make the most of these powerful tools without any constraints.

Furthermore, Core Pro provides enhanced options for customizing access and permissions. You can now implement an even more secure login process using OAuth 2.0, ensuring standardized access management across your organization. You can integrate Personio with OAuth providers such as Azure AD or Okta, offering a seamless and secure authentication process. It’s advisable to collaborate with an IT administrator to set up this authentication method effectively.

Now, although Personio already has a handful of available integrations in its marketplace, including Slack, Zapier, and Microsoft Teams, being subscribed to the Core Pro plan also gives you access to Personio’s Public API. This means you’ll have the flexibility to create custom integrations and connect Personio with other software or systems tailored to your specific needs.

1. Absence and Time Tracking

As part of its HR management system, Personio offers absence and time tracking, with the latter being only available in its mobile app.

With the absence management feature, you can automate holiday approval processes and workflows. The system will automatically calculate employee leave entitlements and accruals, ensuring precision and eliminating errors in the process.

When requesting leave, employees can choose which leave type they want to use, the leave duration, as well as their substitutes as needed. Managers and HR can conveniently view a calendar to track employee absences, whether due to illness or vacation. This aids in better scheduling and resource allocation, so you never end up being short-staffed.

As for the time tracking feature, it’s pretty straightforward. You can start tracking time on the mobile app with the press of a button. You can also set predetermined break times to ensure all work hours comply with legal standards. All tracked hours automatically reflect on the attendance calendar of the web app, which I think is pretty neat. But be sure not to forget to turn off your timer, or else your time entry will be discarded. You will have to enter the lost time manually on the web app.

2. Talent Management

Personio’s Talent Management feature is designed to cater to every stage of the employee lifecycle, embodying a holistic and productivity-boosting approach. From the moment you bring new talent on board, Personio’s Talent Management feature seamlessly facilitates their development journey, spanning from hiring and training to eventual offboarding.

Under the Recruiting tab, you’ll have access to all applicant data and job openings. You can schedule interviews, gather internal feedback, and expedite legal procedures with electronic signatures and contract templates. This all contributes to a smoother and faster hiring process.

When it comes to attracting the right talent, Personio simplifies the process. It automates the publication of job ads on your careers page and over 600 job portals, significantly expanding your candidate pool.

Personio’s Talent Management feature doesn’t stop at recruitment; it also extends to driving performance across teams. Automation facilitates performance cycles, while continuous feedback and 360° reviews ensure fair and impactful appraisals. Clear goal-setting, progress tracking, and rewards, including bonuses, further motivate employees to excel.

3. Workflow Hub

Personio’s Workflow Hub is a dynamic feature designed to optimize your organization’s people processes, enhancing efficiency and reducing unnecessary delays. This hub serves as a centralized command center where you can access and oversee all the available workflows within Personio, such as Onboarding, Offboarding, Approvals, and electronic signatures. These workflows consist of sequences of steps crafted to automate recurring procedures that often involve multiple departments, including HR and IT.

With the Workflow Hub, you’re in the driver’s seat, keeping a close eye on task progress and potential roadblocks in real-time. You can access real-time insights into task statuses and potential bottlenecks, enabling proactive management. You can access it at any time through the side menu or directly from the Workflow Dashboard widget.

It’s important to note that the Workflow Hub is visible exclusively to administrators and employees with authorized viewing rights for the Workflow Overview subsection, ensuring data security and control.

4. Analytics and Reporting

Credit where credit is due: Personio’s reporting feature is pretty extensive and powerful.

Need data on absence rate, hiring speed, employee turnover, or employee headcount? Access it with just a few clicks under the reports tab. This feature gives you a wealth of information that you can use to make sound and data-driven HR decisions.

You can export system reports for a specific date range and apply filters so your report only contains the information you need. There’s also a grouping option that lets you arrange data by department, office, team, and so on. If you need reports that are more targeted to the data you need to analyze, you can create custom reports. With these reports, you have complete control over the data columns that you want it to include as well as the data range it covers. Set report conditions to further get to the results you need.

Once reports have been generated, they can be exported as CSV files or shared with employees within Personio.

5. Integrations

Personio has no shortage of integrations, with over 150 integrations available in its marketplace. These integrations include popular communication tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. There are also talent management and acquisition apps like HeyJobs, HiPeople, and Comeet. All these integrations can help you automate your workflows and streamline your HR processes.

Now, if you happen to use other tools in your HR and IT landscape that aren’t directly supported by Personio’s existing integrations, don’t fret. Personio’s flexibility extends further with its API (Application Programming Interface). While utilizing the API may require some technical expertise, it opens up a world of possibilities for customizing and connecting your HR processes with various software solutions.

(As of December 2023)

• Capterra: 4.3/5
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• GetApp: 4.3/5
• Play Store: 2/5
• App Store: 3/5

Personio definitely presents itself as a viable option for companies aiming to streamline their HR operations while prioritizing their most valuable asset – their employees. It covers a wide spectrum of HR functions, from attendance tracking to talent management, providing a comprehensive toolbox for HR professionals.

The interface is very user-friendly, and the reporting features are very extensive. I also really like the functions under the talent management feature. The fact that you can have all of this data on your hiring process and take action to schedule interviews, promote job openings, and gather internal feedback is a game-changer. It simplifies the often complex and scattered HR processes, allowing you to stay organized and save a lot of time.

Personio isn’t perfect, of course (what software is?). Its mobile app still has plenty of room for improvement. It has very limited functions and is frankly only good for time tracking and monitoring leaves. The bugs and glitches that other users have experienced are also something they should look into. As for the web app, although packed with powerful features, the loading time can be a bit of a drag.

But in these areas where Personio lacks, they make up for with a great interface and very powerful HR management features. All in all, I would still recommend it to any company looking to streamline their HR operations and put their employees first. But I suggest you first give their free trial a go and see how well it fits with your workflow.