| Functionality | 6 <p>CharlieHR offers some of the functionality most SMBs will need. It offers core HR functionality (e.g. store employee info, manage time-off), very basic performance management and survey functionality, and a native applicant tracking system for recruitment.</p><p>It lacks relatively advanced features such as payroll, benefits management, time tracking and compensation reviews.</p> | 6 <p>Zoho offers a wide range of features, covering basics along with more advanced functionality like compensation management, 360 performance review, and more at a very low cost.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">While Zoho offers plenty of functionality, many features feel underdeveloped, with poor usability limiting their overall effectiveness.</span></p> |
| Ease of Use | 8 <p>CharlieHR is generally straightforward to navigate, and it will only take a few hours for an average SMB employee to master the key functionalities of the platform.</p><p>However, note that there are a few UX quirks. For example, you're unable to add a custom data field across all employees - you'll have to do this individually in each employee's profile.</p> | 1 <p>We found trying to use Zoho to be a difficult process. We found that undertaking a simple task, such as adding different employee location options, involved visiting multiple different potential locations where this functionality may have sat before finding the correct location. We predict that it would take an average SMB employee a number of days to be able to proficiently use the product.</p> |
| Look and feel | 8 <p>CharlieHR's interface is simple and colourful, with acceptable page load times.</p> | 4 <p>Zoho has a visually acceptable layout, and web pages load reasonably fast.</p> |
| Customisability | 3 <p>We find that CharlieHR lacks some common customisability options offered by most HRIS's. For example, you're only able to ask one type of question for employee surveys, you're unable to include upward feedback for performance reviews or set them for specific employee groups only - the list goes on.</p> | 8 <p>Zoho offers a reasonably high degree of customisability. Adding custom fields for employee information, editing performance review templates, and create automated workflows are all functions which Zoho offers.</p> |
| Ease of Setup | 10 <p>CharlieHR offers a self-serve free trial without needing to talk to sales. It also takes a short time to complete basic setup (<10 minutes). Users are also able to fully customize the platform within 1-2 business days.</p> | 9 <p>Zoho provides a 30-day free trial which does not require users to contact sales before accessing the free trial. Fully customizing and setting up the platform takes 1-2 business days.</p> |
| Customer Support | 8 <p>CharlieHR offers in-app support with live human agents during UK business hours. Our testers usually get a response immediately, and have found the team to be friendly and helpful.</p> | 1 <p>We were disappointed by Zoho's customer support options. A lack of a live chat, and slow response times (>0.5 business day) mean that most support is obtained via the support page on the website. This support page is difficult to navigate and often contains information that does not match to the specific look of the software - we found, for example, that recently posted explanatory YouTube videos did not accurately represent the software.</p> |
| Integratability | 5 <p>CharlieHR only offers a handful of pre-built integrations with the most relevant third party software, such as Slack, Xero and Pento for payroll. It also has an API for custom integrations.</p> | 5 <p>While Zapier lacks pre-built integrations with some of the most important third party products (such as Slack or Jira), it does provide an open API allowing users to build their own integrations where necessary.</p> |
| Ease of Migration | 9 <p>Export of key data is available via self-serve, and a full account export is readily available on request.</p> | 8 <p>Zoho has powerful data export options. In addition to picking from a range of predetermined reports, users can customise data exports to extract the insights that they are looking for.</p> |
