Performance management tools: our top 9 choices for HR
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What people ops professionals and team members expect from performance management processes is changing. While performance management used to be a flexible, top-down process encompassing little more than a set number of performance reviews per year, it’s changing to meet the evolving needs of the world of work. Specifically, people-centered organizations are moving toward collaborative, continuous performance management cycles comprising a dynamic ecosystem of assessments, feedback, and check-ins — as well as learning and development initiatives.
While all of this is great, setting up modern, multi-faceted performance management systems can be challenging. That’s why we’ve compiled this comprehensive breakdown of the top performance management tools on the market.
We’ll review each tool’s pros and cons and discuss why it is considered one of the best performance management tools. This comprehensive breakdown will empower you to make informed decisions.
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*The information below is based on our research between May and July 2024. All user feedback referenced in the text has been sourced from independent software review platforms (like G2 and Capterra) in June 2024.
Top features of a performance management tool
Different organizations have different ideas of what makes for an ideal employee performance management tool — but you should always keep the following key features in mind when searching for a performance management tool.
Best-practice templates
While creating templates for evaluations and meeting agendas from scratch is great, many busy people teams don’t have the time. That’s why choosing a performance management system with best-practice templates you can tweak and customize is ideal.
Automation
Automation can save hours of employee time. However, research shows that 43% of professionals aren’t leveraging this technology. When choosing a performance management tool, pick one that’ll take work off your plate rather than piling it on; a top-tier solution should trigger reviews and kick off cycles automatically.
People analytics
Repeat after us: Data is our friend! It’s not easy to make performance decisions, but data can make your thought process a lot more straightforward. Prioritize platforms that allow you to use data in your performance management processes to monitor trends, identify problems, spot high potential, facilitate succession planning, decide on promotions, and target training investments.
1. Leapsome
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Leapsome is an award-winning people enablement platform that empowers organizations of all sizes to take a truly holistic approach to performance management. Our eight modules work together, so people teams can establish and maintain a cycle that addresses performance from all angles to benefit employees, managers, and the business.
Our modular design also means you can adopt the features that best suit your company and build a custom, continuous performance management system that propels your organization toward its most ambitious goals.
While all of our modules contribute to holistic performance management, Reviews, Instant Feedback, Goals, and Learning are indispensable tools to improve employee performance:
- The Reviews tool allows managers to streamline and automate the administrative work that comes with evaluations while helping them deliver more meaningful, growth-oriented appraisals.
- Instant Feedback eliminates one-off review remarks and prompts all team members to share candid praise and feedback as part of their daily work.
- Our Goals feature enables leaders, managers, and individual contributors to set growth-oriented goals for themselves and understand how their work contributes to their team and company’s bigger-picture objectives.
- Learning allows managers and reports to collaborate on professional development and upskilling and gives employees access to high-quality learning materials.
- Many modules, like Goals and Reviews, have AI-powered capabilities to save you extra time
- Ideal for managing remote, hybrid, and on-site teams
- Powerful visualization and analytics tools
- Out-of-the-box Meetings feature that comes with all modules
- Outstanding customer support
- Supports 38 languages
- A wide variety of integrations
- SSO and encryption features
- ISO 27001 compliance
- Leapsome is continuously expanding its offering, and is currently developing new HR features
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- No mobile app yet (but fully mobile responsive)
- Continuous platform improvements may lead to occasional bugs
- The variety of features can result in a slight learning curve at first
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Leapsome is saving us lots of time during our performance appraisals and helps us build an open, value-oriented feedback culture. We’ve compared several platforms, and Leapsome stood out convincingly — it’s user-friendly, intuitive, and highly customizable. As a manager, I love how fast and openly the team at Leapsome reacts to our feedback and suggestions.
Dr. Christian Grobe
Leapsome enhances meaningful feedback and employee engagement. It’s a must-have for every company at any stage. We are growing toward 750 employees, but the rollout was easy, fast, and successful nonetheless. The great customer support helped us through the whole onboarding process.
Thore Schӓck
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With the help of the people analytics, you can quickly understand the significance of the results. We also frequently use the 1:1 function, which, although very simple, is extremely useful.
Erica Ancobia
We see the People team as a partner team rather than an admin team. We want to focus on our employees and not on processes. With Leapsome, we have automated the manual work around feedback and career development so that we can spend our time with our people: understanding their needs, guiding them through their very own DCMN lifecycle, and helping them find purpose in what they do.
Theresa Jasaraj
💡 A holistic platform for holistic performance
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Book a demo2. 15Five
15Five is a performance management tool and employee engagement software designed to help people teams improve communication, productivity, and team member development within their organizations. The platform supports managers in maximizing employee performance, increasing engagement, and enhancing their leadership skills to nurture high-performing teams and drive businesses toward their objectives.
- Helps synthesize data to see what’s been accomplished
- Gives a great overview of team status
- Granular insights when compared with competitors
- Straightforward and easy to use
- Great customer support
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- Some users feel the platform is on the expensive side
- Some users report issues with the 1:1 feature
- Not as comprehensive a solution as some other options on the market
- A lack of help articles
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3. ClearCompany
The ClearCompany performance management tool is part of the broader ClearCompany talent management software. The platform makes it easy for organizations to manage their human resources team effectively and streamline onboarding, talent acquisition, and performance tasks. It also allows people managers to implement an employee-first approach to performance management, conduct better evaluations, provide better feedback, and simplify the review cycle.
- Helpful resources for users, like webinars
- Intuitive to use and navigate overall
- Easy to customize so it fits with your organization and workflows
- Good reporting and analytics features
- Cost-effective solution
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- Some users say specific features, like new hire onboarding, can be hard to navigate
- Some users feel the performance tool is missing features
- Some bugs and slow loading times reported
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4. Engagedly
Engagedly is a people management solution that simplifies and incorporates employee engagement into its performance-tracking tools. The platform is designed to help HR leaders effectively manage team members, track performance over time, and work more efficiently. Engagedly enables users to set and manage goals, collect 360° feedback, and recognize employee achievements.
- Various tools to support performance, like Overviews, Feedback, Check-Ins, and Goals
- Team members can request and share feedback
- Easy for admins to set up, implement, and manage
- Highly customizable
- Great customer support
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- Not a comprehensive HR management solution
- Some users report that the app is complex to use
- Some users want more automation capabilities
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5. Mitratech Trakstar
Mitratech Trakstar is a comprehensive talent management solution that uses features like 360° feedback and goal tracking to maximize team members’ performance. People professionals can use the performance management tool to set and track employee goals, collect different forms of feedback, run engagement surveys, and manage reviews.
- Helps streamline evaluation processes
- Highly customizable
- Great customer support during implementation
- Useful cascading goals feature to push corporate and team goals
- Easy to build different kinds of reviews
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- Some users say the platform can be overwhelming to use at the outset
- Some users feel the survey tool is lackluster
- Can be clunky to use and hard to make bulk edits within the platform
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6. Motivosity
Motivosity is a people-first engagement software solution built to boost engagement, forge connections between managers and reports, and enable people leaders to foster a meaningful company culture. What makes Motivosity unique is its ability to recognize and reward team members and create an enjoyable work environment. While it’s not a traditional HR performance management tool, the platform aims to boost performance by focusing on understanding employee sentiment, sharing recognition and rewards, and improving people’s job satisfaction.
- User-friendly, visually appealing interface
- Empowers employees to recognize their colleagues’ contributions
- Possible to give out points that employees can redeem for a gift at the customizable company store
- Real-time insights into recognition trends, engagement levels, and overall morale
- Cost-effective
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- Not a standalone performance tracking tool — needs to be used with another solution
- Some users say it’s difficult to access transaction history
- Some users feel recognition categories could be more creative
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7. PerformYard
PerformYard is a people management platform that can enhance the way your organization approaches employee reviews, goals, and feedback. PerformYard’s business performance management tools are designed to make people management easier, with features for employee appraisals, 360° reviews, quarterly check-ins, project-based reviews, and 1:1s. The platform is also customizable, so you can set it up to suit your organizational needs and preferences.
- Easy to use and implement
- Possible to share organizational goals in many ways throughout the platform
- Simple to identify internal areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions
- Great customer support
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- Some users report the surveys lack customization features
- Some users have concerns that team members won’t use the platform to its full potential
- Reporting features could be improved
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8. Small Improvements
Small Improvements is a continuous performance management tool designed to enable people leaders to help team members grow. Managers can use the platform to share feedback and praise with reports, conduct 1:1 check-ins, organize performance evaluations, run pulse surveys, and set and monitor goals over time.
- Keeps both individual and team improvement top of mind
- Encourages employees to share feedback
- Simple and consistent platform
- Easy to set up performance review cycles for an entire organization
- Wide range of integrations
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- Some users report issues assigning more than one manager to employees
- Some users say team members don’t use the platform for communication as much as they could
- Need for more advanced 1:1 functionalities
- Not enough capabilities for larger organizations
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9. Workhuman Conversations
Workhuman Conversations is a performance management software tool within the Workhumans toolsuite. It unites agile performance development with structured evaluations and feedback to create organizational cultures based on collaboration, growth, and learning.
- Empowers coworkers, managers, and executives to send out quick notes of appreciation
- Possible to give team members points they can use for rewards
- User-friendly interface
- Easy to adopt and roll out company-wide
- Recognition forms are intuitive
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- Some users have experienced issues with reports and filters
- Some users want more variety in terms of rewards and gift cards, especially in countries other than the United States
- Some problems reported with points redemption and the general cost of rewards
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Why customers love us
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Leapsome has been an absolute game-changer for me in terms of my professional growth and development. What I love best about Leapsome is how it has empowered me to take control of my career journey. The user-friendly interface and intuitive design of Leapsome have made it incredibly easy for me to navigate and utilize the platform.
Victor J.
Enterprise (1000+ emloyees)
Leapsome stands out as a best-in-class platform that seamlessly addresses a spectrum of organizational needs, excelling in performance management, employee engagement, OKRs, and learning. Its unparalleled strength lies in its deep integration with existing tools, effortlessly connecting with our HRIS, Slack, Calendar, and Jira.
Jamie S.
Mid-market (50-1000 employees)
Our company is new to Leapsome, but the onboarding has been fantastic. Our Leapsome contact has worked with us every step of the way to make sure that the review process will be easy on HR and all employees. He has walked us through the process step by step to create a review that will be ready to roll out pretty much immediately.
Karen H.
Mid-market (50-1000 employees)
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