10 Best Small Business Performance Management Software in 2024

The performance management process is a complex system when it comes to large companies, as they seek comprehensive and integrated software solutions that have the capability to handle all the facets of performance management and reviews.

On the other hand, small businesses may not really need a highly complex set of software to manage their workforce and assess their performance. But it is important that they use some form of automated performance management system to assess their employees and deliver feedback.

So it is sort of a trial for small businesses in finding the right performance management software solutions.

To support this, we took upon ourselves the task of reviewing some small business performance management software solution available in the market today and putting together a top 10 list (in no particular order).

Performance management software has stemmed from many other forms of employee appraisals. It is an application that assesses an employee's performance. It compares information between current and past appraisals, perhaps also encompassing potential performance in the future.

This is normally a standard or an accepted method among various software, which acts as a feature to evaluate the appraisals as a form of benchmark towards the employee's potential or future performance.

This top 10 software would be a guide for small businesses when it comes to selecting the best performance management for their business. They include the following:

Bamboo HR is a solution that is specifically designed for small businesses. The main selling points of this product to small businesses are its price and its simplicity. While big-name HR solutions may offer more, small HR departments have trouble shelling out the piles of cash required to purchase these big name solutions.

At only roughly $4 per employee, small businesses would be hard pressed to find a better price. Also, Bamboo HR is relatively easy to pick up and use, cutting out the need to spend extra money on implementation and training.

This is a critical factor, considering small businesses don't have a lot of time to spend trying to get an HR solution up and running.

Usually, HR is something that gets tacked on after business starts to pick up and becomes overwhelming. The sooner small businesses can get some HR organizations going, the better. The four main components of this solution are: system management, tracking, organizing, and interaction.

PerformYard is a small business performance management tool specifically focused on employee performance and is best for those transitioning from a paper-based system. PerformYard's platform is visually appealing and easy to use, which can be refreshing for those currently using outdated performance review processes.

The interface includes six main components: reviews, goals, feedback, 1-on-1s, and check-ins, making it a complete package for performance management. In addition to these components, the software has features for 360-degree feedback and year-round feedback, making it a versatile tool for different types of feedback processes. 

In addition to its simplicity and range of tools, one of its greatest strengths is its outstanding customer support team. Users rave about the prompt and helpful support they receive, and this is clearly highlighted as a priority on their website.

The tool is appropriate for organizations with anywhere from a few employees to enterprise level, and pricing is competitive at $6 per user per month. This makes it a viable option for many organizations.

Lattice is a cloud-based performance management system used by businesses of all sizes to manage employee reviews and goals. This software is designed to help companies achieve high performance by encouraging continuous improvement and maintaining a competitive advantage through talent.

Lattice has several features that help employers be more efficient and strategic when managing employee performance. One feature in particular worth noting is how the review process can be automated by Lattice so that employers will not have to continually be reminded to fill out reviews. They can simply input when the reviews are due, and Lattice will automate the process from that point on.

Another feature that makes Lattice a feasible software for performance management is how the software aligns employees' goals with the company's. By doing so, employees have a better idea of what is expected of them, and employers are able to make sure the work the employee is doing is helping the company achieve its objectives. One notable task that Lattice can help improve is employee feedback.

An interesting part of HiBob is the option to pay a little extra for an HR consultant. If you are a small business that has a desperate need to improve employee performance but is clueless on how to go about it, this is a viable option at $100 a month. This is a way more cost-effective consultant than hiring a personal one, and it can give a small business the right guidance to truly benefit from performance management.

You may think that because this is a relatively inexpensive product, the functionality will be basic. However, this is not the case. HiBob can boast a number of features to help small businesses with performance management. This includes employee self-reviews, internal feedback, and 360-degree feedback. All of this is offered through simple and easy-to-use interfaces for both admins and employees.

This is a key aspect for a small business that was previously using outdated methods to get feedback from employees. HiBob can also cater to large teams of 500 employees. This means a growing small business will not outgrow the software and will not require the hassle of swapping to new software in the future.

HiBob's three-tier pricing ranges from $8 to $20 per month, which is very sensible for a small business with only a limited number of employees. All pricing plans come with a 14-day free trial.

One of the strongest features of Paylocity is its reporting and analytics capabilities. The employee is not overwhelmed by a vast amount of metrics; rather, it is a few simple tools to effectively measure performance in comparison against others or over a period of time.

This can be crucial for a small business that lacks dedicated HR expertise, as this tool essentially guides the manager to make better decisions using data-driven results.

Paylocity's performance management offering is completed by a comprehensive training tool. Although it was difficult to gauge the specific quality of this feature, it's a great addition for small businesses that often need one simple tool that fulfills multiple needs. Offering a typical SaaS deployment of their solution with a price per employee per month, Paylocity is a strong contender for small businesses.

Paylocity is a modern HR and payroll technology company, with a strong emphasis on performance management. Hailing from Chicago, this company serves over 10% of the Fortune 500 and more than 20% of the Inc. 500, with a majority of their clients in the small business sector. They possess a high energy and high growth culture, and this is reflected in a transparent and intuitive user interface.

The performance management system is primarily preset for employees, where managers set goals from time to time for certain tasks. It has an employee self-review at the end of a certain time period. The reflection on the set goals and what was achieved is measured, with the variance being the increase in future goal outputs.

This system is followed by 360 feedback, which reviews the employees' input. The feedback, compared to the self-review, will highlight the matching discrepancies. This system is good, but for smaller companies, spending time on setting goals and objectives and not really understanding the work culture and what motivates employees can be less effective.

This platform has made its name in companies with a growing start-up culture because the work that is being done there is solely based on studying and understanding employee psychology, how to build an effective and constructive workforce, and measuring and improving the organization.

It has been effective in around 800 companies worldwide and has proven to be one of the best. This tool is perfect for a company that is trying to understand their workforce, what motivates them, and how to build an ideal working environment.

Leapsome aims to provide a sophisticated HR module for corporate, but it is also used by small businesses. Leapsome enables business goals to cascading. Admin can add company goals and align them with the team and individual goals. It's easy to use, customizable, and helps to make expectations clear.

The performance review process is customizable. Admin can customize the review form, e.g., add a rating scale, add multiple choices, etc. Managers can leave feedback and comments. The feedback can be commented on further back and forth between the manager and the employee.

This is a useful feature since it captures the feedback into data and stores it in one place. The most valuable feedback will always be the data itself when it is time to see the career path, who deserves a promotion, or unfortunately, who is not meeting expectations and has to be terminated. 

With Leapsome performance review data, it can help to make decisions based on valid data. At the end of the review, there is a meeting to discuss the development and next steps for the employee's career path. Leapsome also provides 360-degree feedback. Employees can ask for feedback on themselves to get better improvement on their skills from everyone who has worked with them.

This is the most suitable for small and medium businesses to optimize HR duties. It offers an effective platform to organize employee data, from recruitment to retirement. This feature is very useful for small businesses with limited HR because, with Paycom, employee data management can be done by non-HR staff because everything is served in just a few clicks. 

Employee data that has been inputted into Paycom will have criteria that allow employees to instantly generate a report to see their own employment details. This practicality can further save HR time from making routine reports.

Later, Paycom HRIS functionality gives HR the freedom to use and customize the features they deem necessary for their HR management process. 

Unfortunately, Paycom does not have clear pricing, but based on Capterra, a site that provides reviews and price comparisons for various software, the average price per Paycom user is between $3 and $50.

Performance Pro provides a program that is perfect for small businesses; it is cost-effective and can help eliminate the paper evaluation forms that many small businesses still use today. This software also allows you to track progress on performance related goals in between appraisals.

With all of this being said, one of the best features for a small business is the live knowledgeable customer service. This allows small companies with no dedicated HR staff to be able to get the assistance they need with the system in an efficient manner.

This tool may not be as comprehensive when compared to those for larger businesses, but it is an efficient method to automate a performance management system at a small business cost.

Performance Pro provides a suite of online, automated performance appraisals for small, medium, and large companies. Its approach is one that is designed to move a company towards a 'pay for performance' culture. This is done by enabling an employee to input their own appraisals with their management.

Zoho People is an online HR management software that is ideally suited for small and midsized businesses. It is an excellent tool for small businesses to keep all HR operations on one platform.

The software is very straightforward and easy to use, with customized options based on the size and needs of the business. Zoho People offers tools for attendance tracking, leave management, and a powerful self-service portal, which includes an employee directory and appraisal features.

A documented performance appraisal tool is included that is proven to make the appraisal process easier. The Zoho People Performance module offers a simple yet effective way to appraise and develop employees. This tool is designed to provide continuous feedback and foster collaboration around performance.

Deciding which application to use can be tough when there are a lot of options out there. But this should not be the case when you are shopping for performance management software. 

The very fact that you are considering performance management software means your business is getting larger, and in this economic environment, increasing in size can be a risk. The criteria for selecting the best software is that:

One modern-day approach to measuring your business's success is to use of small business performance management software. This software essentially does what a human does, but at a much faster speed and often with more accuracy.

These programs are designed to help measure company success and then suggest what can be done to make improvements to what is being measured. This is primarily done by setting goals for the company and then measuring results and comparing them to the set goals.

However, with a growing small business, it can be difficult to keep track of the company's goals and achievements. It is important to have a good performance measurement system to relay to employees and managers how the company is doing currently and what can be done to improve it.