The purpose of staffing software is to manage information related to recruiting of new applicants, retention of existing employees, and staffing of positions within your organization.
This software, similar to applicant tracking software, is available in several forms:
- Custom Developed, as a standalone – affordable by large, unique corporations only
- As part of another enterprise or HR package. There are many of these, most of them under the general category of ‘HR software'
- As a stand-alone software package. Actually there are very few of these, ast most have tried to gain larger market shares by encompassing more functionality in the HR realm.
Software for staffing needs includes tracking applicants and positions have developed, it typically includes connections to benefits software, often to HIPAA or other regulatory software, and usually to accounting or payroll software as well.
Because of their preponderance and the competitiveness in the market, Basic to moderate functions for staffing software are now very affordable for medium or even small business.
Major entries in the In-house system market include:
- Questek
- Mindscope
- StaffingSoft
- PeopleSoft
- Projectix
- SAP
- and thousands more
In selecting the proper software for your staffing needs, several factors come into play.
These factors are similar to those for selecting other software packages:
- Market usage: Do other organizations in the same business use a specific package (most companies should follow usage trends, not try to set them)
- Availability of data: Can you extract data from a standard database for easy interaction with your other systems or for customized reporting needs
- Interfaces: Are there interfaces built into the software to allow for automated interfaces into other standard software such as other HR software or business management software or accounting software
- Specifics of business: If you hire predominantly seasonal or migrant workers, certain packages may work better. If you are in certain states with specific reporting requirements, certain packages may be better. If you hire contract vs. permanent, or if you place employees as consultants to other organizations, etc., then some packages may work better than others.
- Training: Especially with a small business, getting everyone up to speed quickly on a new software package is critical
- System resources: Not usually an issue, but sometimes small business environments are on over-taxed hardware already.