Essential HR Administration.Look for software with a sturdy employee database that is easy to navigate. You should be able to add employee records with ease, and run reports to find out basic information about your workforce as a whole. It’s important to find functionality that lets you upload/create company documents, and it might be helpful to find HR software that can be synchronised with your Payroll processes.

Attendance & Shift Management Tools.Your workforce is probably big enough to warrant certain Workforce Management features. As a minimum, you’ll want to be able to track absences and book holidays. It will also help if your HR system lets you create timesheets, rotas and calendar dates.

Recruitment / ATS.As a mid-sized business, hiring is probably something you do from time to time – an Applicant Tracking System could make this easier for you, as well as helping you find the best talent.

Workflow AutomationIt's essential that you have the ability in the system to define processes for common and repetitive tasks. This can take the form of basic triggers or more sophisticated workflow processes.

Employee Self-Service.If you have more than a handful of employees, you’ll want to look for HR software with employee self-service functionality – this lets your staff directly access the HR software to perform basic functions like requesting holidays or updating contact details (it will save you or your HR manager a huge stack of time!).

Essential HR Administration.As standard, you’ll need HR software that handles all of the basics with extreme efficiency – adding employee records in bulk, running reports (by team, department or workforce), and integrating staff information with your payroll department, to name just a few. Leave no stone unturned – HR is a complex, multi-faceted industry, and you need a system that handles everything.

Attendance & Shift Management Tools.You’ll probably want a system that integrates clocking in and out, shift patterns and rotas, special rules for zero hour contracts, and a way to automatically track critical information like unauthorised absences and holiday accrual.

Recruitment / ATS.Recruitment drives are so much more effective when you have specially-designed functionality supporting you every step of the way. Look for HR software that includes an Applicant Tracking System, complete with the ability to publish vacancies to multiple platforms, receive and organise incoming applications, store unsuccessful candidates for future recruitment drives, and add new starters straight from your recruitment pipeline to your employee database.

Employee Development.The bigger you are, the harder it is to keep track of your employees’ personal development. Look for Human Resources software that lets you do things like track training programmes and perform appraisals. Ideally, you’ll want software that lets you manage company-wide performance reviews, where your managers and employees can interact and the results can be stored for analysis further on down the line.

Employee Self-Service.This lets your staff login to their own accounts, and perform basic functions like requesting holidays and updating contact details. Choosing HR software with employee self-service can help large businesses in many ways – for example, not only does it reduce administrative churn, but it also supports employee engagement.

User Permissions.As a large business, you cannot expect one person to be solely responsible for all of your HR processes – you’ll need to assign different managers and staff members their own unique permission sets, so that they can perform actions like authorising holidays or performing appraisals. Audit. You will need HR software that stores every single action that has ever been taken – this is especially important if you have multiple senior users on the system, as it will help you quickly track down and rectify any mistakes, as well as make sure key actions have been done.

Mobile Optimisation.You probably have a network of remote workers, external contractors and travelling sales reps who need to be connected with their teammates constantly – look for HR software that is optimised for mobile devices, so that your workforce can tap into essential functionality wherever they are in the world.

Essential HR Administration.You’ll need HR software that handles all of the basics with extreme efficiency. Can you add employee records in bulk? Can you run reports that can be filtered to almost infinite detail? Can you integrate your employee database with your payroll department? HR is a complex industry, and international boundaries make it even more important to find a system that runs all of your essentials seamlessly.

Attendance & Shift Management Tools.You’ll want to find a system that lets your staff register hours worked, access shift patterns and rotas, and you should look for special rules that cover zero hour contracts and international holidays. It’s also vital to find HR software that lets you automatically track critical data like absences and holiday accrual.

Recruitment / ATS.As an international business, you’ll need software that supports global recruitment drives, as well as local recruitment drives. Look for software with a sophisticated Applicant Tracking System that lets you publish vacancies to multiple platforms, manage your incoming applications, save unsuccessful candidates for future recruitment drives, and move new starters from your pipeline to your database as soon as you hit ‘Hire’.

Employee Development.With large companies, it is tough to keep consistent track of staff development. You’ll need software that lets you track complex, locally-defined webs of training programmes and initiatives; you’ll need to perform appraisals and launch company-wide performance reviews; and you’ll need a way to store and review all performance data for analysis later on.

Employee Self-Service. You’ll want individual logins for all staff members so they can request their own holidays and update their personal contact details. Look for HR software with employee self-service, as it will help you reduce huge amounts of paperwork, and it will help you engage your staff.

User Permissions.You’re going to need to assign different managers and staff members their own unique permission sets, so that they can perform actions like authorising holidays or performing appraisals, without accessing anything they shouldn’t.

Audit.You will need to audit everything that happens on your HR system – look for software that keeps a digital record of every action, for tracking down issues retrospectively, or for making sure key actions have been done.

Mobile Optimisation.This is super important for international businesses, especially with a large network of home workers, independent contractors and executives who are constantly jetting around the world. Make sure your HR software is optimised for mobile devices, so staff can tap into essential functionality no matter where they are.

International Settings.Pretty obvious, but make sure your HR software is suitable for any country you operate in – can you change the currency and language settings to match those your workforce will be using?