HRIS: How to pick the right tool
HRIS: How to pick the right tool

HRIS: How to pick the right tool

Category
HR

Do you need to implement an HRIS?

🤔

You don’t need an HRIS at 10 employees, but waiting too long leads to errors, admin debt, and legal risk. These questions help you assess whether your current setup is still fit for purpose.

image

Key signs it's time:

Are we spending too much time on admin tasks and not enough on hiring and strategic actions?
Have we made errors with contracts, payroll, or time off recently?
Are HR processes still spread across email, Excel, and Slack, and we’ve passed 30+ employees?
Do managers lack visibility into basic people data?
Is reporting for compliance becoming a burden?

Clear milestones to watch for:

Are we nearing or past 50, 100, or 150 employees?
Are we hiring across multiple teams, sites, or countries?
Is HR becoming (or already) a full-time job?
Are we preparing for due diligence, a CSE setup, or ESG reporting?
🤔

If two or more apply, it’s likely the right time to explore a more structured HR setup.

Map out your HRIS essentials and priorities

Overview of core HRIS modules:

Module
Function
Priority indicator
Core HR
Employee records, contracts, documents, alerts, custom fields
Essential
Time Off & Absences
Leave tracking, policies, manager approvals, team calendars
Essential
Payroll & Compliance
Payroll processing, tax filings, social declarations (e.g. DSN in France), benefits tracking
Essential in France
ATS (Recruitment)
Candidate tracking, hiring pipeline
Important if scaling fast
Onboarding / Offboarding
Task checklists, tool provisioning, document collection, offboarding flows
Recommended from 10+ employees
Performance & Feedback
Reviews, goal tracking, feedback loops
Important once above 30 employees
Compensation & Benefits
Salary grids, equity plans, perks
Relevant from Series A stage
Org Chart & Directory
Team structure, roles, responsibilities
Nice to have early on
Compliance & Audit
Access rights, legal tracking, GDPR, audit logs
Critical in international environments
HR Analytics
Dashboards for headcount, attrition, diversity, time-to-hire
Useful after 50+ employees / board reporting
Employee Self-Service
Personal data access, requests (leave, docs), updates
Expected by employees from ~30 FTE

Drafting your HRIS requirements/vendor brief (RFP):

Before choosing a tool, you need clarity on what you expect it to do. That’s where a clear, well-structured requirements brief becomes essential.

A RFP (Request for Proposal) is typically a formal document used to compare vendors in a structured buying process.

“Most early-stage startups don’t go through a formal RFP. But taking 30 minutes to send vendors a short, clear summary of your needs, constraints, and must-haves helps you:
  • Focus demo calls on what really matters to you
  • Spot dealbreakers early (e.g. no integration, hidden fees)
  • Compare offers with a shared baseline”
image

Pauline Paquet, Director of Operations @XAnge

The document below is a french Word template to structure HRIS needs. Use it as a starting point:

image

The file below is a lightweight vendor briefing doc.

image

Compare and choose the right tool for your startup: HRIS vs. ATS-first vs. Payroll-first platforms

There is no universal HRIS solution. The right tool depends on your company’s current priorities, such as managing payroll efficiently, supporting fast-paced recruitment, or structuring performance processes as your team scales.

Here’s a breakdown of the main HRIS types, with examples and the use cases they’re best suited for:

Tool Type
Best for…
Examples
Generalist HRIS
Startups looking for an all-in-one platform to manage employee records, absences, onboarding, and compliance from 15-30 employees onward
Lucca, HiBob, Personio, Factorial
ATS-first (Application Tracking System)
Companies hiring more than 3-5 people per month, needing structured pipelines, team collaboration, and employer branding tools
Greenhouse, Lever, Welcome to the Jungle
Payroll-first
Companies with complex payroll requirements, DSN compliance, or needing to centralize variable compensation, benefits, and legal reporting
PayFit, Nibelis, ADP
Performance-first
Teams with >30 employees looking to implement structured 1:1s, OKRs, review cycles, and engagement tracking
Lattice, 15Five, Leapsome

Cover the basics with a generalist-HRIS

Generalist HRIS platforms are built to consolidate all key HR workflows, from employee records, to onboarding, time off, payroll, and more into a single system.

They offer broad coverage, strong automation features, and integration capabilities with tools like Slack, Notion, PayFit, and Microsoft 365. Most allow you to start with basic modules and scale up progressively as your needs evolve.

image

Recruit first with an ATS-focused HRIS

Definition: An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) centralizes candidate data, standardizes hiring steps, and improves collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers.

Choosing the right Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a critical decision for any startup looking to scale its hiring efficiently. To help XAnge-backed founders and talent teams make informed choices, we've benchmarked the most commonly used ATS platforms across our portfolio.

This benchmark includes:

  • A breakdown of ATS platforms used by XAnge portfolio companies
  • Company size distribution per ATS (in number of employees)
  • A focus on ease of use, pricing, and features

Which ATS tools are used by XAnge portfolio companies?

⚠️
This benchmark is using data available online (LinkedIn, WTTJ...). Also, they only reflect the company at the moment when we collected those data. The benchmark is up-to-date as of June 2025. If you notice any mistake, please don't hesitate to contact us: startupsuccess@xange.vc

ATS adoption among XAnge portfolio companies strongly correlates with team size and growth stage:

  • Early-stage startups (<50) often use lightweight tools (JOIN, Wellfound) or no ATS at all.
  • Scaleups (50–300) adopt structured solutions like Teamtailor or Personio.
  • Beyond 300, companies move to enterprise-grade tools like Lever, SmartRecruiters, or Workday. ⇒ Welcome to the Jungle stands out as a versatile option adopted across all stages.

Graphique

2 views

Graphique

Données

image
Curious? Here is the initial data

Comparison of leading ATS tools

Put payroll first with a payroll-focused HRIS

Managing payroll manually is slow and risky (especially in France, where DSN and benefits reporting are mandatory). Some HRIS platforms make payroll their core engine, with built-in DSN, tax, and benefits integrations.

Important notably if you’re an international companies with very different payrolls accountant to manage.

👉 Use the table below to compare payroll capabilities across tools:

HRIS Payroll integration (2024 version)

HRIS
France
US
Notes
HiBob
✅ Integrates with PayFit, ADP France, etc.
✅ Native integrations (ADP, Gusto, Paychex)
Strong EU/US coverage; open API allows flexibility for unsupported regions like China
Personio
✅ Strong EU integrations (e.g., PayFit)
⚠️ Limited functionality outside EU
Ideal if France is the core region; lacks global capabilities
Factorial
✅ Basic integrations (PayFit, Sage)
⚠️ Exports only (CSV/API); no native US payroll
Budget-friendly, but requires manual processes or middleware for anything global
BambooHR
⚠️ Not localized; lacks native payroll integration
✅ Native US payroll (Gusto, ADP, Paychex)
US-centric; requires manual workflows for other regions
Humaans
⚠️ API/custom integration required
⚠️ API/custom integration required
Designed for modern automation; payroll not a core strength
Rippling
⚠️ No native payroll; uses partners (e.g., PayFit, Deel)
✅ Best-in-class US payroll (fully native)
Unified platform; excellent for distributed or hybrid teams managing multiple geographies

Drive growth with a performance-first HRIS

Past 30-50 employees, ad-hoc feedback stops working. You need structured cycles to retain top talent and align teams.

Performance-first tools focus on reviews, 1:1s, OKRs, and engagement. They bring clarity for employees, visibility for managers, and consistency across teams.

👉 Use the benchmark below to pick a tool that fits your team size, culture, and pace.

HR workforce performance management tool benchmark:

icon

Tool spotlight: Lucca

Lucca is a modular HRIS built in France, designed to support SMEs and mid-sized companies in digitizing core administrative HR tasks.

Key facts:

  • 🇫🇷 French-native solution, fully DSN-compliant
  • Modular: each module covers a specific function (absences, employee records, expenses, payslips)
  • API-based integrations with PayFit, Slack, Microsoft 365, and other common tools

XAnge x Lucca exclusive perks:

image

20% off on yearly subscription + 1 day of setup offered (min 1050€)

icon

Lucca is usually adopted when XAnge portfolio companies start to formalize their internal HR processes:

  • Typically used between 75 and 250 FTEs, when manual tools are no longer enough
  • It often complements or precedes the adoption of ATS or payroll systems, acting as a foundational layer in the HR stack.