Breathe HR review

If you’re a small business that has fewer employees than a large corporation then some of the best payroll software out there might seem a little more than you need.

However, SMEs need to be just as lean and efficient, if not more so, than those larger outfits, so having the right payroll and HR package can still be money well spent. Something our best HR software guide underlines only too well.

Breathe HR has been designed with SMEs firmly in mind, with features and functions that will allow you to save time, get administrative tasks done more efficiently and keep your employees feeling valued.

It’s been successful in attracting over 16,000 UK SMEs and has served them well to date with a cloud-based, GDPR-complaint solution with maximum data security.

It’s also a great package for ensuring your data is kept safe and secure. If you’re not convinced then it’s possible to try Breathe as part of a free 14-day trial.

• Our guide to the best payroll software

Breathe HR: Plans and pricing

The Breathe HR pricing structure is based on a per organisation arrangement, rather than the per person route favourite by some software vendors. This in itself makes Breathe HR a practical and easy-to-fathom solution, which doesn’t have the convoluted structuring that some larger and better known rivals tend to have.

As mentioned above, if you’d like to explore its capabilities then Breathe HR is available, complete with all the features, free for 14 days.

The first step is to choose a plan suited to the size of your business: 1-10 people (Micro), 11-20 (Starter), 21-50 (Regular), 51-100 (Pro), 101-150 (Premium) or 151-200 (Plus).

Pricing for these sits at £22, £39, £89, £159, £369 and £525 per month, and remember, that’s for the business, not per person. This actually makes it pretty cost-effective compared with other options, which either charge a per-person rate or a nominal per-person rate on top of a company subscription.

There are also discounts available for annual commitments, where you’ll pay around 10-11 months’ worth for 12 months’ access.

Four separate add-ons are also available for extra monthly charges: Rota, Time & Attendance (£10), Learn (£12), Recruitment tracking (£21) and Expenses management (£12).

Breathe HR: Features

Although Breathe HR is aimed more at the small business community, that doesn't mean that it’s lacking in any department. In fact, Breathe HR is literally bursting with lots of features and functions, all within the framework of a simple to use system.

All the essentials are there, like employee records, document and policy management, holiday, leave and absence tracking and analytics-backed reporting.

It lets you tackle all of those everyday HR tasks like rotas and shift planning, with support for clocking in and out, timesheets and the ability to manage staff availability. The built-in overlapping shift detection is also a pretty neat feature, helping to iron out any potential mistkaes.

The software can also be integrated with the Breathe API and Xero Payroll, which broadens both its reach and appeal still further.

Drill down inside those core features and you’ll find that Breathe HR can facilitate quick and easy staff and holiday planning, track employees holidays and monitor absenteeism.

There’s scheduling for working out rotas, team management tools and a way of forecasting salaries too. You can also manage payroll, track performance and carry out both location and Covid 19 management as and when it’s needed.

Time is always money in the world of the SMEs, so it’s also good to know that Breathe HR can handle time logging, time tracking and there’s a time clock system for covering all bases during work time and shifts.

Office administrators as well as bosses will also love the HR dashboard alongside the HR database that comes as part of Breathe HR while easy document management extends the appeal.

Of course, you also have all the boring stuff like performance management, setting and tracking objectives, one-to-ones and continuous feedback. Of course, workers hate this, but combining all of these into one slick HR platform makes it easier to get the job done, reducing the amount of time workers and managers have to spend on tedious tasks.

Any company that has employees is duty bound to ensure they have security first in mind when it comes to protecting data. You’ll find that Breathe HR meets all the criteria for ensuring personnel records are handled discreetly and behind a secure curtain.

This includes having a two-factor authentication system in place for all users. Breathe HR also has a dedicated page on its website, where it is possible to drill down and check all of its security credentials.

Breathe HR: Ease of use

If you’re running a business then one of the biggest chores for anyone is getting to grips with a new software package. However, Breathe HR has been designed and engineered specifically for SMEs and as a result of that it is very easy to master.

The overall design and layout is quite minimalist, with a solid use of colour in all the right places.

Getting to grips with menus and other features and functions is surprisingly straightforward. At the same time, Breathe HR never looks or feels like it’s too basic.

Small business owners should find it carries out all of their everyday HR management tasks with aplomb. The software should become even better once the integration with Xero Payroll comes to fruition too.

On the whole, users note solid performance, and that could be from the fact that Breathe uses redundancy in its UK data center strategy to ensure real-time backup and limited downtime in the event of any failure.

Not only is the mobile experience easy to use for employees who want to request time off, but managers can also approve it on the go. By removing some of the layers between request and approval, this makes for an overall slicker operation at the company-level.

However, from the administrative side, some note that reporting and document management features edge more towards the basic end, so if you’re a bigger company in need of a more complex system, Breathe HR might not be the one.

Breathe HR: Support

Breathe HR offers an easy way to get in contact via the chat interface built into the application, as well as email support.

Self-service modes include a knowledge base with help articles and guides, but we also love the video webinars published which help users who prefer to learn visually or those who need guiding through some parts of the platform.

The UK-focused company has UK-based hosting and support, which is really helpful for SMEs who need that extra layer of regulation understanding and data protection.

Breathe HR: Final verdict

Overall, Breathe HR looks to be an excellent and very cost effective option for anyone running a smaller outfit, with up to 250 employees.

The fact that it now has strengthened intgrations with Xero mean you can run your payroll, bookkeeping and HR systems in tandem without any technical limitations.

Breathe HR is well-suited to UK-based SMBs who would benefit from built-in compliance with local regulations, and it proves HR software doesn’t need to be as complicated as it used to be.

A comparable alternative to Breathe HR is Gusto, which lets you handle HR but has payroll functionality as part of the package too.

• Read our guide to the best payroll software