HRIS
Also called: HR information system, HRMS
HRIS vs. ATS — the line everyone gets wrong
The clean dividing line: before someone signs the offer, they live in the ATS. After they sign, they live in the HRIS.
- ATS (Join, Workable, Greenhouse): manages the hiring funnel — applications, interviews, decisions.
- HRIS (BambooHR, Personio, HiBob): manages the employment relationship — contracts, time off, performance, payroll feeds.
A few mid-market vendors blur the line by selling both modules. For most SMBs, picking best-of-breed in each — an ATS that integrates cleanly with the HRIS — beats picking a one-tool-does-everything platform that does both poorly.
What an HRIS actually does
The core functions:
- Employee record of truth (contract details, manager, team).
- Time-off requests and approvals.
- Org chart and reporting lines.
- Payroll feeds (usually integration with a separate payroll provider).
- Document storage for contracts and amendments.
- Performance review workflow (some HRIS, not all).
When SMBs need one
The threshold is typically around 15-25 employees. Below that, a spreadsheet works. Above, the spreadsheet starts losing things and HRIS pays for itself in audit trail and time-off chaos prevention.
Where Join fits
Join integrates with major European HRIS systems (Personio, BambooHR, HiBob) so a signed offer in Join lands as a new employee in the HRIS without re-entry. See the features page.
