Breathe HR: The Overview
Breathe HR is a leading HR platform for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It’s a cloud-based HR Information System (HRIS), which makes it easy for managers and executives to manage their HR functions. Breathe HR offers a range of information management and reporting capabilities, so you can easily keep track of your team’s progress.
Breathe HR Key Features and Services
There are three core elements of the Breathe system:
1. Leave and Absence. You can record and report on sickness, annual leave, and other types of leave. Employees can use the employee dashboard to request leave and HR users can approve the leave requests. For sickness, you can record the sickness type and report on trends to help you effectively manage your workforce.
2. Reporting. You can produce a range of useful reports to help you track people data, performance, absence, and more.
3. People Management. You can record all the relevant information you need to manage your workforce, from contact details to preferred pronouns.
Optional Modules:
1. Learn. The Learn module comes with 23 courses that you can assign to your employees. The courses are already created; all you need to do is assign them by employee or department, and track their completion. Examples of available courses are ‘Acceptable internet use’ and ‘Emotional intelligence in leadership’.
2. Rota, Time, and Attendance. For businesses that manage timesheets and rotas, this module allows you to set rotas, clock employees in and out, track timesheets, and see a snapshot of who is working at any time. There’s even a mobile app to allow employees to view their shifts from their preferred device.
3. Expenses. This optional module allows employees to submit expenses directly from their dashboard. HR users can then review, approve, and report on expense claims.
4. Recruitment. This optional module allows you to track applicants for vacancies through each stage of your recruitment process and onboard successful applicants into the core module of Breathe HR.
Breathe HR Pricing
Breathe operates a subscription-based pricing model with a core package and four optional modules. Pricing varies depending on the number of employees that you have.
The core package starts at £12 for 1-10 employees and rises to £251 for 200 or more employees. Adding one of the optional modules raises the price to £17, and adding both modules is £22 for 1-10 employees and £443 for the full package for over 200 employees.
What is Breathe HR?
Breathe HR is an HRIS that helps businesses manage their most important asset: their people. As part of the core offering, it provides:
- A comprehensive reporting system offering insights into your HR data.
- Robust performance management tracking. Record and track company objectives and ensure employee objectives are linked. Track deliverables and monitor performance.
- Employee self-service. Employees have access to a dashboard where they can view key information and make requests.
- Kudos and company suggestions. Employees can give each other kudos for a job well done or make suggestions to improve the business.
- Automations. Employees receive automated emails to notify them of new objectives or actions.
Pros and Cons of Breathe HR
1. The Good of Breathe HR
Intuitive User Interface
- The user interface is clear and easy to use. It’s perfect for users of all abilities, backgrounds or skill levels.
- There are also comprehensive user guides and helpful walk-throughs that are presented as you work your way through the functionality, along with frequent webinars for trial customers, so it’s almost impossible to get lost or confused.
Transparent and Flexible Pricing Options
- Breathe offers clear and transparent pricing on their website. No need to get a specialized quote. You can quickly and easily choose your core modules and any required add-ons and see how much they will cost per month or per annum based on the number of employees in the business.
Modular
- You can keep costs down by selecting only the elements you need for your business. The core module contains the essentials like employee records and performance. Beyond that, you can choose what is required and add only the relevant modules.
2. The Bad of Breathe HR
Basic Reporting.
- Breathe’s reporting covers all the key bases, but reports are not customizable, and you can only select from a pre-defined list of available reports. Most reports generated are tables of data and it can be challenging to see the big picture.
- You can, however, export most reports to Excel where you can manipulate and analyze the data further.
Not Easily Customisable
- Breathe is built with the needs of the average SMB in mind, and it covers everything your typical business will need. However, if you require customization beyond the existing add-on options, then you may find that Breathe is a little inflexible for your needs.
Not Totally Suitable For Larger Businesses
- Although it is a great tool for smaller businesses, it may not be the best fit for larger organizations. Breathe does not offer some of the features that are essential for larger businesses, such as advanced reporting and customization. As a result, businesses larger than 250 employees should consider other HRIS solutions that are better suited to their needs.
3. The Beautiful of Breathe HR
Employee Dashboard
- Employees have access to an employee dashboard where they can request and manage leave, report sickness, view details of one-to-ones and objectives, and access or request training. The navigation bar at the top of the page has additional options, including giving ‘kudos’ to colleagues and making company suggestions.
- The clean and simple dashboard interface makes it easy for employees to manage their HR needs in one place, and the additional options like kudos are a great way to motivate and inspire.
Low Monthly Cost
- With pricing tiers to suit every business budget, Breathe is an affordable HRIS for most SMBs. With pricing linked to the number of employees and optional modules you are only paying for the elements that you actually need, making it a flexible option that can scale and grow alongside your business up to 250 employees.
Cloud-based
- Access the system seamlessly from anywhere, with no specific hardware requirements. Any business can get straight to work with Breathe’s cloud-based model. It’s even mobile-friendly so you can request or approve leave requests on the go.
Breathe Feature Dive
Although Breathe is simple and easy to use, it has a wealth of features to help you level up your HR admin. Let’s look at some of them in further detail:
The HR Dashboard
When you log into Breathe, as a HR user you will be taken to the HR Dashboard which contains the following sections:
- People Snapshot, a row of icons along the top of the dashboard giving you a quick overview of how many people are active in the business and how many are on leave or working from home.
- Data to-dos, provides an overview of any missing data or HR actions that are currently outstanding, such as welcome emails for recently onboarded staff.
- To review and approve, which has details of anything that you need to approve, including sickness and employee objectives.
- Next 7 days, which shows details of anything coming up in the next week, such as employees with birthdays and any scheduled one-to-ones.
Reporting and HR Analytics
Breathe offers an extensive range of standard reports, allowing you to analyze and report on key metrics, including:
- Absence
- Sickness
- Remuneration
- People Records
- Performance
- HR Reports
Many of the reports are tabular and can be exported to Excel. Some reports are presented in a more visual format, such as the Overview report available from the tab in the Reporting area.
Adding New Employees
Adding new employees is straightforward. From the ‘People’ option in the navigation menu, select ‘Add New’. Fill in essential information like name, job title, and start date to create an employee record.
Once created, you can add additional information such as the employee’s line manager and/or direct reports, emergency contact details and professional memberships.
Employee Performance
You can track and record employee performance data in this section. Under the Performance banner, you will see a quick snapshot of the employee’s current and recent performance and any scheduled on-to-ones.
The Objectives and Deliverables tiles give a clear snapshot of performance over the last twelve months against objectives and deliverables compared to the rest of the business. This makes it easy to see at a glance which employees are underperforming and which are high performers.
You can also see upcoming and completed one-to-ones and review any relevant notes and documents.
Unique Points of Value
An excellent feature in Breathe is the ability to give kudos to other employees. This can be viewed on the Community tab on the dashboards, alongside another great feature – company suggestions. Anyone can give kudos or make a company suggestion, and HR users are able to approve, reject, comment on, and delete company suggestions.
There’s also the Breathe API that allows you to co-ordinate with your existing systems or even build custom applications to meet your specific business requirements.
Who Should Use Breathe?
Breathe is most suitable for SMBs who are looking to move away from paper-based systems or Excel spreadsheets, or who want to use the API to maximize the data they have elsewhere. The software is designed to streamline HR processes, improve communication and collaboration between employees and managers, and make it easier for businesses to manage employee data.
Conclusion
Breathe was designed with the needs of small to medium businesses in mind. A simple interface, superb reporting functionality, and extensive customer service mean that Breathe will fulfill the HR needs of most SMBs. Plus, because it’s cloud-based, you can access it from anywhere.
If you’re an SMB business owner or HR manager who wants to make your life easier, then Breathe HR is a great solution for you.
Review Summary for Breathe HR
Breathe HR Pricing: £12.00 / account (1-10 employees) / month
Price Currency: GBP (£)
Application Category: Business Application
Editor’s Rating: 4.25 / 5
Frequently asked questions
By automating HR processes, Breathe helps companies in the UK and Australia manage their HR burden.
Breathe is an HR management software company. Their goal is to create an intuitive HR hub of employee information and administration, including days off, performance tracking, and detailed analytics.
Yes. Breathe HR allows you to seamlessly integrate with your other daily-use software with their open source API.
