BambooHR LLC is an American technology company that provides human resources software as a service. Founded in 2008 by Ben Peterson and Ryan Sanders, the company is based in Lindon, Utah.

Bamboo HR LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustryTechnology company
software
Founded2008; 16 years ago (2008)
Founders
  • Ben Peterson
  • Ryan Sanders
HeadquartersLindon, Utah, U.S.
Key people
ServicesHuman resources software as a service,
human capital management software as a service and
applicant tracking system
Number of employees
1,000 employees (August 2021)
Websitebamboohr.com

BambooHR's services include an applicant tracking system and an employee benefits tracker. In 2019, Gadjo C Sevilla and Brian T. Horowitz wrote in PC Magazine that BambooHR is "pricier than competing products" and "lacking in benefits administration (BA) features compared to rival solutions", but its "solid feature set and user-friendly interface push it to the top of our list".[1]

History

edit

BambooHR was founded in 2008[2] by Ben Peterson and Ryan Sanders.[3] Based in Lindon, Utah,[4] the company has a dancing panda mascot.[3] BambooHR had 470 employees in November 2019.[5] In 2019, BambooHR served 11,000 clients that were based in 100 countries.[5][6] BambooHR customers in 2017 included Shopify, Foursquare, and Reddit.[7]

Most of BambooHR's employees are salaried employees and do not qualify for overtime.[8] BambooHR has an "anti-workaholic policy" in which employees are forbidden from laboring over a 40-hour week.[8][9] Company co-founder Ryan Sanders' rationale was that occupational burnout has a detrimental effect on the health of his employees and negatively affects their families and his company.[8] He started taking this view during his organizational leadership studies as a graduate student at Gonzaga University.[10]

BambooHR started a "paid paid vacation" policy in 2015.[11] Employees who have worked at BambooHR for at least six months are eligible for $2,000 in reimbursements for vacation expenses like airline tickets, hotel rooms, and other tourist activities.[12] Joe Fryer profiled BambooHR's vacation policy on the Today show on September 16, 2016.[13] According to a 2015 article in The Wall Street Journal, BambooHR terminated an employee for violating their workweek policy by working more than 40 hours.[4]

In October 2019, BambooHR appointed Brad Rencher, who had previously been a marketing executive at Adobe Inc., to replace Ben Peterson as the company's CEO.[5] Peterson became a co-chairman on the board of directors with fellow co-founder Ryan Sanders.[5]

Software

edit

BambooHR provides companies a human resources management software as a service.[14] The service has a dashboard homepage with different sections for employee information, vacation time record keeping, and reports. The sections are: "My Info", "Employees", "Job Openings", "Reports", and "Files". The dashboard also contains an employee's image, contact details, and vacation time remaining. It has areas that show scheduled lessons and business communications. Users can see their coworkers' birthdays and scheduled time off.[14]

BambooHR's software includes an applicant tracking system. The system has a catalogue of job opportunities and data about each opportunity including the hiring manager, how many people have applied, and how long it has been posted. BambooHR's integration allows job openings to be posted at the same time to the company's jobs page and to career sites like Glassdoor and Indeed.[14]

BambooHR allows companies to record employee benefits. It includes reports that help employees fill out Affordable Care Act compliance forms. In 2017, Juan Martinez and Rob Marvin wrote in PC Magazine that BambooHR's benefits administration functionalities are inferior to Zenefits'.[14] They concluded that although the software is "easy to get up and running", it is more expensive than a large number of its competitors and its website is "pretty but lacks functionality".[14] It also has a performance review feature. It provides an open API to allow combination with other HR software services.[14] In 2017, it started BambooHR Marketplace to allow software developers to market HR apps they have integrated with BambooHR.[7]

References

edit
  1. ^ Sevilla, Gadjo; Horowitz, Brian T. (August 6, 2019). "BambooHR". PC Magazine. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  2. ^ Semerad, Tony (November 14, 2014). "CEO dresses as a panda? Yes, this Utah software company is a rare breed". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on December 25, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Murphy, Shawn (2015). The Optimistic Workplace: Creating an Environment That Energizes Everyone. New York: American Management Association. ISBN 978-0814436202. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Feintzeig, Rachel (October 13, 2015). "Radical Idea at the Office: A 40-Hour Workweek". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d Semerad, Tony (November 9, 2019). "BambooHR keeps workers happy and fulfilled even as the Utah software firm mushrooms in size". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  6. ^ Neely, Karissa (October 28, 2016). "Les Olson honored, BambooHR named to Entrepreneur 360 list". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  7. ^ a b Neely, Karissa (April 27, 2017). "During live Elevate Summit, BambooHR expands its outreach to global human resources professionals". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  8. ^ a b c Sahadi, Jeanne (April 30, 2015). "The death of the 40-hour workweek". CNN. Archived from the original on May 2, 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  9. ^ Hunter, G. Shawn (2016). Small Acts of Leadership: 12 Intentional Behaviors That Lead to Big Impact. New York: Routledge. pp. 162–163. ISBN 978-1351818513. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  10. ^ James, Geoffrey (September 18, 2013). "Long Work Hours Hinder Success". Inc. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  11. ^ Scribner, Herb (September 29, 2016). "This Utah company pays its employees $2,000 to take vacation". Deseret News. Archived from the original on September 30, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  12. ^ Sahadi, Jeanne (July 28, 2016). "These companies offer paid vacation ... and pay for your vacation". CNN. Archived from the original on July 26, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  13. ^ Fryer, Joe (September 16, 2016). "Why some companies are paying for their employees' vacations". Today. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Martinez, Juan; Marvin, Rob (November 18, 2017). "BambooHR Review & Rating". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
edit