Top 5 HR Tech Tools IT Directors Should Recommend in 2025 (Especially If You're Living in Microsoft 365)
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Recognize – Employee Recognition That Lives Inside Microsoft 365
Recognize makes it easy to celebrate work anniversaries, for employees to encourage great habits, earn rewards like Amazon or concert tickets, and track culture metrics—all without leaving Teams. If you’re tired of shadow IT and HR tools duct-taped together, this is the grown-up version that actually plays nice with your ecosystem.
- 🎯 Native Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Azure, Sharepoint, Viva Engage integration
- 🔐 ISO-27001 + GDPR + optional SSO and SCIM. Learn about Recognize Security here.
- 🧠 Legit API + docs IT folks can actually use
- 🛠️ Real admin controls, roles, and permissions
Workable - ATS That Works With Outlook
Workable is your no-nonsense hiring platform. It syncs directly with Microsoft 365 calendars and email, so HR can do interviews and scheduling without pinging you for every calendar issue.
- ✔️ Full Outlook & calendar integration
- ✔️ Auto-syncs interview invites, candidate stages
- ✔️ Admin tools that don’t need IT to babysit them
- ✔️ Easy to set up with M365 permissions
Lattice – Performance Reviews Without the Security Gaps
Lattice lets HR run performance reviews, 1:1s, OKRs, and feedback without bolting on 12 tools. And from your side, it’s SOC 2 compliant and integrates with Teams and Azure AD cleanly.
- ✔️ SCIM + SSO + Teams app
- ✔️ Trust portal with SOC 2 docs
- ✔️ Webhooks and strong API access
- ✔️ Can embed insights into M365 dashboards
Workleap – Training & Onboarding That Feels Native to Microsoft
Workleap (formerly GSoft) is underrated. It helps HR onboard, train, and ramp up new hires—without IT needing to manually create anything. Works inside Teams and doesn’t feel like another siloed LMS.
- ✔️ Deep Teams + Microsoft 365 integration
- ✔️ SSO, API access, and enterprise controls
- ✔️ Real documentation and a good knowledge base
- ✔️ Can push updates and guides directly in Teams
BambooHR – Core HR That Supports M365
BambooHR is perfect for mid-sized orgs. It’s lightweight, friendly, and the Teams integration actually works (time-off approvals, updates, etc). Security-wise? They’ve stepped it up big time.
- ✔️ Teams notifications for approvals, birthdays, PTO, etc.
- ✔️ SOC 2, 2FA, and secure infrastructure
- ✔️ Open API and SSO support
- ✔️ Helpful admin docs + onboarding for IT
HealthHero – Employee Wellbeing Inside Microsoft Teams
This one’s a sleeper hit. HealthHero brings telehealth and mental wellness tools into Teams. Employees get check-ins, HR gets anonymized insights, and you don’t get another SSO headache.
- ✔️ Native Teams app from Microsoft AppSource
- ✔️ No external login or redirects—runs inside Teams
- ✔️ ISO-certified provider network
- ✔️ Easy deploy + auto-provision via Azure AD
Polly – Pulse Surveys That Don’t Require a Whole New Tool
Polly runs inside Teams so HR can shoot out polls and surveys without adding another platform to your stack. It’s quick, secure, and employees actually respond to it.
- ✔️ Installs directly from AppSource into Teams
- ✔️ Data stays within Microsoft 365 ecosystem
- ✔️ SOC 2 certified + Azure compliant
- ✔️ Real-time feedback without endless onboarding