Calamari HR Software Reviews

Pros

the software is incredibly easy to use as an end user. It hooks up easily with Slack and Google Calendar. The mobile app gives me everything I need and it really doesn't require much administrative overhead.

Cons

The initial setup was a bit complicated but I believe that's due to the overall complexity of the issue rather than any fault of the software itself. Thankfully their support team was excellent so it didn't turn into a major problem for me.

Pros

I appreciate that employees can submit and monitor their own PTO requests directly with their manager, it's easy and easy for everyone to use!

Cons

Wish the system would display more detail to employees themselves , for example a clear entitlement breakdown because while I have access to that information, staff only see their overall balance and the specific leave they've requested. People regularly come to me asking for a more detailed PTO summary.

Pros

I find this tool easy to use, practical and it has a pleasant design.

Cons

No issues to report but unfortunately it wouldn't integrate with our payroll system which was a dealbreaker for me.

Pros

I am comfortable approving leaves and logging hours for our freelancers.

Cons

It's hard for me to point out negatives, there were only a few minor things he helped with in support.

Pros

We find it really helps us get our work organized especially when coordinating remotely under different arrangements with full-timers, part-timers, interns and even the developers. It's flexible and gives us a clearer picture of tasks while simplifying our administrative workflows and processes.

Cons

I do notice it can lag occasionally though it's a pretty minor annoyance and doesn't often disrupt our workflow.

Pros

what I appreciate is how it reacts instantly, I can add an absence to my Google Calendar, it integrates with Slack too and the updates pop up each morning so our team immediately knows who won't be in.

Cons

To be honest, I don't have any complaints, everything seems to work fine for me.

Pros

When our company was still small handling time-off didn't feel like a big deal. As we grew though, it quickly turned into a time sink that got harder by the day. Picture having to manually tally annual leave for 50+ people on your own , it eats up so much time and makes it really easy to slip up. On top of that, I had to remember to add each absence to the calendar and keep checking it. Questions like "how many days off do I have left?" became annoying and unnecessary work. Then we found It and it honestly ranks among the best tools we've come across. People can apply for leave without issue and see exactly how many days they have left. It links with Gsuite so approved annual leave automatically shows up in our calendar and we can instantly tell whether someone will be around. Teams can quickly see who's out on a given day and identify potential replacements. From the admin side, we can review entire teams or individual profiles and even configure approval flows for specific absence types. No more excel sheets or manual counting which has been a huge relief ,)

Cons

The Calamari team fixed almost every issue we pointed out which I really appreciate. but a few things still could be better. Some settings cannot be changed once they're created and that has caused headaches for us , for example the way annual leave is settled is either as whole days (with a minimum quarter-day) or in hours and you can't mix those for the same policy. Also, when we add a new absence type, there's no easy way to select multiple people and transfer their remaining days from one absence category to another, we had to update each person one-by-one. That process was pretty time-consuming for us.

Pros

the way it handles absences is easy yet surprisingly felxible , approving time off directly through Slack saves a ton of time. I also appreciate the advanced options for setting up absence types, including accrual rules. I can configure almost everything, holiday calendars, absence categories, contracts and approval workflows. Integrations with Slack and Google Calendar work well and customer support was excellent, they responded quickly and fixed our Slack integration problems promptly.

Cons

the web app's design feels a little dated though its simplicity and cleanliness are positives. The user experience can be awkward occasionally, particularly when managing several accrual rules within a single absence type, that part feels a bit clumsy and could use smoothing out.

Pros

I'm finding it very user-friendly and the complete calendar is visible to everyone.

Cons

Unfortunately it doesn't let me adjust the carryover amount from one year to the next without impacting every year and I wish the reporting was stronger.

Pros

the interface is incredibly easy, adjusting employee time entries is simple and the software's automation handles everything well. Tracking work hours, breaks, vacations and even after-hours time is easy which speeds up payroll processing.

Cons

there's a single standard for functionality, either something works or it doesn't and it consistently works every time.

Pros

From my admin view, I find it easy to manage PTO using the dashboard and I think employees find requesting PTO simple.

Cons

I notice the way time-off balances are displayed can be confusing for employees, the layout makes it hard to quickly understand how much leave remains.

Pros

This is an excellent solution for handling our team's leave. Using it has been really pleasant and the support crew were fantastic, quick to address the issues we faceed early on. It's also very adaptable and handles different kinds of leave without any trouble.

Cons

there's not much to complain about I can't think of any suggestions to offer at this time.

Pros

I am really impressed by how interactive and user-friendly the interface is, the color choices and the overall look and feel are very pleasing.

Cons

the dashboard could use some enhancements and I'd like to see a lot more HCM features added.

Pros

the interface is friendly , it's simple to use and I found it easy to set up and deploy.

Cons

I would really appreciate an option that automatically clocks me out at a predetermined time because that would stop me having to fix a bunch of timesheet entries that come up looking incorrect. I also run into occasions where I'm unable to clock in or out , the app fails when it requires geolocation which creates extra headaches for my time tracking.

Pros

It is very easy to use and the support they've given has been helpful. Once it's set up, our employees can easily manage their own time.

Cons

Setup was somewhat complex for me to complete in order to use the system properly.

Pros

The support team has been outstanding, whenever I run into an issue, I've always gotten fast, accurate responses that help me move on quickly.

Cons

Sometimes I struggle because the interface is pared down so much that I overlook where features live even when the choices are literally visible on screen, I often fail to notice them right away.

Pros

UI is really interactive and easy to use which saves me a lot of time, their support team is incredibly friendly and helpful, the acceptance workflow can be customized and there's a handy mobile app too.

Cons

All in all I'm extremely pleased with everything it provides and the overall design, I haven't once felt that anything important was missing.

Pros

I'm grateful to the customer service team , thanks again for your quick replies. The system itself is also very interactive.

Cons

I have nothing to complain about , you're doing really well and I like it.

Pros

It is the first app to successfully manage absence time considering different requirements and options.

Cons

The mobile app can use some work.

Pros

Interface looks really modern and I found it pretty easy to use, though some of my team members had a different experience. What I really appreciated was being able to create approval workflows for time-off requests, having them go through the manager first and then come to me for final calendar updates and HR processing made everything much smoother.

Cons

The time off management got confusing since I wasn't using their time clock system too, employees couldn't actually accrue time properly. I had to set it up so all 120 hours showed available at the start of each year but this created issues because what employees saw wasn't always accurate. Despite explaining that they needed to check their actual timecards for real accruals, especially hourly workers who might not get the full 120 if they didn't work complete weeks, people kept getting confused about their available time. The interface itself was friendly but employees would constantly forget to change the time-off type dropdown (it defaulted to "Bereavement" since it was first alphabetically) and had trouble requesting partial days. I decided against their time clock system because the options didn't meet our needs. I wanted something like a kiosk or app where people could use a PIN or biometric data without having to log in individually, not everyone has computer access for the browser version. The iBeacon option seemed promising but you can't clock in/out for breaks with it, so that was useless. Plus salaried employees couldn't accrue time unless they were also clocking in and out which made no sense.