Last Updated: February 2026
Professional services firms—law firms, accounting practices, consulting agencies, architecture firms, and engineering companies—operate fundamentally differently from traditional businesses. Your most valuable assets walk out the door every night. Your revenue model centers on billable hours and project-based work, not products or recurring subscriptions. Your workforce is highly educated, highly compensated, and highly mobile.
These unique characteristics create specific HR challenges that generic software can't address:
After extensive research analyzing the needs of law firms, accounting firms, consulting agencies, and other professional services organizations, we've identified the top 6 HR software solutions optimized for knowledge work environments.
Pricing: Harvest: $12 per user/month; BambooHR: custom pricing (~$6-10 per employee/month) | Website: getharvest.com + bamboohr.com
This combination delivers the best of both worlds: Harvest's industry-leading time tracking and project management capabilities paired with BambooHR's excellent HR and performance management features. While it requires two systems, the integration is seamless and the combined functionality is unmatched.
Best for: Small to mid-size professional services firms (10-200 employees) prioritizing best-of-breed functionality over single-vendor simplicity.
Pricing: Starting at $8 per user/month + $35 base fee (time tracking add-on: +$6/user) | Website: rippling.com
Rippling combines HR, payroll, benefits, IT management, and time tracking in a single modern platform. While not built specifically for professional services, its flexibility and automation capabilities make it an excellent choice for tech-forward firms.
Best for: Tech-forward professional services firms (10-100 employees) seeking modern all-in-one HR, payroll, and time tracking in a single platform.
Pricing: BambooHR: custom (~$6-10/employee/month); Gusto: $40 base + $12/employee/month | Website: bamboohr.com + gusto.com
BambooHR excels at creating exceptional employee experiences with intuitive self-service, robust performance management, and strong engagement tools. Paired with Gusto for payroll, this combination delivers comprehensive HR functionality with best-in-class usability.
Best for: Professional services firms (20-200 employees) prioritizing employee retention, engagement, and development over advanced project management capabilities.
Pricing: Starting at $6 per user/month (time tracking) + $4 per user/month (HR) | Website: replicon.com
Replicon is purpose-built for professional services firms with complex time tracking and billing needs. Its enterprise-grade capabilities make it ideal for large firms with sophisticated project accounting requirements.
Best for: Large professional services firms (100+ employees) with complex project accounting, government contracting compliance, or sophisticated time billing requirements.
Pricing: Custom pricing (typically $50-150 per employee/month) | Website: adp.com
ADP Workforce Now delivers comprehensive HR, payroll, time tracking, and benefits administration in a single enterprise platform. Its scalability and compliance capabilities make it ideal for large, established professional services firms.
Best for: Large, established professional services firms (100+ employees) needing enterprise-grade HR, payroll, and compliance capabilities in a single platform.
Pricing: Custom pricing (estimated $20-40 per employee/month) | Website: paylocity.com
Paylocity delivers comprehensive HR functionality with particularly strong time tracking and project costing capabilities. It's positioned between small business solutions (Gusto, BambooHR) and enterprise platforms (ADP, Workday), making it ideal for growing mid-market firms.
Best for: Growing mid-market professional services firms (50-500 employees) needing comprehensive HR functionality with solid time tracking in a single platform.
| Platform | Best For | Starting Price | Time Tracking Quality | Payroll Included | Best Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest + BambooHR | 10-200 employees | ~$18-22/employee | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent | No (integrate Gusto) | Best-in-class billable hours |
| Rippling | 10-100 employees | $8/user + $35 base | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good | Yes | Modern automation |
| BambooHR + Gusto | 20-200 employees | ~$18-22/employee | ⭐⭐ Basic (requires add-on) | Yes (Gusto) | Employee experience |
| Replicon | 100+ employees | $10/user | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent | No | Complex project costing |
| ADP Workforce Now | 100+ employees | $50-150/employee | ⭐⭐⭐ Adequate | Yes | Enterprise compliance |
| Paylocity | 50-500 employees | $20-40/employee | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good | Yes | Mid-market scalability |
Time tracking is the lifeblood of professional services firms. Your HR software must seamlessly capture, categorize, and report on time allocation. Here are the must-have features:
Platform rankings for time tracking sophistication:
Professional services firms must dynamically allocate talent to client engagements based on expertise, availability, and profitability. Your HR software should facilitate this:
Reality check: Most HR software provides basic project assignment capabilities, but sophisticated resource management typically requires dedicated PSA (Professional Services Automation) tools like:
Many firms use an HR platform (BambooHR, Rippling) for core HR + dedicated PSA tool for project management, integrating the two systems to sync employee data and time entries.
Professional services firms typically operate with clear career progression paths and performance expectations. Your HR software should support this structured approach:
Best platforms for performance management:
This depends on your firm's priorities. Practice management software (Clio for law firms, CCH for accounting, etc.) excels at matter/client management, conflict checking, and billing but typically has weak HR capabilities. HR software with time tracking (Harvest, Rippling, Replicon) provides better employee management, payroll integration, and HR workflows but may lack industry-specific features like conflict checking or trust accounting. Best approach: Use practice management software as your system of record for client/matter data, integrate it with HR software (via Zapier or native integration) to sync time entries bidirectionally. This gives you strong capabilities in both domains without duplicating data entry.
Partner compensation presents unique challenges because it's typically profit-based, not salary-based. Most HR platforms treat everyone as W-2 employees, which doesn't fit the partner model well. Solutions: (1) Track partners in your HR system for benefits, PTO, and directory purposes but manage their compensation separately in your accounting software or spreadsheets; (2) Use ADP Workforce Now or Paylocity which have executive compensation modules that can handle complex structures including guaranteed payments, draw against distributions, and bonus accruals; (3) For equity partners, consider specialized law firm or accounting firm practice management software (Elite, Aderant, CCH) that's built for partnership structures. Never put sensitive partner compensation data in systems accessible to non-partner staff—this creates significant confidentiality and morale issues.
No—conflict checking is a practice management function, not an HR function. You need specialized software like Clio Grow (law), IntApp Conflicts (large law firms), or built-in conflict modules in your practice management system. However, your HR software should integrate with your practice management system to ensure employee assignment data flows correctly. For example, when you assign an attorney to a new matter in your practice management system, that should trigger conflict checks before proceeding. HR software helps manage employee data (who works here, their expertise, their current assignments) but shouldn't be your conflict-checking tool.
This is an important compliance requirement for licensed professionals (CPAs, attorneys, architects, engineers). Look for HR software with certification tracking and renewal reminders: BambooHR: Custom fields for license numbers and expiration dates with automated renewal reminders; Paylocity: Dedicated credentials management module with document storage for certificates; Rippling: Custom fields with workflow automation for renewal processes; ADP Workforce Now: Comprehensive credentials tracking with compliance reporting. Most platforms let you upload copies of certificates, track CE hours completed, and send automated reminders 60-90 days before expiration. This prevents the nightmare scenario of a professional working with an expired license—a massive liability issue.
Professional services firms often need to track which employees are covered by professional liability insurance (E&O), bonding requirements, or maintain proof of coverage for client audits. Most HR platforms have document management modules where you can store insurance certificates, policy documents, and coverage verification. Key features to look for: Ability to link insurance documents to specific employees or projects, automated reminders for policy renewals, reporting showing which employees/projects are covered. BambooHR and Paylocity have particularly strong document management. For more sophisticated insurance management (tracking claims, handling renewals, comparing quotes), you may need dedicated insurance administration software, but HR platforms handle the documentation and compliance tracking well.
Managing employees across multiple countries adds significant complexity—different employment laws, tax regimes, benefits requirements, and payroll systems. Options: (1) Use an Employer of Record (EOR) service like Deel, Remote, or Velocity Global to legally employ international workers without establishing entities in each country—these integrate with HR platforms like BambooHR or Rippling for unified employee records; (2) Use global HR platforms like ADP GlobalView or Workday HCM that have native multi-country payroll and compliance; (3) Use regional providers in each geography with a central HRIS (BambooHR, Rippling) for directory and core HR, integrating regional payroll systems. For firms with <20 international employees, EOR + Rippling provides the best balance of cost and functionality. For 50+ international employees, dedicated global HRIS investment becomes worthwhile.
This is a sensitive question in professional services firms with partnership structures. Considerations: YES, same system: Creates unified employee experience, simplifies benefits administration, ensures consistent policy application, and avoids "two-class" perception. NO, separate systems: Protects partner compensation confidentiality, allows different benefits structures, and simplifies profit distribution calculations. Most common approach: Use the same HR platform but with strict permission controls—partners have full visibility, associates only see their own data, and HR administrators have segmented access. Platforms like BambooHR, ADP, and Paylocity allow granular permission settings. Handle partner profit distributions entirely outside the HR system in your accounting software or partnership agreements—never expose this data to non-partners.
Professional services firms rely heavily on these agreements to protect client relationships and proprietary methodologies. Best practices: (1) Store executed agreements in your HR platform's document management system, linked to each employee's profile; (2) Use onboarding workflows that require electronic signature before starting employment (BambooHR, Rippling, and Paylocity integrate with DocuSign/HelloSign); (3) Create offboarding workflows that automatically remind departing employees of their non-compete and confidentiality obligations; (4) Use custom fields to track agreement status (executed, expired, state restrictions); (5) Set expiration reminders for agreements with time limits (e.g., 2-year non-competes). This ensures you have documentation if issues arise and systematizes what's often handled ad-hoc. Note: HR software tracks agreements but doesn't replace legal counsel for enforcement—consult employment attorneys in your jurisdiction.
For most small to mid-size professional services firms, we recommend Harvest (for time tracking) + BambooHR (for HR) + Gusto (for payroll) as the best combination of functionality, usability, and value. While this requires managing three platforms, the combined capabilities exceed single-platform alternatives, and modern integrations keep data synchronized seamlessly.
If you prioritize simplicity and want everything in one system, Rippling delivers excellent all-in-one functionality with modern automation and good (though not best-in-class) time tracking—ideal for tech-forward firms willing to trade some time tracking sophistication for operational simplicity.
Large firms (100+ employees) with complex requirements should evaluate ADP Workforce Now or Paylocity for comprehensive enterprise capabilities, though expect longer implementations and higher costs. Firms with extremely sophisticated time billing and project accounting needs (government contractors, Big 4 accounting, international law firms) should seriously consider Replicon despite its dated interface—the time tracking capabilities justify the investment.
Regardless of which platform you choose, remember that professional services firms succeed or fail based on their people. Invest in HR software that empowers your professionals to track their time easily, advances their careers transparently, and rewards their contributions fairly. The right system pays for itself many times over through improved utilization, better talent retention, and more profitable client engagements.
Disclaimer: Pricing and features are accurate as of February 2026 but may change. Always verify current offerings directly with providers before making a purchase decision. Consider conducting trials with multiple platforms to evaluate fit with your specific professional services workflows.