Maxwell Health vs SumTotal

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Our analysts compared Maxwell Health vs SumTotal based on data from our 400+ point analysis of HR Management Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Maxwell Health Software Tool
SumTotal Software Tool

Product Basics

Maxwell Health provides cloud-based tools for HR management, COBRA, payroll, benefits, administration, reporting and compliance management. With a focus on benefits admin for small businesses, it helps employers provide generous plans to employees at low expenses.

Along with benefits, it provides access to information, digital onboarding and forms to improve employee engagement, satisfaction and organizational productivity. It’s fully functional on mobile devices.
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SumTotal is a cloud-based HR Management software catering to mid-sized to large organizations. It packs a comprehensive suite of features covering talent acquisition, learning & development, workforce management, and performance management. Users praise its robust reporting & analytics, rich learning library, and mobile-friendly accessibility. However, the extensive customization options and powerful tools come with a steeper learning curve for administrators. Additionally, SumTotal's potential for high integration costs and higher price point compared to basic solutions make it less suitable for smaller companies. While some users struggle with complex content creation tools and limited instructor-led options, SumTotal shines in its ability to scale and adapt to dynamic needs, making it a strong contender for organizations seeking a feature-rich, customizable HR management platform, especially those with substantial training requirements and a dispersed workforce.

Pros
  • Comprehensive learning library
  • Robust reporting & analytics
  • Scalable for large organizations
  • Mobile-friendly learning
  • Customizable user experience
Cons
  • Steep learning curve for admins
  • Limited instructor-led options
  • Complex content creation tools
  • Potentially high integration costs
  • Pricey for smaller companies
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$30 Monthly
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$5/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
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Medium 
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Large 
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Small 
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Medium 
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Large 
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Remote Connectivity: Employees can access, manage and shop for benefits, as well as engage in employee wellbeing using their mobile app. 
  • Save Time: Automate employee enrollment for benefits and HR-related tasks, helping managers and admins save time and focus on other crucial activities. 
  • Cut Paperwork: Decrease paperwork by replacing employment and onboarding documents and forms with electronic form signing. 
  • Manage Compliance: Receive better business strategy alignment and reduce expenses through overviews of PHI data, insurance carriers and ACA regulatory compliance. 
  • Improve Employee Experience: Employees can understand and compare benefits and mid-year changes, as well as access benefits information in an optimized way. 
  • Streamline Operations: Improve access to information with centralized benefits and employee information that’s managed, stored and accessible anytime via the online portal or mobile app. 
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  • Employee Retention: Provide tools for employee development, management and learning practices that encourage employee retention. 
  • Enhanced Productivity: Talent managers can continuously onboarding to speed up overall productivity. 
  • Organizational Stability: Learning-centered employee development builds an agile workforce that is adaptable to changing business environments. 
  • Learning Ecosystem: Invest in research and development on the latest learning trends, which managers can leverage to enhance employees' learning experience. 
  • Talent Engagement: Engage top talent while moving through the recruitment process, understand the workforce, identify the best talent and build a seamless experience for candidates as well as hiring teams. 
  • Enhanced Candidate Experience: Offer smartphone-optimized sites with intelligent and automated interview tools, candidate matching, and an easy-to-use mobile app interface. Keep applicants informed about upcoming interview details via a user dashboard. 
  • Accelerated Time-to-Performance: Seamless onboarding training helps new hires get up to speed quickly. Provide unique company policies and work culture for them to become familiar with the company. 
  • Smooth Role Switch: Access onboarding plans for new roles that include defined goals, new teams and KPI’s that ensure a more seamless transition to new responsibilities. 
  • Robust Manager and Admin Capabilities: Managers and administrators can easily view, schedule, filter, mark up and share reports from a mobile dashboard. Leverage reporting tools, advanced reports and dashboards at a single click. 
  • Informed Compensation Plans: Create smart, data-driven compensation plans according to preset or custom parameters. Real-time performance insights and budget modeling make compensation informed, fair and cost-effective. 
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  • Payroll: Provides a built-in payroll schedule calendar, as well as deduction and demographic insights via the payroll interface. API integration syncs benefits information in real time. 
  • Mobile App: Helps users view, access, edit and manage benefits and health solutions from anywhere. 
  • COBRA: Manages COBRA administration and facilitates compliance for seamless operations. Prepopulates COBRA event information and runs eligibility reports, which can be viewed, downloaded and shared. 
  • HR Management: Optimizes and streamlines HR functions through employee data management. Includes onboarding that has automated signing and reviews on e-documents to improve employee engagement. 
  • Benefits Administration and Enrollment: Supports employee online enrollment with dashboards that simplify the process, making enrollment quick for employees and administrators. 
  • Synchronized Integrations: Provides data synchronization via partnership with major insurance carriers, third-party administrators, HR information systems and payroll vendors. 
  • Marketplace: Pick and curate customized benefits packages including nontraditional and ancillary offerings. 
  • Reporting: Supports customized reporting for employee census, benefits, payroll and more with the help of real-time insights. 
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  • Talent Development: Provides combined functionality of talent onboarding, talent management and learning management solutions to cater to talent development requirements. 
  • Talent Acquisition: Helps create a streamlined hiring cycle, hire the right talent, engage fresh recruits and drive productivity from day one. 
  • Learning Management:  
    •  Helps provide a customized, personalized and engaging learning experience tailored to the skill and competency of individuals rather than the whole team. 
    •  Ease of access on all devices, along with an offline mode, ensures seamless and consistent access to content and courses. 
  • Talent Management: Personalized and intuitive tools help employees pursue career growth and development. Capabilities include performance management, 360-degree feedback, succession planning and compensation management. 
  • Performance Management: Provides comprehensive feedback and tools that make feedback actionable, constructive and insightful. Measures workforce productivity, progress and priorities in real time. 
  • Succession Planning: Enables talent managers to identify and assess skill gaps, build agile talent pools, and align employee success with business goals and objectives. 
  • Compensation Management: Simplifies and streamline compensation plans, and helps build competitive packages to attract and retain top recruits. Workflow automation and compensation management tools aid compliance with complex global policies. 
  • Workforce Management: Bundled payroll, benefits and expense management minimize time, cost and efforts while maximizing accuracy. Features include automated scheduling, time and attendance, absence management, and compliance. 
  • Applicant Tracking System: Includes real-time alerts and notifications for offer approvals, a unique dashboard and reports widgets, customizable requisitions, and a consolidated requisition workspace. 
  • Mobility: Provides access to tools and reporting capabilities at all times and from any location. The dashboard can be operated using a tablet, desktop, mobile app or a phone browser. 
  • Growth Edition: Caters to the needs of fast-growing small and medium-sized businesses. Includes webinars, instructor-led training, approvals, and additional learning resources that users can access and configure anytime. 
  • Extended Enterprise: Helps build a brand image, accelerate growth and drive new sources of potential revenue. Facilitates an enriched and optimized learning experience for distributors, partners and customers. 
  • Gamified and Collaborative Learning: Helps: 
    •  Assess and accelerate learning with gamification capabilities that include leaderboards, points, levels and badges. 
    •  Enhance employee engagement by identifying and rewarding the right learning behaviors. 
    •  Enrich the knowledge of new hires with collaborative learning, up-to-date content, feedback and social ratings. 
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Product Ranking

#172

among all
HR Management Software

#23

among all
HR Management Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 64 reviews
Fair User Sentiment 132 reviews
87%
of users recommend this product

Maxwell Health has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% when considering 64 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

69%
of users recommend this product

SumTotal has a 'fair' User Satisfaction Rating of 69% when considering 132 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.3 (48)
3.2 (39)
4.5 (12)
2.7 (7)
n/a
4.0 (56)
4.3 (4)
2.9 (30)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Streamlined Onboarding: New hires can easily complete required paperwork, select benefits, and learn about company policies, all within a single platform. This reduces administrative burden and ensures a smooth transition for new employees.
Simplified Benefits Administration: Maxwell Health offers a user-friendly interface for managing employee benefits, including enrollment, changes, and terminations. The platform also provides tools for communicating benefits information to employees and tracking enrollment data.
Employee Self-Service: Employees can access their benefits information, make changes to their coverage, and get answers to their questions through a convenient online portal. This empowers employees to take control of their benefits and reduces the workload for HR staff.
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Robust Tools: All reviews on this feature suggest that SumTotal provides a robust set of talent development and management, payroll, and workforce management solutions.
Effective Tracking: According to 80% of reviews on tracking, the software optimizes talent management by tracking development and career growth.
Self-Service: Managers and employees can access and complete training courses at their convenience, according to all reviews on self-service.
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Limited Customization: The platform's rigidity can be frustrating for HR teams with unique or complex needs, especially when it comes to benefits administration and open enrollment processes.
Mobile App Shortcomings: The mobile app's functionality falls short of the desktop version, leading to a disjointed user experience for employees who prefer mobile access.
Customer Support Challenges: Getting timely and effective assistance from Maxwell Health's customer support can be difficult, leaving HR professionals feeling stranded when issues arise.
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Outdated Course Content: About 70% of reviews on course content reported that some modules aren’t frequently updated, resulting in an outdated learning experience.
Non-Intuitive Functions: Most features and functions aren’t intuitive, making it difficult to navigate, according to all reviews on this aspect.
Access to Reports: Accessing and pulling reports is extremely tedious and slow, according to 100% of reviews on reporting.
Customer Service: All reviews on customer support suggest that customer service is very slow and unresponsive.
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Maxwell Health has been making waves in the HR tech world, but is it all hype or the real deal? Let's dive into what users have been saying over the past year. Maxwell Health shines when it comes to streamlining benefits administration. Users rave about the platform's intuitive interface and automation features, which save HR teams tons of time and effort. The ability to easily manage employee onboarding, open enrollment, and benefits communication is a major plus. Maxwell Health also stands out for its focus on employee engagement. The platform offers a personalized experience for employees, with easy access to benefits information, wellness programs, and decision support tools. This focus on employee well-being is a key differentiator for Maxwell Health, as it helps companies foster a more positive and productive work environment. However, no software is perfect. Some users have noted that Maxwell Health's reporting capabilities could be more robust, and that the platform can be a bit pricey for smaller businesses. Additionally, while the software integrates with many popular payroll and HRIS systems, there may be limitations depending on your specific tech stack. So, who is Maxwell Health best suited for? Mid-sized to large companies looking to level up their benefits administration and employee engagement will find Maxwell Health to be a valuable asset. The platform's comprehensive features and user-friendly design make it a great choice for organizations that want to streamline HR processes and create a more positive employee experience. However, smaller businesses or those with limited budgets may want to explore more cost-effective options. Ultimately, the best way to determine if Maxwell Health is the right fit for your company is to take advantage of their free trial and see for yourself.

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SumTotal users paint a mixed picture, praising its robust functionality and mobile accessibility while critiquing its clunky interface and steep learning curve. Many laud its comprehensive suite, encompassing everything from onboarding to performance management, finding it a one-stop shop for HR needs. One user gushes, "It's like having a whole HR department in the cloud!" However, ease of use seems to be a major sticking point. Comments like "The interface feels outdated and unintuitive" and "Learning curve is a mountain, not a hill" pop up frequently. This is often contrasted with praise for competitors like Workday, lauded for its sleek design and user-friendliness. One user sums it up: "SumTotal has the depth, Workday has the polish." Mobile accessibility shines as a bright spot, with users appreciating the ability to manage tasks on the go. This stands out compared to some competitors, making SumTotal a good fit for companies with a mobile workforce. Ultimately, SumTotal seems to be a powerful tool for organizations willing to invest the time and effort in mastering its complexities. As one user puts it, "It's not perfect, but it's incredibly versatile. If you can handle the initial climb, the view from the top is pretty good."

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