It’s time to let you in on a little secret: You don’t need to leave your favourite HR software supplier in order to use our end-to-end time and attendance system. 

Seriously! If you’re happy with your current HR system, but you like the look of our clocks (or any other part of our platform), then you can simply use both together. There’s no need to cancel your contract with HiBob, BreatheHR, Personio, BrightHR, or even PeopleHR. 

And that’s because our Sense Automate platform bridges the gap – it connects our hardware and T&A software to pretty much any other HR system you like.

Why integrate your T&A system with your HR system?

Whether you’re using BreatheHR, PeopleHR, or even SenseHR… there’s plenty of reasons you might want your HR software to talk to your T&A system. The most obvious being that the hours your people are working will get sent straight to one central source of truth, ready to feed other systems and functions. 

Here are some of the benefits:

• Data consistency & accuracy. Automatically syncing data between systems removes manual data entry errors between clock-in logs and HR or payroll records.
• Compliance and visibility. Unifying your different systems helps you stay on top of things like working time regulations, absences, overtime, and shift data. 
• Improved employee experience. Having one ecosystem means employees benefit from fewer errors with pay packets, and fewer disputes over hours.

And of course, when time tracking flows directly into your HR system, you get all sorts of efficiency gains including faster approvals, smoother payroll runs, and smarter scheduling.

Sense Automate lets you keep your existing HR system

So how does Sense Workplace let you use one part of its platform, without having to take its core HR system? The answer is in our SenseAutomate function, which acts as an integration engine between Sense T&A, and external HR systems such as BrightHR or HiBob.

You can learn more about Sense Automate here.

About the Sense T&A System

Whether you’re using it with SenseHR, or integrating with another HR system, the Sense Time & Attendance system is built for modern workplaces – no matter if employees are desk-based, mobile, or active across multiple locations. Here’s how it works and why it delivers so much value:

Versatile clocking methods

• Sense Clocks: Plug-and-play physical terminals that support swipe cards, fingerprints, or mobile-based clocking.
  
• Sense Tags & Badges: Wearable fobs or interactive devices designed for deskless or frontline workers. Tap them on the Sense Clock to clock in or out – effective, intuitive, familiar and unobtrusive.
  
• Sense Gateway with Indoor Location: Automatically tracks people (via Tags or Badges) as they enter or leave designated zones, enabling seamless clock-in/out without manual interaction. Also allows you to build more accurate and itemised timesheets based on different working and break-out zones.
  

Real-time visibility & control

• Live workforce location: Quickly see who’s in, who’s at a particular location, or who might be missing – perfect for hybrid and field-based environments.
  
• Automatic fire safety roll-call: Indoor zone tracking helps managers easily determine who’s still in the building during an evacuation, with no manual headcounts needed.
  

Seamless data flow & compliance

• Instant data sync: All clock-in/out data integrates directly with your HR or payroll systems in real time, reducing errors and delays.
  
• Accurate time tracking: Identity and location-verified time collection supports compliance with labour rules around working hours, overtime, and breaks.
  
• No-touch, reliable attendance: Biometric options, like fingerprint recognition, reduce buddy punching and bolster access control and data integrity.
  

AI-powered insights & automation

• AI-driven reporting: Automated analytics help you uncover trends in absenteeism, overtime, shift efficiency, and more.
  
• Smart scheduling and staffing: Use AI recommendations based on historical attendance patterns to optimise workforce coverage.
  

Why these HR systems?

You might be wondering… if Sense Workplace offers its own HR system through SenseHR, why would companies want to keep their existing HR system? Sure, there’s the obvious reasons – such as being locked into a difficult contract. But for some people? Some alternative products are actually a better fit for what they’re trying to achieve! 

We don’t believe in bashing our competitors. So here’s a few segments on why you might wish to stick with your existing provider, and simply connect them to Sense T&A.

1. BreatheHR

Especially popular with SMEs (up to ~250 staff), BreatheHR is a simple platform with over 40 HR features. People choose BreatheHR because it is easy to get started without much of a learning curve, and it offers block pricing (instead of price per person). BreatheHR does exactly what you’d expect an HR system to, including holidays, sickness, performance, documents, and reporting. It is also a popular choice amongst HR consultants who are setting their clients up with their first HR system.

Integrating Sense T&A with BreatheHR will give you enhanced time and attendance functionality. You’ll also be able to use Sense hardware, such as for clocking in and out, or locating your staff. Integrating Sense Workplace with Breathe HR gives SMEs a smoother and more reliable payroll and absence tracking process – especially those who hire a lot of frontline or deskless workers.

2. Personio

Personio stands out because it covers more than just your basic HR, and offers more in the way of customisable workflows and automations, meaning it’s a strong contender if you’re trying to eliminate the manual parts of HR admin. This also makes it a more popular choice amongst larger organisations.

Integrating Sense T&A with Personio augments their existing time tracking with hardware-enabled clock-in data, and allows you to also track data such as location, wellbeing, and even air quality. Using Personio with Sense Workplace ensures a richer, more accurate attendance dataset that feeds into your analytics and payroll workflows.

3.HiBob (aka “Bob”)

HiBob is a great system for companies who really care about social engagement amongst their workforce. A modern design ensures a pleasant experience, and a wide range of HR features ensures you can do all HR admin via their platform, including onboarding, time off, timesheets, performance, and analytics. And with additional products such as their ATS, LMS and UK Payroll system, many people choose to stay with Bob because they rely on it in so many areas of their business.

Integrating Sense T&A with HiBob is a sensible step that provides accurate, hardware-backed time tracking data that fuels HiBob’s scheduling and time-off analytics. And thanks to Sense Workplace’s inclusive design for deskless and frontline workers, this integration does a great job of simplifying timekeeping across hybrid and remote work environments, too.

4. Access PeopleHR

PeopleHR – now part of The Access Group – is a comprehensive HR suite that was originally launched in 2012 as a cloud-based alternative to the ancient on-premise systems. With a range of functionality including applicant tracking, document storage, and new AI features such as “Access Evo”, PeopleHR is a great choice for people who want a combination of traditional HRIS functionality, with a twist of modern thinking. 

Integrating PeopleHR with Sense T&A enriches existing workforce analytics and performance tracking, by backing it up with solid, verified timesheet data. What’s more, the integration can enhance automated workflows and copilot recommendations with real-world attendance inputs.

5.BrightHR

BrightHR is well known as a user-friendly HR system with a long-standing history, and offers its users a familiar range of features including absence and sick-leave tracking, expense tracking, document storage, and even rota management. Many users also appreciate BrightHR’s scalability across different packages, such as HR and H&S.

Integrating Sense with BrightHR’s rota and clocking features will enhance the accuracy of your data, while helping your business to monitor overtime, breaks, and shift patterns in real-time or historically, using accurate location data.

6. SenseHR

SenseHR is our own product, and is part of the wider Sense Workplace platform. Other popular products include: 

• Sense Presence (see where people are)
• Sense Automate (build custom workflows and apps)
• Sense ATS (attract, hire and retain top talent)

If you don’t mind switching your HR software provider, then SenseHR is a strong choice due to its extensive range of workplace products that all work straight out of the box, with no integrations required. This gives you a fully connected end-to-end experience with no third party dependencies, and means you only need to turn to one team for support.
If you’d like to see how SenseAutomate can connect your current HR system with the best time and attendance technology on the market, then book your demo today and experience seamless integration without the disruption of switching suppliers.