How many modules should you take on at the start?

The ones that solve the most frequent decision, which usually means one or two. Add the next when the previous one has had a complete use and has a person who answers for it.

Do you need an HR department to use it?

No. You need a person in charge of each module, with authority over the decision. In many companies of this size that is someone in senior management or operations.

Does the works council have to know about the software?

In Spain it is entitled to know the parameters of algorithms that affect employment decisions (Article 64.4.d of the Workers' Statute) and to issue a report before systems for organising and monitoring work are introduced (Article 64.5).

Is it any use if I already have a payroll package?

Yes. Payroll and personnel administration stay where they are. Talent management software deals with hiring, performance, succession, development and culture.

What happens to the data if I change provider?

Article 28(3)(g) of the GDPR obliges the processor to delete or return the data when the service ends, at your company's choice. Ask for the contract to say how and in what format.

Talent management software: modules for 50 to 250 people

By Deibson Silva · Reviewed on 5 November 2026

Talent management software for a company of 50 to 250 people needs hiring, behavioural profiles, performance reviews with calibration, succession for critical roles and a regular reading of engagement. The order follows the decision that comes up most often, and each module goes in when someone is in charge of using its data.

What changes in a company once it passes 50 people?

Who decides changes. Up to that size, the founder knows everyone and settles hires and promotions from memory. Beyond it, middle managers appear who hire, assess and put people forward for pay rises, each by their own yardstick.

The framework changes too. In the categories of Regulation (EU) 651/2014, a company with between 50 and 249 people falls, by headcount, into the medium-sized band. And in Spain, Article 63.1 of the Workers' Statute provides for a works council in every workplace with fifty or more workers.

That council has rights that affect the tool. Article 64.4.d lets it know the parameters, rules and instructions behind algorithms that influence employment decisions, including profiling. Article 64.5 entitles it to issue a report before the company introduces or revises systems for organising and monitoring work.

The practical consequence is that the software has to be explainable: to senior management, to each person assessed and to staff representatives. Other countries have their own rules on consultation, and the same principle is a safe one to follow.

Which modules does it need, and which decision does each one solve?

Modules are chosen by the decision they solve. Where there is no decision behind it, a module ends up unused.

Module	Decision it solves	Data it needs	Who uses it
Hiring	Who to hire for each vacancy	The role profile and each candidate's fit	Whoever runs the selection and the team's manager
Behavioural profiles	How to work with each person and how to put a team together	Each person's report, which they also receive	Every team manager
360 reviews	What to recognise and what to develop	Calibrated ratings from the manager, peers and direct reports	Senior management and managers
OKRs	What each team works on this quarter	Company objectives and measurable results	Senior management and teams
9-box grid and succession	Who to prepare for which role	Calibrated performance and potential, and the list of critical roles	The management committee
Development plans	What each person is missing and how they cover it	The agreement between the person and their manager	Every manager
Engagement and pulse surveys	What to change in how people work	Anonymous surveys with a minimum number of responses per group	Senior management and HR
People analytics dashboard	Where to look first	All of the above, aggregated by area	Senior management

What people management software should include

In what order should you set them up?

In the order in which the decisions hurt. Even so, there is a route that many companies of this size end up following.

Between 50 and 100 people, the first job is usually to hire well and to give new managers a shared way of assessing. Start with hiring and behavioural profiles, and close a first, simple performance cycle with a short list of competencies.

Between 100 and 250, senior management no longer sees everyone. It is time to calibrate ratings across areas, identify the roles that cannot be left empty and prepare successors with the 9-box grid and the succession plan. It is also the moment for OKRs, because objectives stop travelling on their own, and for a pulse survey that flags what is changing in each area.

One module per quarter is a reasonable pace. Each needs a person who answers for it and one complete use before the next is opened.

What does the company have to be able to explain to its staff?

Which data is collected, why, and who sees it. Article 13 of the GDPR requires that information to be given to each person at the time their data is obtained.

The Spanish data protection authority's list places processing that assesses performance at work, personality and behaviour under its first criterion. Where that criterion meets another, it expects a data protection impact assessment in most cases. Talent management software does exactly that, so ask the provider for the documentation that makes the work easier.

There is also a date in the calendar. Annex III to the EU AI Act classifies as high-risk the AI systems used to select people or to evaluate their performance, and the obligations of that chapter apply from 2 December 2027. Ask now which functions of the tool use AI and who reviews each proposal.

Which mistakes are common in companies of this size?

The first is buying by number of modules. A long list impresses in the meeting, and afterwards nobody knows who looks after what.

The second is launching 360 reviews without calibration. Without that session, a demanding manager and a generous one produce ratings that cannot be compared, and people notice straight away.

The third is using the 9-box grid as a label. A person's position is a hypothesis that is revisited every cycle, and its use is to decide which development to propose to them.

The fourth is asking staff and doing nothing with the answers. An engagement survey with no plan afterwards lowers participation in the next one.

The fifth is copying a multinational's processes. A company of 120 people does not need twelve competencies or four rounds of review.

What is not needed yet?

Whatever solves the problems of much larger workforces. A training catalogue with hundreds of courses, a pay engine with bands per country or integrations with half a dozen systems are rarely used at this size.

There is no need to change payroll either. Contracts, holidays and working-time records can stay in the personnel administration package or with the accountant. Talent management works alongside it, on different decisions.

How do you check it in a demonstration?

By asking to see three specific screens instead of a general tour.

The first is a calibration session: who can change a rating, whether they have to justify the change and where that is written down. The second is the report as the person assessed receives it, with nobody beside them to explain it. The third is a group result with very few responses: check that the tool does not show it and says why.

If the provider takes a long time to reach any of the three, you already know where the work will be after you sign.

Which plan fits a company of 50 to 250 people?

The one that includes the modules you will use this year. Compare plans by what they contain, and look separately at the implementation charge and the add-ons.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

How many modules should you take on at the start?: The ones that solve the most frequent decision, which usually means one or two. Add the next when the previous one has had a complete use and has a person who answers for it.
Do you need an HR department to use it?: No. You need a person in charge of each module, with authority over the decision. In many companies of this size that is someone in senior management or operations.
Does the works council have to know about the software?: In Spain it is entitled to know the parameters of algorithms that affect employment decisions (Article 64.4.d of the Workers' Statute) and to issue a report before systems for organising and monitoring work are introduced (Article 64.5).
Is it any use if I already have a payroll package?: Yes. Payroll and personnel administration stay where they are. Talent management software deals with hiring, performance, succession, development and culture.
What happens to the data if I change provider?: Article 28(3)(g) of the GDPR obliges the processor to delete or return the data when the service ends, at your company's choice. Ask for the contract to say how and in what format.