ADP Vantage (legacy) vs. Paychex

[ADP Vantage HCM is] great for big organizations with complex processes and who need all the features/functionalities provided by the platform. May not be very suitable for smaller companies who aren't as elaborate in terms of their HR processes and the enterprise licensing costs can be slightly prohibitive. Great for companies looking for plug-and-play solutions which need minimal/no customization off the shelf.

Incentivized

It's better for larger businesses (50+) with various types of pay structures. Employees need to be comfortable with technology to take advantage of the self-service features. I've struggled with the default in the state tax section; extra steps must be taken when an employee lives in a different state than they work, and we don't know where they live until after completing their profile. So we have to go into the system and make the corrections, then notify the employee to go in and complete the state-specific withholding forms and follow up to confirm they do so.

Incentivized

• EPIP batch uploads are customizable. Each payroll processor was given their own upload template so they could input all of their changes on it, and then upload at payroll processing time.
• We had multiple pay groups. ADP Vantage makes the ability to submit and close multiple pay groups individually very easy. This was a big pain point for us and we were able to speed our timing up by opening and closing our pay groups individually.
• Report writing in ADP Vantage is a breeze. It has the ability to drag fields into the report writer, so you don't have to remember the exact fields you need. You can literally go to the screen you want to report off of, and drag the field into your report.

Incentivized

• It provides a well account of Retirement Plan Account Information.
• Alerts are sent to email when there is new information to access.
• Employee access both online and thru app.
• Paperless options.
• Easy and quick access to paystubs and tax forms.
• Easy employee retirement management.

Incentivized

• [The] tax setup section needs more work, it is unclear sometimes if we need to set up tax in Smart Compliances or somewhere else, and then the rode to make that tax active and add it to the employee.
• [The] payroll audit could be more clear and include more data from all adjustments, for example, if there is [a] salary rate change, there [are] not flags to check that in [the] audit section of the payroll.

Incentivized

• When it comes to audit reports, Paychex Flex could improve on helping clients locate the correct reports for audit purposes more easily
• When a client receives a discount, it would be helpful if the discount were automatically provided each year, or if the Paychex rep proactively reached out to the client first, versus the client having to call and request that the discount continue.
• It would be helpful if the invoice was emailed to the client versus the client logging in to access invoices.

Incentivized

Because we have only been using the system for 5 years, we will continue using this service until our business outgrows the support we need or is unable to meet our needs. we need a system that will integrate with our carriers and well as our general ledger system. We are currently looking for another GL system to fit our needs that will need to integrate with ADPVantage

Incentivized

there are a lot of competitors on the market such as BambooHR and Insperity. Paychex need to make significant improvement on their offline customer service in order to compete with the other guys. Everything is online now and timely response to customer's questions is vital. Customers won't enjoy being put on hold for 45 mins every time they have a question regarding their HSA problems

Incentivized

It's a great product and the enhancements make it better all the time. I feel there are some areas that are severly lacking attention, such as Garnishments. This area of the product is not user friendly at all and ADP has not made an enhancement here since we went live 2012.

Incentivized

Some things could be streamlined. For example, we could do custom options for the "add items" tab which has so many options that we never use. "Medical Pay" could be something that the system remembers for the applicable employees. Salaried employees' salaries should definitely be auto-filled. Overall the system works well but I think it could be improved to be easier to use and read.

Incentivized

The software just works. I can count on one hand the number of actual outages I have experienced in the last 10 years. We have had slowdowns, where response/processing time was slow, but those too are few and far between. The redundancies and backups they have in place at ADP mean my resources are available all the time. The only reason I say 9 of 10 is because there are times when an update or patch will cause an issue in another part of the system that usually isn't discovered prior to the patch/update's implementation. These have happened several times. The plus side is that these are almost always resolved immediately.

Incentivized

We have not experienced any difficulties with unplanned outages. Notifications are always made for outages, and they do not effect normal business operations.

Incentivized

Pages do load pretty swiftly, and reports do not take too long. However, I have noticed that most reports become available sooner than some. Which if you are trying to process payroll, it may slow you down and tends to be time consuming when you're in a crunch

Unless there is lag time within the internet, the Paychex Flex website loads exceptional fast, pages load quickly and reports that I need to print or download load quickly. If I need to create a specialized report, once I complete it I receive an e-mail telling me my report is ready to be downloaded. Changing between web pages is fast as well.

Incentivized

I think it's important for other companies to do their research and to make sure to not be oversold like we were. We needed to have an implementation expert with the sales person who could have explained some of what we wanted was not doable without costing extra. It's for this reason that I'm giving ADP Vantage HCM this rating. Everything is a project and comes with an additional cost.

Incentivized

Neil Williams makes this entire system work - without our direct contact with our professional advisor - this would be just like any other platform and the relationship would not have the dimension that is has. Using chat or phone support with a new person every time you need support wastes time, as generally the person you are talking to does not have an intimate knowledge of our company. By having an assigned professional representative that knows our companies, this provides a level of confidence of caring coming from the Paychex side.

Incentivized

I personally did not receive in-person training. I do know that person to person interaction is more efficient versus self taught and online training. The instructor can work at your pace, and you will be able to ask more questions to better understand the system and how it works. I also prefer in person training overall.

We did online training only

Incentivized

super easy to follow along. I loved that I was able to move along with the instructions without feeling overwhelmed and lost. Being able to go back as many times as I needed really helped when I was helping my co-workers stay on task with the training.I love that ADP

It was easy to understand and follow along. I do like the informational videos that we can utilize before we opt to call in for customer service support. It has made a difference since sometimes that resolves the issue I may have had and saved myself a phone call to Paychex support.

Incentivized

It was a great implementation, ADP went above and beyond to ensure it was successful. ADP hosted modeling sessions that included the subject matter experts from all areas. It was helpful that the implementation was all inclusive as we received indepth detail of how each area affects another.

Incentivized

Implementation was very smooth. The most cumbersome task was entering the current employees into the system during initial set up, but Paychex staff handled most of that and verified against prior system reports as well as internal reports provided to ensure 100% accuracy.

Incentivized

I inherited this system when I came on board. Most recently I had been using ADP Enterprise, along with eTime and Virtual Edge. I have also used home-grown systems. I know there are some limitations between Vantage vs Enterprise, but I really haven't noticed them working in Vantage. It gives me a very similar experience to what I was used to, so it was simple for me to adapt. I am always aware of other systems that are being developed, but I am pleased with what I have right now with Vantage.

Incentivized

In addition to the ones listed above, we also used BenePay, a local payroll company. We found Paychex Flex priced in the middle, with ADP the most expensive and too complicated, with many features that were unnecessary for us. We found that Paychex Flex's features and reporting to be sized right for our size (around 30 employees). Paychex Flex also offered a very reasonable service to apply for the ERTC

Incentivized

ADP Vantage is able to scale to our needs. As your organization's payroll and time and attendance needs grow, ADP has optional modules (scheduler, HR, ect.) that can be purchased. The basic reporting and metrics are nice add-ons.

Incentivized

Employees can log in at home and get up to date information on their FSA balance and any medical bill reimbursements they may have uploaded. At renewal time they have the ability to make changes to their FSA or for new employees star the enrollment.

Incentivized

• Positive - saving the admins time by allowing EE's to access their own information.
• Positive - Managers being able to use Vantage easily to manage their employees.
• Negative - would probably be when the system gives you errors randomly that are not true errors. Once you refresh the page or log out and back in then the error does not come up. Not sure if this has to do with connection as well.

Incentivized

• With Paychex Flex we have been able to improve our compliance with required documentation for new/rehires
• Moving everyone to direct deposit and mobile clock in/out eliminated lines at punching stations and paycheck pickup stations
• Lost checks is a thing of the past

Incentivized