Paychex

Score5.4 out of 10

580 Reviews and Ratings

What is Paychex?

Paychex Flex, of Paychex' Online Payroll Services, is a cloud-based human resource management and payroll platform. Paychex offers core and specialized services, and scales to meet the needs of small businesses, SMBs, and large enterprises.

Categories & Use Cases

Media

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View company policy documentation
Employees can review company handbook, and corporate policy documents.
Category average: 7.7
Pay calculation
Pay calculation provides for computation of employee pay with state and federal deductions.
Category average: 8.2
Direct deposit files
Direct deposit is the ability to electronically transfer pay to an employee’s personal bank account.
Category average: 8.6

Manager tracking tools
Tracking tools allow hiring managers to check status on individual hires for all onboarding activities.
Category average: 7.6
Ability to combine HR data with external data
Ability to bring data from external systems like CRM and combine with HR data.
Category average: 6.5
Organizational charting
Organizational charting is the ability to create hierarchical charts.
Category average: 7.3

#1 most frequent

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

14.9%

711 installations of 4,771

#2 most frequent

Manufacturing

13.4%

640 installations of 4,771

#3 most frequent

Health Care and Social Assistance

10.7%

511 installations of 4,771

Kenton Sanders

Director of Operations in Finance and Accounting at Mars Hill Bible Church (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Paychex Flex as our payroll system. We also use it to assure employees read new or updated policies as it shows us who has opened a required policy file and who hasn't. It is our timeclock for hourly employees and shows us when an employee misses a timeclock "punch in or out".

Pros

Timeclock for hourly employees
PTO tracking and allows for unlimited types of time off and tracking
Basic payroll processing is user friendly
Employee portal is easy to use

Cons

Clunky when rules are different for different types of employees; programming requires Paychex Flex to create the rules
Occasionally, a system glitch will occur and getting it fixed with technical assistance can be slow and sometimes confusing

Return on Investment

We moved to Paychex Flex because they provided a service to file for the ERTC (Employee Retention Tax Credit) for a set fee of $5,000 when all others wanted 20% to 30% of the credit which would have been $40,000 - $60,000.
It provided a solid and efficient system to monitor and record employees' acknowledgement to new and updated policies, saving time and energy for HR staff.
It provided a good reporting system that was easy to read and understand, making payroll approval easy and streamlined.

Alternatives Considered

ADP Global Payroll and APS Payroll

Usability

Other Software Used

Araize FastFund Online, TouchPoint Software, Blackbaud Church Management, Shelby Systems

Zach Crowe

Practice Manager in Human Resources at Printz Veterinary Services (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Paychex Flex as our payroll company and decided to use their "flock" system to help streamline our benefits selection for our employees. This was a total nightmare I feel. Not only is it nearly impossible to get a call back on issues, the communications from emails are cryptic or non-existent from my experience. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing ever. If, by chance, you finally reach someone in a management position to "help" with an issue, rest assured they expend the least amount of effort to aide you, if they decide to aide you at all in my opinion. The last 5 months with Paychex Flex and flock have been terrible. We will be switching not only our benefits brokerage but also our payroll companies as of this review. I would chalk this up to a company being large enough they believe they cannot fail and that leads to being flippant with their customer complaints. If you are thinking of using Paychex Flex for any services, think again.

Pros

paid on time

Cons

Benefits management was TERRIBLE. One of the worst experiences I have had.
Revolving door of assigned agents. You never know who you are going to get. 9/10 times the person didn't know how to assist us I feel.
So many phone numbers to call in to for various departments and after long hold times, could never be transferred to the right person.

Return on Investment

Expensive for what it is and how bad the service could be at times.
We saved money by switching, new company doesn't have some of the bells and whistles but we never used those features and were paying for them anyways.
Cannot strongly suggest enough to stay away from their benefits management team. Was a major deciding factor for us switching companies all together because of how horrific the experience was.

Alternatives Considered

Gusto

Usability

Other Software Used

Gusto

Barrie Sandy View profile

Insurance Agent in Finance and Accounting at Sandy Insurance Agency (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I've been Paychex Flex customer for approximately ten years and have been using Paychex Flex for managing my payroll records. I've found the technology to be simple, straightforward and efficient for my needs. My employee and bookkeeper also utilize Paychex Flex to access records, and each one has found it to be very user-friendly.

Pros

Access to quarterly payroll records for any given period
Immediate access to pay stub information for some or all of my employees
Easily provides complete payroll history of current and past employees

Cons

Perhaps a search feature in Paychex Flex that was more intuitive
Access to staff could sometimes be easier.

Return on Investment

Highly efficient which gives me great confidence in payroll reports
Considerable time savings in having all payroll reports produced in a timely manner
Employee self-service increases payroll confidence in employees

Usability

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365, Microsoft Windows, Salesforce CMS

Verified User

Administrator (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Paychex Flex allows us to process payroll for our employees. It helps prepare reports, auto-processes our W2s automatically and assists in our quarterly filing. It's helpful having a team of experts who can help you in varying capacities. If you mess up, they can assist. Have a tax question? They have a team for that! It offers a portal for employees to view their paystubs and make adjustments to their personal information. It also allows us the opportunity to deliver pay electronically via direct deposit, and we have the option to dole out electronic W2s.

Pros

User Support
They assign you an account leader who is extremely responsive
It's constantly evolving to update technology to suit its customers
They're up to date on all the local laws/regulations and apply them to payroll so you don't need to think about it

Cons

The site goes down sometimes. It is rare but it does happen
You have a training session at the beginning of your account but I think more training tools could be very helpful

Return on Investment

Paychex Flex has allowed us to save money and go paperless in lots of ways especially particular to W2s
Paychex Flex is easy to use for our employees. It's saved time in-house because employees can update their personal information all by themselves!
Paychex Flex saves our internal team even more time by automatically preparing reports for each payroll week, quarterly filing, etc. They also store it in their portal for your access.

Alternatives Considered

ADP Workforce Now

Usability

Other Software Used

PandaDoc, DocuSign, Dropbox Business, Calendly

Verified User

Manager in Human Resources (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our organization uses Paychex to manage payroll, HR, benefits administration, and timekeeping. It serves as our primary system for processing employee pay, tracking hours worked, handling tax filings, and maintaining compliance with federal and state regulations. Our employees also use it for self-service, allowing staff to access pay stubs, W-2s, and benefits information directly through the portal.

Pros

Fantastic at processing payroll with minimal steps and issues and itegrates time-tracking data.
Able to procces garnishments and other type of payment needs.
Assists in easily onboarding new hires and storing documentation e tax forms, company policy acknowledgments, and direct deposit setup.
The benefits administration allows us to easily administer health plans, 401k deferrals, and life insurance.

Cons

Issues with unresponsive customer service. Frequent long wait times and we have difficulty reaching knowledgeable representatives
We have had issues with unexpected fees, unauthorized charges, and difficulties when canceling services.
We have experienced challenges getting technical issues resolved in a timely manner.

Return on Investment

Reduced HR and payroll administrative time by shortening the hiring life-cycle by 26% for our organization
Reduced costly errors with automated tax filings, real-time regulatory updates, and compliance monitoring.
Empowers our employees to manage their benefits, pay, and personal information from any device, reducing HR inquiries.
Has improved our compliance and reduced penalities.

Paychex

What is Paychex?

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Key Features

Top Performing Features

View company policy documentation

Pay calculation

Direct deposit files

Areas for Improvement

Manager tracking tools

Ability to combine HR data with external data

Organizational charting

Most Frequent Users

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

Manufacturing

Health Care and Social Assistance

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