Paychex Flex Reviews

Calm in a sea of changing regulations

Comments: We had considered hosting our own payroll, however, with the craziness of COVID and regulations we are very happy we chose a partner provided and supported solution. Saves us time chasing new regulations and forms and the dreaded amendments.

Pros:

The customer service makes the product easy to use. The support makes the product as with many payroll software products it will do what you want you just have to find the right entry and set up.

Cons:

At times its so complete it can be overwhelming to find some less used features you had found before. Again they are all like this but the customer support makes this a breeze as you can actually talk to a human being that listens and helps.

It is very easy to use and has great support

Comments: Since then, many businesses have approached me about switching, but I still haven't found a good enough reason to abandon Paychex Flex. It's simple to use, produces excellent results, and supports my needs promptly. The direct deposit and web portal make payroll simple. It's easy to learn and adapt to the system. Timely reports can be simply integrated with other bookkeeping software.

Pros:

In 2017, at the advice of our Accountant, we began using Paychex Flex. I was hesitant because I was the one who always handled payroll through our company's accounting program. But Paychex Flex is so straightforward that I can't imagine ever switching from it to some other payroll system.

Cons:

The ability to write notes on an employee's paystub; for instance, a place to mention what the bonus is for when it is given; this would be helpful.

Great provider (unless your company is within 3 degrees of separation from cannabis)

Comments: It was great until it wasn't. Again, most of our essential services were terminated with only a 30-day notice, and their proposed solution was a handful of complicated workarounds while maintaining our current price, so we were pushed into fast-paced negotiations with alternative vendors.While we used it, though, it was a nice service, particularly the portal itself. Their interface is speedy and well-designed, and while there isn't much in the way of "customer success training" to help figure out exactly how to use it, it's very intuitive once you spend a few months with it figuring out how all the different pieces fit together.Bottom line, the system itself works very well, but don't lean too hard on the parts that involve human beings doing things & making decisions.

Pros:

For what we paid, everything worked REALLY well. It met our needs & made payroll a simple and consistent process, which left more time to work on more operations-focused processes. Paychex offered multiple tiers of service & an array of useful add-ons which come together to provide a rich suite of functions for organizations of nearly any size.

Cons:

After more than a year of quality service, they kicked us off all our electronic services with only a 30-day notice because we were a "cannabis business", which was not strictly true -- we weren't buying or selling marijuana, but rather a lab performing state-mandated compliance testing. We lost direct deposit, TaxPay, etc., but they wanted to continue charging us the same contract price despite massive loss of service.Customer support was variable quality--we were paying for the tier which included ongoing dedicated support, but our rep changed multiple times over the course of a year, usually without any kind of warning--often we wouldn't find out until we emailed in about something to find they'd been moved to a different department.

Not fun or easy to use but it was an affordable option for the PEO

Comments: The only thing I liked about the Paychex Flex PEO experience was our lovely dedicated HR specialist. We had the same person every time and she was extremely helpful, always there when we needed her.

Pros:

The PEO tier of service was affordable . The dedicated HR service provided with the PEO was nice as you had the same person working with you every time.

Cons:

Extremely difficult to set up - scheduling features, time tracking features, GL mapping - it was a nightmare. When in need of assistance, customer service would pass you around from department to department, it was like nobody wanted to take accountability.

The Best Payroll Option Available!!

Comments: We are extremely satisfied with the services that Paychex Flex provides. We are using more features as they get rolled out, and it has helped keep our staff morale high. We really like using Paychex Flex for Payroll and HR management.

Pros:

The convenience of having so many features in one place. We are able to achieve payroll and HR tasks faster than ever before. Ever since we started to use Paychex Flex employees have had less issues on their pay and benefits. The benefits are easy to access and the setup is user friendly.

Cons:

There were some times they were performing maintenance on the site when we were trying to access. It can take some time to get through to support staff and you must know the specific issue you are calling about. There is lack of updates and benefits can take some time to setup for the HR manager.

Paychex Flex is great for completing payroll

Comments: I appreciate being able to check on the 401(k) and have the money go straight into employee accounts, saving time and effort. Since insurance coverage is now related directly to who has enrolled in which plans, processing payroll has become much more efficient.

Pros:

From either the employer's or employee's perspective, the website couldn't be simpler to use. Filters and stored views make it easy to customize your payroll experience based on your current needs.

Cons:

Over the years, I've seen a few different specialists. Obviously, not everyone has the same potential. When my allocated person hasn't been able to help me, I've found that the online chat staff is quite responsive and helpful.

It allows us to time employees and manage HSAs efficiently

Comments: Paychex has been a great partner for our small business. If we ever have a question or need help, we can always reach someone via phone. It's convenient to have one company handle our 401(k) and other benefits. And our HR representative has exceeded all expectations.

Pros:

The Paychex flex interface is straightforward. Everything is clearly defined and the layout is intuitive. We have always got the greatest assigned support staff and their customer service is top-notch.

Cons:

Instead than relying on me, the administrator, to keep track of everyone's changing addresses, it would be great if they could do it themselves. At this time, they only have access to read data.

Paychex for growing companies

Comments: It worked for what we needed at the time.

Pros:

Paychex was easy to learn and integrate.

Cons:

It didn't work as well for HR purposes like reviews.

Paychex Flex helps us save time in incredible ways

Comments: I am the only one who uses Paychex Flex. I print Paychex Flex statements in the present or past. If employees require any payday or gift, I can revive pay stubs for them. It is possible to change personal/employee information if required. It is simple to use and is extremely useful. All my documents are close to my computer. On the occasions when I do checks, it is very comforting to be able to log into your account, extract all the documents I require in PDF form, store them and send them to the examiners. It is probably faster to make a copy at a digital print shop than to scan them into a lockbox as PDF documents. It helps me save a tremendous amount of time. I really like that thing. The time-saving is the totality of busy days.

Pros:

Paychex Flex reports are present and run in a harmonious and happy pattern, so anyone who wants them can access them at any time. It makes life simpler and saves me some time. It is simple and fast to update my worker's personal/job data. All my work data is close to my computer. It is easy to access them to get a hard copy of their rules, so I can send them to the top management or auditors.

Cons:

The only drawback I have noticed with Paychex Flex is that I was unable to find where it is possible to do a public school worker's course tax abatement from one of his coworker's tax deductions. It was simple to incorporate the new one, however it was not easy to remove the old one. However my Paychex representative was nimble and agile and did it for me.

Takes a little time to get used to.

Comments: Over all it is a great platform. It has so much potential.

Pros:

Once you got used to editing time, It is one of the easiest platforms to use.

Cons:

Looking up pay stubs is not user friendly, if you are not shown you will not find where its located.

One-stop shop, but not very customizable

Pros:

It is very convenient to have access to the phone application, so you can access information and even run payroll from anytime / anywhere. The add-on Stratustime allows you to track the non-exempt employees' hours and feeds directly into the payroll system.

Cons:

Entering one-off payroll data such as expense reimbursement or a medical insurance payback has to be done at the individual level through individual checks. it is difficult to customize access such as giving access to managers to accrue CTO days only, or giving them access to some HR info (number of vacation days, salary) without giving them access to all of it. Also, the marketing is a little aggressive, the company offers so many other side services (writing your employee handbook, offering 401k, etc) that they call you too often with too many proposals, often different people for the same products.

Good product overall

Comments: It's a good product for a small to medium size company. Again, my review is from a user standpoint, not an administrator. I really have no negative remarks for Paychex Flex.

Pros:

Recording time is relatively easy. W2s and paysubs are easily obtainable Easy to navigate

Cons:

From a user standpoint, nothing really.

Best decision we every made

Comments: They have helped me to ease up my role in the payroll process and they have set us up on five recruitment boards to help us find employees and the whole hiring process is so easy and I don't have to be so hands on through the process.

Pros:

The hiring/onboarding piece is amazing. They set us up in less than 3 days and had us doing our first payroll within a week. They sat with us through the whole payroll process from start to finish to make sure we understood it all. The Time and attendance piece is awesome and works so well for our staff

Cons:

There is nothing we don't like about Paychex. It has met our expectations and continues to do so daily.

I would rather do payroll myself than continue using Paychex

Comments: Terrible. Absolutely terrible! I will NEVER use this company again.

Pros:

Every employee has their own login information

Cons:

Customer support. I went through THREE account reps before deciding to find someone else, and NONE OF THEM would answer the phone, return calls, or respond to emails. I finally got the retention team on the phone, who assured me that my rep's supervisor would call me on a specific day at a specific time. That phone call never happened. When I spoke with the retention department again, they informed me it was because it was the supervisors last day in that position, as he was getting a promotion. A supervisor with at least 3 team members who cannot be bothered to speak to a customer and couldn't be bothered himself got promoted.

Paychex Flex: The Most Flexible Payroll Solution around

Comments: I enjoy using Paychex Flex because it is simple to use and provides me with all the information I need to know about my payroll and employees. I can easily access my payroll information and run reports. The customer service is also excellent and they are always available to help me with any questions I have.

Pros:

The most impactful features in Paychex Flex are the ability to manage all employee information in one place, the comprehensive suite of payroll and HR tools, and the ease of use. Paychex Flex is very easy to use, and integration with existing business processes is seamless.

Cons:

The least favourable aspect of Paychex Flex would have to be its payroll processing. Reports have surfaced of payroll being processed very slowly, and in some cases, not processed at all. This can obviously create a lot of problems for businesses that need their employees to be paid on time.

Good product, easy to use

Pros:

We've used several different payroll processors and this was the easiest one when it came to entering our employees hour each week. I'm surprised how difficult and convulted other companies make it, but Paychecx stood out for the ease. And that matters when you have 20+ employees to enter each week. You want it to go quick, and Paychex did.

Cons:

We weren't crazy about getting paper checks. We had been used to Next Day Air delivery from a past company and Paychex paper checks were a courier and came at inconsistent times. May not seem like a big deal, but employees want their checks early to deposit at lunch and if they arrive late employees get antsy. We had people tell us they would stop working until their check was in hand. Luckily it wasn't a huge issue, as most people chose direct deposit.

Payroll

Comments: Payroll, Admin for Employees keeping records.

Pros:

The system was friendly to use and easier to do payroll when you were ready. There wasn't constant updates every day and you were assigned a representative to assist you with any issues.

Cons:

Sometimes you run into an issues and your representative is out of the office you may get someone else who is not aware of the issue.

PREVIEW was a great payroll work horse. But beware, FLEX Payroll is no PREVIEW.

Comments: We've been on Paychex PREVIEW payroll software for 16 years. It was a solid no non-sense payroll processing work horse which came with everything you'd ever need to process payroll for 100+ employees in a very quick and efficient manner. PREVIEW software was extremely well designed and well thought out. The developers took the perspective of payroll processing users and provided all the navigation speed, functionalities and reports that we'd ever find useful or need to do our jobs quickly and efficiently. There were hardly any unnecessary clicks, keystrokes or scrolling to speak of. It exceeded my expectation all these years. Paychex's golden era and reputation as payroll processing leader was probably due to these sensible legacy products. Like all good things which must come to an end, we were switched to FLEX Q2 of 2016 because PREVIEW was so old that Paychex decided to sun set it this year - which was totally understandable. But any reasonable PREVIEW clients would also expect and assume that whatever good features, good functionalities and useful reports that were available and had been working well in PREVIEW would be brought over and be available in the new payroll product as well. Not so. Enters FLEX which Paychex touted as being technologically advanced, etc. It probably is. But as far as FLEX payroll processing features and functionalities are concerned, I am actually set back 16 years to a payroll processing product that seemed Beta, very slow, cumbersome, awkward - compared to PREVIEW. Paychex simply threw PREVIEW out the window and started fresh from scratch with FLEX. I spent my first several months on FLEX Payroll sending them suggestions to make FLEX "better". I don't know if anyone cared. FLEX Payroll screen designs and navigation are very slow, very cumbersome, and very awkward. What I considered "speed features" in PREVIEW were non-existent in FLEX. Fields are spread out as far apart as they can find room to spread them out to (instead of keeping the screen layouts compact) seemingly so as to "maximize" unnecessary clicks, scrolls and keystrokes as much as possible. It's also more cumbersome and time consuming just to get information and reports from FLEX Payroll which could be run quickly and easily before in PREVIEW. I felt like I'm using payroll software designed by inexperienced college graduates who had never processed payroll before in their lives. They're out to get as much of my time make me do as much work as possible for the same amount of work that I have to do as before - to see where my breaking point is. So overall, I'm not impressed. To me, if the basic payroll processing functionalities are less than before, FLEX Payroll will still be inadequate despite all other "great features and modules" they added to FLEX which I don't need.

Pros:

Flex integration with Benefits Administration (Benetrac) module can make life a lot easier for some - but Beware - only if your group is 100+ enrolled. Our Paychex sales rep did make the claim that with Benetrac service, our medical insurance transactions "will all be automatic with carriers and we wouldn't have to do a thing" - which was totally not true. As it turned out, more carriers than not do not do EDI for groups (company) with < 100 enrolled. So the main FLEX selling point totally didn't even pan out for us. Please learn from our lesson. Do verify specifically that your medical and dental carriers will do EDI for your group before signing up for Benetrac.

Cons:

Although FLEX does its job as payroll software, having been on a faster and more efficient product before, we know how much more time we are spending on this "more inefficient" product compared to before. Oh and please save yourself the headaches and trouble by passing on other Paychex's services. We tried Paychex Health Insurance and ACA filing. They both failed miserably. Same story in both cases. Can't get hold of the account rep and customer service rep. No one would answer or return our calls. Last year's ACA were 60% wrong after I've redone and resubmitted data 3 different times after 3 different CSR told me 3 different things. They were just making it up as they went. Very frustrating.

I have never been happy with Paychex.

Comments: They never fully finished helping us get our platform set up. There is suppose to be a general ledger integration that is suppose to give us a report that breaks down our payroll items so we can enter the details into the books. No one has ever helped us set up our platform so this works. The report is always blank. I spent over a year trying to get people to help set this up so it would work and every customer service person would just pass the buck or tell me they would get back to me but never did. Then with the time clock feature it would be great if they would stop trying to change and update it. I spend more time fixing employees time punches because Paychex is down. Furthermore, the new timeclock platform that Paychex is trying to launch seems scares me because they seem to be missing a lot of key features that were on the old one. Finally, I don't know what their employees do all day. I swear our service reps are out of the office more than they are ever in the office.

Pros:

The software looks like it should work well and that is has a lot of features that would be helpful. I do like how they take care of a lot of the tax related things so that I don't have to create and file all the different employment tax documents.

Cons:

Timeclock system is often down.Poor customer service.No follow through to make sure everything was finalized on initial setup.They always try to sell me new products when the ones I have don't work.Talked to a Paychex Technical support employee who admitted that the back end was not that great.

The Biggest Rip Off in the HR Industry

Comments: Working with PayChex was absolutely the worst experience we have ever had with a vendor. They are great when trying to sign you up but once you do they are impossible to get any assistance. Even cancelling them was difficult because the Off-Boarding team was supposed to call me to help the process of migrating our payroll back and all the necessary steps. 3 Weeks after cancelling no one called and they had the audacity to not only try and bill us but add charges because they tried to pull from our bank for payroll and we cut them off. They have lots of fees that I don't understand how they can justify. Taxes were calculated differently 3 pay checks in a row, getting someone to return email was impossible and when you call you basically get a rep who happens to be the one to get your call, not your supposed HR Generalist, which was absolutely useless. I never criticize publicly about an organization but this one was so very unprofessional and even made worse by the outrageous fees they charge. I would think twice!

Pros:

- Paid on time - Payroll documents easy to download - Have minimum 100 letters and I don't have anything really good to say, which is a first because I believe in positive reviews and have never posted a negative one.

Cons:

- Tax documents not where their website tells you they are and when you call for help they direct you to the place where the documents are supposed to be but not? C - HR Generalist does not return calls or emails in a timely manner if at all. - Absorbent fees to use their platform (3 x payment of $1000) and another $500 per payroll period for 3 employees. This high price is supposed to be for dedicated HR Generalist, which is a joke. - Very attentive when pitching to you and then the disappear and its a huge organization that has zero communication between each other and departments.

Easy to use as an employee

Comments: As a user, Paychex provides an easy-to-use platform for time tracking and paycheck information. I downloaded the app but chose to stick with the website due to the straightforward nature of being able to clock in and out quickly, request PTO, and approve employee time tracking with a few clicks in a web browser.

Pros:

Paychex is easy to use as an employee. Being able to clock in and out is simple - there is a button to click that records the punches. I've also used the timesheet to manually enter time, which is also straightforward. As a supervisor, seeing my direct report's timesheet is handy. To approve, it's a matter of checking a box for approval - I feel like it could not get any simpler as an end user.

Cons:

While easy to use, I'm not too fond of the feature for switching between the employee (self) details and supervisor (direct report) details. A switch role function in the upper corner is not necessarily intuitive. I would love for there to be a way to have it all on the same "home" page rather than having to switch roles. While I personally do not have anything to do with the setup of Paychex, I am going to assume there are some issues from there, as our HR department seemed to have difficulty making updates to the system regularly.

Paychex Flex gives me peace of mind

Comments: Overall, I have been very pleased with Paychex as a company and their online platform, Paychex Flex.  I have the peace of mind that our payroll is in capable hands.

Pros:

It is easy to use and it gives me a peace of mind that our company's payroll is in capable hands. Their customer service is great. Each customer has a dedicated payroll specialist, so every time I have a question I am talking to the same person. Our payroll specialist has always been very helpful any time I have had weird situations or questions. Paychex withholds all the appropriate taxes for both the employee and employer and then files them when the appropriate government entities. Our business is located Ohio, which has a complex tax structure including both state and local taxes. Paychex has saved me so much time and stress.

Cons:

I wish that Paychex Flex tracked pay increases. That is the only thing that I liked better about our previous payroll provider. Our previous payroll provider had a tab that showed an employee's salary history and the date of each raise. Paychex Flex does not have this, so I have to track it separately. I wish they had a more intuitive reporting function. The standard payroll reports are laid out very well and are very easy to run, but if I need to run a report that it out of the ordinary, I usually end up calling my payroll specialist because I can't find the report. To be fair, the couple of times this has happened I have been looking for a report having to do with workers comp and since workers comp is run by a government entity in Ohio it has some added complexities.

Paychex Flex the next best electronic payroll system!

Comments: The benefits of using Paychex Flex software is that the product is available online to users. Other benefits include being able to select a specific payment plan or subscription suitable for the company to aid the human resources aspects of payroll. Additional benefits include accessing a dashboard with all employee information to be edited or submitted at once. More benefits of utilizing Paychex Flex include developing quick reports such as payroll statistics. Paychex Flex is a good tool to administer payroll for your company.

Pros:

Paychex Flex is an online software that human resources personnel can utilize for payroll. Paychex Flex has various subscriptions that company's can select depending on the types of features. Paychex Flex offers an employee dashboard that requires an username, password, and pin number. Paychex Flex allows users to disburse amounts of funds to contractors, employees, vendors, and sponsors. Paychex Flex offers tools, tutorials, and customer support related to the online library and overall application.

Cons:

Paychex Flex requires a new verification code upon logging into the dashboard. Users listed in the Paychex Flex may not be deleted depending on administrative rights to complete such an action. Paychex Flex may provide usernames and passwords to administrators and not employees, thus employees may not be able to update time card electronically. Paychex Flex allows time card adjustments to be made by the administrator. Paychex Flex allows payroll adjustments to be made by the administrator.

Out dated and impersonal

Pros:

This product works fine for day-to-day activities but has failed to meet some basic requirements when anything out of the ordinary is required.

Cons:

Customer service through Paychex has been very challenging for our business, which ultimately led us towards switching payroll service providers. Countless errors were made when switching contractors to employees, when terminating employees, and Paychex failed on many occasions to provide financial information and tax documents to various states we were reporting in. They were also unhelpful in providing documentation to various states and city governments while our company was dealing with past-due notices that Paychex should have been responsible for. Our account manager changed hands a number of times with no notice, often no notification, and without a clear line of communication. Overall, their lines of communication seem outdated for companies operating online and whatever 'personal touches' they may have been known for have been lost to the wayside of a digital communication age where information has the capability to be freely transmitted from one employee to another. I found myself frequently re-sending the same required documentation to multiple parties and asking the same questions time and time again which were either ignored or partially answered. Overall an incredibly disappointing experience for the years we were with them.

Paychex Flex review

Comments: Excellent experience deliver on their product have to be careful they raise prices after initial period check on them frequently

Pros:

Payroll features and time management tools are easy to use and simple to implement. There is always a payroll specialist available when needed

Cons:

Reports are sometimes difficult to generate to many options can be confusing to find exactly what you need without a payroll specialist