ADP Vantage (legacy) vs. Paychex

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ADP Vantage (legacy)
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
ADP Vantage combined HR, payroll, benefits, talent management and time & attendance. It is a legacy product.N/A
Paychex
Score 6.8 out of 10
N/A
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.N/A
Pricing
ADP Vantage (legacy)Paychex
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Paychex Flex Pro
Custom Pricing
per month/+$4 per employee
HR Pro
Custom Pricing
HR PEO
Custom Pricing
Paychex Flex Select
Custom Pricing
Paychex Flex Enterprise
Custom Pricing
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ADP Vantage (legacy)Paychex
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalRequired
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ADP Vantage (legacy)Paychex
Considered Both Products
ADP Vantage (legacy)
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
It’s more precise then other tools and it’s very much easy to use then other tools.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
Haven't used others in the current role but I heard from our HR about the great functionality and not so high switching costs for ADP vantage.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
If I would be able to select the payroll product, it would be ADP Workforce now.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
I think that ADP Vantage HCM is better than Workforce Now. It is easier to use and has better capabilities. I didn't encounter as many glitches in Enterprise, though. I think ADP Vantage HCM has some issues where it doesn't work properly, and you need to use a different browser …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
Working in human resources and payroll for many years, I have used Ultipro, Paylocity, company created payroll systems, as well as several version of ADP. Although ADP Vantage is, in some ways an improvement in older versions of ADP, it is an absolute step backwards from ADP …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
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 …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
ADP Vantage HCM is truly a plug and play product. Implementation is effective, tools strong and support team is great.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
Kronos. ADP is maintained and was a much-needed upgrade from Kronos, which provided poor reporting tools and basic query building capabilities.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
I have been working in HR and payroll for many years; when I first started, we were using PC/PW with a separate system for our Human Resources needs. The ability and ease of use of having information from both departments is invaluable. The ease of use of ADP Vantage HCM is …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
We have only used ADP for payroll processing since we moved from doing payroll internally in the 80s.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
PeopleSoft isn't a user-friendly platform. It was difficult to learn and had issues continuously. We previously used that platform before our company was sold and we turned into a stand alone company. We looked at several systems but none compared to ADP Vantage HCM for the …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
We actually use both.
ADP is easier to program in terms of entitlements. Vantage is also user friendly, it has intuitive uses.
Ceridian T&A is great for retailers, robust but with a higher learning curve. It does require training, Ceridian's support is very different than ADP. …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
ADP Vantage was chosen because ADP is best in class for payroll service. They excel in garnishments; they excel in taxes; they excel in payroll delivery; they excel in customer service; they excel in actual payments; Vantage was their latest and greatest payroll processing …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
ADP Vantage is hands-down a better solution and one that better suits our needs.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
This has been a large cost savings to us.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
We simply upgrade to ADP Vantage from ADP Pay Force and Enterprise eTime time and attendance.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
About equal in terms of user adoption and look and feel. Advanced Technology and HTML 5 platforms for Mobile work. The customer support and the Customer community (Bridge) is not great. There are no location user groups for customers to get together and collaborate aside …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
Having timecards, benefits, and payroll all in one program is a big plus! The system we converted from was very archaic and we needed a system to be able to handle 30 payrolls with the possible of adding additional companies over the new few years. Also, to have a company …
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
We currently use Smart Compliance with Vantage. I'd say they even out as far as meeting our expectations.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
Leadership selected ADP Vantage due to pricing. I had no decision on what we chose.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
I think ADP offers a better product for self-service associates, whereas UltiPro was much more user-friendly for the support team.
Chose ADP Vantage (legacy)
ADP Vantage is more reliable and user-friendly than previous platforms utilized.
Paychex
Chose Paychex
Paychex is much more user friendly than ADP Run or ADP Total Source. However, I do like that ADP has an option to upload documents related to payroll such as notices from the state (DOR, UI, etc) and creates a case where notes from their rep are added and a case # is provided. …
Chose Paychex
NA - Am not using other Paychex services
Chose Paychex
I used Bangor Payroll prior to Paychex and they were better than Paychex. I didn't select Paychex, it was already at the organization when I joined it.
Chose Paychex
I think the Paychex reporting menus are easier to use and navigate than ADP.
Chose Paychex
They were alright, some of the same issues. Lots of turnover with payroll consultants.
Chose Paychex
Both ADP and Paychex are very good at informing businesses of the latest changes regarding payroll. Not sure which one is better, but very much get the most out of each. Both are informative and always looking at additional topics in a world that is constantly changing. …
Chose Paychex
Paychex has been around for a long time and have used it at other organizations. The payroll functionality is the best out of the other systems I have used. They all are great with handling the HR needs of our organization but Paychex is the most streamlined.
Chose Paychex
We use BambooHR in tandem with Paychex. BambooHR is our timesheet service, and Paychex issues the checks/payments to our employees. Ideally we would use one service instead of two to achieve our payment and timesheet needs.
Chose Paychex
More accessible and cost effective for our small business.
Chose Paychex
I far prefer Rippling to Paychex Flex, with its easy to navigate interface and user friendly model. I also appreciate the payday emails from Rippling and the paystub breakdown. It is also very easy and simple to request and view PTO in Rippling. I really dread having to use …
Chose Paychex
Paychex Flex has some room for improvement, I would choose ADP out of the different HRIS's I have used in the past
Chose Paychex
More user friendly works better for self service
Chose Paychex
I'm unable to give you a comparison because Paychex is the only payroll service I've used since I started my business over ten years ago. I've had no reason to explore other payroll services or make a change. I trust it will remain that way for as long as I'm in business.
Chose Paychex
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 …
Chose Paychex
I did not select Paychex. It was at 2 companies I started with and ended up having them switch out
Chose Paychex
Looking to switch over to ADP.
I think they are much less expensive
Chose Paychex
Based on what I've noticed, Paychex is comparable to DayForce, which has similar timekeeping functions. I think DayForce has a few easier-to-navigate tools from an Employee Self Service standpoint. iSolved is much better all around from my personal usage. If my company had more …
Chose Paychex
Gusto is more intuitive than Paychex and easier for smaller companies. Paychex has better customer support than Paylocity. Paychex is easier to navigate than Paycom.
Chose Paychex
Paychex offers much more than just tracking employee attendance and managing employee records. It offers Payroll services, Human Resource Services, Retirement Services, On-Boarding Services, Employee-Self Services, Employee Benefits Management, Employee Handbook Services, …
Chose Paychex
The could not match the price we pay for the same service.
Chose Paychex
I have not used any flex pay options only for payroll and tax situations.
Features
ADP Vantage (legacy)Paychex
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
9.2
Ratings
12% above category average
Paychex
7.1
Ratings
13% below category average
Employee demographic data9.20 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Employment history9.00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Job profiles and administration9.30 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.9.30 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Organizational charting9.10 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Organization and location management9.40 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)9.30 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
9.4
Ratings
15% above category average
Paychex
7.4
Ratings
9% below category average
Pay calculation9.50 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors9.20 Ratings6.50 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.30 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Benefit plan administration9.20 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.40 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.60 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.10 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
9.2
Ratings
12% above category average
Paychex
7.2
Ratings
12% below category average
Approval workflow9.30 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Balance details9.10 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment9.10 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
9.4
Ratings
14% above category average
Paychex
6.1
Ratings
29% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information9.10 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Update personal information9.10 Ratings7.40 Ratings
View company policy documentation9.40 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Employee recognition9.70 Ratings1.00 Ratings
View job history9.50 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
9.9
Ratings
21% above category average
Paychex
4.8
Ratings
50% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets9.90 Ratings4.80 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
8.7
Ratings
15% above category average
Paychex
5.7
Ratings
28% below category average
Report builder9.10 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.70 Ratings6.50 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data9.20 Ratings4.50 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
8.9
Ratings
11% above category average
Paychex
6.6
Ratings
19% below category average
New hire portal8.40 Ratings6.80 Ratings
Manager tracking tools9.30 Ratings6.40 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
8.8
Ratings
9% above category average
Paychex
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking9.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
8.7
Ratings
10% above category average
Paychex
-
Ratings
Performance plans7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
9.4
Ratings
18% above category average
Paychex
7.0
Ratings
11% below category average
Create succession plans/pools9.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking8.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search9.50 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Candidate development9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
ADP Vantage (legacy)
9.3
Ratings
17% above category average
Paychex
5.3
Ratings
39% below category average
Job Requisition Management9.50 Ratings5.10 Ratings
Company Website Posting9.50 Ratings5.20 Ratings
Publish to Social Media9.70 Ratings5.60 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting9.60 Ratings5.90 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention9.60 Ratings4.60 Ratings
Applicant Tracking7.90 Ratings4.70 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts9.60 Ratings6.10 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ADP Vantage (legacy)Paychex
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.2 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ADP Vantage (legacy)Paychex
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
6.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.1
(0 ratings)
7.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.6
(0 ratings)
5.4
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(0 ratings)
7.1
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.8
(0 ratings)
6.3
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
4.5
(0 ratings)
Online Training
5.1
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.1
(0 ratings)
5.2
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.1
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.7
(0 ratings)
5.6
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.4
(0 ratings)
5.6
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.5
(0 ratings)
6.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ADP Vantage (legacy)Paychex
Likelihood to Recommend
[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.
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Overall we have had a good experience. The unfortunate part of being with them for over 10 years is the change-over in support specialists and sometimes the lack of transparency when that occurs or the lack of personalized communication. However, the ease of use and streamlined services for reporting and recording payroll and onboarding employees is definitely a benefit to the service. Being able to pull reports and review past employees information can be invaluable at times. Knowing I have peace of mind when it comes to tax documentation because someone else is ensuring it is handled and handled correctly is very important
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Pros
  • 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.
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  • 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.
Read full review
Cons
  • [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.
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  • 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.
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Likelihood to Renew
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
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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
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Usability
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.
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Employee usability is very good and user-friendly. For the most part, the employer usability is good, but for complicated rules and policies, it requires technical assistance, which in our case, was clunky and slow in implementation. Once is place, everything works as it should
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Reliability and Availability
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.
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We have not experienced any difficulties with unplanned outages. Notifications are always made for outages, and they do not effect normal business operations.
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Performance
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
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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.
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Support Rating
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.
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Chat has been helpful but the person I chat with isn't always able to help me with my questions. Phone support is ok, depending on your payroll specialist. We have a great one currently, but the few before that were never available and did not return calls.
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In-Person Training
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.
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We did online training only
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Online Training
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
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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.
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Implementation Rating
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.
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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.
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Alternatives Considered
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.
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Paychex is much more user friendly than ADP Run or ADP Total Source. However, I do like that ADP has an option to upload documents related to payroll such as notices from the state (DOR, UI, etc) and creates a case where notes from their rep are added and a case # is provided. This helps create a good way to track a notice and be sure it is resolved. I have sent requests to close different states when a company no longer has an employee there or have been told an item has been filed/completed, only to receive a notice later from Paychex notification or the the state claiming the issue is unresolved. When you have as many clients as we do, this can feel messy.
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Scalability
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.
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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.
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Return on Investment
  • 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.
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  • This software has provided visibility to shift managers and department leads that they never had before in managing their subordinates. They now have an easy-to-use go-to source for seeing who has PTO, how much they have available, and what the work calendar looks like, allowing them to make better-informed decisions.
  • With this software to manage open enrollment, we can now get through that process with a tool we use regularly, rather than jumping into enrollment management software only once a year and having to relearn it each year.
  • Literally thousands of steps are saved each week by not needing to traverse the entire shop floor or track people down to clear up questions with time cards. With everything digital, so much can be observed and addressed in real-time through the app.
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ScreenShots

ADP Vantage (legacy) Screenshots

Screenshot of Pay group SelectionScreenshot of Screenshot of Myself Dashboard:
Self-service views empower your people to take charge of their employee experience.Screenshot of Admin Custom Content:
Deep but simple configuration, easily yet precisely tailored to current or future needs.Screenshot of ADP Mobile App: Highly rated on the App Store
View your pay and much more anytime and virtually anywhere.

Paychex Screenshots

Screenshot of Paychex Payroll DashboardScreenshot of Employee Background ChecksScreenshot of Paychex HR DashboardScreenshot of Paychex Flex Perks