BrightHR vs. Gusto

For a new part of our business, we have input staff details on Bright HR. There have been times when calls have been made to the helpline for guidance. It does not take long to get to know the staff you are speaking to. In relation to the query addressed with a team member today the service was excellent. Matthew has a great depth of knowledge of the system and works through the shift and annual leave calculations at the click of a finger. Thank you Mathew for your support, you are a star!

If you have a small company with a straightforward payroll, you could consider Gusto, especially if you want to be as hands-off as possible with a system that does most of the work for you. If you value responsive customer service and engaged benefits management, Gusto will not make the cut.

• When a query has been dealt with via the helpline an email confirming the outcome is often issued which is great for reference at any time.
• The system is easy to use and the screens are clutter free.
• The support service offered is easy to access and the staff are friendly and helpful.

• The self-service aspect of the software is very nice. We rarely need to get customer service involved.
• For the first 2 years of our subscription to Gusto, customer service has been good when we needed it.
• We have also had good experience with third parties recommended by Gusto including a 401(k) administrator, R&D tax credit analyst, and background check software.

• Direct-dial telephone numbers rather than going through the Peninsula helpline numbers.
• Setting up annual leave profiles often needs the assistance of a Bright HR representative when staff works quirky shifts. Providing examples of how to set the system up in user guides may help to set the system upright the first time.

• Not enough flexibility with pay periods. For monthly payrolls in WA state, I'm required to pay the 1st-24th of the month by the end of the month. To have payday be the last day of the month, the pay period sometimes ends on the 24th, sometimes the 25th, and February there is no option to be in compliance as it pays up to the 22nd only.
• When an employee maxes their IRA contribution for the year, Gusto stops making employer contributions even though the company is required to pay a % of total income for the year, not only during pay periods in which the employee contributes.
• Gusto was not including all reportable earnings to our state family medical leave program. This caused my employee to be denied benefits over her maternity leave. Thankfully she appealed their decision and after I provided payroll reports the PFML program identified the issue with Gusto's reporting and approved her payments. This all took several months though and Gusto still has not contacted my employee to apologize for their error despite me asking them to do so on a couple occasions (and it being the least they could do!)
• A few years ago I started the process of having Gusto administer our health insurance benefits. The process was a nightmare and I ultimately decided not to have them do it, however without my signature they had already started changing it over.
• Customer service is awful. It's almost not even worth sending an email since it takes months to get a reply and then they often don't address the problem but say "let us know if you need anything else" in which case you will wait another couple months for a reply if you even get one.

Unless they break it, I'm never leaving. It's just too easy. Gusto is also really affordable, and for what I pay, it's worth having the historical record within the system. I like that I can go back and pull up W2's for year's past. This sort of easy access reporting, has been helpful especially when getting reports for PPP loans.

The UI is clean and simple. It's incredibly easy to find what you need to find, and if you can't, a quick search of their help files will direct you where you need to go about 90% of the time. For that last 10%, a support e-mail will result in a quick answer. Almost any time I try to do something new I haven't done before with Gusto, I can do it in a few minutes.

Gusto's customer service has really deteriorated lately and they seem to have really changed their focus. It used to be when you called you were routed to an individual who knew about payroll, benefits, reporting, etc. but now you get someone who seems to have not received the correct training. My last call about a dismissal payroll took me over an hour of my time and the person still could not help me and finally transferred me to someone else.

I chose BrightHR as it offered a one-stop platform for HR management for which we have dedicated UK and ROI HR specialists who not only give HR advice but also write policies and handbooks, etc. They are a one-stop-shop, which was very important as when I signed the contract I did not have an HR person in my team and they were essentially my back office. Also, by signing up, I got access to Bright Safe too; which is great as again it's a one-stop-shop for Health and Safety in the workplace. So I can roll out toolbox talks, training, and accident management.

I have only used Gusto for my payroll needs for both of my businesses from the very beginning but I have heard from colleagues that Quickbooks payroll is much more time intensive and takes longer to input than the amount of time I spend in Gusto running payroll and onboarding staff with new hire paperwork and direct deposit.

• Saved admin time in filing and then searching for documents.
• Saved admin time in chasing for managers' approvals for holiday requests.
• Saved admin time in chasing managers/employees to update their profiles.

• Gusto has greatly simplified payroll processing for our company. It can be done quickly and easily since moving from our previous provider.
• Gusto is very affordable and has most of the features we require, without paying a PEO for features that we do not use.