Employee Navigator is a benefits-focused HR system from the company of the same name in Maryland.
N/A
Namely
Score 7.3 out of 10
N/A
Namely offers a cloud-based HR platform for integrated core and specialized HR services, including time and employee performance management and onboarding processes.
$9
per month
Pricing
Employee Navigator
Namely
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Namely Now
$9
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Employee Navigator
Namely
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
Required
Additional Details
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Namely Now offers small-businesses an HCM including payroll and HR at a budget conscious price. For growing companies we have Namely Plus which includes payroll and HR, talent, time, and other tools to engage and enrich their employees. For companies looking to free up more time internally for strategy, Namely offers Namely Plus People, including managed Payroll and Benefits. And for the business who wants to expand while minimizing risk and liability, our white-glove comprehensive PEO solution is Namely Complete.
We are very pleased with the change to [Employee Navigator] as it offers more what we needed. It's very customizable and has many features that can be added or taken away depending on business needs. I'd only say it would be less appropriate for a business quite smaller than ours who needed very little in comparison.
Namely is aesthetically very pleasing and navigates like other social media platforms which can be appealing to potentially a remote workforce who interacts more online than in person. Unfortunately, it did not serve our population well as we are primarily manufacturing where people are not as interested in utilizing the HRIS for interactions when they would rather connect in person.
Time off requests. These are easy to perform and track as an employee and user.
Time off approvals. Couldn't be easier. Time of approvals or denials are sent via email and are one-click tasks. Also can be performed in the web UI, but it's so easy.
Manager reporting. Managers can easily see reports on employee time off and make decisions based on that.
Namely has helped with our COVID sick leave response. It has made a major difference both with the weekly payroll and the 941 tax filing
Keeping track of our multiple PTO plans. Thank goodness for Namely, I have shredded my old PTO spreadsheets.
Employees like the convenience of the cell phone app. As a payroll administrator, I like the Geo Tracking tool where I can see where some are when the clock is in or out.
The flexibility inside of the payroll system both as you are finalizing an employee profile and when you are processing payroll is a major advantage.
The reports I get out of Namely in Excel format work well for me.
It is a great stand alone product. We would like it to tie into a more robust HR solution and communicate with payroll.
Initially there are a lot of features that are turned off, I like to know what a program is capable of so I can be more strategic in implementing a solution.
Having a broker in the middle is both good and bad.
No direct feed for Ohio Workers Comp (now a manual process on our end)
No option to place an employee on Leave of Absence and exclude them from payroll while they are "inactive"
No option to suppress certain deductions for certain pay types (i.e. allow 401K for commissions but block remaining deductions - also now a manual process to uncheck the suppress box for 401K for each commission check)
Administrators and employees love Namely. It is very easy to use and streamlined. Employees stay engaged with news feed updates and enjoy all the self service options. The time cards are very easy to access and clocking in and out for non-exempt employees is a breeze. Namely is part of our family.
It is very simple to use for myself, the HR team, and our employees. I find the payroll process very user-friendly. Reporting is simple to navigate and produce the required information requested. I know our employees enjoy the self-service feature and use it on a regular basis, which saves me time.
So far, we have had very little reason to call in to Employee Navigator support. Our team who works with them have found it easy and simple to work with them when needed. They aren't able to work on much or divulge how the system works internally, nor what's on the roadmap, but it is still helpful to have timely confirmation.
Unfortunately, in more recent years we've had a lot of difficulty with Namely as they've undergone a lot of internal changes. It took 4 returned emails saying the person no longer worked at Namely to find someone to help me (I finally called payroll) and it took a while to get connected with a direct source of help. Namely now has set up their "pod" feature of communication which works well for the most part, but is different. I felt spoiled when we first started with Namely, but now it feels very much like working with most large companies' help centers. There is a system to go through and you do have the option to click "urgent". In general the help is efficient, but it still takes a few days and it's hard to speak with someone directly. It is all done via online communications and is difficult to actually speak to someone on the phone. This works well for most cases, but I do feel frustrated more often than I'd like to with this type of communication. (2019/2020)
Implementation was a bit complicated and our company had to carry most of the weight. It often felt like our implementation manager was giving us extra work that she did not want to do herself. It also took much longer than expected - I believe almost 2 months. I believe our company carried a bit too much of the weight.
Most of the systems I've used for HRIS systems have been part of the payroll system. What stands out with Employee Navigator is the ability to key your benefit changes into one place, and all vendors are notified of the updates -- no more logging on to three or more sites to make an address change to an employee.
Namely has a robust suite of offerings, and fallows for a la carte selection of add-ons (rather than a single bundled option). This has allowed our company to save money by not purchasing options / functionalities that we dont need, but may drive up the cost for other companies who need more a la carte selections. In all, the size of the company, the size & capabilities of the internal HR team, and considerations like managed payroll and benefits should be key drivers in selection.
We spent about half the time on open enrollment than we did in the last two years. Employee Navigator was much easier for staff to navigate and be able to complete their open enrollment independently
We've saved several thousand dollars in setup fees to link with insurance carriers since moving to Employee Navigator
When we were over 100, it provided a huge benefit to us due to the accuracy of payroll, benefits integration and management, and org chart and performance tracking. Having all of that in one place was a huge improvement from the former disjointed user experience.
When we dropped below 100 due to covid, our insurance rates went up 93% to offer comparable plans, and we had to move over to a PEO for benefits which meant we also had to move payroll. It was hugely disruptive, and now our employees have a bad experience when trying to manage their HR lives in multiple places. It is confusing and, again, disjointed.
