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.
It is a fantastic tool for having an all-in-one package. Employees can monitor their pay stubs, monitor their 401 (k) balance, sign up and manage employee benefit programs, and more. The software is easy to access on a computer or smartphone, making it very accessible. From what we've observed, even with a staff ranging from young to old, everyone has been catching on pretty easily.
SAP HR can be well suited for global companies with operations in multiple countries. The Payroll module needs to be limited to one instance per country, otherwise trying to maintain multiple countries on the same instance is too complicated. I would not recommend using SAP HR and Payroll for smaller companies because the total cost of ownership and the lack of flexibility will make it unfeasible. There are many cloud-based options now a days available that would fit better for this type of scenario.
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.
Overall I like the features that Paychex Flex offers. I am sure that there are other features that I am unaware of, so I am excited to see if there is more that Flex is capable of to make my job easier. The basic features are really user friendly and easy to access. If there ever is an issue customer service is great
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
We have not experienced any difficulties with unplanned outages. Notifications are always made for outages, and they do not effect normal business operations.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We still use QB Desktop Pro to maintain a Check Register / Overall Balance for the company, but once having tried QB Payroll Online for about 3 months prior to finding Paychex Flex I can tell you that there's just no comparison. QB online is VERY EXPENSIVE and not so user-friendly. I hated every minute of those 6 payrolls we ran through QB online.
I generally do payroll at the office, however I have had to go remote due to internet issues and also had to take payroll on vacation with me. Very easy to log in wherever you are and manage your TAA and payroll
SAP HR is suited for large companies with a sufficient budget. Small budgets will not be able to cover the expensive licensing, technical personnel and consultants required of an SAP installation.
In regards to the total cost of ownership, my ROI experience has been that by replacing SAP HR modules with cloud solutions we have been able to reduce the cost up to 60% while modernizing our systems and improving the employee experience.
I would encourage decision makers to look for cloud-based alternatives with a robust system integration, before believing that supporting every area of HR with a single SAP installation is a good long-term strategy. Having SAP HR as the core integrated to best-in-class cloud-based systems is a very valid and effective system strategy.
