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Paychex Flex

Paychex Flex

Overview

What is Paychex Flex?

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.

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Recent Reviews

Good and Bad

7 out of 10
October 09, 2023
Incentivized
We use Paychex Flex as the only source of payroll processing for two divisions of our organization. We have tried to implement the PTO …
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Paychex Flex Review

2 out of 10
October 08, 2023
Incentivized
We use Paychex Flex as our sole HRIS system for the company. We currently have a very aggressive merger and acquisition strategy, so I am …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 33 features
  • Direct deposit files (270)
    9.2
    92%
  • Update personal information (239)
    9.0
    90%
  • Pay calculation (271)
    9.0
    90%
  • View and generate pay and benefit information (228)
    8.6
    86%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons

Video Reviews

1 video

Paychex Flex Review: One Users Payroll Management Story
02:26
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Pricing

View all pricing

Paychex Go

$59

Cloud
per month/+$4 per employee

Paychex Flex Service

Contact sales team

Cloud

Paychex Flex Enterprise

Contact sales team

Cloud

Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee required

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Features

Human Resource Management

Organizing, tracking and providing instant access to critical employee data, job profiles, transfers, promotions, and benefits information.

6.6
Avg 7.9

Payroll Management

Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.

8.5
Avg 8.0

Leave and Attendance Management

Streamlines communication between HR and employees and facilitates efficient management of employee leave including requisitions, approvals, balance calculation, and annual carry-forward.

7
Avg 8.1

Employee Self Service

Employee portal allowing employees to view and update their personal information.

8.5
Avg 8.1

Asset Management

Maintaining a record of assets such as laptops, pagers, cell phones, etc. issued to employees. Record typically includes asset type, number, serial number and date of issuance.

7.8
Avg 7.8

HR Reporting

Pre-built and custom reports, and integration with external data.

6
Avg 7.6

Onboarding

Employee onboarding is the process of orienting new hires to the social and performance aspects of their jobs so that they are able to function in their new roles as quickly as possible.

7.9
Avg 8.0

Recruiting / ATS

Recruiting or Applicant Tracking Software is software used to manage the recruitment process electronically by handling job postings, applicant status, resume management, etc.

8.5
Avg 7.8
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Product Details

What is Paychex Flex?

Paychex Flex® is an HR solution boasting simplicity, with technology that grows and changes with the user's business. Paychex combines business solutions and dedicated support, to help users:

•Hire, pay, manage, and retain employees

•Get experienced support as needed with a 24/7/365 U.S.-based, live support team

•Stay ahead of changing laws and regulations with Paychex compliance experts

•Access information on the go with the Paychex Flex Mobile App and Paychex Voice Assist

Talent Management: Recruit, retain, and develop top talent from a single HR platform and streamline the hiring and onboarding process.

Workforce Management: Improve employee efficiency and productivity with workforce management resources.

Payroll and Financial Support: Pay employees and manage taxes, and expenses.

Employee Benefits: Attract and retain top talent by offering valued employee benefits while simplifying plan administration.

PEO and HR Outsourcing: Support the business throughout the entire employee lifecycle with comprehensive HR outsourcing solutions.

Employee Experience: Save time and improve accuracy by giving employees access to self-service HR, training, and financial tools.

Integrations: Automatically connect and share data between software and Paychex Flex.

Choose the right level of technology and support for the business now — while keeping the ability to grow as needs change.

Paychex Flex Features

Human Resource Management Features

  • Supported: Employee demographic data
  • Supported: Employment history
  • Supported: Job profiles and administration
  • Supported: Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.
  • Supported: Benefits information
  • Supported: Organization and location management
  • Supported: Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)

Payroll Management Features

  • Supported: Pay calculation
  • Supported: Off-cycle/On-Demand payment
  • Supported: Payroll history for each employee
  • Supported: Benefit plan administration
  • Supported: Direct deposit files
  • Supported: Payroll tracking and auditing
  • Supported: Salary revision and increment management
  • Supported: Reimbursement management
  • Supported: Statutory form management

Leave and Attendance Management Features

  • Supported: Approval workflow
  • Supported: Email notifications
  • Supported: Balance details
  • Supported: Travel absence management
  • Supported: Annual carry-forward and encashment

Employee Self Service Features

  • Supported: Employee login
  • Supported: View and generate pay and benefit information
  • Supported: Update personal information
  • Supported: Request time off
  • Supported: View job history
  • Supported: View company policy documentation
  • Supported: View company news and information

Asset Management Features

  • Supported: Tracking of all physical assets

HR Reporting Features

  • Supported: Report builder
  • Supported: Pre-built reports
  • Supported: Ability to combine HR data with external data

Integration with other HR capabilities Features

  • Supported: Additional HR capabilities (talent management, LMS, etc.) supplied by same vendor

Onboarding Features

  • Supported: New hire portal
  • Supported: Manager tracking tools

Recruiting / ATS Features

  • Supported: Job Requisition Management
  • Supported: Company Website Posting
  • Supported: Publish to Social Media
  • Supported: Job Search Site Posting
  • Supported: Duplicate Candidate Prevention
  • Supported: Applicant Tracking
  • Supported: Notifications and Alerts

Additional Features

  • Supported: Retirement- Single Record
  • Supported: FSA
  • Supported: Health Insurance, COBRA
  • Supported: Mobile App

Paychex Flex Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Paychex Flex Video

Paychex Flex Demo

Paychex Flex Integrations

Paychex Flex Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android, Mobile Web
Supported CountriesUnited States
Supported LanguagesEnglish, Spanish

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

ADP Streamline Payroll, Enterprise eTIME, by ADP, and ADP Vantage HCM are common alternatives for Paychex Flex.

Reviewers rate Notifications and Alerts highest, with a score of 9.8.

The most common users of Paychex Flex are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(551)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(26-50 of 299)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Payroll, direct deposit, W-2, quarterly taxes.
  • Customer service.
  • Employee changes.
  • Printing reports for specific transactions or vendors.
We are a very small non-profit that primarily works on health education grants from other non-profits. I'm a Volunteer, not an accountant. The customer service and our service representative have been very helpful with my questions and employee changes. There have been a few times when the incorrect amount was charged to a specific grant. Some grants pay at different rates, and it can be confusing.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Paychex for payroll and onboarding new employees. We have 7 full-time and 10-15 part-time employees. Payroll is very easy and my account executive is excellent. She is almost always available and has always been able to solve any problems I have. She is patient and friendly and professional.
  • Customer Service
  • Intuitive interface
  • Knowledgeable account executives
  • You can onboard employees 2 different ways, but one is wrong and yet the system still lets you do it
  • It says you have 15 minutes to edit payroll, but sometimes it's less
My account executive has been so responsive and knowledgeable and patient with me. She is honestly the best customer service person I have come across in a long time and that seems to be very rare. The payroll process is easy and fast and if I have any glitches or new scenario's, they resolve them quickly and to my satisfaction. This is not a frustrating process
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use Paychex Flex for onboarding and payroll. As a seasonal business, there are many challenges with managing new and rehires. Over the years, the platform has grown to make the process somewhat easier. The overall business "problem" of simple payroll is done quite smoothly by Paychex Flex.
  • Visual of payroll within Paychex Flex
  • Visual of time and attendance
  • Dedicated service representative
  • Custom reporting features need improvement
  • Onboarding flow to Paychex Flex lacks data transfers and needs fix
  • Time and Attendance and Paychex Flex permissions in separate locations and should be in one place
Onboarding of rehires needs improvement and makes our case more difficult. If we didn't have the inflow of hiring and rehiring, this platform would be completely appropriate with little to no issue. With the large employee count, needing to make changes across time and attendance and Paychex Flex adds extra work. Additionally, onboarding fields don't always transfer to Paychex Flex, and items like age (that do transfer) allow for someone to be 0 yrs old.
June 30, 2023

Payroll Time

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Paychex Flex for payroll purposes only. Our payroll runs monthly and quarterly. I run the owner's bonus pay-out. There are still some quirks I'm working out, but overall I like it. When making a 1-time only change for an employee for that payroll month, the system should identify this is a 1-time only change and will revert back the following payroll run.
  • I like I can enter payroll and if I need to leave the program, I can resume at a later time and my information is saved.
  • I like the analytics & reports features.
  • I like how all my employees have easy access to their portal.
  • When making a change to an employee's 401K contribution, change their withholdings, or change their direct deposit, I find it challenging, particularly if I had already started the payroll. I should be able to do this very easily, however, I seem to struggle.
  • Health Savings Accounts for the owners. So far we are going on year 2 and still the system will not deposit an owner's HSA contribution when I process the owner's quarterly bonus run. And of course, this doesn't get picked up on the reports until a month or two later when one of the owners tells me his HSA contribution did not hit his bank account. I have to reach out to Danita McAfee, Supervisor - Flex Conversion Center, every time for help. She is wonderful to work with and always fixes my mistakes.
  • To add a separate payroll run in addition to the monthly payroll should be just a click to do, but it is not. I have to reach out to my rep. Caleb Wiggins to add another payroll run.
See my previous response. My biggest struggle is with the Health Savings Account contributions made. Entering the amounts, and reviewing my reports before submitting all looks good, no error messages appear, however, I have to hear from one of the owners that his HSA contribution did not hit his bank account.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Upon the recommendation of my accountant, I subscribed to Paychex Flex for my company's payroll needs. I rely on the software for automatic payroll distribution as well as for payment of my payroll taxes. I also oversee the tax information for the users to ensure that withholdings, dependents, etc., are appropriate.
  • Timely quarterly reviews
  • Multiple payroll reminders before the end of the pay period
  • Account manager checkins
  • Promotions are more frequent than I would prefer
In my experience, Paychex Flex is well suited for small companies and is reasonably priced so as to not disrupt overall overhead expenses. Paychex Flex is also great for a company without a designated payroll department as it is user friendly enough to be managed and used by individuals without any payroll, accounting, or bookkeeping experience.
June 29, 2023

Paychex

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are currently using Paychex to apply to retire. We use the applicant tracking system, onboarding, payroll, employee benefits, and retirement.
  • Payroll.
  • Onboarding.
  • Applicant tracking.
  • Resetting employee login.
  • Issues with some staff not being able to push employees from onboarding to hired.
It has helped streamline our business. We have moved from three providers to one provider, and it is all under one umbrella for our company.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I find useful and works very well for me. Many of my employees are part timers and independent contractors and they are much less inclined to sign up for Payflex but they get paid and they get their 1099 and that is the most important thing for them.
  • Payroll
  • Distribute tax documents
  • Manage individuals data
  • The interface to create new users is not that easy to use
  • More prompts and guidance would be helpful especially because I only do HR part-time
  • The connection between other (external) services and the payroll services are hard to understand and makes insurance and 401K services difficult to access. I understand that Paychex wants to outsource those but as a user, it is often hard to figure out how to access the right people about those external services
Doing HR and payroll is only a small part of my role, but I am the only person actively using it, so I need a lot of help because it is not something I deal with on a daily basis. Lisa Jerdon our support person is exceptionally helpful and responsive and if she is not there someone else is always available. Creating new employees correctly is challenging for someone like me who is not a full-time HR person. Accessing 401K and insurance services is hard and sometimes it is hard to know exactly which charges to our bank are for what category
Lori Hunt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I currently use Paychex Flex to submit my employee payroll, run reports as needed, access records for tax preparation, sign up new employees, and to send out W-2s. Paychex Flex can be used anywhere, which is a plus since I am the only person in my firm that handles the payroll. I can run payroll even when I am on vacation!
  • Easy submission
  • Easy access to reports
  • Accessible anywhere
  • Sometimes, it can be difficult to get ahold of my customer service rep.
  • It would be nice if there were built in shorts cuts to the most often requested reports
I run a very small office -- there are 2 owners and 3 part time staff. I don't think Paychex is too small even for us! I think Paychex could be well suited for the small office (like us), but I also see how it can definitely be very well suited for a large office -- allowing workers to sign in and submit their hours on their own, with management just approving the time. Workers could also access their own tax reports.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Paychex for payroll, human resources, and training.
  • Excellent for processing payroll
  • Excellent resource for human resource dilemnas
  • Better view of the time off calendar for time and attendance
  • Better management of updates
  • Support for supervisors to be able to receive PTO alerts about employees requesting PTO
  • The time off calendar parameters - it needs to go back at least 30 days prior and 12 months out at a default. People have been missed with their PTO requests because they didn't show up.
It's a one-stop shop for businesses needing payroll and HR services. We have used payroll, HR, health compliance, forms, training, among other things. It's full of great resources for a small business to use. I have used the support of your HR professionals on a handful of occasions to provide guidance on serious HR issues and concerns that have come up - including employee disciplinary action.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I process our bi-weekly payroll and use Paychex Flex to submit my payroll and print reports.
  • The reports are organized very well.
  • The navigation of the site if pretty intuaive.
  • I would prefer for there to be darker font on the page or at least a contrast change option.
  • Offer help with the setup of taxes with a current W4.
  • I wish I could cliik one button to have a payment method added or a form of payment added to all current employees on a payroll.
The interface is straightforward and clear.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I needed a Payroll system that is quick and easy and user friendly application. Adding new hire team members and contractors is a simple process. If any issues arise, my account representative is there to answer and solve any issues in a timely manner. I highly recommend working with paychex for small business needs.
  • Handles all my tax filings
  • Easy to do bi-weekly payroll
  • Easy to change employee or contractor information
  • none
It is a great solution for small business owners that do not have time to do a long payroll process. The direct deposit feature helped me eliminate time consuming tasks with calculation and cutting checks. Once a team member needs to change personal information, they can go on their paychex login and make the updates without asking for me to do the changes.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Paychex Flex with the Time and Attendance add on. The Time and Attendance has allowed us to introduce PTO/Vacation options and removed the manual aspect of monitoring vacation time for each associate.
  • Time tracking
  • PTO Accruals
  • Mobile App
  • Kiosk
  • The communitive link between Time and Attendance and Pay role needs improvement. When there is an issue, one always says reach out to the other.
Managers need additional permissions/access to edit PTO balances. Currently only admins can make edits.
June 28, 2023

Easy to use.

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Paychex Flex is working well for our company. Retail stores in five locations. Our specialist is very helpful and usually available. The improves over the past few years have been good.
  • Time and Attendance
  • Human Resources tab
  • Onboarding-Hiring
  • Reporting and the easy of it
  • Time and Attendance reporting
Tracking time and running payroll is quite easy. Could improving in reporting i.e. work comp reports, retirement reports, wages for EE's to report for SDI.
John Santoemma | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Paychex Flex has saved an immense amount of time. They process or bi-weekly payrolls and handle our tax payments, including the quarterly MBT payments. We have found their system to be very user-friendly and efficient. I couldn't ask for a better time-saver when it comes to payroll. When we signed on with Paychex Flex four years ago, we had been processing 40 paychecks in-house, twice a month. Now, we're processing over hundred, and I can't even imagine if we had to do it all ourselves. Thank goodness our CPA recommended this reasonably priced service. Paychex Flex Rocks!
  • On Time Delivery of Paychecks
  • On Time Processing of Tax Payments
  • Accurately Reporting and Producing Annual W-2's
  • List or Directory Production
  • Access Limits for various System Admin
  • Insurance Deduction Options
If you're processing your own payroll for more than 5 people... you need Paychex Flex! You'll save an incredible amount of time. And time is money! Making the IRS tax payments every two weeks is a royal pain in the butt, and letting Paychex Flex take on that responsibility will really put your mind at ease. I recommend the service to every small up and coming business owner.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Paychex Flex for payroll for our three employees. We also use the HR service to help keep us up to date on changes in California.
  • The software is easy to use and works perfectly.
  • Customer service is great. I have never had a problem reaching someone and getting the assistance I need.
  • I like that we have a designated person to ask questions.
  • I cannot think of any area that would improve their service.
Easy to use and great customer service.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Paychex Flex is used for payroll processing twice a month for several of our small business entities- we use our direct contact Neil Williams who is our Senior Payroll Specialist to help with the personal and professional aspect of the system. Paychex Flex saves time, and the platform is easy to use - the reporting writing is a bit cumbersome, but that is where Neil steps in and provides guidance.
  • Saves Time
  • Application shows professionalism
  • Expanded ideas for employee service is available
  • Excellent professional service from Neil Williams our Payroll Specialist
  • Reporting writing is difficult to figure out
  • Employee turnover inside Paychex was a problem, until we were assigned to Neil Williams - since that time it has settled down
  • Pressure to convert personal connection with payroll advisor to using automated service
The personal service by our payroll advisor is what helps Paychex Flex work - without that direct contact - then this platform would not have the depth and dimension that was designed into the program. Time savings and confidence for the professional or business owner is what builds value for us to sell Paychex to our clients.
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Payroll for employees and contractors. Plus, 401K.
  • tax filings and legal paperwork
  • customer support
  • the UI is functional but a bit antiquated
Paychex is good for small businesses that don't have the bandwidth to handle all the payroll paperwork.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Paychex Flex to Process payroll, run reports, and store new hire info
  • Payroll Processing
  • Tax Pay
  • Customer service
  • Reporting
Any time I have a question regarding payroll or tax situations I know I can always reach out to my client service rep for help. Paychex Flex has a live payroll type system. When you make changes to the payroll they take effect immediately. The system does a wonderful job flagging possible issue or errors payroll admin can easily over look.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Paychex is easy to use and cost effective. The fact that employees can access their information, including <br>w-2’s, saves time and money. Their customer service has always been on point. They answer any questions and fix any issues immediately. I would highly recommend Paychex to others.
  • Pays all employment taxes
  • Website is easy to navigate
  • Employee access
  • Informing users of additional taxes withdrawn from accounts.
Paychex files all the payroll taxes, which saves small businesses time and money.
Jeff Levy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I access, download and print my payroll reports. The program is very easy to access and find information. Using this program is so much more efficient than waiting for the mail. I can learn a lot about the payroll aspects of my company by using Paychex flex. I would definitely be comfortable going paperless and depend on Paychex flex.
  • Easy to find info
  • Easy to download and print reports
  • No longer need paper reports
  • Reminder when reports are available
  • Analysis of reports compared to other companies
  • Discounts for using on line reports.
I like to close the books by the first week of each month. Paychex flex really helps me accomplish that.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Management of Payroll, HR, 401k. Training of HR, Safety.
  • Payroll
  • Training
  • HR Resources
  • Customer Service
  • Responsiveness
  • Provides accurate information
  • Employee Handbook development and management
  • Tax forms management
  • Having more Payroll Specialists available. Recently, in the last six months, our assigned Payroll Specialist, who is fantastic, was on leave and another person was chosen to help us. This person made numerous payroll mistakes that took four tries to correct. We always request Payroll Journals so we can check our account details before a payroll is cleared for release. In some cases, initial mistakes were corrected but new mistakes were created! On a second occasion when our assigned Payroll Specialist was again on leave, the same person that made multiple mistakes before was chosen to help us again and again we had a similar experience with this person. When we requested a change of payroll assistant none was provided!
Our Payroll Specialist is amazing: She handles our complex and changing payroll requirements easily and with minimal problems (extremely rare that she makes mistakes) and she's quick to find our errors! Her customer service skills are outstanding: knowledgeable, friendly, professional, polite.
June 21, 2023

BC Flex - Love it!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Flex for all aspects of the business. The hardest part is to get the employees understand the importance of Flex. When they ask for something I direct them back to Flex.
  • History
  • current information
  • reporting
  • features that make it easy for employees to be aware...ie access to employee handbook
  • hourly rates to sync with payroll system. We use SpotOn/TeamWork
The information is within FLEX. The opportunities are there to get the information you need. Sometimes navigating throughout the program is a tad difficult/confusing at times. A quick reference guide for the most common reports used by users would be helpful.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Paychex to handle our payroll and related payouts. Paychex makes processing my payroll quick and painless.
  • Answering my calls.
  • Fixing issues I may have with payroll having nothing to do with the service Paychex provides.
  • Ease of use of their web site.
  • Make is easier to find employees paystubs/W2 on the web site (less clicks/short cut)
  • Make it easier to see employees pay rates on the web site (less clicks/short cut)
Paychex has provided the quality service they promised and I trust them 100%. When I need help I prefer to make a phone call and there is always someone at customer service to pick up the call and help me even if my delegated payroll specialist is not available to pick up instantaneously when I call. I would highly recommend Paychex for all your payroll needs.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We do payroll through Paychex Flex. Benefits are also administered through Paychex Flex
  • Pay employees
  • 401 (k)
  • sick time
  • keeping track of vacation
  • keeping track of sick time
  • Difficult to stop paying employees who have left. If you turn it off too soon, it won't pay them and if you forget to turn it off it pays them after they've left
Very easy to pay employees who are on salary
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Limited use: Checking dates of employment of staff. I'd be lost without my Paychex representative.

And Paychex offered help and got us our Employee Retention credits.
  • Helps me with % or other increases to staff salaries.
  • Different types of documents (e.g., quarterly) regarding salaries.
  • Website is a bit difficult for a non-skilled user to understand.
I'm a non-HR user. We don't have an HR specialist, and don't need one (we have 5 employees). Paychex Flex does what we need in terms of payroll; payroll taxes; reports to the government; posters, etc., and I don't have to rely on someone local.

It's what we can use now. I don't have any ideas of how Paychex Flex would not be appropriate.
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