Easy for the routine stuff. Not so much for custom data requests.
July 26, 2021

Easy for the routine stuff. Not so much for custom data requests.

Joey Riso | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Paychex Flex

Our company is small and uses Paychex Flex to execute payroll for all employees.
  • Calculates earnings
  • Handles withholding
  • Handles tax filings
  • User interface
  • Reports organization
  • EDD reporting
  • Saves time running payroll.
  • Allows us to handle payroll internally.
Did not investigate other software solutions, only payroll services.
Continually changing support person, and different people give you different solutions to the same problem -

Do you think Paychex Flex delivers good value for the price?

No

Are you happy with Paychex Flex's feature set?

No

Did Paychex Flex live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of Paychex Flex go as expected?

No

Would you buy Paychex Flex again?

Yes

Again, the UX is regrettable. Report organization is so frustrating that I end up using Excel to do my reports.
We don't ask much of it—we want it to pay employees and handle withholding. We don't depend on it for reporting, as we find reporting difficult.

Paychex Flex Feature Ratings

Employee demographic data
Not Rated
Employment history
9
Job profiles and administration
Not Rated
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.
Not Rated
Organization and location management
Not Rated
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)
Not Rated
Pay calculation
10
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment
Not Rated
Benefit plan administration
Not Rated
Direct deposit files
Not Rated
Salary revision and increment management
7
Reimbursement management
2
Approval workflow
Not Rated
Balance details
Not Rated
Annual carry-forward and encashment
Not Rated
View and generate pay and benefit information
Not Rated
Update personal information
Not Rated
View job history
Not Rated
View company policy documentation
Not Rated
Tracking of all physical assets
Not Rated
Report builder
2
Pre-built reports
2
Ability to combine HR data with external data
1
New hire portal
1
Manager tracking tools
Not Rated
Job Requisition Management
Not Rated
Company Website Posting
Not Rated
Publish to Social Media
Not Rated
Job Search Site Posting
Not Rated
Duplicate Candidate Prevention
Not Rated
Applicant Tracking
Not Rated
Notifications and Alerts
Not Rated

Using Paychex Flex

1 - I am President and co-owner. I manage all aspects of payroll.
1 - I'm my own support. I have a background in I.T., but not in accounting. That's one of the reasons we picked Paychex Flex.
  • Easy payroll entry
  • Accurate withholding
  • Reliable Direct Deposit
  • None. We're doing what we need to do now.
It meets our needs and is relatively straightforward to use. While there are some shortcomings, they are minor and don't justify looking for another solution.

Evaluating Paychex Flex and Competitors

Yes - It replaced using an accounting service. The service was expensive, slow, and the interaction was more difficult.
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
We wanted fast and easy payroll entry. Initially Paychex Flex was a little confusing, but the interface improvements over the last couple of years have addressed most of these problems.
No changes. It worked. Move on.

Paychex Flex Implementation

Just make sure you have your in-house data collected and organized before you start. It would be helpful to put together a questionnaire to solicit all of the needed information.
Change management was minimal - There really wasn't any notable change management, as we are small and one person handles payroll.
  • getting employees set up correctly

Paychex Flex Training

It was a little confusing - especially as the interface was undergoing change at the same time.

Configuring Paychex Flex

There seems to be an emphasis on meaningless configuration - like rearranging the dashboard - instead of being able to configure reports. There seems to be an emphasis on the superficial rather than the substantial.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - the product does not support adding custom code

Paychex Flex Support

ProsCons
None
Slow Resolution
Not kept informed
Need to explain problems multiple times
Slow Initial Response
No. We don't need the additional expense. When a product is sufficiently well-designed, premium support shouldn't be needed.
Not really. I find Paychex support pretty challenging. Different people give you different answers to the same problem, and my support rep is constantly being changed.

Using Paychex Flex

ProsCons
Like to use
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
Not well integrated
Inconsistent
Slow to learn
  • weekly payroll entry
  • getting EDD reports
  • creating custom reports

Paychex Flex Reliability

It's not really germaine to our environment, so I can't rate it on this basis.
I've rarely had availability problems. Paychex Flex has almost always been there when I need it.
Generally, performance is good. Reports are the slowest part of the system.

Integrating Paychex Flex

Since the only integration that interests me you don't support - I can't really evaluate this.
  • none
We're not interested in integrating payroll with other functions.
If there was one tool I'd use, it would be Zapier, but you don't offer it.

Relationship with Paychex, Inc.

They want to sell, and they seem to know their product.
Occasional support stumbles prevent me giving a "10".