Item: TriNet
Rating: 9
Author: Chung Lo

Support Rating

TriNet has made administration processes over our US offices almost non-existent. Apart from entering the changes as and when they come, they have dealt with all requirements and we have not had any complaints.

The only slight drawback (hence not a 10) is that I feel the technology platform could be made more efficient and also more resilient. Aspects of the system are simple and user-friendly but not all of it is.

Usability

Apart from the slight drawbacks regarding the technology platform's inability to upload variable pay, the occasional breakages and lack of flexibility over reports, the Trinet package is overall very easy to use with a focus on simplicity over complexity.

This feeling of ease-to-use is possibly down to the excellent support and training staff Trinet have employed.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Trinet is currently our co-employer for employees in our US office. They manage all contracts/benefits/tax/pay for the US segment of our organisation and provides a one-stop shop for all things related to our US employees.

This allows us to have better benefits offerings (than would normally be possible for an office our size) for our employees and also greatly reduces our admin burden as it saves us having to administrate for an overseas office where we don't have anyone on the ground.

Pros and Cons

Working without direction - they seem to do everything we require them to with very little requirements our side.
Quick responses - our account manager (Stewart) always responds to emails/requests very promptly.
Good service for our employees - on the whole, our non-HR stakeholders have all been very happy with the service.

The TriNet system (in particularly the new Beta HRPassport) is a bit slow and occasionally breaks. Also not very friendly to navigate to Payroll.
Default reporting is a bit clunky. The excel exports are not formatted in ways which are easy to manipulate. Also, not that easy to pick out exactly what we need (e.g: one employee's bonus history).
Inability to view certain details such as employee bank details (for confidentially reason) makes it hard for us to check if the correct amount is going into the right account.

Return on Investment

Reduced time spent on admin over the US office allowing us to focus on Head Office.
No complaints by US staff about payroll since we moved across to Trinet.
Trinet have provided a fountain of knowledge and comfort knowing that they will always help us remain compliant in the absence of a US guru in our HR team.

Likelihood to Recommend

TriNet is well suited to organizations with a small number of employees where administrators can manually check the reports and/or key in changes. The benefits package/self-sufficient administration lends itself really well to reducing our workload where there is low or infrequent visibility/audit/reporting requirements

However, once organization size increases, the lack of an upload for payroll variable pay and lack of a flexible/easy to use report builder will make it more time consuming to use the TriNet system.

Trinet - Big solution for small offices

Overall Satisfaction with TriNet