Item: TriNet
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are a multi-entity biotechnology company with offices throughout the US. We currently use TriNet for all of our US and one Canadian employee. Using TriNet allows us to offer top-notch benefits to employees no matter what state they reside in. It also helps our very small HR department stay compliant with the laws in all the different states. We have a few international employees who are not part of TriNet only because they do not offer services in those countries.

Pros and Cons

Our product support team is fantastic.
Benefit choices are great and selection and enrollment process was very thorough.
Hiring and employee onboarding is relatively easy.
Employee access and interface seems to work well.

Requests you make in the system which appear automatic are not. They actually require manual entry by TriNet groups which can sometimes cause delays and be problematic.
Because of the above issues, deadlines for updates need to be several days before payroll close and there is no good mechanism to correct or update things which change between the deadline & the end of the payroll period.
The information and documentation they provided to support companies for COVID 19 was helpful, the process for requesting FFCRA leaves is very complicated and keeps changing. Often the deadline for completing the paperwork is before the events happen and there is no way to backdate submissions.
TriNet rolled out an integration with Bamboo HR but it is not working as planned.
The termination process needs to be addressed. If you do an involuntary termination, when their last payroll check is processed, even if you turn-off the direct deposit option, the employee is still notified, often before their HR exit meeting.

Support Rating

Through the website and emails, TriNet gives some very useful guidance on HR processes and approaches to deal with employment challenges. The technical assistance is a little less useful. As a company admin, too often my view of the information is different than the internal TriNet view which can cause confusion and miscommunication.

Usability

The website interface is pretty easy to use and navigate. The issue is that changes and selections that appear to be automatic are actually just submitted requests that have to wait for manual work on the back end. This can cause the users/admin view to not always be accurate or match the view on of the TriNet employee.

The issue is often hidden by the work of our fantastic front-line support but that isn't really a scalable solution.

Return on Investment

TriNet has allowed us to manage this organization with 1 HR professional and 1 Business Finance professional.
The benefit options have been a great recruiting tool.
I wish it would better integrate with outside solutions such as Bamboo HR and Intacct.

Alternatives Considered

TriNet was in place before I joined the organization, so I have not worked with any other PEO's. From a purely payroll perspective, it is comparable to those in functionality.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you have a small to mid-size company, especially with employees in several locations, TriNet is a great way to get top-notch health benefits at reasonable rates. It allows you to offer great regional plans, even in areas where you have 1-2 employees. It also makes sure you stay in compliance with all employment laws in whatever state you want to hire in and it gives you the support of an entire HR team.

If you are a company who only has one location, who is only looking for a payroll or simple benefit solution, TriNet would probably not be a cost-effective solution.

TriNet is expensive, but well worth it if you have locations throughout the US.

Overall Satisfaction with TriNet