Item: TriNet
Rating: 9
Author: Judy Keesecker

Overall Satisfaction with TriNet

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Trinet for our payroll processing, Medical and Dental Benefits, 401K, and HR for assistance. I have been with my company for over 4 years and the company has been using Trinet since 2016. The online processing is simple along with the onboarding of new employees. Of all the payroll companies I have used in other jobs this one is simple and straightforward. They answer questions as they arise. Very professional with their clients. Trinet being a PEO company is best to use as the HR laws are cumbersome and keep changing. They have all the tools we need available to use. They take care of the taxes and reporting. Their reports are simple to use and during PPP they had sample reports to use and enter our information. They keep their clients apprised of new laws or changes for HR or Payroll.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Payroll processing
Communication via email with their clients
payroll reports
Benefit process
onboarding new hire
Vacation and sick leave tracking etc

Cons

To have some reports readily available like SOC
Workers comp reporting to have access in the reports
Cobra information if former employees opt-in having that information available in the reports section would help

Return on Investment

HR less time spent on all the laws and they have kept us inform
Processing payroll takes less time
Fees are a bit high for a small business

Usability

From other payroll companies' platforms, I have used, Trinet is user-friendly. It is easy to learn by oneself without assistance. If you have a question or need assistance they will help. For the most part, no assistance is needed with using their platform. I would recommend this to most people.

Support Rating

Whenever I had questions I would email or call and ask, say for instance when figuring out an employee's final check when termination of employment. Customer support has assisted in the way they process each day's pay. Trinet has helped with the HR processes by having self onboarding and the handbooks they have in the system are basic and we can add our own supplemental processes like how vacation hours are accumulated.

COVID-19 Support

With Covid 19 pandemic, they have the PPP reports ready for us to use and we just needed to enter the dates on the reports to fill out the applications. They have given us a recovery credit which has helped in the fees expense area. They have had Webinars to teach how the forms work in filling out to apply for PPP loans and Loan forgiveness as well.

Alternatives Considered

ADP Streamline Payroll

ADP is more complicated and not user friendly and they have too many different packages and not one size that Trinet has. The support with ADP is less desirable. The support with Trinet has been superb. With ADP you have to shop for the Benefits packages and 401k packages. With Trinet they take care of that and employees pick what they want.

Key Insights

Do you think TriNet delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with TriNet's feature set?

Yes

Did TriNet live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of TriNet go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy TriNet again?

Yes

Other Software Used

QuickBooks Online, Zoho Expense, Asset.Guru

Likelihood to Recommend

Their platform is simple to use and user-friendly. Administrators have access to employee info which is good. All reports are in the reports section and you can customize the reports to fit your payroll periods and what you want to see on the reports. They have custom reports you can build your own. I have not tried it yet. It can integrate with your accounting software depending on which one you use. Yet it will not work for all clients if they have more than one Chart of account numbers for their payroll in their accounting system. So having that to work for clients on how they break down their payroll in the system would be helpful, for example, expenses. In payroll, it is entered as 1 number, but that one number in the expense report employees submit tends to be broken down to more than one Chart of Account. So that integration with clients' accounting software would not help.

TriNet Feature Ratings

Using TriNet

Users and Roles

4 - Employee uses to enter their vacation request or sick time. Administrator moves approved vacation to payroll grid and reminds the manager to approve if it has yet to be approved. Trust advisor assists in more complex issues such as 401k compliance and how to fix etc. Administrator process the payroll reports for the company

Support Headcount Required

2 - Right now we have 2 employees. Technology of the industry and who payroll works

Business Processes Supported

Communication
Training
Updates

Innovative Uses

Create own reports
Basic daily functions
Expenses

Future Planned Uses

Job performance review
Salary comparison

Likelihood to Renew

This is one stop shopping perse. They provide tools for Benefits and 401k. There reports are easy to read and the support given from Trinet support is awesome. Having everything in one place is best then having multiple places for things. Why change if things are working well? All the information is all there when needed.

Evaluating TriNet and Competitors

Products Replaced

Yes - The company used ADP before moving to Trinet. Not sure the reason why, as it happened before I started working here. I have used several different payroll companies in my past employment at other companies. Trinet platform is easy to use and one can train themself to use the platform.

Key Differentiators

Cloud Solutions
Integration with Other Systems

Cloud base so other users have access and things will not be lost compared to if it were on one's hard drive on their computer desk if the computer crashes and data was not backed up...all is lost

Evaluation Lessons Learned

If I was involved in the process, I would like to have a demo of the software and pricing level structure for amount of employees a company would may have etc. Talking to other clients of the vendor to see how they enjoy the product.

TriNet Implementation

Implementation Rating

Did not participate in this

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Don't know

Implementation Issues

Was not involved in the process

TriNet Training

Training Types Used

Online Training
In-Person Training
No Training

In-Person Training

I was training the person in our company I was replacing and not by a Trinet employee. She gave me minimal training. But enough for me to figure things on my own.

Online Training

Since this was already implemented. I have another employee briefly train me. Then Trinet rep gave me some training as needed for things that came up. For one payroll preview report I figured it could be done, but I had asked the rep to be sure. One important training was when there was an employee leaving the company.

Ease of TriNet Training

It depends on the person. I had minimal training from coworker. Other then that I figured it on my own and made things more simpler then the previous employee

Configuring TriNet

Product Configurability

Some of it is limited, but for the most part it works for what is needed as along as the person knows what they are doing. If one has no idea then that is a different story.

Configuration Lessons

The report tool needs to be easier to use and easier to create reports. Especially for someone not as technical in the reporting or technically inclined. It be helpful to make it easier.

UI Customization

No - we have not done any customization to the interface

Extensibility and Customization

No - we have not done any custom code

Additional Customization Considerations

n/a

TriNet Support

TriNet Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

I am not sure if Premium support was purchased when the company signed up with Trinet.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of TriNet Support

When I needed help creating a comparison report between payrolls. Since I could not seem to create, the support team help me and made life so much easier.

Using TriNet

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Payroll
Onboarding
Reports
Vacation reporting
Benefits
Terminating process
HR function

Difficult Tasks

Creating own reports
Editing existing reports to meet a need

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes - It works and gives summary of what one is looking for. For the employee they can see their paycheck at a glance and if need get tax documents. It has a capability to request time off, I have not yet used it. Others have and it seemed to have worked.

TriNet Reliability

Scalability

Cause it can be used as mentioned for sites and departments. Or even if employees work out of state and not at the HQ the the employer. Trinet makes is easy to do for payroll in other states as well.

Reliability and Availability

It is available always as needed. Have not run into any problems. If I have I report it to support and they get back to me in a timely manner. So far there have not been any major issues

Performance

Pages loads quickly, it also depends on ones computer they are using. Other then that no issues

Integrating TriNet

Ease of Integration

We have not used this

Systems Integrated With

None at the moment

Future Integration Plans

Quickbooks

It would be nice to do and I know it can be done, but we have more then one department or chart of account that we use, it does not look like it would work for our needs.