Payroll companies are responsible for managing the payroll for their client’s employees, and also ensure they are paid in a timely manner. When choosing a payroll company, therefore, it is important to consider all the options that are available, along with different factors that can impact your choice.
This article takes a look at some of the various aspects that should be taken into account when choosing a payroll company.
Paychex Payroll Software: Best for Larger Businesses
Paychex Payroll SoftwareEmployees can be paid by direct deposit, paper checks and pay cards. Paper checks can be printed or mailed.Paychex includes a host of HR-related services.Paychex doesn’t provide pricing online for its Select and Enterprise service packages.VISIT SITECOMPARE QUOTES
Paychex is a robust cloud-hosted payroll service that manages payroll processing and tax obligations, and provides a host of other HR-related survives. The Paychex Flex platform is accessible online or via the mobile app for iOS and Android devices. You can pay anyone who does work for you through Paychex, including W-2 workers, 1099 contractors and freelancers.
Paychex offers plans suitable for businesses small and large, making it a good option for businesses seeking a payroll processing partner they can scale with. Paychex offers three different service plans, and payment methods are customizable as well, including direct deposit, paper checks and prepaid debit cards.
Running payroll is a simple process with Paychex. In essence, all you have to do is enter your employees’ salaries and pay rates, note how many hours they worked, and then submit your payroll for processing. Paychex takes care of the rest. It calculates each paycheck, withholding the proper amounts for payroll taxes and other benefits. It then pays your employees via direct deposit, pay card or printed check.
September 2021: To ensure paychecks are accurate, Paychex users now have the opportunity to review paystubs before payday. The new feature, Paychex Pre-Check, lets users choose how they want to be notified, such as via email, a smartwatch or smart speaker, when their paystub is ready to be reviewed. Users can then confirm accuracy or report a problem.
June 2021: Paychex recently unveiled a new labor cost tool that gives business owners and their financial team a real-time look at their total labor costs and labor distribution. Having instant access to labor costs and allocation helps businesses better understand their financial standing, as well as plan more adeptly for the future. One use of this data from Paychex can, for example, help business owners see how salary cost adjustments would impact overall expenses.
May 2021: Paychex recently began offering a self-service tool that allows new hires to get set up in the Paychex Flex platform quickly. Employers send an invite to new employees. That invite gives new hires access to the Paychex system and allows them to sign up for direct deposit and fill out their W-4 forms.
Paychex has three pricing plans: Go, Flex Select and Flex Enterprise. Each of these plans include all the core payroll processing and payroll tax features we looked for in our review. Here’s more about these three plans.
- Go: Paychex’s basic plan, Go, includes online payroll, payroll tax preparation, time and attendance tracking and new-hire reporting. This plan costs $59 per month, plus $4 per employee.
- Flex Select: Flex, Paychex’s most popular plan for small businesses, includes everything in the Express plan, plus access to a dedicated payroll specialist, labor compliance poster kits and paper check options. There is no set or fixed price for this plan; pricing is customized for your business.
- Flex Enterprise: This is the most comprehensive plan and designed for larger organizations. It includes everything in the Pro plan, plus custom analytics, reports and HR administration. Pricing is customized for businesses.
In addition to its payroll services, Paychex offers human resources tools and services, time and attendance systems, employee benefits, and business insurance. This is another element that makes Paychex a scalable platform. Larger organizations can also leverage Paychex to manage time and attendance, recruiting, hiring, and benefits.
READ PAYCHEX PAYROLL SOFTWARE REVIEW
ADP: Best for Complex Businesses
ADPADP offers multiple service plans to meet your needs.ADP is the payroll software industry’s market share leader.ADP charges on a per-payroll basis, which could really add up if you have different pay schedules for various employee types.VISIT SITECOMPARE QUOTES
ADP has a strong reputation as a leader in the payroll industry. For complex businesses, including those in highly regulated industries or those operating in multiple states, ADP offers several highly effective tools.
This company offers specified payroll platforms for small, midsize and large businesses. Its Run platform is designed for businesses with fewer than 50 employees, while its Workforce Now platform is for businesses with 50 to 999 employees. Organizations with more than 1,000 employees have various options, including the Enterprise platform.
ADP offers four plans for businesses. Here’s what is included in each plan:
- Essential: With this plan, companies get an employee self-service portal, direct deposit payment, prepaid debit cards and paper checks. It also offers onboarding and payroll reporting. In addition, the Essential plan includes new-hire onboarding tools and a small business marketing toolkit.
- Enhanced: This plan includes everything in the Essential plan, plus state unemployment insurance management and the option to have ADP sign and stuff paper checks for you. The plan offers options to run background checks on new hires, as well as the ability to post new jobs on ZipRecruiter.
- Complete: The Complete plan includes an employee handbook wizard, job posting and applicant tracking, five background checks per year, HR forms and documents, and HR training and toolkits. With the Complete plan, businesses are also assigned a team of HR experts who can serve as advisors, offering guidance on numerous human resources questions.
- HR Pro: The HR Pro plan includes HR help desk support, expanded employee handbook support, employee training, and sexual harassment prevention training. Legal assistance from Upnetic is also included.
The breadth of ADP’s services alone makes it a standout payroll provider.
Payroll processing is especially flexible with ADP; you can manage it on your desktop or mobile device (iOS and Android), as well as over the phone. ADP automates payroll tasks like calculating an employee’s paycheck based on wages and time off, saving you time and improving accuracy in payroll by reducing the likelihood of human error.
ADP’s RUN is also taking advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The platform’s smart technology is able to examine all of your company’s payroll history in order to flag possible errors before they occur. In addition, the platform lets users receive alerts from state and local tax jurisdictions on possible mistakes with tips on how to address them.
ADP’s payroll software can easily integrate with its other services, like its time and attendance software. If you’re interested in a full suite of business solutions, ADP gives you several different packages to choose from.
ADP recently unveiled a new timekeeping solution that is available to businesses with less than 50 employees that are using the Run payroll platform. The new timekeeping system lets employees clock in and out via tablets. The system features facial recognition software, which ensures the entire process is touchless. The solution’s dashboard provides insight into who is working and when, as well as who is missing work and who is incurring overtime. The scheduling tools make it simple for managers to create schedules and share them with their staff. Additionally, employees can use the system to claim shifts and let those in charge know when they are unavailable to work.
Rippling Payroll Software: Best for Ease of Use
Rippling Payroll SoftwareRippling automates your payroll and accounting functions by syncing relevant data from more than 400 apps.Its user-friendly interface enables new users to acclimate to the system quickly with little training.Rippling has no free trial.
Rippling stands out as a user-friendly online payroll software that requires little to no training to quickly become proficient with the system. The company claims that Rippling allows you to “run payroll in 90 seconds,” which certainly could be true given how many sources the software pulls data from – in all, Rippling integrates with more than 400 apps to automate the processing of your payroll.
A sleek, organized user interface organizes key information like the total hours worked per employee, time off by employee, total labor expenses and more. Further, you can manage direct deposits and paychecks through Rippling so your employees are paid on time in the manner they prefer. Rippling displays all of the tax and benefit withholdings by employee per paycheck, offering a complete record for both employer and employee to reference with ease.
Deluxe Payroll — Best Price for Included HR Features
- POWERFUL HR TOOLS
- MAKES ONBOARDING EASY
- GET ALL THE PAYROLL FEATURES YOU NEED
- STARTS AT $39/MONTH
Payroll and human resources are close bedfellows and the tasks you routinely handle in both departments tend to go hand-in-hand. Whereas some services don’t offer much in the way of HR and others may be overkill for your needs, Deluxe offers a simple solution for running payroll and basic HR management in one package.
With Deluxe Payroll, you get everything you need to reduce headaches and time spent on recurring actions. The platform offers full-service tax filings for all 50 states in the U.S., two-day direct deposit, time tracking, paid time off administration, and detailed reporting.
Deluxe’s HR prowess really shines, though, in its included hiring and onboarding tools. Through Deluxe Payroll, you get access to the company’s Text To Apply feature—a streamlined, fully compliant way for talented people to apply for openings at your organization.
You can take that and other job postings you have on the internet and track everything in the Deluxe dashboard. The software will even simplify the process of posting new openings to the most prominent social media platforms and job boards. It even makes pre-screening and interview scheduling a cinch.
Once you’ve found a great new hire, Deluxe keeps making things easier still. You get all sorts of onboarding tools, like new hire document management, easy federal and state documentation, and customizable onboarding forms. You even get SSN verification completely for free.
And that’s all just at the basic tier of Deluxe’s payroll and HR packages:
- Lite: $39/month + $7/employee; full-service payroll with HR reports and hiring and onboarding features
- Blended: $49/month + $7/employee; HR-centric solution with no payroll or tax features
- All-Access: $39/month + $12/employee; the best of both worlds—everything in Lite and Blended
While the Lite package may be a bit high for simple payroll needs, the All-Access tier is very competitively priced, especially considering the features you get within.
The Blended package isn’t going to work if you need payroll service. And, since you’re reading this article, that means it probably won’t fulfill your needs. But the All-Access Package adds a lot of useful HR bonuses to Deluxe Payroll.
For one, you get a lot of assistance with compliance. Like with ACA compliance, where Deluxe will help you not only handle W-2, W-4, and 1099 forms but also the 1094 and 1095 forms regarding provided healthcare options.
You also get key features like the ability to track employee performance, organizational charts, customizable and shareable HR documents, and assistance with employee terminations.
Plus, All-Access unlocks helpful workflow automations for routine HR tasks, user access customization, and single sign-on through Google, Slack, and others.
If you need a solid payroll service with included HR tools that won’t break the bank, reach out to Deluxe today.
Conclusion
Large organizations handling payroll for thousands of employees require special services to ensure that payroll is processed correctly. Payroll is one of the most important aspects to any company. There are certain kinds of companies that are large enough to require a dedicated payroll department, while employees in small organizations do their own payroll processing or hand it over to outsourcing firms.