Paychex

About Paychex

Paychex was founded in 1971, and over the past 50-plus years in business, has become a leading provider of payroll, HR and employee benefits solutions. The company’s goal is to help businesses succeed by making complex challenges “brilliantly simple,” and they do so with a unique combination of digital HR technology and advisory services, and a comprehensive, cloud-based solution that integrates HR, employee benefits, insurance services and payroll into a single, easy-to-use platform. Businesses can select the services they need now, and easily add on new products as they grow.

Services & Features

Paychex has the ability to support businesses of all sizes, whether you have two employees or 2,000, with a full suite of smart solutions that benefit everyone, regardless of business size. Next, we’ll give an overview of Paychex’s services, including payroll, employee benefits, HR services and more, to help you determine whether it’s the right option for you.

Payroll Services

Paychex allows businesses to easily manage employees and control payroll costs with their all-in-one Paychex Flex technology. 

Here’s what business owners can expect when using Paychex for payroll:

• Easily run payroll from desktop or mobile app with the option to work with a dedicated payroll specialist
• Integrate payroll with HR and benefits for more seamless management 
• Automatic tax administration service calculates, pays and files payroll taxes and generates year-end W2s and 1099s
• Give employees the freedom to choose from flexible payment options, including paper checks, direct deposit and pay cards
• Garnishment payment service automatically deducts and remits garnished wages to the appropriate agency
• General ledger service easily transfers payroll data to your accounting software to help improve efficiency, workflow and accuracy 
• Optional add-on service for fast payroll payment options, including real-time payments and same-day ACH
• Paychex Pre-check allows admins and employees to preview paystubs, identifying discrepancies and possible errors before payroll processes
• Add-on expense management services make it easy for employees to submit expenses and managers to approve them for reimbursements
• Employee self-service allows employees to view pay and tax information, enroll in benefits and update personal information 

Employee Benefits

In a competitive labor market, offering comprehensive employee benefits is often a necessity. To give you an edge, Paychex offers a wide variety of add-on services, allowing you to create a benefits solution that fits your specific business needs—and not pay for features you don’t use. 

Here’s an overview of what you can do with Paychex’s benefits services:

• Attract and retain the best talent with access to cost-effective, comprehensive benefits packages that are adaptable your business needs
• Paychex is the number one provider of 401(k) plans in the U.S.—add on this service to get help with everything from choosing plans to enrollment and plan maintenance
• Add on options for FSA, HSA and HRAs, COBRA and premium-only plans
• Customize your plan with the add-on services you need, including full-service benefits administration and employee self-service
• Make your employee benefits easier to manage with more efficient record keeping

Time & Attendance

Paychex Flex Time is a cloud-based time and attendance system that fully integrates with the Paychex Flex payroll platform for automated payroll processing. This service helps you save time, prevent errors and connect employees with the information they need. 

Here are some of the benefits of using this service:

• Seamless integration with Paychex payroll processing 
• Flexible, accurate time tracking via web punch, mobile app, kiosk app with facial verification, biometric iris and fingerscan time clocks, and more
• Geofencing and geolocation capabilities for time tracking
• Scheduling tool with templates, shift swapping and schedule exceptions 
• Overtime rules with notifications for employees approaching overtime
• Calendar integration, email alerts and employee messaging capabilities 
• Location-based mileage calculator for simple, accurate, payroll-integrated mileage reimbursements
• Automated time-off requests, accruals and PTO tracking—reduce manual calculations and give employees a real-time view of PTO balances
• Detailed reporting on job costing, labor distribution, forecasting and more allows you to make strategic business decisions

HR Services

Paychex offers a wide range of HR services, too. For businesses with minimal HR needs, there are one-off talent management tools like pre-employment screenings, an employee handbook builder, performance management, applicant tracking and employee onboarding tools that can be added on to your plan.

And for businesses with more complex HR needs, Paychex also offers HR packages, HR consulting services, professional employer organization (PEO) services, all-in-one employee onboarding software solutions and hiring services, including AI-assisted recruiting.

Product Integrations

With Paychex Flex, you can also gain access to an ever-expanding library of software integrations, to connect Paychex to popular HR, productivity and financial tools, available through the Paychex Marketplace. Integrations are an add-on service and can be incorporated into any of Paychex’s Flex plans. 

Business Solutions

Paychex’s business solutions set them apart from competitors. With Paychex’s business insurance, you can get complete business coverage for your organization, from a business owner’s policy to workers’ compensation policies, for businesses of all sizes. 

Here are some of the coverage options Paychex offers:

• Business owner’s policy (BOP)
• Workers’ compensation insurance 
• Commercial auto insurance
• General liability insurance 
• Professional liability insurance (errors and omissions)
• Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI)
• Cyber liability insurance 
• Commercial property insurance
• Commercial umbrella insurance

In addition to business insurance, Paychex can also customize business solutions for small, midsize and large businesses. For example, Paychex can help with small business loans, incorporation services, payment processing solutions, funding solutions, tax credits and more.

Plan Options

Paychex offers three tiered plan options, ideal for different business needs. Here’s a look at what each plan includes:

Flex Select

Designed with small businesses in mind, this plan includes:

• Complete payroll processing from desktop or mobile
• Taxpay, an automatic tax administration service for payroll tax filing and payment 
• Flexible employee pay options including paper checks, direct deposit, tip disbursement and pay cards
• Analytics and reports center with more than 160 standard reports plus custom reports creation 
• New hire reporting 
• Up-to-date printed or electronic federal and state labor posters
• Employee self-service mobile experience
• Financial wellness and cash flow assistance for employees
• HR knowledge library 

These basic payroll and HR features should cover the needs of most small businesses. However, it’s good to note that there are many services and features you can add on to this plan to make it work for you. This is a great way to customize your plan to include only the features you need, without having to level up to a more expensive plan option. 

Flex Pro

This plan builds on the tools included in Flex Select, with additional payroll and HR services. Here’s what it includes:

• All of the features of the Flex Select plan
• Garnishment payment service 
• General ledger service to send payroll data to your accounting software 
• Fast payment options, including same-day ACH
• Expense management for employee reimbursements
• Talent management tools, including pre-employment screening and employee handbook builder
• State unemployment insurance service
• Workers compensation reporting service 

Just like with the Flex Select plan, you can also add on extra payroll, HR and benefits features to customize this plan.

Flex Enterprise

Larger businesses with more complex needs will find that the Flex Enterprise plan offers a comprehensive payroll and HR solution, helping you stay compliant, train employees and gain insights through custom analytics. Here are the details of what’s included:

• All of the features in the Flex Pro plan
• Additional performance management tools 
• Additional workforce management tools including document management, job costing and labor distribution data
• Paycheck preview and approval service

Some services, such as benefits administration, workers compensation coverage, time and attendance tools and recruiting and onboarding tools are only available as add-ons. This gives businesses the chance to customize their plan by adding on services as they become necessary, and not paying for services you don’t use in the meantime.

Pricing & Promotions

Paychex is a highly customizable platform, and businesses are able to add on extra services to create the plan that will serve them best. It’s because of this level of customization that Paychex does not make pricing available on their website. Instead, customers are encouraged to fill out a quick form, chat with a representative online or call Paychex directly to get started. 

Like other payroll providers, Paychex also offers special promotions from time to time. For example, at the time this article was written, Paychex was offering six months of free payroll for new business customers.

How Paychex Stacks Up

Now that we’ve covered top features, plans and pricing, let’s take a look at how Paychex compares to other top payroll providers:

Bottom Line: Why We Love It

A few key features make Paychex stand out from the competition. First, it’s highly customizable. Paychex may start with three base plans to choose from, but businesses are able to add on features from so many categories like payroll, talent management, workforce management, employee experience, risk management, benefits and integrations, tailoring a plan that’s specific to their needs, without additional features that will go unused if your business isn’t ready for them yet. On that note, Paychex is highly scalable too, able to serve small businesses and startups right alongside large enterprise companies, growing with you as you grow and providing solutions every step of the way. Sure, they’re a payroll provider, but also so much more than that. With business insurance, employee benefits, HR services and more, you can really view Paychex as an unofficial partner who provides customized support to help you reach your business goals. For this reason, we think Paychex is a great fit for business owners who have growth on the docket, although it’s also a great solution for businesses who are simply looking for top-notch payroll software.