KeyPay Reviews

“Worst move to QuickBooks Online

Pros

As a standalone product, I think it is good that it includes built-in award features.

Cons

Honestly the worst decision was moving the service to QuickBooks Online. Also the support team seems inexperienced as tickets take months to get a response and often never get fully resolved. If QuickBooks and Employment Hero keep forcing payroll to be integrated inside QuickBooks, I will have to look for another solution. As it is not an efficient way to run my business and it is not cheap either.

“costly switch with unresolved issues

Pros

As a standalone product, it's acceptable and having awards built in is a useful feature.

Cons

The worst decision they made was moving the service to QuickBooks Online. The team seems inexperienced, support tickets take months to deal with and even then they're often not properly resolved. Personally, if QuickBooks and Employment Hero keep pushing integrated payroll inside QuickBooks, I'll need to look for a completely different option because it's just not an efficient way to run a business and it isn't cheap either.

“Leave calendar is pretty good

Pros

I really like how user friendly the interface is and the team's leave calendar is very easy to read.

Cons

For our team, when staff log travel kilometres, they have to use the timesheets section so I end up approving about 200 extra timesheets every two weeks. That's misleading because those entries are not really time records but they are travel claims. Then we still have to enter other costs like tolls and parking separately in the expenses a

“A clear interface

Pros

The interface feels very user-friendly and the leave calendar is laid out clearly that makes it simple to follow.

Cons

A frustrating part is that when our staff enter their travel kilometers, they have to do it through the timesheets function. That means we end up approving around 200 extra timesheets every two weeks. It's also confusing because those entries are not really timesheets at all, they're travel expenses. other travel costs like tolls and parking have to be entered separately through the expenses function. Another inconvenience is that when approving leave, the leave calendar is not accessible on the same page.

“Time tracking boosts team efficiency

Pros

The time-tracking feature has been incredibly useful and we have become more efficient than ever.

Cons

I can't run it on my Linux laptop at all so that's a minor drawback in my book.

“Better than most payroll systems

Pros

As per me this ranks among the better payroll systems I have used over the years and it copes with most situations.

Cons

Well I only ran into one or two cases the system could not handle so we put a simple manual fix in place and it was easy to do.

“Award functionality for specific needs

Pros

KeyPay's award functionality is really useful for a specific award.

Cons

Switching payroll to QuickBooks made support feel very poor and inadequate and I also find the service extremely expensive.

“Timesheets simplify payroll processing

Pros

Its timesheet feature really helps us simplify running payroll.

Cons

I have noticed it does not clearly warn me about what I owe HMRC or when payments are due. I have to run a report to find out and then figure out when to run it which defeats the purpose of automated payroll. Other payroll tools handle this much better. So I feel like the system would really benefit from simple explanations like hover tooltips that explain what each thing means. Right now, I spend extra time double-checking things that should be flagged automatically.

“Integrates seamlessly with accounting software

Pros

I've found KeyPay to be quite useful since I was able to integrate it seamlessly with the financial software I already use for my accounts.

Cons

It is a downside that I have to pay a monthly subscription rather than buying the software outright.

“Comprehensive and saves a lot of time

Pros

After spending some time on this tool, I find it pretty comprehensive and fairly easy to operate. Plus it saves me a huge amount of time especially when I'm managing a moderate-sized team of employees.

Cons

There is not much I dislike. However because the software is so feature-rich it does take a little while to fully wrap my head around how everything works which is probably true of any new system. Still it provides lots of tutorial videos and written guides to go through but even with those resources it understandably takes time before I can see the whole picture and feel confident using it.

“Easy navigation

Pros

It is really user friendly as I can move around the system easily and it appears to include all the payroll features we require.

Cons

During setup, I changed an employee's status to casual and later could not change it back to the original setting. As for support, not having a phone helpline is a real problem. And It is very frustrating having to rely only on chat to fix issues.

“One-click STP submissions simple

Pros

KeyPay is a simple and user-friendly tool. Also submitting STP reports takes just one click.

Cons

Since July 1, 2019 I have been using it regularly and up to this point I honestly haven't run into anything about it that bothers me.

“Customizable with easy standard features

Pros

This is a fully featured, highly customizable payroll system. Once I learned it, I find most standard features are easy to use.

Cons

Not being able to call support is frustrating though email replies are very quick. I still remember how hard it was when I first started using the system. Since it has so many features, the learning curve felt a bit overwhelming. And I would have loved an introductory training session I could attend even if I had to pay for it. I also wish there were a clear learning path or support notes so new staff could follow proper training.

“excellent support

Pros

It is easy to learn, very user-friendly and covers everything we need. The support team is also excellent and responds quickly. The Workzone App is another highlight as staff love using it to view payslips and request leave easily. Plus it handles electronic TFN declarations and is STP compliant so everything is simple. It is also affordable and makes payroll a simple task.

Cons

Nothing to report as everything works well and includes the features we need. I just wish we'd adopted it way sooner!

“offered clear helpful support during setup

Pros

The support team really helped me during setup so nothing seemed like too much trouble and their explanations were consistently clear and helpful.

Cons

I actually didn't run into any problems but we were extremely careful to make sure the setup was absolutely right.

“Simple setup and easy use

Pros

KeyPay is simple to use and was fairly easy to set up too.

Cons

One major issue I have run into is that I can't print straight from the screen and that causes real hassles. It's especially difficult when I'm helping clients remotely who are not comfortable with computers. I mean I have to walk them through where their reports might have been saved so they can print adds unnecessary back and forth. Another thing that annoys me is that the audit report for a single employee comes out to seven pages that feels excessive. I also wish there were a basic employee-level annual summary that shows each pay run for the year with per-employee totals rather than a report that shows all employees grouped by each pay run. That kind of per-person yearly payrun summary might exist but I haven't managed to locate it yet.

“it simplifies payroll and works well

Pros

I find it simple to use and it makes payroll really easy. Overall it works.

Cons

At first I assumed the cost was included in my QuickBooks subscription but it wasn't.

“offers helpful guidance throughout

Pros

Using the software was pretty simple and it was easy to navigate. Plus I notice it guided me while fulfilling its intended purpose.

Cons

I have difficulty staying committed and finding the motivation to keep up with the ongoing tasks required to maintain my Australian ABN.

“Tracks wage expenses by location

Pros

Since my team works across multiple locations, I'm able to track wage expenses by setting up location-based cost centres that tie directly into our general ledger software system.

Cons

Well I'd like to see improved reporting capabilities or more flexible data export options

“Fast payroll with easy reports

Pros

I am impressed by how user-friendly it is. Also running payroll becomes really fast and simple. The end of month reports are also easy to produce and I find it excellent for tracking time and attendance.

Cons

One drawback I have notice is the lack of smooth journal integration with our main retail/accounting system. Additionally the frequent award updates force me to reconfigure certain preset rules every time I apply an update.

“Very user-friendly and simple

Pros

One thing I really like is how easy it is to use. In short it's very user-friendly

Cons

There were a few problems when I tried to set up TOIL because most of our employees don't work a standard 7.5 hour day

“Brilliant award interpreter included

Pros

Honestly I've notice KeyPay makes running payroll a very simple task. Overall it's the most user friendly and amazing platform I've ever used in a payroll system. Plus its built-in Award interpreter is just brilliant!

Cons

There were a few features that didn't work as I expected but when I raised them with the team they either fixed the issue or added it to their development list for future improvement.

“Tested before buying saved us time

Pros

We were able to test the system before committing to buying it which made a big difference for us. After we rolled out KeyPay alongside the Clock Me In time and attendance app, our timesheets became much more transparent. HR and payroll staff as well as supervisors can now see exactly how many hours people have worked and spot when someone has missed clocking in or out. Because we no longer have to manually verify entries or chase employees for missing punches, what used to take the payroll team an entire day each week has been reduced to only a couple of hours. On top of that our staff no longer need to carry physical fob keys, removing the chance of losing them and eliminating the recurring replacement costs that had been creeping up.

Cons

I've found that the built-in rostering doesn't match our business roles or shift patterns so we can't really take full advantage of having an integrated rostering tool. Another problem is that the Clock Me In app can't function or save data if the tablet loses its internet connection which creates issues when connectivity is unreliable. Support has also been a pain point as I can't just call someone to talk through a problem and prefer explaining things by voice but instead I have to type out the issue in an email and wait for a response.

“Cloud-based and has a fair price

Pros

KeyPay turns a heavy, complicated task into something much easier to both understand and to carry out. I feel reassured that my clients are all kept up to date and compliant with ATO requirements and super regulations. Plus being fully cloud-based means I can run or quickly check payroll from anywhere in the world which sounds a lot flashier than it usually is. On top of all that, the pricing is very realistic and budget-friendly.

Cons

The only shortfall I have noticed is that the Legal Services Award isn't included yet but I am already pretty familiar with that award myself so I don't need this tool to handle it for me.