Paychex Flex Reviews

“customer service has been going downhill”

Pros

The tool handles all the tax payments and paperwork filing and it's practically hands-off for me.

Cons

Customer service has really declined over the past few years. Most of my requests go unanswered and while issues usually get resolved eventually, there's zero accountability when they don't. They're also completely unhelpful with anything out of the ordinary. When I needed to modify our form 941 for ERC money this year, they had no clue how to handle changes to their automated forms. I ended up just sending them a spreadsheet and crossing my fingers.

“Don�t have to worry about tax filings”

Pros

The payroll process is easy and I don't have to stress about tax filings anymore. Everything I need is consolidated in one location.

Cons

They are making improvements.

“generates excellent reports”

Pros

It is easy to submit payroll and the reporting features are excellent.

Cons

sometimes I run into trouble when trying to submit payroll through Flex. It can be annoying when it doesn't go through smoothly.

“Our payroll has never been smoother”

Pros

Payroll runs very smoothly now and our rep handles everything for us.

Cons

I honestly can't think of much to complain about. Even when our main contact isn't available, payroll still gets processed quickly and smoothly.

“24/7 chat support would be appreciated”

Pros

The extensive access to all features and how easy it is to navigate around

Cons

I wish there was a better way to get help or ask questions while I'm working in the system without having to stop what I'm doing and call support. Would be great to have 24/7 chat support built right in.

“extremely efficient support”

Pros

I appreciate how quickly I can reach out to our rep via email for payroll processing. When reports need handling, they get turned around really fast. Lisa at Paychex is incredibly efficient and responsive.

Cons

The website feels a bit outdated and could use a refresh though it's not terrible

“Unfair price hikes and absent support”

Pros

The salesperson was really helpful and knew exactly what they were talking about. However once I signed the contract, I never heard from her again and had to deal with terrible customer service reps instead.

Cons

I dealt with incorrect overcharges and price hikes despite having a contract in place. Getting responses to my calls and emails was nearly impossible. When I did complain about the billing errors, the staff was dismissive and unhelpful. It took way too much effort to get refunded for charges that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Back in 2018, their website for payroll entry and report generation was clunky and hard to navigate.

“Lot of useful information available”

Pros

It is quite simple to get the hang of and there's tons of information available at your fingertips.

Cons

The custom reporting feature requires calling support though the reps are pretty helpful when you reach out.

“Too expensive for our church”

Pros

I really value the support I get and how fast they respond when I call.

Cons

HR package costs way too much for our church budget

“simplicity stands out”

Pros

Found the system really simple and straightforward to use

Cons

The system tends to freeze up or run slow whenever I'm trying to manually add missed time entries.

“Disconnected modules”

Pros

I could customize pretty much everything once I figured out how to use it. There are loads of configuration options for setting up staff profiles. There are some features that don't meet our expectations.

Cons

Onboarding process is a real pain. Admins have to enter all staff details, then employees need to create profiles and input the exact same information again. Setting up user accounts is way too complicated for most people and there's basically no helpful resources to guide you through it. Each module feels completely disconnected from the others. They have separate support lines for everything. One number for payroll issues, another for time tracking and if you need help understanding how they work together, Good luck finding someone who actually knows. I heard this works better for smaller companies under 50 employees but we experienced these same frustrating disconnects when we only had 35 people. Beyond the initial sales pitch, nobody ever reaches out to check how things are going or help improve our experience. Maybe it could work better but their team isn't doing anything to help us get there.

“can easily access records”

Pros

Biggest advantage for my small business is how easily I can access payroll records. When it comes time for those annual insurance audits, being able to generate custom payroll reports for Workers Comp and General Liability saves me hours of work. I also appreciate the ability to email weekly payroll hours since all our employees are hourly workers.

Cons

The overnight check delivery we pay for gets messed up by UPS sometimes, they've lost packages or had weird delays more than once. I know direct deposit would fix this issue but our team really wants physical checks instead.

“Downloadable reports”

Pros

Payroll reports are really convenient to download and everything comes organized exactly how I need it.

Cons

A bit costly compared to other options though you really can't put a price on quality service.

“great customization but constant annoying sales pitches”

Pros

I appreciate being able to create custom reports that fit our specific needs. Managing employee information is simple and it handles nearly every payroll task we throw at it.

Cons

I get assigned a different rep almost every 3-5 months and it seems like every other conversation turns into a sales pitch for some new service they're pushing.

“Outdated platform”

Pros

The sales representative was friendly. That�s about the only thing that I can think of.

Cons

This platform feels completely outdated and doesn't even display basic totals. Their support is awful, communication is unclear, there's no direction and getting help in my time zone is nearly impossible. The payroll deadlines are ridiculous if you're on the West Coast. They constantly try to upsell when they can't even deliver what we already paid for. Staff turnover is insane, we had three different payroll specialists in three months, none properly trained us. Unauthorized payments keep happening. Employees don't get notified when payroll runs and they still use snail mail for everything which makes zero sense for remote businesses. The Flex and HR teams have no visibility into each other's work so you end up doing everything twice. They keep asking for forms and info they already have in their system. Worst of all, they mislabeled contractors as employees causing major tax headaches. I've wasted countless hours that should have been spent growing my business just chasing corrections and following up on their mistakes.

“chronic payroll errors, unresponsive support”

Pros

I honestly can't find anything positive to say about this platform.

Cons

It has been a nightmare. We've been with them for over 9 months and every single pay period I'm manually entering hours because the time system feed doesn't work properly. It'll randomly pay someone 20 regular hours and 65 overtime hours, completely wrong. I've complained repeatedly but no one even tries to fix these issues. Their IT department claims there are no problems at all, which is ridiculous! During our recent open enrollment, I spent a week trying to reach someone in benefits with no luck. The departments don't talk to each other so my HR contact can't help with benefits questions whATsoever. When I asked for paper enrollment forms to help an employee who couldn't access the system, they told me those don't exist even though we used them during initial signup. They give you almost no power to actually help your employees, then they're impossible to reach when assistance is needed. We left ADP because of poor service but this company makes them look amazing! Can't wait to switch to literally anyone else.

“everything consolidated at one place”

Pros

Having everything consolidated including payroll, time tracking, HR functions has been a game changer for our operations. My Paychex representative really knows their stuff and has been instrumental in helping me get the most out of the platform's capabilities.

Cons

Everything does function properly once you get used to it. Maybe not the way you expect it to.

“cut down time I spent on manual processes”

Pros

Really appreciate how simple it makes payroll processing for my team. Previously I'd spend hours dealing with timesheets, figuring out everyone's pay and manually inputting direct deposit details for each employee.

Cons

The 401K feature is a bit confusing for me to navigate, though that might be more about my own understanding than any real issue with the software itself.

“cleaner design compared to competitors”

Pros

The interface has a much cleaner design than competitors like ADP which makes it more pleasant to work with.

Cons

I find it frustrating that there are alerts stuck on my dashboard that I cant get rid of. One keeps asking for USA details even though I'm in Canada.

“need an option to preview reports”

Pros

Managing payroll has become so much simpler with this platform. The whole process feels managed and I don't have to worry about the complicated stuff anymore.

Cons

The reporting feature is solid but having to download every report to view it gets annoying. Would love the option to just preview reports directly without the extra download step.