1040
Gavin Mungai
How to get Canva Enterprise 30-day trial

As a small business owner, you’re responsible for managing many different aspects of your business—everything from the consumer- or client-facing day-to-day tasks to the essential, behind-the-scenes work—like managing and processing payroll. Luckily, if you’re looking to automate and optimize your payroll responsibilities, there are a variety of small business-specific products on the market that can help, like Paycom.

Paycom is a cloud-based payroll service that combines payroll, HR, talent acquisition, and time and labor management into a single online platform. Is Paycom the right solution to meet your business’s needs? We’re here to help you find out. In this Paycom review, we shall break down everything there is to know about this service. We’ll also list the benefits and cons of using Paycom, as well as explore some payroll alternatives.

The Ultimate Paycom Review for 2020

  • Features
    • Payroll
    • Time and Labor Management
    • HR Management
    • Talent Acquisition
    • Talent Management
  • Pricing
  • Pros and Cons

Overview

Paycom’s data is stored on the cloud and you can access your account anywhere you have internet access. This being said, although Paycom is typically considered a payroll software first, their service actually combines broader human resources management into one application.

In fact, Paycom breaks down the functionality of their platform into five categories: payroll, time and labor management, HR management, talent acquisition, and talent management. With all of these services covered in a single software, Paycom gives you the opportunity to streamline more of your processes in the same system—essentially offering full-service HCM, or human capital management. 

As Paycom Public Relations Supervisor Tyler Moss told us: “[What] we believe sets us apart [from other platforms] is our single-database solution, which allows clients to access all HR functions without logging into multiple systems. This also provides a better process flow from one module to the next.”

Plus, with an advanced self-service app available for employees (on iOS and Android), Paycom allows you to extend the technology of their software to your team as well.

Paycom Features

With this much information in mind, let’s continue our Paycom review by discussing the specific features offered within this platform. Paycom categorizes its services into five different functionalities.

Payroll

Paycom software allows you to set up payroll, run it on your own schedule, and pay employees, as well as manage some of the more complicated payroll processes, like tax management and expense reimbursements. To be specific, Paycom’s payroll features give you the ability to:

  • Customize your payroll setup with the Paycom Payroll Grid, which allows you to delegate steps to users; designate an internal process; add employees, pay codes, and data sets; control manual check processing; and more
  • Sync payroll data systemwide
  • Give employees 24/7 access to their pay stubs, scheduled earnings and deductions, and more through the Paycom self-service app
  • Create customized payroll reports using data from across the Paycom system that covers multiple years, EINs, and formats
  • Receive automated payroll tax management—Paycom handles completing, filing, and paying payroll taxes (and sends you a copy of every return)
  • Use Paycom’s full-service garnishments administration software to make payroll compliance easier—Paycom will reconcile payment amounts and calculations, balance all deductions every pay period, administer and send required payments and documentation, and send orders to employees through their app
  • Manage expense reimbursements through the Paycom app; allow employees to submit expenses with photos of receipts; easily approve expenses with automatic flow to payroll for reimbursement
  • Customize expense tracking with your business’s expense accounts and unique classes and rules
  • Add Paycom’s mileage tracker to allow employees to track and submit their mileage from their mobile device; add Paycom’s FAVR tool to customize your mileage rate (it’s important to note that these are not included within the standard payroll features, but are available as add-ons)
  • Use Paycom’s general ledger software to import mapped payroll general ledger reports into your accounting software, customize the file layout of your mapping, and map data across multiple sectors within your business
  • Use Paycom Pay to issue paper checks from a Paycom bank account and let Paycom manage this process—ensuring that employees cash checks and drafting net payroll, taxes, and fees from your account once per payroll

Time and Labor Management

In addition to these advanced payroll features, Paycom also includes tools to help you track your employees’ time and manage labor costs. Within these time and labor management features, you’ll be able to:

  • Allow employees to submit their time using a time tracking app; edit and approve submitted time and automatically sync data to payroll
  • Customize time tracking options and scheduling for your business with rounding rules, bonuses, shift and weekend differentials, holidays worked, etc.
  • Manage employee PTO, allow employees to submit time-off requests, and approve or deny PTO
  • Use scheduling software to create schedules; give employees access to Schedule Exchange to view their schedules, mark availability, and swap or pick up shifts
  • Use web or physical time clocks (with three terminal options for physical clocks) to allow employees to clock in and out, control clock in and out times, and sync time clock data automatically with payroll
  • Set up labor allocation software to assign labor to a particular department or category when employees clock in, automatically sync data to payroll, and receive labor allocation changes in real-time
  • Track employee hours based on role, responsibility, and location; view job costs among locations or roles
  • Use labor management reports to get real-time reports, see who’s clocked in, and monitor labor distribution
  • Use Enhanced ACA from Paycom to view all of your ACA data in a single dashboard, learn about changes to the Affordable Care Act, and ensure that your business is up to date with compliance
  • Generate advanced time and labor reports across all data in the system, including multiple years and EINs

HR Management

With the HR Management tools from Paycom, you can streamline your core HR tasks including benefits administration, compliance, and more. 

On the whole, these capabilities include:

  • Create, assign, archive, and store HR documents like W-4 and I-9 forms, safety policies, employee handbooks, and emergency contact sheets; limit access or assign privileges for certain documents
  • Set up tasks and workflows for onboarding and other processes, enable electronic signature verification on employee forms
  • Remain compliant with government regulations; receive notifications of changes in legislation; generate compliance reports for Equal Opportunity (EEOC), Fair Labor Standards (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave (FMLA), and more
  • Use the Paycom benefits administration software to set up employee benefit plans, deduction amounts, enrollment dates, and waiting periods
  • Find benefits carriers through Paycom; update carriers and changes online
  • Allow employees to review plan information and select benefits through the self-service app; approve benefits plans and receive updated deductions in payroll
  • Generate reports to see and notify employees who are eligible for benefits enrollment, send reminders about enrollment, view changes to employee benefits packages made in a specific time period, and view the benefits each employee has enrolled in
  • Use COBRA administration software to send required correspondence, track important dates, collect and remit premiums, and receive updates to changes in COBRA laws
  • Access manager tools to review and approve employee requests, conduct performance reviews, and submit employee changes—as well as search prospective job applicants, schedule interviews, and approve candidates
  • Generate and complete personnel action forms
  • Create employee satisfaction surveys and receive confidential feedback, allow employees to complete surveys in the self-service app, and view results in customizable graphs
  • Allow Paycom to work with your 401(k) provider to meet their data requirements, create custom 401(k)-specific reports, and send to carriers and clients
  • Use direct data exchange to monitor employee usage, view costs based on employee tasks, and see overview of employee usage data as well as more specific breakdowns

Talent Acquisition

Next, Paycom’s talent acquisition features allow you to efficiently find, hire, and onboard employees. Specifically, you can:

  • Share open positions across online job boards; manage, update, and close job postings; implement knockout questions to filter out unqualified candidates
  • Use Candidate Tracker to build a customized applicant tracking system from resumes, measure ROI of recruiting efforts, and assemble a searchable contact history for candidates
  • Receive notifications for candidates to be interviewed, make hiring decisions, and move new hires to onboarding
  • Track which recruiting sites drive the most applicants, number of days it takes to fill a position, as well as other pieces of hiring information for analysis
  • Use tax credit software and allow Paycom to determine eligibility of each job applicant, receive notification about eligibility, locate, secure, and administer available tax credits, and monitor the federal tax code for updates
  • Run background checks on candidates (or even current employees); remain in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act; create pre-adverse and adverse action letters; receive secure storage of results
  • Create a streamlined onboarding process with new hire paperwork and task checklists, allow employees to complete all necessary procedures online, and store all completed documents in employee’s online file
  • Use E-Verify to verify employment eligibility, securely store information, and receive notification of employees who need re-verification
  • Generate advanced talent acquisition reports, measure and analyze activity across your system, as well as multiple years and EINS, in a variety of formats

Talent Management

Finally, the Talent Management category of the Paycom software includes all of the tools you need to grow and retain your employees. These features give you the ability to,

  • Implement performance reviews, including self-reviews, manager reviews, and 360 reviews
  • Build a directory of positions with required skills and salary levels
  • Assign performance goals and track goals by employee and across the company
  • Manage a compensation budget, view reports of compensation spending, update employee compensation, and sync system-wide
  • Create a merit matrix to evaluate compensation adjustments
  • Assign consistent compliance training to employees and allow them to complete them through the self-service app; create business-specific training courses for employees
  • Allow employees to use the “Ask Here” feature within the self-service app to ask questions and get directed to the proper person in the organization for an answer
  • Create comprehensive reports across payroll and HR data; allow executives to customize their own dashboards; export reports in a range of formats

Across these five categories, Paycom extends beyond simple payroll and HR management and therefore provides highly automated, comprehensive software capabilities that truly simplify your processes, or even outsource them completely.

Paycom Pricing

According to the extensive features included within the Paycom platform, you’re likely asking yourself what the pricing looks like for this full-service payroll and HR software. Unfortunately, although their website does mention that they have “pay-as-you-go pricing,” Paycom doesn’t include specific pricing information on their website.

Instead, you can request a demo and then work with their sales team to determine what the cost of the software will be for your business specifically. Therefore, although you can’t compare the cost of Paycom until receiving a quote from their team, you can keep in mind some of the common factors that may affect your pricing.

When it comes to quote-based payroll software, much of the accrued cost will depend on the size and the value of your business and how many employees you’ll be adding and paying using the platform. Most payroll providers price their service on a monthly subscription basis. Moreover, you might see additional fees for setup, certain tax forms, as well as for particular tools or services within the platform. 

This being said, since Paycom doesn’t detail their pricing upfront, you’ll want to ensure that you find out exactly what kind of fees they charge, how their fees are broken down on a monthly or annual basis, and what features are included for a specific price when talking to their sales team.

Paycom Review for Small Businesses

You should have a better sense of what Paycom can offer as a payroll and HR solution.

Pros of Paycom

In terms of the advantages, Paycom is a highly automated, detailed, and advanced software solution. This allows you to manage the most specific parts of payroll, HR, and broader HCM within just a single solution. 

In this way you need to optimize your payroll and HR tasks, Paycom takes this optimization up to the next level.

Moreover, a particularly noteworthy aspect of Paycom’s functionality is the employee self-service mobile app. The app contains all of the necessary features of the software, enabling the employees to manage their time, benefits, documents, training, and even ask questions and find the right answers within the company. 

Moreover, and as we’ll discuss in greater detail below, Paycom is known for their top-notch customer service. A majority of the Paycom user reviews online mention Paycom’s customer support—highlighting how helpful and knowledgeable their representatives are. 

Cons of Paycom

On the other hand, like any other software out there, there are also downsides to using Paycom.

To begin with, Paycom doesn’t provide transparent pricing information on its website. Because you’ll only know the pricing Paycom offers for your business, then you may be paying more (or less) than other businesses for the same service. Their quote-based pricing makes it harder for you to adequately compare their service to other providers who do list pricing information.

Although Paycom’s advanced features and automation can be the benefits of the platform, they can also be some major drawbacks. When it comes down to it, it’s likely that most small businesses don’t need everything that’s included within the Paycom software. Therefore, if you’re a startup business of just a simple small business looking to optimize your payroll and HR, you may find Paycom too confusing, especially if the tools you do need are buried amongst a variety of those you don’t require.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Paycom doesn’t seem to offer any integration options for third-party tools. Based on their feature set, you may not need to integrate other platforms with Paycom. In contrast, many other payroll and HR software solutions give you the ability to connect to other business tools, especially accounting software.

Based on such evaluation, it seems that Paycom is better-suited for larger businesses. If you run a large organization and need an all-in-one solution that can be completely customized to your business, Paycom may very well work for you. If you need a straightforward payroll to manage the essential tasks for a smaller team, you’ll most likely want to explore an alternative solution.

Paycom User Reviews

This being said, if you think Paycom may be a suitable solution for your business (and perhaps even if you don’t), you may be interested in what users have to say about their experience with the platform. 

Overall, online Paycom payroll reviews are fairly positive. Additionally, as we mentioned above, many users praise Paycom’s customer service. 

Although there aren’t many wholly negative Paycom user reviews, users do have critiques of the system.

Along these lines, some users also feel that the software is too customizable and some write that Paycom’s capabilities do come at a price, although they don’t include any specific pricing information. 


Like it? Share with your friends!

1040
Gavin Mungai 😎
Gavin Mungai Is An Affiliate Marketing Publisher That Gives Honest Reviews On Products & Services.
Verified by MonsterInsights