
Zenefits launches free payroll software for small businesses - henryl
https://www.zenefits.com/payroll/?hn
======
kalvin
PSA: Go with Gusto (formerly Zenpayroll) instead for payroll. We signed up for
both Zenefits and Zenpayroll several months ago. Zenefits was a nightmare.
Zenpayroll has been an absolute delight.

They obviously don't offer identical functionality, but they're getting more
similar now so this is a comparison of where they overlap.

Customer support: Both Zenefits and Zenpayroll are very responsive, but
Zenefits provides significantly less helpful responses, the kind you'd expect
from first-level big-corporation support. Zenpayroll is much better on this
front.

Software: Zenefits is clearly not a startup driven by product or engineering.
It's fine given it's free, but still has tons of rough edges and bugs
everywhere (e.g. it's easy to click submit twice all over the site and create
duplicate entries.) I know it's better than the incumbents, but Zenpayroll has
a far better product and it really shows even in basic usage-- it's kind of
amazing this level of quality now exists for payroll.

Health insurance: If you have an extremely simple situation and are a startup
in CA, Zenefits is probably fine. We have about a dozen employees based in DC,
SF, and NYC. Instead of telling us to go elsewhere, Zenefits spent two months
and dozens of hours/email threads/phone calls making slow "progress", telling
me information that ended up being inaccurate, omitting critical information,
replying to one out of every three questions, saying repeatedly it would get
done, and finally telling me they just couldn't do it.

The Zenefits rep could not have been worse-- if he'd been actively hostile or
more clearly ignorant, that would have been better since we would have short-
circuited sooner. (Yes, I did complain about the rep... they routed me right
back to him on the same call.) Afterward, I called Zenpayroll and their rep
was super knowledgeable and set expectations clearly. It was night and day. We
also tried talking to Zenefits' partner Ubiquity for a 401k, and had a
negative experience there as well.

We've now heard many, many versions of our story above. I wish Zenefits all
the best since they've made a lot of startup founders' lives easier (including
ours, for new hire onboarding), but boy do they have scaling issues... all I'm
saying is, if you have the option of both Zenefits and Gusto for a particular
service, 100% go with Gusto.

~~~
beachstartup
our zenefits sales guy was totally rude, and insinuated that i was wasting his
time by rescheduling a meeting, so i just told him i wasn't interested right
after that. i'm sure he's doing fine if he feels like he can talk like that to
prospective customers.

~~~
gargarplex
what is your startup?

~~~
beachstartup
i don't talk about it here.

~~~
gargarplex
at least you admit it

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tvladeck
I know this is now "industry standard" but I hate the practice of quoting a
yearly price as if it were a monthly price. There is a meaningful difference
between $120/year (where you pay once, upfront, for the full year) and
$10/month (where you pay each month).

Note here that they quote $4/month/employee in the "Pro" plan, but the prices
are actually $48/year/employee or $6/month/employee. There is no $4/month
plan.

~~~
pbreit
I see what you mean but don't think it's that bad. The actual cost is
$4/employee/month. It's not like using it for less than a year is a common
scenario.

~~~
tvladeck
But using it for non-whole multiples of a year probably is.

Also, it both obfuscates the price and creates the impression that you can
trial the product without being locked in.

If it didn't confuse people (even if only unconsciously), it wouldn't be such
a widespread practice.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _If it didn 't confuse people (even if only unconsciously), it wouldn't be
> such a widespread practice._

And this is the key observation about those sales practices. Most of them
work, because you're being dishonest. You only call it "growth hacking".

------
SwellJoe
I don't know much about this industry, but this seems like a hilarious
response to the ADP lawsuit. When your partner/competitor screws you really
hard, launching a free product that performs the most important function of
their very expensive product line is just about the most satisfying form of
vengeance I can think of.

Also, I hate Intuit Payroll (and it's cost me a small fortune due to deadlines
being missed and other random crap based on Intuit requiring constant
babysitting to do anything on time), so I'm signing up. If it supports
multiple states, I am totally on board.

~~~
tzier
I doubt this is a response to ADP; ADP is a horrible product, and Zenefits
knew they could make a better solution (like ZenPayroll/Gusto). They've
probably been working on this for a year, to be honest, given the requirements
for payroll providers and syncing with the IRS/etc.

What's more interesting is that the payroll is free _only if_ the company
manages everything else HR related in Zenefits. Talk about lock-in.

~~~
semiquaver
The CEO explicitly says that this is a response to ADP:

> As Conrad tells it, a select group of Zenefits employees holed up in the
> Courtyard Marriott to start working on a secret project to create a payroll
> system shortly after paycheck services giant ADP cut the company off earlier
> this year.

> “We’ve been working on this basically since the day we started getting
> blocked by ADP,” Conrad told TechCrunch.

[http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/16/zenefits-launches-its-
own-p...](http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/16/zenefits-launches-its-own-payroll-
platform/)

~~~
SwellJoe
I would have probably been working on it before that, if I were them, as I
don't ever feel comfortable being a sharecropper on someone else's land. But,
they've delivered quickly.

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ambiate
How does Zenefits handle if a Employer paid check does not match the Zenefits
charged amount? ie: reconciliation portion.

Employee X terminated, check is $22.8k instead of $23k.

Employee Y has three policies for a single benefit, but only two get paid
through the employer.

Is this all automagically handled by the UI in a simple 'SSN or Policy' amount
does not match for these three records, how do you want to apply the $30? 'No
record found for Employee X, reason for non-payment?' Does Zenefits handle
managing/forwarding that to all to the carriers?

(disclaimer: I work in insurance)

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jayess
This must be their answer to Zen Payroll/Gusto now offering worker's
compensation and health insurance.

It's great to see competition in this space. ADP and the other dinosaur
providers in this area have had it too good for too long.

------
mrmch
Has anyone done a breakout comparison of Zenefits vs Gusto (/zenpayroll)?

There has to be quite a few companies who have benefits with Zenefits and
payroll in Gusto; wondering what's ideal moving forward.

~~~
gatsby
I would love to see this as well.

A salesperson from Gusto (fka Zenpayroll) who we use for payroll sent me
multiple emails about switching to Gusto for benefits, so I emailed, "Hey -
We're currently running everything through Zenefits. Are there any advantages
to switching over?" and I never heard a response.

Could have been a mistake (i.e. forgot to respond), a bad salesperson, etc.
but not having any differentiators makes the decision tough on my end.

~~~
SandersAK
fwiw, we've had less than a great time with Zenefits, whereas with Zenpayroll,
we've been amazed at how good they were. They helped get through some tricky
payroll business, and were always quick to make sure everything was in order.

I'm happy to pay the money and get the faster response times, better website,
and stronger relationship with ZP (errr Gusto).

We'll probably move off of Zenefits entirely soon.

~~~
mrmch
Good feedback; I wonder (operationally) which is trickier to switch (payroll
or benefits provider).

~~~
SandersAK
with benefits, it's like a one-pager. you sign an authorization form and they
take it to the med provider who then recognizes the switch. it's like a one
day thing.

------
criley2
Does it support businesses who mainly only work with contractors including
helping to create 1099's to send out? Don't see anything about it on the page.

After leaving Quickbooks for a contractor based business, I've been looking
for a solution for 1099 work outside of "do it by hand" which I can and am
prepared to do, but it takes a long time.

~~~
JeffreyKaine
Zenefits definitely supports Contractor Payments, if you sign up, look for the
"contractors" card to get started.

edit: to be clear, this is a separate product from payroll.

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soccerdave
What exactly does this line mean from their 'Pro' plan?

"Includes everything from Self-Driving Mode plus the ability to directly
customize deductions, earnings, and more."

I don't have any clue if the free plan would work for me or not.

~~~
zsgoldberg
if you use Zenefits for HR/Benefits, they will know everything they need to
determine your deductions and taxes. This makes it simple or them to run
everything for you in 'self-driving' mode. All the changes you make in
Zenefits are reflected in your payroll automatically

The custom experience where you can go in and configure things specifically
for payroll without making those changes in Zenefits, that's the one they're
charging for

~~~
ianstormtaylor
What's an example of something that would need to be custom? Does anyone know?

I'm also confused by that line, and the plans in general.

~~~
JeffreyKaine
Yeah, I think it's a little confusing as well. But, basically if Zenefits
manages all of your benefits, Self Driving Payroll will be your best bet. If
you offer a benefit that Zenefits doesn't manage, you'll need to go Pro.

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stevoski
"Zenefits launches free payroll software for small businesses IN THE USA", I'm
guessing the title should be.

