Payroll Solutions that Make the Grade

When it comes to researching payroll companies, the sheer amount of companies that exist rivals the amount of bells and whistles that you can add on. Whether you go with a “big name” vendor or stick with a smaller, lesser known company, it is important that you spend enough time researching your options properly, asking the important questions along the way.

Develop a list of what your requirements and needs are, and then a list of standard questions to ask the prospective payroll companies. Lastly, check and doublecheck references. You don’t want to discover any horror stories after you’ve already signed a contract with a new payroll company. Do your due diligence, and you can make the whole process of choosing a payroll company painless. Or nearly so.

Below are a few of the more well-known payroll companies that are poised to handle all sorts of payrolls, whether it be a five employee Mom & Pop shop to a thousand-person strong franchise.  Employ at your own risk.

1. ADP is definitely one of the “big boys” in the world of payroll vendors.  With nearly 600,000 clients, it’s safe to say that a lot of companies, both big and small, have trusted ADP to handle their payroll.  Beyond just issuing paychecks, ADP also offers several companion services that include HR solutions, and both retirement and benefits services.  With using such a large payroll company, you can sometimes quickly get lost in a myriad of voicemail options, trying to find the right person to assist you with your particular problem when one comes up, but as a big company, they also bring the added benefit of larger “buying power” in terms of bringing you and your company added services that a smaller provider might not be able to provide.
2. Paychex is another large payroll provider, much along the same lines as ADP.  For the most part, the two companies go toe-to-toe with the benefits that they are able to offer their clients, with both of them keeping close tabs on the healthcare reform, and how it affects businesses.  When evaluating such similar companies, it oftentimes comes down to the bottom line, pure and simple.  Who delivers what you need, and at what cost?
3. Ceridian hangs their hat on their “Proven Integrated Solutions” and their ability to offer their clients a suite of complementary services in an effort to take care of all a company’s payroll needs, from human resources and handling basic payroll to offering tax filing and productivity solutions.  They endeavor to be a one-stop shop for all your payroll needs.  It’s up to you to decide how true that may be.
4. CompuPay is a large payroll company that you don’t hear about too often, which is surprising considering that it is the second largest independently owned payroll company in the country, and the fourth largest overall.  Through a series of acquisitions over the years, it has firmly secured its place in the payroll world, even though their lack of marketing leaves something to be desired.  The ability to keep up with the big boys aside, CompuPay has also carved out a little niche for themselves in that they specialize in handling payrolls for construction companies and restaurants.

So how do you choose? Only you know what your company needs and requires, but compiling a specific, but basic, list of your company’s needs quickly weed out which companies will work for you, and which won’t. How easy is the vendor’s system to use? Is it all done online, or can you call it in and have it input and processed by a live person? How quickly can they turn your payroll around for you? If there is an issue with the payroll, how responsive can they be to fix the problem? Can you get a few referrals so you can ask their current clients how happy they are? How good is the vendor’s customer service? How adept is the payroll company in dealing with YOUR type of company?   

Once you answer the important questions, the rest just falls into place.