User Reviews Overview
About TriNet Zenefits
Zenefits is an all-encompassing HR SaaS platform designed specifically for small to midsize businesses. The Zenefits People Platform includes a robust offering spanning HR, Benefits, Payroll, Well-being and Performance apps that...
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- Industry: Market Research
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Long time user of Zenefits
Overall it's been super positive. Mistakes are always made, but Zenefits tries to rectify and solve problems instead of throwing their hands up and saying it's too hard.
Pros
What makes Zenefits most valuable to our business is the ease of onboarding new people and providing a 1 stop place for my HR department that is completely in the cloud and no need for reams of paper to be wasted. The PTO calendar and tracking is invaluable as well.
Cons
Zenefits started as a Benefits company with an HR platform, but has pivoted to providing Payroll as it's core business with the other add-ons. There is still some room for improvement on the payroll side and how to handle the customer service side of this.
- Industry: Staffing & Recruiting
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Excellent HR Platform for Small to Medium Sized Businesses
When we were considering HR software back in 2015, we set up demos and reviewed many different options, but based upon the needs of our company Zenefits was the best choice. It was a seamless and easy transition once we made the switch. We were able to set up and customize Zenefits so we could accomplish what we need to with the platform. Using the Zenefits platform for our hiring and onboarding has allowed us to streamline our hiring process which was especially helpful during the peak of Covid when having to hire employees while working remotely. The ability to customize in Zenefits was a huge plus for us as a staffing company because of the differing needs of our clients. Zenefits makes it easy if we need to update or change any of the documents that are used for onboarding our new hires. The benefits management available through Zenefits has also been a great tool for a business like ours. It is a very simple process to review available plans and options for the upcoming year and to collect important information from our employees during open enrollment. Our company has changed from where we were in 2015 and using Zenefits has allowed us to easily adapt.
If you are a small or medium sized business that struggles with HR issues like hiring and onboarding, benefits and record management, or compliance, I would recommend looking into how Zenefits can benefit you and your company.
Pros
Seamless and easy transition once we made the switch. Easy set up and great options for customization. Zenefits is a great tool for businesses not having a full HR but needing HR support when dealing with Benefits, Employment Paperwork, and Compliance.
Cons
We have not had any major issues or challenges using this software
- Industry: Automotive
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Stay Away - save yourself the headache, it's not worth the hype.
I regret doing business with them. Even though I knew I was signing a year contract, and after many attempts at getting our taxes properly filed I felt I had enough valid issues and things we had been promised that they did not follow through on but they refused to let us out of our contract. We ended up switching mid year [which is not ideal] to another vendor and we had to pay the remainder of our contract to Zenefits even though we didn't use them for the last 8 months. Even the tax issues that we were still dealing with months later it was really difficult to find an email address to send to support to get our tax issue fixed - once you tell them you don't want to process your payroll through them they cut you off and you can't call the fake number either. It's been horrible and I am OVERJOYED THAT WE NO LONGER HAVE TO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. The only reason I left the vendor BEFORE them was because we had outgrown them, we needed more features and functionality than they could provide. We have since moved on to better.
Pros
Very little. We signed a year contract, and switched after 4 months because we had so many legal and tax issues that they caused.
Cons
1. The set up process was a nightmare - it took weeks because the system kept saying a certain part was done and a week later I would get an URGENT email that that part still had to be completed.
2. Several items I was guaranteed at sign up - and I have in writing - for pricing and functionality, were later denied to us. Providing proof of what we were told provided no further help.
3. There is no "real" phone number. You can call tech support, but all they will say is they will have "that department email you within XX number of hours" Many times it was up to a week, and often the issue was not resolved because no matter how we explained it they didn't understand the issue. And all support is handled through email no matter what, even if a phone call would SAVE HOURS OF TIME!
4. The pre- and post-tax items were entered into the system, come to find out they didn't classify them properly so the taxes were not calculated correctly.
5. The FEDERAL and STATE TAXES were filed incorrectly and we had tax notices from both that we owed money past due, then we ended up getting a small refund because one was paid twice. The state taxes for the first quarter of the year were NOT FILED AT ALL, even though they told me they had done so.
6. The tax reports are NOT AVAILABLE in your portal, you have to specifically request them - this to me makes no sense.
7. There is more but this will do for now.
Response from TriNet Group
Sad to hear your experience was less than ideal Tiersa. We will use your feedback to improve training and the user experience.
Top TriNet Zenefits Alternatives
- Industry: Construction
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Zenefits Review
our overall experience with zenefits has been positive. The on boarding tools offer a wide variety of options an customization that really make the initial process a lot easier.
Pros
The part that we liked most about zenefits is that it gave us one place to keep all employee documents. We also like that we could set up an employee by using the on boarding (hiring) service through zenfits which allows the employee to start their profile an also fill out needed employment documents electronically.
Cons
Initially we thought that the time card piece of zenefits was something that we were going to be able to use and would be rather handy for us. We quickly learned that Zenefits has not yet set up this module in a way that truly works for subcontracts who have to track employee's time by job number and phase code both. It can be done but takes a large amount of manual entry on the administrators part which then defeats the purpose of using such a tool.
Alternatives Considered
BambooHRReasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
we choose zenefits over bamboo because of the time card application.- Industry: Printing
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Very Poor Customer Support
Very frustrating and a lot of time wasted.
Pros
Ease of use is good and Digital app for the employees is very helpful. Saves HR time in updating information because employees can do it themselves from their phone app.
Cons
Very poor customer support. Limited update and communication. I have open cases that are still open. Account rep is very nice but there's nothing he can do. If I talk to a live technical rep, they often give varying opinions, so it's confusing. Uploading renewal of Benefits package too cumbersome and I have been asking for someone to walk me through and I never got any response. They close the case when it's even resolved. After sales support is really very bad and that's where it's most needed.
- Industry: Financial Services
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Love Zenefits!
Pros
It's easy to use and keeps us compliant. It has brought up things we didn't even know we needed and helped keep us compliant.
Cons
Customer service can be hard to reach, but their help center is robust and they have training courses to help.
Alternatives Considered
GustoReasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
Zenefits had more HR features and our payroll situation is simple.- Industry: Photography
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
User Friendly Solution
I use Zenefits daily and really do enjoy it. There are a few bug fixes that need to happen, but overall I do really like the product.
Pros
Super user friendly and you can easily find whatever you are looking for
Cons
The app is very buggy with clock in/out feature
Alternatives Considered
BambooHRReasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
Bamboo HR didn't have everything we were looking forResponse from TriNet Group
Thanks for provide feedback Katherine!
- Industry: Telecommunications
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Turn-key payroll and benefits solution for start-ups
Over, I would highly recommend Zenefits for companies that are looking for a simple way to manage their HR needs.
Pros
Very simple and intuitive interface.
Makes managing HR, payroll, and benefits easy.
Cons
Could have more seamless integration of 3rd party healthcare providers.
Alternatives Considered
GustoReasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
History of using Zenefits for over 3 years with no problems.- Industry: Computer Software
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Payroll is hard
Overall very good, but as I mention above, payroll is tricky, and CRITICAL! I had some stressful moments with payroll, but once it is set up it is very easy to administer.
Pros
i like the self-service aspect access for my employees and using Zenefits for onboarding.
Cons
Payroll admin is a hard, specialized topic. I could have used a little more hand-holding in getting payroll up and running.
Alternatives Considered
PaylocityReasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
Better feature-price value combination and easier employee access- Industry: Education Management
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Monthly for 2+ years
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Review Source
User friendly!!
Wonderful overall, would definitely recommend
Pros
I love how incredibly user friendly zenefits is for the staff and management. The convenience of the app is a big bonus too.
Cons
Wish there was more customization available
Alternatives Considered
ThrivePassReasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
Had a better overall experience with the transition to zenefits- Industry: Education Management
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
User-friendly, intuitive platform
Pros
We tried a big-name service which was a nightmare. Our end users like how easy and intuitive it is to deal with onboarding, open enrollment, time-off requests, and payroll. As an admin, I've also found it easy to use, customize, and introduce to our team.
Cons
Customer service used to be very slow, but they have greatly improved their response time.
- Industry: Construction
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Excellent HR platform for growing companies
We are able to manage Benefits, Payroll, Performance Management, Time Off Requests, and Paperwork all from one system.
Pros
This program ties together most of our HR needs into one platform, making it easier for HR staff and employees to access the information they need. We process our payroll through Zenefits and they offered some 401k third party company options, which allows those benefits to be seamlessly integrated.
Cons
Support can be difficult to get online at times. They have a chat feature, which is most convenient for me as an administrator, but the wait times can be long or the chat request may be converted over to an email. This is a problem I have noticed over the past 3-4 months.
Alternatives Considered
BambooHRReasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
Ability to integrate many third party options.- Industry: Nonprofit Organization Management
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Helped streamline our nonprofit operations
Great -- on the whole it has created so many efficiencies for me in payroll and HR management and we have easily saved money when I think of all the time saved.
Pros
I save so much time on payroll and have fewer errors compared to when we manually calculated it and used a 3rd party accounting firm to handle our payroll. Year end tax documents -- especially for contractors receiving 1099s -- are also much less of a headache now. I've also saved a ton of time on HR operations - in particular new staff onboarding and documentation. It's much simpler for both me and the new staff.
Cons
Customer service can be a little slow to respond, and setting up PTO for part-time employees was a little trickier and more time-consuming than I expected.
Reasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
They offered a nonprofit discount and I like their sales team- Industry: Medical Devices
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Great all-in-one HR software
Pros
Lots of tools in one software (payroll, PTO tracking, timeclock, integrations, hiring/firing, doc management, etc)
Easy to setup, easy to use
Integrates with our 401K, medical, etc
Cons
Support is a bit clunky
Can be a little slow
Reasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
Zenefits was the only software I could find that had all the features I mentioned above all in one package. pricing also reasonable.- Industry: Nonprofit Organization Management
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
We're new but we love it here
We love it. We're excited for the years to come.
Pros
It's SO incredibly user friendly. We are taking our time to train staff who are not as computer savvy, but even with that, it's very straight forward.
Cons
The integrations could include zoom. They use the software to communicate throughout the onboarding process so I assumed an integration existed but it doesn't. That's honestly about it.
Alternatives Considered
PaycomReasons for Choosing TriNet Zenefits
QuickBooks Time only manages time. Zenefits manages so much more.Switched From
QuickBooks TimeReasons for Switching to TriNet Zenefits
Zenefits hit all of our needs first. I honestly didn't even get a chance to review Paycom though.- Industry: Computer Software
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Seamless low-cost solution for small to mid-sized companies that kills busy work
-Paperless onboarding/offboarding to support a remote workforce
-Integrations with existing ATS, removing the needs for duplicate data entry
-Digital document storage, allowing us to digitize all employee files. No more paper!
-Time off tracking: Automatic rating to managers for review and approval of all time off requests while keeping the HR team aware of team schedules. Transparent reporting to have conversations with employees regarding the time off trends (% of unplanned versus planned time off). Time off solution also supports Prop 206 mandated sick leave.
-Health insurance platform that allows for the execution of open enrollment, qualifying life events and new hire enrollments for all lines of coverage (med, dent, vision, life and disability). HSA app built in to allow employees to review available balances and submit out of pocket expenses.
-ACA compliance: Built into existing subscription model that allows for ACA reporting, submission to IRS and 1094/1095 creation without the need for an accountant or an expensive solution.
-Business intelligence: Real-time standard and customized reporting. I use this solution heavily as a federal contractor to execute our annual affirmative action reporting.
Pros
With a solution like Zenefits, I have managed to reduce the HR budget year-over-year while going 100% paperless. The integration with our applicant tracking system allows me to push data seamlessly from my mobile device directly to Zenefits to extend an offer, wherever, whenever. I am no longer chained to the constraints of my desk, which is critical for an HR team of one.
Easily the most comprehensive solution in the market (at this price point) that addresses onboarding/offboarding, automated and customized email triggers to employees, time and attendance, insurance, aca compliance, reporting (standard and custom) and a multitude of integrations. Since becoming a client over 2 years ago, I have gone to market year-over-year, and haven't found a solution that is comparable. Zenefits kills the busy work and allows me to dedicate time to our employees and driving meaningful initiatives, restructuring the experience with HR to being a partnership versus an administrative burden.
Cons
I wish the performance management module was baked into the subscription versus an add-on cost.
The transition to a new brokerage, OneDigital, has come with its challenges, but I appreciate that the leadership teams both with Zenefits and OneDigital have been willing to personally speak with me to determine how gaps can be bridged to improve my experience as the employer.
- Industry: Apparel & Fashion
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Daily for Free Trial
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Review Source
"Zanefit: Personalized Wellness Coaching and Community for Improved Health and Wellbeing"
Zenefits is a wellness platform that offers personalized coaching, nutrition advice, fitness programs, and a community of like-minded individuals who are working towards improving their health. Users work with a coach to develop a customized plan that takes into account their specific needs and goals. They can also access a variety of resources, including meal plans, exercise programs, and educational content.
Pros
One of the things that users have appreciated about Zenefit is the personalized approach to coaching. By working with a coach to develop a customized plan, users are able to receive guidance that is tailored to their specific needs and goals. This has helped many users see better results in their wellness journey.Another pro of Zenefit is the community aspect. Users have reported feeling supported and motivated by connecting with other like-minded individuals who are also working towards improved health and wellbeing. This sense of community can be especially beneficial for people who are starting out on their wellness journey and may feel overwhelmed or alone.Overall, Zenefit appears to offer a comprehensive and personalized approach to wellness coaching that can be effective for many individuals.
Cons
One potential drawback is the cost. While personalized coaching and access to a community can be beneficial, these services can also come with a higher price tag. Some users have reported that the cost of using Zenefit can be prohibitive, especially for those on a tight budget.Another potential con is that some users may prefer a more independent approach to wellness. While the personalized coaching and community aspect of Zenefit can be helpful for many people, some users may prefer to develop their own fitness and nutrition plans, or may not want to share their journey with others.Finally, it's worth noting that results may vary. While many users have reported positive outcomes from using Zenefit, it's important to keep
- Industry: Education Management
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Lots of Potential but Customer Service is Abysmal
Zenefits is fine until you have an issue and need a human being to walk you through something. You will sit on hold for literally hours until a rep answers. This has been my experience on multiple occasions. They are not good at heading off issues either. In January 2021 there was an issue where hours were not porting to payroll and payroll was due that day. As a user, I kept thinking what am I doing wrong, sat on hold for 3+ hours waiting for a rep, figured out a workaround only to find out it was a system issue. A simple email to administrators with the information and workaround would have saved me hours of work. Another current example is I have an employee who entered his SSN incorrectly into the system and now has a W2 that is incorrect. Customer Service has sent two form emails but zero information on what needs to be done and the timeline. Very frustrating to work with Zenefits especially when you have an issue that is time sensitive.
Pros
I like that I can keep my HR in one place online and the general onboarding of certain positions in our company with the template is easy and straightforward.
Cons
Time and Attendance is clunky to use accurately. There is an app for employees to clock in but it's easy for mistakes to occur. Onboarding is clunky too if you want to send an offer letter that is not part of a template and still have the new hire, say a manager with a negotiated salary, sign online.
- Industry: Information Technology & Services
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Zenefits us primarily in benefits administration, onboarding e-paperwork, and ACA reporting.
ACA Reporting, benefits administration, and electronic onboarding.
Pros
The apps are are very organized and "user friendly". Customer support has improved significantly in the past year. It is a pro that there are multiple HR functions electronically administered. It has made many HR functions in my company more efficient which allows us to focus on strategic goals and other areas. Zenefits assist us mostly in ACA reporting, e-paperwork for onboarding, limited compliance assistance, basic data reporting, and PTO administration. It has transition our new hire paperwork to e-files. Speaking from a small company of 65, it is a helpful product to keep data stored, electronic onboarding, PTO, and ACA Reporting.
Cons
Zenefits charges by certain App usage. For example, administering FSA or HSA via Zenefits will charge a fee per enrollees in addition to the number of employee per month. We are hoping for their Benchmark app from HR Compliance to provide more data that we can use to create customized reports. I believe that the benchmark data can definitely be improved. I would like to learn more about how this product can be used as a company's "Employer Intranet Portal" website or assist the company in "employee performance or management" function.
- Industry: Hospital & Health Care
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Giving credit where credit is due!
Love the ease of use of Zenefits and it's user friendliness.
Pros
I love to give credit where credit is due. I have suggested to my HR peers the ease of using Zenefits several times. Our company chose Zenefits to be the HR/Payroll/Benefits management system for our fast growing company because we needed to automate and help employees self administer routine HR related tasks and help us manage this without having to add new FTEs to our HR dept functions. Our [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] did an analytical review of several vendors and Zenefits was by far the most comprehensive at the right price point that met all of our criteria. Going with Zenefits met our objectives and has allowed us to grow rapidly without consuming the company with manual HR/Payroll/Benefits administration. As with ANY HR platform, there are always items you would like to improve or change and Zenefits is always doing that and looking for feedback.
Cons
Customer service is slow to respond. The time card page often freezes up. There needs to be a way to add an additional manager. Need a disciplinary app.
- Industry: Nonprofit Organization Management
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Win-win-win
Pros
Zenefits offers multiple HR processes in one system in a very user-friendly format. When we consolidated payroll, on-boarding, time tracking, FSA, and benefits admin, in one system, we saved time and paid less than what we were paying for all of the other systems combined. The ease of use of the system is really the special sauce though. It ensures the end-user keeps their individual information up-to-date.
Cons
Customer support could be better. When we first joined we were able to pay for a premium support package but that option is no longer available. Wait times have been long lately.
- Industry: Management Consulting
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Good for small new business with no HR; less flexible with larger businesses
My company, about ~75 large, enrolled with Zenefits in early 2015. We already had our own payroll, onboarding, and benefits brokers in place; some (onboarding and most benefits) we transitioned to Zenefits. To date, we have been somewhat happy with the system, though it is not as seamless or as flexible as might be liked, especially as a company retrofits their offerings to the Zenefits system (eg, rollover of brokers and benefits plans was quite poorly handled by account managers and 'experts'). We have also had ~8 account managers over less than 2 years, which is frustrating to us as well as indicative of a company in some turmoil; neither they nor Support have necessarily been particularly knowledgeable about some standard HR policy, as well as their internal functioning. That said, for an inexpensive product it does perform much of the HR paperwork, admin, and processing; it also provides helpful reminders and processing regarding ACA regulations, EEOC reports, etc.
Pros
Fairly comprehensive in what it offers, and is increasingly customizable in its various offerings. Support is kind and prompt, though not always the most immediately knowledgeable. Reports for business are easy to pull and very useful. Very clear, straightforward, and user-friendly interface, for both employees and admins.
Cons
Rollover of plans and brokers can be a real hassle, and the Zenefits account managers aren't always the most knowledgeable or the most immediate links to benefits vendors. The software on the back-end is still buggy and may hit tech snags. Employee interactions are for the most part positive, but there was a COBRA issue that went on for months. Similarly, when requesting a training on 'what health insurance is, and what my options are' the manager mostly took us through 'how to upload your profile pic' (granted, this was early 2015, I think those offerings have either been improved or abolished).
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Zenefits is a great piece of software making tremendous improvements all the time.
Pros
The ease of use for both employee and administrator is fantastic. New hires report an extremely pleasant onboarding experience through the platform.
The automation is great and most things work extremely well. When they don't, my account manager is incredibly responsive and helpful.
I absolutely love that the product team has taken several of my suggestions for improved functionality and implemented them.
Cons
Document storage doesn't work well for our use case. As a law firm, we have significant needs in this area and the current system is inadequate and cumbersome. Our need is greater than the typical use case.
I preferred being able to call customer support when I had issues (outside of what my account manager handles). Submitting an issue through the portal and awaiting an email reply or call back (depending on which option is selected) is not ideal. Highly recommend a return to the prior method because it felt more available and 'real time'.
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Zenefits is my go-to for all things related to HR. User friendly for both adm and end-user.
As mentioned in the review...
Pros
Zenefits was a lifesaver for our growing firm. Our firm was initially looking for a way to better manager PTO requests, but as we learned more about the product offerings, we took full advantage of making Zenefits the cornerstone of our HR infrastructure. Besides PTO tracking, the most useful/time saving features are onboarding new employees and open enrollment. With the functionality Zenefits provides, these previously time consuming and scattered tasks have become easy, accurate, and seamless. Having Zenefits available as a tool has enabled our Firm to offer employees a fully transparent HR tool that can assist them in managing their HR needs.
Cons
The inability to integrate information with our payroll provider - ADP Run. When Zenefits was launched at our firm, the integration was available and very useful. While not a deal-breaker, not having that integration is a bit of a pain.

- Industry: Computer Software
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Disappointing
The most obvious of Zenefits issues is their inability to manage payroll taxes. We have received too many notices to count regarding unpaid tax liabilities. Zenefits directs us to send these to their support team, which is clearly underwater (and has been the entire time we’ve been with Zenefits). It would generally take several days for someone to respond, only to tell us it was being sent to another team. Once it lands with the tax team, you might as well have sent it straight to the trash folder, as we have outstanding tax issues from 6+ months that have yet to be resolved.
We have had multiple calls with our account manager and the tax team in an attempt to work through these issues, and despite many promises that things would improve they never did in the 18 months we were with Zenefits.
Aside from the tax issues, their service level is the worst of any company I have worked with. They have a chat feature- using this I never was able to reach someone in under 30 minutes (many times it was hours). It would sometimes take multiple weeks to get to a team that could actually answer and resolve my concerns.
Pros
Good user interface, ease of use for employees
Cons
Customer support, payroll and tax issues