Payroll1 Reviews

Pros

They will hire with very little to no experience and offer thorough training in the payroll field. You can learn many aspects of the payroll office as they will give you as much responsibility as you can handle(and more in many cases).

Cons

The management of the company seems clueless in a lot of very important areas. The team they have in the St. Louis office is incredible at their jobs and they offer them no recognition or reward for the work they do to hold the company together especially in this time when they are struggling. The harder they ask you the work to help the company the more they shut their doors so they don't have to see it. It's a very uncomfortable environment made worse by the direct management of the St. Louis office that does not have the skills, knowledge or education to be in charge of the livelihood of a great team of employees. They also emphasize to their clients "a completely personal" approach to payroll service, yet continually change the product to move away from that personal level they still sell, then they leave it to the specialist to make excuses for them and cover it up.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees. That of course would require you change the threat of disciplinary action and termination of anyone that speaks up. You have an incredible team of employees and you are hurting the company by not treating them with respect.

Pros

The only thing that I can say that would be good is that they offer decent benefits (insurance). Even on the low option you only have a $250 deductible and a max out of pocket of $500.

I guess also if you want to work at a place where you want to learn and take on as much as you can, this would be the place to work.

Cons

The first thing I can say is, the management here is horrible! It starts with the CEO who requires that EVERYTHING be approved by her. No matter what position you are applying for you will be interviewed by her, raises go through her, changes in the most simplistic policies must go through her etc. It is not efficient when you have a management staff on hand. It does not seem like Elaine trusts her managers to make decisions. Honestly, I think the managers are completely useless. The only purpose they serve is to act as Elaine's ears and provide all gossip back to her. The managers cannot make and decisions on their own and the two managers in the company (yes there are only two managers across the company that has 7 branches nation-wide) are ruthless, have no idea how to manage effectively and do not make themselves available to the employees.

The company does not care about their employees. This is evident in how they have not given out raises in more than 3 years, they have cut all parties, bonuses, over time etc. They claim it is because the economy has turned bad and they are not making enough money on the interest. However, the sales reps continue to get increases in salary, they continue to get healthy bonuses, and increases in their commission. They go on firing spurts, they will get rid of key employees on a whim and sometimes you wonder what they were thinking. If you see one employee fired you can bet that is probably not going to be the only one. They usually have 3-5 more employees to follow. And just because you have seniority in the company it means nothing. They will get rid of you just as fast as the next person.

They pride themselves on having the best customer service among all other payroll providers because you have a dedicated specialist to each account. But, since management has fired so many people in the past two years the clients have been moved around so many times. Many clients are just happy to be able to get a hold of a specialist to turn in their payroll at this point. The reason being is that most specialist have over 170 clients and when you want to turn in your payroll plan on playing phone tag, especially during the busy times. There are not enough specialists to handle the volume. Managers do not see this, they think well other branches are doing fine. But other branches are not doing fine. They have to pull people from the corporate support (those who would normally be working on software changes, system updates) to help key payrolls. Granted most of them have payroll experience in the past they still do not work as a payroll specialist currently and are thrown into it.

The managers, corporate gurus, and the CEO ask for advice on situations but rarely do you see that advice play out. Also if you voice your advice too much, or offer up your frustration you will most likely be the next one to get the boot.

If you think you are going to just do payroll, think again. You will have at least 2 other jobs to do there. Sure they will make it seem like it is a great opportunity to take on more tasks but in reality if you agree to take on more they will keep piling it on until you are overloaded and about to just walk out. Then they will scramble and try to figure out a solution and make it seem like you should have said something sooner.

Again, the managers have no business being managers. The two managers in the company rarely will attend staff meetings, they rarely come out of their offices, the majority of the time is spent on conference calls. As many conference calls as they have you would think you would see progress in the company or communication but there is none! Seriously, there are many times the employees find out information from the clients before they find out info from their own manager.

All I can say is if you have a current job, please think long and hard before you leave your company and accepting this job. If you are thinking about doing it, ask the manager if you can shadow the specialist for a day before accepting the job. Don't be afraid to ask the specialist what they think or feel about the company. Many will be afraid to say something negative but just look at the expression on their faces or how they behave when you ask them the question, that will tell you all you need to know. Also ask them and the managers about the morale in the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Start listening to your employees, seriously listen. Take an anonymous survey to see what everyone really feels, you will be surprised.

Think about bringing in new managers, you have great specialists who have more qualifications than your current managers there.

And start treating your employees as an asset of the company, after all it's a service orientated company. Without your employees there would not be anyone to service your clients. The employees are your product!

Pros

The product is good and the customer service from the specialists is top notch.

Cons

During the interview process you think this is a warm and friendly enviroment. When actually everyone is for themselves. There is no cohesiveness between the offices, other sales reps or management. Nobody helps anybody, its sink or swim. Communication from the top down is poor. Very slow in getting anything done. The pay scale is below industry average. There is no enthusiasm, you get burned out from bordeom.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees they are on the front lines, they know what's going on. You should appreciate the hard work they do for you and reward them consistently.

Pros

Its a place to work, you get a paycheck. I am in outside sales, they dont micro manage. Your free to run your territory with limited supervision.

Cons

The training is terrible. It is long and drawn out and sooooo boring. The company is boring, there is no excitment, nobody seems happy to be working there its like there all drones. I was in sales, so if your looking for a happy, lively, exciting, motivational and enthusiastic place to work....this is not it. Things move very slowly, decisions have to be made by the CEO, she has to have the last word on everything. She has hired management but it appears she has no confidence in them because NONE of them can make a decision without her approval. So things pile up and sit on her desk and months go buy and your frustration level builds because you need an answer so you ask your manager and the answer is "we are waiting on Elaine"

Advice to Senior Management

Liven up! Make things exciting, get excited about your company and your job and pass it on down

Pros

Good growth potential. The company teeters back and forth between stagnate and vibrant growth but with the right formula in place there are great opportunities. Paid time off is respectable and time off is given without questioning the personal need. The team environment is emphasized creating a good bond between coworkers. They will hire with very little experience and provide in depth training.

Cons

Management often lets emotional forces rule over logical and economical ones. The entire office environment is put through phases of turbulent and unpredictable times where cynicism and pessimism prevail and times of peace and positivity that make you feel like you are in a great working environment. Raises can be based more on personal biases than on how hard you work and how much you take on.

Advice to Senior Management

Make all your employees feel as needed and important as you do the sales reps. Always remember this is a business and your personal feelings and biases have no place here.