Do you have employees – ones that like to get paid?
What’s the best way to manage your payroll?
When I hired my first full time employee, I knew I needed… 
a simple way to ensure she got paid, and that her income taxes were paid, along with social security, unemployment and workmen’s comp, all of which need to be paid here in the State of Connecticut to be in compliance even if you just have one full time employee.
Being already busy as I wanted to be, and not being an accounting maven I signed up with ADP, a well-known payroll service, to handle all the paperwork. And it all ran smoothly. My assistant got paid and I didn’t have to deal with cutting individual checks for all the related taxes, and stuff.
When I brought a new assistant on board, there were a lot of things we had to worry about. Getting her accustomed to wearing many hats was a challenge but not impossible with the right training. But the one thing we struggled with more than anything during that time was something we least expected.
And ADP’s payroll services were okay, but their pricing was high and their services were aimed at a much larger company and weren’t the best for small business management. That’s why when I hired on my next full time employee, we decided to find an alternative, one that worked better for a small company like mine.
When the time came to cancel with ADP, what should have been an easy process turned into a real headache. ADP insisted that any changes to the account could only be made by the person who had set up the account and was incidentally no longer with our company.
And this nonsense went on for not just a week or two but months, and thee was still no cracking them. Eventually we got access, but the lesson was learned – if you want attention, avoid signing up with a large company like ADP.
After doing some research, my assistant suggested signing up with Intuit. The whole thing was done online…taxes, everything. At the time, it seemed to be a good solution – they touted themselves as the best small business payroll management option. It wasn’t until a few months into using Intuit, we started getting notices from the State of Connecticut and realized Intuit wasn’t paying associated taxes. Then even after we notified them – nothing. No change and to say the least no customer support.
Two strikes and Paychex was the payroll service we tried next.
Much to our delight, their service has been outstanding. They even offered to meet and go through all the details to get us set up, meeting my assistant at a Brooklyn coffee shop. After treating her to her favorite drink – a chai latte with soy – Matt from Paychex fixed Intuit’s tax blunders and set up our payroll system correctly.
Paychex is more expensive than Intuit… but as the old adage goes, you get what you pay for. And that was especially true in this case.
So, if you’re looking for an easy way to manage your small business payroll, our recommendation is… that you avoid ADP and most definitely give Intuit a pass and use Paychex.
Charlie
