Working at PayChex — Reviews by Employees

Pay does not equal the amount of work that this company can dish out. The operation managers do not respect that you are working hard but choose to focus all of their attention on what you're doing wrong. Benefits are ok but they ask that you participate in some health improvement program to get the better premium,probably because they know your health suffers due to the excessive stress incurred from being overworked. Job security is great, even for those that slack off. Work life balance is average considering the industry. If you work in operations, you can forget about taking time off during the holidays. I have to say that the career potential is good for those willing to relocate. There are plenty of locations across the states. My co-workers either didn't know their job or didn't care since I could hear them play dumb with the clients over the phone. The work environment is unpleasant due to the high number of clients you must work with. Management fails to take into consideration the varying complexity of the clients you are dealing with when assigning you additional clients. Isn't every business unique? The workload increased significantly as the economy slowed. Paychex wants to make lots of money and they certainly can't do that if they have to hire more employees,so they load you up instead. It seemed to me as though they were testing the limits of their employees to see how much they could handle, sacrificing quality for quantity. As the quality decreased and the clients complained, employee morale dropped. To combat this, management initiated several programs to try to motivate and encourage us. It all seemed like brainwashing to me. It only made our jobs more difficult as we had less time to service our clients needs.

Paychex really turned me off from ever wanting to work in a business environment again.

I worked in Sales for a couple of years with Paychex. The money is good, nice base, good commission splits. Everyone would like them to be higher, but I always felt they were at least fair. The trade off for this is that the pressure is extreme. Getting calls after 8pm and on the weekends from managers and their managers talking about how your performance effects their ability to put food on the table for their family.

If you are doing well you are looked at to pick up the slack for everybody else, if you are down they will threaten you with termination. "One on One's" 9 times out of 10 resulted in reps coming out their DSM's offices with their heads down trying to pick themselves back up so they could go out on calls. It would be routine for reps to come in tired, talking about how they couldn't sleep due to "paymares". I really can't emphasize the pressure enough.

I liked both DSMs that I worked for there. Both are genuinely great people. How can be great people and put that kind of heat on their reps? Well, there is a cycle where their boss yells at them, because his boss was yelling at him and the DSMs follow that lead and yell at the reps. They yell because they have to do something to avoid getting yelled at some more and figure if their boss yelled at them it's probably a good idea for them to yell at the reps. You get these people off the clock out at dinner and they are wonderful parents, fun people to hang out with. If you are having personal issues they will show plenty of empathy as long as it doesn't interfere with work. Then you are on your own.

There is a high standard for employees interviewing is intense and they pick the best. I had great teammates which you need to survive the pressure in that place. Everyone has mentioned how highly Paychex employees are thought of amongst other employers you will get unsolicited calls from outside recruiters at least a couple of times per month, in addition I had clients who would regularly ask about hiring me.

I lasted two years before getting completely burnt out. The average rep in the position I was in lasts 4 months. It's intense, you don't see anybody in there over 40, it wears on everybody. Great job for somebody who is young and hungry, just hit your numbers, make your money and use your experience to get something more stable with a better work life balance.

I have been with Paychex for 2 years, and I must say that ALL of the positive comments about this company are coming from Outside Sales Reps. Period.
I work in a newer area of Paychex, which is Health and Benefits. The pay in a position of an Agency Account Coordinator (AAC), New Case Specialist, Service Specialist, or Enrollment Specialist are crap! The supervisors make the SAME amount as our Senior AAC's! Go figure! If you want to think about living on your own, then you must live within a VERY tight budget or you must become a sales rep and sell your soul to "make conference".

The respect level sucks. It seems like you make more internal enemies than not. You are expected to be perfect each and every time and if something is done wrong then the whole place will probably hear about it (like we are in high school). Supervisors are around very little and seem uninterested in you as a person. Numbers is the name of the game. They pick their favorites and the favorites kiss their a** to get ahead. They do this by either throwing you under the bus at every chance they get or they try to turn other co-workers against you. The MALE supervisors! Ha! They only acknowledge the pretty girls who they're probably having some indecent affair with. I've seen it for myself how much a pretty blonde can get from a male supervisor by doing nothing. It sickens me.
Benefits are okay. Haven't gotten a chance to use them much though so I guess that's good on my part.
Job Security is average. Like some other posters, they will replace you in a heartbeat if you are not following the rest of the sheep. My daily routine is getting some morning java, say goodmorning to who I know and like, sit at my desk and hone in. Until I leave. Simple day.

Career potential with Paychex is limited in my department, which is why they are taking the same position of an AAC and breaking into 3 tiers to make it seem like you are "moving up" in the world. Ha! What happens to the Tier 3 AAC who wants to move up from there? Where can they go? That is, if they wanted to stay in Health and Benefits? No where. Being a supervisor would just add more stress for the same pay.

Location is good for me. Not too far away from my job which makes it easier for me to go home and get away from it all around lunch time!

The team that I work with is AWESOME! They are WAY more knowledgeable than our supervisors. The sups have no idea whats going on, and if the male sups took time to learn their jobs as opposed to chasing around skirts in the office then maybe we could get somewhere.

Work environment sucks. The morale is LOW. People are leaving left and right. Most people in that department leave because they found other means of work at other companies who pay them more, plus bonuses.

Everyone is uptight and stressed out. We have no overtime. Our 401k match is gone as well as merit increases. And all the while we have to sit back and watch these sales reps (who most are blatant liars to these clients) and hear about them making Circle, Gold, and spending Paychex's money to go to Maui.

But of course a company is going to have more leniency for the people who bring in the revenue to the company! Even the DSM's have gotten a little money hungry in all this.

I agree with other posters who say the positive comments are all sales reps or the Paychex Marketing or recruiting team. If you are considering an operations position at Paychex, DO NOT let the sales rep comments fool you. MMS CSR and Payroll Specialists jobs are a completely different animal.
Pay: We are well-paid for an entry-level position, but every dollar is hard-earned. Employees can fairly easily take what we learn in a year and get a higher paying job elsewhere, if you actually want to stay in the payroll industry.
Respect: Management picks their favorites who can do no wrong, the other 95% of reps are constantly told what they are doing wrong and what needs to improve. Very little, if any, positive feedback from management, even if it is well-deserved.
Benefits: Used to be a decent benefit package until they froze salaries and took away our 401(k) match. Medical/Dental/Vacation package is comparable to other companies.
Work/life Balance: In my branch, overtime is not allowed, even during quarter- and year-end when we are swamped. We have double the work during those times, and still only 8 hours to do it. If you get overwhelmed, you are criticized for not being able to handle the workload. When reps quit, management is no longer replacing them, just giving more clients to other reps who already have a full client base. This leaves us with more work to do, and less time to do it, especially when they make us attend BS weekly training sessions that suck up valuable work time. The levels of stress are ridiculous. So yes we get to be home every night because we aren't staying late, but the weight of the job comes home with me every night.
Job security: Used to be pretty secure, with the economy now they are taking the time to make sure we know that being human is no longer acceptable - we must all be robots or Paychex won't hesitate to drop you.
Location: Well, can't complain here, I'm close to home, but most people I work with have a 30-50 minute commute.
Co-worker competence: Well, my co-workers are more competent than the supervisors, but that's really not saying much.
Work environment - Horrible. Stressful, robotic, no flexibility from management, and demanding. I don't have one teammate who truly enjoys working there.

First I have to tell you I only worked 1 day at Paychex a few years ago. First thing was I received no lunch or break the entire day. Then I was told they were looking to hire a male to work the day shift. (I worked 2nd) Talk about discrimination. I was lied to in the interview. My first day I was told there would be days I would have to stay sometime till 2 or 3 in the morning because of work needs. Then I was made to go to an underground garage at midnight to file reports in a fire safe room. I was not told that I would be the only one in the building after 5:00 pm. No thanks. I went to the bathroom and never went back.

Pay is ok considering the current economic environment we live in.
Respect is lacking, the little you get is incensere and you can see right tru them.
Benefits are above industry standard.
Job security is poor, the turnover is high similar to any other sweatshop. This leads us nicely into the dreaded work/life balance. Forget about having a family life, you are expected to work 60hr weeks to get the job done regardless if you have prior commitments, the company comes first and second. the individual comes third if at all. If you are unable to get all your work done you have to come in on the weekend. After a while you find yourself working 6 or 7 days a week. They don't care if you quit because they plug in another robot to do the grunt work.
Career potential: there is some sort of career path if you work hard but the amount of energy expended to achieve the promotion is not worth it. You can work half as hard and make twice as much elsewhere. But bottom line PayChex does have room to move up.
Work Environment: bad, you are constantly told what you are doing wrong. The focus is on the negative. you get little praise for what you do well and no positive reinforcement. I don't go to work to perform poorly on purpose, no one does that. We go to work to excell but no one recognizes that. the system is punitive and the environment toxic. The negative feedback wears on you after a while

I worked for Paychex for 10 years as a Payroll Specialist. Many of the glowing reviews you see on this site are from folks in the Sales department, which is a totally different animal. The best thing about Paychex is that they can take someone who is a cashier or teller and turn them into a payroll expert within a year. The worst things are the pay and the stress. A male receptionist who had been with the company 2 years left his check stub out and I saw that he was making $3.00/hr more than me - a female senior payroll spec with the company 6 years. The stress is horrible. This is why most people leave the company. An average client load for the company was around 150 per specialist. We had so much turnover and so many people on FMLA that my client load was over 350 when I quit. There is NO WAY a person can call 20 companies for payroll at 2pm, then another 15 companies at 2:30. The managers sometimes helped, but you were pretty much on your own. Even now, 4 years later, I still have nightmares about keeping up with that call schedule. A lot of the other specialists were incompetent or just didn't care, and they messed up my clients but I got marked down on my reviews for it. Sales reps promised the clients WAY more than we could deliver. The benefits were pretty good. Too bad we could never take time off to use the insurance! The only excuse to miss a day was if you were in the hospital. One girl's mother died and the branch manager would only give her 2 days off work. Job security was good at that time - they never fired anyone no matter how bad the employee was. I am glad that I learned everything they taught about payroll and taxes. I took those skills to another employer and now make about 15K more than I did at Paychex - and the job has no stress at all!

My advice is to take the job, learn as much as possible, stay about 2 years, then leave. Don't get stuck there for life!

Paychex is a great company to work for! It's a large company that is very respected in the accounting community. The pay is good. It compensates people that have a good work ethic and want to "make" a living and not have something handed to them. You're compensation is uncapped, so nothing's stopping you from making more $. In previous reviews I read the compensation is "fair". Well, that's completely up to you to determine your income. "IT'S A CHOICE" to determine your income! The benefits are great! A lot of companies are cutting back on benefits, with Paychex they continue to add benefits. For example, EAP (Employee Assistant Program) is amazing! They will act as a personal assistant to do research for you. They even shopped for a Wii for me at Christmas time. Work life balance can be a challenge if you struggle with managing your time. The lazy ones struggle because they are slow getting their work done, if you work hard and get things "done", you will be able to manage it. Paychex isnt a company for slackers! The career growth is unlimited, you can grow as much as you want. Once you proove yourself, you can do anything you want. Location is convenient. Co-worker competence and work environment is good. You are in an environment with other human beings, there's always going to be drama no matter where you are. You choose whether you participate or not. Paychex is one of the most amazing companies there is. They truly listen to their employees and continue to strive for more ways to give you things. The ones who have anything negative related to Paychex are probably people that have a lack of appreciation in life. Consider yourself very lucky if you get the opportunity to work for Paychex.

I've worked for Paychex for over 4 years in sales. The earning potential is pretty good... just keep in mind that your commission is based on how you did last year. If you hit Circle of Excellence, your commission percentage payout the following year is higher. If you miss it the next year, you get put back down to a lower percentage the following year. Normally this is okay except when outside factors make you barely miss your goal (I.E. Economic downturn). You end up taking a pay cut the following year. The company culture is pretty good compared to other large corporate companies. As product leaders in payroll, 401(k) and other services, it makes it a little easier to gain credibility with prospects. The customer support is hit or miss (like any large company). For the most part, I stand behind what I sell, which is important. THE ONE THING ANYONE SHOULD KNOW BEFORE GETTING HIRED? If you are lucky, or good enough to make the trip, just be aware that you are not allowed to bring anyone! That's right, even if you were willing to pay for your spouse, Paychex doesn't let you. I'll never understand the logic behind that.

I have worked for Paychex for about a year now and will be making over $100k by the end of the fiscal year. This is the BEST company that I have ever worked for! The majority of the people who work for Paychex LOVE it, everyone works well together to help each other achieve their goals. When you start here you sit down with your manager and develope a business plan or a plan of action for the year outlining your goals, your manager works closely with you and makes sure that you achieve them. The tarinign that they provide is incredible. The base salary is very competitive for outside sales and the commission is great. There is a lot of pressure for you to make your goals but the rewards make all of the hard work worth while. This is the first job that I have had in a long time that I actually get excited to go to every morning when I wake up. Everyday is different and I very much enjoy what I am doing and all of the places I have got to travel to and the people I have met through Paychex. I feel truly blessed to be a part of this company!