Paycom vs. Paylocity Review 2022: Plans & Features

Paycom and Paylocity are two top contenders when it comes to all-in-one HR software platforms for small businesses. Both cloud-based systems offer a wide variety of payroll and HR features, and also give you the option to outsource payroll taxes, wage garnishment and other operations to their teams.

In a head-to-head comparison, Paylocity may be more approachable for midsize and large businesses with an employee focus, as well as those that want an all-in-one solution, but don’t necessarily need a high level of automation. On the other hand, Paycom is well-suited for larger businesses that are looking for an enterprise-level solution to both automate and outsource their payroll and HR processes.

Paycom vs. Paylocity deciding factors

Paycom vs. Paylocity pricing

Paycom and Paylocity both operate on a quote-based pricing system. You’ll have to contact their sales teams directly to determine what pricing would look like for your business. It’s common for payroll and HR providers to charge a monthly base fee plus a monthly per-person fee. Cost can depend on factors such as the size of your business, your payroll schedule and the functionality you need. All-in-one software like Paycom or Paylocity will likely be priced higher than more basic solutions like Gusto or QuickBooks Payroll.

Paycom features

With Paycom, you have payroll software, HR software and talent management software, all within a single system. You can log in to your Paycom account and access any aspect of the platform, which syncs data seamlessly across features to eliminate the need for manual data entry. In addition to multi-user access, Paycom also extends its functionality to your employees through its self-service mobile app, available for both iOS and Android devices.

Paycom breaks down its vast and detailed feature set into five categories: payroll, HR management, time and labor management, talent acquisition, and talent management. Within each of these categories, Paycom gives you access to a high level of automation and customization.

Payroll

• Automated payroll processing that allows employees to verify their paychecks while HR monitors progress.

• Give employees access to their payroll information 24/7 through the self-service app.

• Receive automatic payroll tax management from Paycom’s team, including completing, filing and paying payroll taxes.

• Manage wage garnishments and expense reimbursements.

• Import payroll data to produce general ledger reports using the GL Concierge feature.

• Create customized payroll reports using data across the platform that incorporates multiple years, employer identification numbers and formats.

» MORE: Best payroll software for small businesses

HR management

• Use a document management system to create, assign and archive HR documents like I-9 and W-4 forms, employee handbooks and more.

• Create customized workflows and assign tasks for onboarding and other HR processes.

• Remain compliant with government regulations and receive notifications of changes to relevant legislation, including COBRA laws.

• Manage entire benefits administration process, from setting up benefit plans to allowing employees to review and choose options, to notifying employees of their eligibility.

• Give managers access to tools that allow them to review employee requests, conduct performance reviews and schedule interviews with prospective candidates.

• Create an approval chain for employee payroll and HR changes with personnel action forms.

• Develop and send employee surveys and receive confidential feedback.

• Enhanced ACA add-on for assistance managing Affordable Care Act obligations and data.

• Monitor HR metrics, generate reports and use Direct Data Exchange tool to evaluate employee usage of the system.

Time and labor management

• Allow employees to track and submit their time through the self-service app; edit and review submitted time.

• Customize time-tracking options for holidays, varying shifts, sick days and more; manage employee PTO and corresponding requests.

• Create employee schedules and let your team view their schedules, mark availability and swap shifts.

• Implement web-based or physical time clocks that sync with payroll.

• Assign labor to particular categories or departments to manage labor costs and usage.

• Generate real-time and historical time and labor management reports.

Talent acquisition

• Share open positions across job boards, build a customized applicant tracking system from resumes, and create notifications for interviews, hiring decisions and onboarding.

• Reduce tax liability with tax credit software add-on feature.

• Run background checks on candidates or current employees and remain in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

• Create a customized onboarding workflow that includes new-hire paperwork, checklists and the option to add an E-Verify task for employment eligibility.

• View recruiting and talent acquisition reports across all system data.

Talent management

• Create an employee review system and allow employees to complete self-reviews, manager reviews and 360 reviews.

• Manage a compensation budget, update employee compensation, and view reports on compensation across the organization.

• Allow employees to use the self-service app for access to the Ask Here feature, where they can ask questions and get directed to the individual in the company who can provide an answer.

• Assign and track performance goals by employee and across the company.

• Create business-specific training courses for employees, implement compliance training, and allow employees to complete trainings through the self-service app.

• Generate reports across system data and allow executives to customize their own dashboards.

Paylocity features

Like Paycom, Paylocity is a single sign-in platform that supports payroll, HR and other related tasks, syncs data across the system and offers employee self-service features. Paylocity differentiates its system into eight feature sets that include payroll, human resources, benefits, workforce management, talent, employee experience, mobile, and data insights.

Payroll

• Preview, correct and verify payroll data instantly prior to processing payroll.

• Work with Paylocity experts to configure custom payroll accounting reports.

• Integrate data from benefits, 401(k) plan information, retirement plans and more from your preferred vendors.

• Automatically pull approved expenses into payroll and add reimbursements to employee paychecks with an expense management tool.

• Allow employees to deposit earned wages to their account on demand through On Demand Payment.

• Work with Paylocity experts for full payroll tax and wage garnishment services.

Human resources

• View position-level data to track headcount and status for each position and predict changes in open positions.

• Allow employees and managers to access personal and company information anytime through the Self-Service portal.

• Use an HR compliance dashboard to review employment laws and regulations.

• Use reports, analytics and dashboards to monitor key metrics and trends across all of your data within Paylocity.

• Create a customized onboarding process and simplify data collection from new hires.

• Use HR Edge to receive day-to-day HR assistance from Paylocity experts, including live support, online resources, custom handbooks, compliance courses, recruiting and talent acquisition.

» MORE: NerdWallet's best small-business apps

Benefits

• Configure employee benefits packages, allow employees to manage their own benefits elections, and send files to carriers to update employee coverage.

• Track enrollment analytics and generate related reports.

• Allow employees to manage benefits and access insurance cards from any internet-connected device.

• Add and manage supplemental employee benefits like health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, transportation management accounts and more.

Workforce management

• Allow employees to use the mobile app to check schedules, request time off, swap shifts and communicate with managers.

• Use a time clock kiosk for employees to clock in and out and submit time off.

• Assign and track points for attendance and related occurrences.

• Give managers the ability to create and adjust schedules and view labor costs versus shift budgets.

• Use reports or live dashboard to view schedules and track employees’ work history.

Talent

• Create custom workflows for targeting candidates, generate job application templates, communicate with managers and applicants, and extend offer letters.

• Manage employee performance on an ongoing basis with performance journaling, goal implementation, performance reviews and 360 feedback.

• Use a learning management system to educate employees with pre-built courses, as well as design your own.

• Track compensation and budget for employee pay increases, bonuses and more.

Employee experience

• Allow employees to connect through Community, a social collaboration tool.

• Give employees the ability to recognize each other’s work with virtual “pats on the back.”

• Create and send surveys to employees to get feedback and track results.

Mobile

• View payroll, HR and personal data including paychecks, pay history, schedules, tax forms, time-off balances and more.

• Access company directory, policies and other resources.

• Connect and communicate with co-workers.

• Clock in and out, view timesheets and submit expense reports.

• Receive push notifications as well as updates on company news and announcements.

Integrations

• Hundreds of integrations through the Paylocity Marketplace.

• Ability to build custom integrations with open APIs.

• Push notifications or webhooks triggered by new-hire, termination, time-off and other events.

Where Paycom may be a better option

Paycom is truly an all-in-one HR and payroll service, and should perhaps be considered an enterprise-level solution. With a wide-ranging feature set that’s both advanced and detailed, Paycom is designed for larger and more complex businesses.

Greater level of automation

Paycom offers a greater level of automation across its feature set. You can highly customize every element and detail in the tools offered by Paycom and even outsource some tasks and functions to Paycom’s team. You can set up your system in such a detailed way that your HR team doesn’t need to participate in the execution of every process. Paycom includes advanced reporting tools with each category that allow you to generate customized reports that incorporate data from any part of the system.

Data sync across all systems

Paycom’s emphasis on data sync across the system eliminates the need to manually move or re-enter data. All of the information you put in Paycom works together, saving you time and preventing mistakes due to manual errors. Paycom’s advanced reporting allows you to incorporate multiple data sets from across the system and generate reports that include multiple years, employer identification numbers and locations.

Where Paylocity may be a better option

Paylocity is best-suited for midsize to large businesses that would benefit from an all-in-one payroll and HR software, but who might not need the significant level of automation and detail that Paycom provides. Plus, Paylocity is a worthwhile choice for businesses looking for third-party integrations, as well as an emphasis on employee engagement.

Employee engagement

Paylocity stands out for its employee engagement features with a large focus on increasing communication between employees, managers and HR team members. In addition to its employee self-service tools, Paylocity also includes features like a social collaboration tool, employee recognition function and communication functionality within the mobile app. In this way, Paylocity gives employees more active participation in the organization, outside of simply managing their payroll and HR-related information.

Robust third-party integrations

Paylocity offers an online integration marketplace — something Paycom does not offer. Within this marketplace, you can browse a variety of third-party integration options including fringe benefits tools, time and attendance plug-ins, performance management platforms and more. You can use these apps to sync platforms you already use or integrate new tools to expand your capabilities within the Paylocity system.