15 years helping Irish businesses
choose better software
About TriNet Zenefits
Eliminate the stress and complexity of HR administration for you and your employees.
Had been one of the first users. Loved simplicity of the software.
Some hiring documents generated contain risky errors. The information presented is not customizable enough for most businesses.
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Filter reviews (817)

Alternatives Considered:
Seamless low-cost solution for small to mid-sized companies that kills busy work
Comments: -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 would love it if the custom email triggers were built out with greater functionality. Right now I highly utilize this tool but I see the opportunity for additional growth. The site should have a support number listed in the event of an outage. Right now you can only access support if you are logged into the dashboard.

Managing payroll with Zenefits is a breeze
Comments: This year, I had some trouble putting up vacation rules, and getting in touch with a live representative proved challenging, as I had to navigate through multiple menus before I was finally connected. The representative at that time was exceptionally helpful and handled my request for assistance with utmost professionalism.
Pros:
Our experience with Zenefits has been quite positive. We use it to manage new hires, time off requests, benefits administration, and payroll all in one place. In most applications, it has been a pleasure to use because of how intuitive and simple it is.
Cons:
Employees should be able to access their pay stubs through their profiles. A call to the firm should not be necessary for a terminated worker to be rehired.
TriNet Zenefits
Comments: wonderful, easy to use, transparent, accurate
Pros:
easy to use, I was a former employee of trinet as well and sold this solution. It's a great platform
Cons:
no real cons in my opinion, easy to use and transparent, real time info

Great Sales Department but not backed up by Service or Software
Comments: I love the onboarding and sales process. Every person I talk with at Zenefits is pleasant and understanding. Whoever is in charge of the software development and customer service systems should be fired. In order to get a question answered one has to submit to a complex matrix of categories and subjects. I rarely could find the particular category that I needed. Tax Services are a joke. I just received an email on Feb 16 2021 for a quick question that I had on May 7th of 2020. If you have any need for any changes that require a human, find a different way.
Pros:
Timekeeping is accurate. The time-off request and approval process works great. Like the PTO Calendar. Every task could be performed even if some were clunky.
Cons:
Navigation is not intuitive and few improvements over 2 years. There were bugs when working with state taxes (for WA). Claimed integration with Quickbooks Desktop is flat out lies. Integration with Quickbooks Online is weak at best. DON'T TRUST Zenefits to make changes to your payroll tax filings. Will take 6+ months to get a response.

Our HR functions are centralized at Zenefits
Comments: Payroll, new hire paperwork, paid time off, and benefits administration are just some of the fundamental HR features managed by Zenefits. We may be a small group, but we're responsible for the same number of procedures as a large company. It's fantastic to have a system in place that keeps everything coordinated without requiring us to constantly monitor, update, calculate, and email each other.
Pros:
If your clients are willing to utilize Zenefits for everything from onboarding to benefit administration to payroll, you've found a superb all-in-one solution. When effectively implemented, Zenefits is all an organization needs to manage its workforce.
Cons:
Customers who have questions for their broker must use the built-in "help" function rather than get in touch with an individual directly. The current state of available learning management technologies and straightforward guidelines leaves much to be desired.

TriNet simplifies employee benefits, money, and policies
Comments: Trinet handles the tedious administrative tasks that arise. They're quite competent, and having a single, dedicated agent has simplified our interactions with them.
Pros:
Paychecks, tax documents, insurance information, spending accounts, and corporate policies are all conveniently housed in one location thanks to TriNet.
Cons:
When using my own device, I don't see the need to log in every day, therefore there may be room for improvement in settings like this. I realize this may be a matter of corporate policy, however it has been brought up in previous evaluations.
Effective, but pricey, payroll tool
Comments: The experience has been ok. It gets the job done but I'd be open to new options.
Pros:
Zenefits has gotten the job done in terms of payroll and paying out contractors when needed. And they handle payroll taxes and necessary payroll reporting to the government.
Cons:
The cost is high for a small business who might not have needs for most of their features. And the service has been fairly slow. For example, it took me a month to get a new form of payment on file as my business credit card had expired. During that month I had to handwrite checks and could not use the service.
Continuous Trainings!
Pros:
I love that they always have new training available and are always looking for ways to make their product better.
Cons:
Being able to switch through the different areas needs some work.
TriNet Zenefits for Web Developers
Pros:
The time tracking management works very well and it's very accurate. It also calculates the overtime you have worked. It generates insights and reports about all time related metrics.
Cons:
Sometimes the performance of the app is not very fast, the system glitches and loads slower.
TriNet Zenefits
Pros:
It's user-friendly and we receive the live support that we need.
Cons:
nothing that we've encountered so far has been negative.
Alternatives Considered:
21 days and counting for customer support RE: Tax issue
Pros:
The software is comprehensive and allows us to make one purchase for everything we need. The price is right and fair
Cons:
We had no cons until recently when we submitted a support request to the tax department. Some state taxes went unpaid by Zenefits Payroll. State governments give a very short period of time before they begin levying 10% + interest. (In our case we had 10 days to rectify the issue or send a response). So far we are 21 days into our support request and have not received any response other than the initial confirmation of receipt. We followed up 8 business days in, and were met with silence. This will likely be a the reason we change software in 2021.
Seamless low-cost solution for small to mid-sized companies that kills busy work
Comments: -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.
Zenefits Review - French Broad Chocolates
Comments: It would be great if there were a way to require that employees enter bank account information and disable the paper check option all together. I believe this is legal in North Carolina, where we are located, as long as the employee receives a pay stub. It would also be amazing if there were a built in team communication portal. We currently use GSuite to build Groups which can encompass non-Gmail email addresses, as well as HotSchedules. It is a bit difficult to always be adding folks' emails to so many different systems. If Zenefits could track employee reviews based on their position/wage changes, that would also be amazing! That's all for now.
Pros:
The aesthetic of the site is nice. The overall idea of employee/administrator shared duties is nice. The onboarding process is almost as efficient as I think it could be and the insurance function works pretty well with some exceptions. The multiple integrations with other software are also vast and offer many options for integration.
Cons:
Does not integrate with QB Manufacturing Edition. Does not offer multiple job roles/pay rates (this keeps us from further exploring any timekeeping or alternative payroll integration). Org chart does not allow for multiple owners/CEOs. Does not allow for tracking of certifications or training for employees. Insurance deductions aren't correct after 2 fixes...still waiting on support for this. There is no general alert system upon logging in, as there was on the old platform. I-9 verification does not require employees to upload enough documentation. i.e. they can upload a driver license and not the 2nd form of ID, so when I receive the request to verify, there is only one form of ID there and I have to chase them down for the 2nd. If they do go into Zenefits to upload another form of ID, it is difficult to navigate.
Zenefits payroll is very bulky. It is also limited and lacks functionality.
Comments: Zenefits is pretty low-tech masquerading as some high tech Payroll software. There's nothing that high tech about them and just about every person on the customer service side lacks basic knowledge of its functionality. It is a lot more confusing than Gusto and is nothing more than a series of modules built on Django, Javascript and jQuery with very basic databases that run on cron jobs. I can live with the product that Zenefits has despite all of its shortcomings but the people behind it need much better training. Their fake enthusiasm coupled with little to no knowledge of the platform, hr, or payroll is a huge turn off.
Pros:
Time & Attendance: Users are able to seamlessly clock in and out from their phones once they get familiar with Zenefits. PTO: PTO is simple and streamlined.
Cons:
Customer Service: The chat agents are a waste of time to talk to. The phone agents know very little but can at least put you on hold, ask their supervisor and learn as they go along. Pay Runs are akward but here is the process: 1. You need to approve your employees timesheets. 2. Timesheets need to be pushed to payroll. This requires some time. Looks like its set up on a cron job so if you just missed it you need to wait a few minutes for it to get pushed. 3. From there you add the deductions and reimbursements. If you don't have the types set up, you'll need to step away and set them up. There's no memo you can input once you add a deduction. For example, if its an employee purchase it doesn't allow you to describe what was purchased. 4. You approve the pay run, push it through and wait for confirmation. Another cron job most likely. PTO Policy is there but since its so easy to do, its subject to a lot of abuse. You cannot reimburse an employee in net earnings. The functionality just isn't there. You need to select whether employees clock in through an iPad or their phones. You can't mix and match. The app for an administrator is absolutely useless. There's not much you can do as an admin from your phone. Navigating is bulky. Instead of selecting your employee and seamlessly flowing through everything that relates to them, you need to first pick which module you want to use and toggle back and forth between modules.
Alternatives Considered:
Zenefits is the perfect platform to manage your payroll, benefits, 401k, and HR for small businesses
Pros:
Zenefits is the perfect platform for any small to medium size business. I am an entrepreneur and Zenefits has allowed me to manage payroll, benefits, 401k, and HR from one user friendly platform. Their customer service is amazing, and I love the peace of mind of having there HR experts in my corner for any employee related issues. I have now used them for about 7 years with three different companies and I don't plan on going anywhere. Did I mention they also make all your payroll taxes for you? Well, they do, and I love it :)
Cons:
I would love if Zenefits would not only take deductions but have a feature to stop the deduction once the entire amount is collected. Currently I have to turn off the deduction once is met.
Easy-to-use software takes the pain out of PeopleOps
Comments: I was thrilled to join a company that had already implemented Zenefits, because the product is dynamic and nimble, fitting our needs. We have been able to use many features, including benefits enrollment, payroll, reporting, integrations with our systems, onboarding, time and attendance and more. Whenever we've had a question we've been able to find the answer via the trainings provided, or by reaching out to the support team. We've also been impressed with features that Zenefits rolled out related to COVID 19 (like the PPP loan estimator, and Truework for health checks. It would be very painful to not have the tool - highly recommended for small and medium sized businesses.
Pros:
Zenefits is easy to implement and to use. Our team members rarely need any help with the product - it is clear what it can do and how it needs to get done. I appreciate that Zenefits allows us to integrate so many products in one spot (our ATS, learning management and performance management systems all have links back to Zenefits) and that it gets so much done for us. During COVID-19, we've onboarded 100 new employees in a virtual only setting, and much of the ease has been due to how much work Zenefits automates for us.
Cons:
Sometimes configuration of payroll or benefits can feel tricky - however, my experience with it has been better in Zenefits than other platforms.
Zenefits makes my job so much easier!!
Comments: Zenefits streamlined and Simplified our HR! As the only HR person, Zenefits allows me to support all of our employees as if they had an entire HR department at their disposal. The online portal streamlines my HR management and provides the employees with 24 hour access to HR info. Zenefits provides EVERYTHING we need in one intuitive online portal... it handles the entire employee lifespan - from offer letters, hiring, onboarding, payroll, benefits administration, and termination.
Pros:
My favorite feature is the hiring process - it allows the employee to handle the data entry to start their employee folder and upload their I-9 verification docs and all I have to do is cross verify the documents on their first day. So streamlined and private - for both employee and HR.
Cons:
Little to no phone support available for user issues. Online live chat and email are main access to customer support. Can be frustrating when you're in a time sensitive pinch.
Zenefits has been great for our company!
Pros:
Zenefits has been a great way for a small business, like us, to ease into technology. It has really great and helpful tools, the cost is far less than alternative options, and their customer support is usually excellent. It has helped cut down benefits paperwork tremendously, kept us ACA compliant, streamlined our hiring process, and we were able to customize other areas (such as documents) to help us track policies & trainings. We're still finding ways to be able to customize it to work for our company. So with all of the options we use and new ways we are able to customize it, the cost continues to go down once it's all factored into the equation.
Cons:
Zenefits is a fast moving company, so sometimes changes come fast and furious. They usually are good changes, so that helps ease the burden. However, sometimes it can feel like I just learned how to use something and then it changes. But I guess that's also just the new normal. Other than lots of changes, I really don't have a lot of cons. When I come across issues, I contact a customer service rep and things are usually taken care of. I'm sure there are little things I would tweak here and there, but nothing significant that would make me not recommend using this product.
Easy to use HR Platform
Comments: Overall, I've enjoyed using Zenefits as both an employee and a manager. I enjoy the easy access to documents, overall design, and helpful Support team.
Pros:
I've used Zenefits for almost 4 years now, and I've always enjoyed its ease of use and UI, compared with other HR portals I've used in the past (like ADP). As an employee, it's always easy for me to request time off, view other employees in the organization, view/manage benefits, file HSA claims, and more. When I started my job, I remember how easy the onboarding process was with digital signatures on documents and other important forms. I'm now a manager and enjoy the interface for each of my direct reports. As a visual person, I also enjoy the simple design and color scheme. Reaching out to the Support team is also easy - via email and requesting a call. Support agents have been helpful and friendly.
Cons:
It's a bit vague about who I should contact with issues regarding my account, in the Help portal. I never know if I should I contact my HR Manager or Zenefits support directly? For example, my Zenefits HSA no longer works. I can't find info the Knowledge Base on how to get a replacement card. This will lead me to submit a support ticket, but I wish I could find the answer easier in the app. I also think an account walk-through would be nice for new users.
TriNet Group Response
4 years ago
Lauren, we appreciate your feedback and your business!
Love hate relationship
Comments: Listen, I'd still recommend them. I use the app almost daily, I log on at least a few times a week. It's a necessary tool in our belt and I'd be sad to lose them.
Pros:
Ok, so it's great that Zenefits centralizes all of your HR needs into one system. It's certainly easier than logging into individual insurance sites. I like that the app loads quickly and can quickly give me info on my commuter benefits balance or show me my insurance info. It's also very easy to log personal days. And it's nice seeing the structure of the company within the website -- it's great for transparency.
Cons:
Sometimes the zenefits team can't answer your question -- especially when it comes to insurance brouhaha. I nearly had a meltdown this past summer when my insurance company INSISTED I wasn't covered, but zenefits insisted that I was. No one would speak to each other, and only after a month of emails and calls was it ironed out. I can't say that this is zenefits' fault -- but it was annoying how deeply unhelpful they were.
Great for small or growing companies
Comments: We have used Zenefits for almost five years now, and it's had its ups and downs but it is still a solid solution that is easy to use, offers a multitude of solutions and helps us in areas that we just do not have expertise (like payroll tax).
Pros:
- If you get insurance through Zenefits, the payroll option is extremely easy. Some integrations offered for 401k. - One Digital is a vast improvement as a Broker for insurance. Easy back and forth. - HRIS interface is easy to use. - Offers many different solutions for HRIS.
Cons:
- Needs more admin user privileges. Right now, there is just a superadmin and then a few lower level admins and basic users, but superadmins are the only ones that can fully oversee the performance management aspect. - More oversight in performance management software. - In performance management software, currently a 180 review is actually structured as a 90 degree. - Support needs work, but I think they are working on it. When it comes to tax payments and payroll issues, it tends to take the longest to resolve.
Zenefits was the first HRIS system my small company used (100 employee)
Comments: Worth taking a look at.
Pros:
User friendly for both HR and employees (self-serve) --easy and intuitive to use. Incredibly easy to create customized reports off using almost any data point(s). Smooth automated benefits enrollment process. Responsive customer service and great online help tools. System doesn't go down and is fast enough to keep up with our needs.
Cons:
Zenefits is still 'young' and getting its act together. Used to be free until last year and they are still evolving their pricing structure, so they may end up being too expensive for our small company. Considerable personnel turnover in past 2 years and change in how they manage some functions (for instance, they now outsource benefits management to a 3rd party company instead of managing benefits inhouse and I am not overly impressed with the current benefits mgmt. group). Limited paid time off functionality (system only allows tracking of one paid time off process and my company has 2 discrete time off policies).
A Must-have for small businesses with employees. Gone are the days of Spreadsheets and file cabinets
Comments: As a small business with only a few employees, it REALLY helps with getting our HR stuff together.
Pros:
So first off, we use zenefits on a daily basis for just about all of our HR functions. The support is great for when we've run into the very rare bug, and sales is always quick to get back to me. They regularly release new features and improve existing ones. They are also VERY receptive to user feedback and idea suggestions.
Cons:
Ya know, I'm not one to nitpick, but i have run into a few small issues lately. Primarily, the issue we have now is that we've been on Zenefits for a few years now and have older "Legacy Pricing". We however do all HR tasks on Zenefits EXCEPT payroll. Well fast forward a few years, their payroll product actually looks fairly promising.... until i learned that in order to start using their Payroll service, i have to first be updated to their newer more expensive billing plan. Bah.
Excellent user interface for the admin and employees alike.
Comments: An easy to use interface and a tool that allows our employees to electronically and seamlessly on-board. I enjoy that the tool automatically reminds the end-users to complete tasks and keeps track of everything in one useful tool. I would like to see it become an intranet for employees to access company specific templates, content and tools.
Pros:
What I like most about Zenefits is that it allows our employee on-boarding process to be completely automated and electronic. I love it!
Cons:
The software I like, but being an earlier adopter, there were many growing pains within the company which caused a lot of issues with our open enrollment for two consecutive years. We recently resigned our contract and based on what we need, went with the basic (silver?) plan, which doesn't include Vacation Tracking. We don't need all of the HR support since we're a consulting services company. With that said, I'm disappointed that we weren't grandfathered in to having that tool.
Great concept but poor customer service and execution.
Comments: Loved the idea of the concept, was basically sold on idea to have a PTO software that we could use for employees to use without a fee.. then once all were onboard, we had to pay per month and now you can't even call for assistance when you have a problem.
Pros:
Has a mobile app that employees can access from virtually anywhere, can see a shared calendar that will display in outlook with employees scheduled off.
Cons:
No customer service phone number, no email addresses for specific reps, customer service must be contacted online thru a job ticket (if an account is locked out, can't even submit ticket for contact and no phone number to call), managers don't have access to the employee review sections (must grant managers admin rights, which then opens the door for past requests to be deleted by an employee.. big problem), system was not set up properly and allows for managers to approve time off when employees did not have the time available.. no pop up that would ask "are you sure?" type thing, can not print an employees PTO time, multiple tabs to even get total time taken/available.