Running payroll and managing compliance can be an overwhelming headache for small business owners.
Justworks aims to simplify payroll, benefits, and compliance for businesses, potentially saving owners time and money on administrative tasks.
This review will examine Justworks' full range of services, including key features like payroll management, HR tools, compliance expertise, customer support, and more. We'll analyze pricing, contracts, pros and cons, and conclude with a recommendation of what types of businesses are the best fit for Justworks.
Introduction to Justworks
Justworks is a HR software company that aims to simplify critical but complex business processes like payroll, benefits, compliance, and more for small and medium-sized businesses. By consolidating these services onto a single, user-friendly platform, Justworks allows companies to outsource these administrative tasks so they can focus on their core business operations.
Overview of Services
Justworks provides an all-in-one solution for payroll, benefits, HR tools, and compliance expertise. Key services include:
- Payroll - Full-service payroll processing, direct deposit, tax filings, and more
- Benefits - Health insurance, retirement plans, pre-tax spending accounts offered through Justworks
- HR Tools - Customizable employee handbooks, org charts, applicant tracking and more
- Compliance - Assistance with labor laws, health care reform, payroll taxes, and other regulations
By centralizing these critical functions onto Justworks' compliant, easy-to-use platform, businesses can simplify operations and reduce administrative workload.
Ideal Customer Profile
Justworks is tailored for small and medium-sized businesses with 10-200 employees. It targets companies looking to remove the burden of complex payroll and HR tasks like:
- Managing payroll taxes across multiple states/cities
- Tracking health care/retirement compliance requirements
- Understanding changing local labor laws
- Juggling multiple vendor accounts and paperwork
For these growing companies, Justworks consolidates what is often a fragmented process spread across multiple systems and suppliers into one unified platform.
Signup and Onboarding Process
Signing up for Justworks is simple - just complete an online form with details about your company and team. Next, a Justworks representative reaches out to discuss your specific business's needs and walks you through the platform.
The onboarding checklist covers steps like:
- Integrating your company's data like employee roster, pay rates, org structure
- Establishing payroll schedules and delivery preferences
- Reviewing and selecting benefit plans to offer
- Answering any compliance questions
Justworks aims to simplify setup so customers can quickly leverage its services after a tailored onboarding process.
Key Features and Benefits
Payroll Management
Justworks offers automated payroll processing to simplify this administrative task for businesses. Key features include:
- Integration with major accounting platforms like QuickBooks to seamlessly transfer payroll data
- Easy-to-use payroll dashboard to manage pay schedules, direct deposits, filings and taxes
- Robust tools to track time, approve timesheets, and calculate payroll based on hours worked
- Customizable pay schedules (weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly) to suit business needs
- Guaranteed compliance with federal and state payroll filings and tax payments
By automating payroll management, Justworks enables businesses to focus on their core operations rather than administrative tasks. The platform's seamless accounting integrations also save time reconciling payroll entries.
Benefits Administration
Justworks gives companies an easy way to manage and customize employee benefits plans. Key features include:
- Intuitive dashboard to view, manage, and customize health insurance plans
- Support for various plan types including PPOs, HMOs, HSAs, and FSAs
- Ability to define company subsidies, employee contributions for premiums
- Compliant COBRA administration for continuing healthcare after employment
- Access to exclusive benefits plans only available through Justworks
Compared to traditional brokers, Justworks makes it simpler for businesses to offer employee health/dental coverage. The platform centralizes benefits management rather than relying on multiple vendor portals.
HR Tools
Justworks provides robust HR functionality to handle tasks like time tracking, PTO policies, and reporting. Key features include:
- Time tracking integrations with tools like TSheets to monitor employee hours
- Custom PTO policies with accrual settings, carryover rules, and approval workflows
- Employee self-service portal for access to pay stubs, tax documents, handbooks
- HR reporting on headcount, salaries, time-off balances, and other metrics
These tools enable consolidated HR management across core focus areas like payroll, timekeeping, and PTO. The self-service portal also reduces administrative tasks for HR personnel.
Compliance Expertise
Justworks has extensive expertise in staying compliant with the complex and frequently changing regulations across states related to payroll, benefits, HR policies, and more. This allows businesses using Justworks to avoid costly fines or penalties.
HR Compliance
Justworks provides continually updated policy templates that businesses can easily customize and implement to remain compliant with major federal regulations like FMLA, ADA, EEOC, and more. This saves HR teams the time and effort of closely tracking regulatory changes and modifying internal policies accordingly.
For example, Justworks automatically updates its policy templates as regulations for family and medical leave change. This means companies that use Justworks for their HR policies can ensure they are always compliant with the latest FMLA rules without dedicating internal resources to ongoing monitoring and policy revision.
Payroll Compliance
Justworks has specialized expertise in staying on top of the complex and often changing payroll tax laws across states and at the federal level. The platform automatically files required state and federal payroll forms on the business's behalf to avoid any misfilings. This prevents potential IRS penalties that can occur with incorrect filings.
Additionally, Justworks' integrated payroll and benefits application properly categorizes workers as W-2 employees or 1099 contractors. This accuracy avoids misclassification issues that lead to fines for things like unpaid payroll taxes and overtime wages. The platform's expertise helps businesses remain compliant, avoiding costly payroll errors.
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Customer Support
Justworks provides dedicated support specialists to assist with onboarding new customers and provide ongoing account management.
Onboarding Specialists
Justworks assigns each new customer an onboarding specialist who handles the setup process from start to finish. The onboarding rep guides each customer through:
- Integrating payroll and benefits systems
- Customizing the online dashboard
- Adding employees into the system
- Setting up tax payments
- Confirming compliance is met
This white-glove support ensures a smooth transition for each new Justworks customer. Customers emphasize the onboarding process as "seamless" with an "incredibly helpful" dedicated rep.
Support Channels
In addition to the onboarding rep, Justworks offers responsive support through:
- Phone - Available 8am-8pm ET on weekdays with average call wait times under 60 seconds. Specialists are based in the US and knowledgeable on all product features.
- Email - Quick first response with most emails answered within 2 hours during business hours.
- Chat - Live chat integrated into the dashboard for real-time assistance. Chat hours match phone support.
- Help Center - Robust self-serve knowledge base with searchable articles, videos, FAQs, and step-by-step guides.
Justworks aims to provide exceptional customer experiences, evident through their >90% satisfaction ratings across all support channels. Most queries are resolved instantly via chat/phone due to the expertise of the US-based support team.
Pricing and Contracts
Justworks offers transparent and flexible pricing with no hidden fees. Their per employee per month fee covers payroll, benefits, compliance, and HR support.
Pricing Structure
Justworks charges a flat monthly fee per employee that ranges from $39-$69 depending on company size. This predictable per employee pricing covers:
- Payroll processing
- Direct deposit
- Tax filings
- Access to benefits plans
- 24/7 support
There are no extra fees for W-2s, 1099s, or other filings. Justworks also does not charge setup fees, monthly minimums, or payment processing fees.
Companies can save up to 10% with annual contracts. Justworks also offers volume discounts for larger organizations with over 200 employees.
Market Pricing
Compared to leading competitors, Justworks offers exceptional value:
- Justworks starts at $39 per month per employee
- Gusto starts at $45 per month per employee
- Paychex Flex starts at over $40 per month per employee
Justworks competes favorably on price while providing more inclusive features. Their flat monthly fee covers a wider range of services compared to the complex a la carte pricing of competitors.
With flexible month-to-month contracts and volume discounts, Justworks makes it easy for growing businesses to scale up staffing and payroll needs. Their pricing structure simplifies cost planning without compromising features.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Pros of Justworks
Justworks offers several key strengths that make it a differentiated HR and payroll solution:
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Compliance expertise: Justworks has an in-house team of compliance specialists to stay on top of complex federal, state, and local laws. This can minimize compliance risks for customers.
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Dedicated support specialists: Every Justworks customer is assigned a personal support specialist to help with onboarding, training, and ongoing questions. This white-glove service aims to simplify HR and payroll.
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HR tool integrations: Justworks integrates with over 100+ HR systems, including applicant tracking, benefits admin, and performance management tools. This consolidation can streamline HR workflows.
Cons to Consider
A few limitations to weigh with Justworks:
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Industry specificity: Justworks focuses on service-based small businesses like tech startups, creative agencies, and professional services firms. Its features may not suit retailers, restaurants, or industrial companies as well.
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Higher cost for basic features: Justworks pricing starts at $99 per employee/month. Competitors offer basic payroll and compliance features for less, so Justworks may appeal more to businesses wanting premium support.
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Dependence on account reps: Justworks customers depend heavily on their dedicated account rep for guidance. If the rep leaves the company or is unavailable, it can disrupt the high-touch service model.
Best Fit
The small businesses most likely to benefit from Justworks are service-based companies with 5-50 employees that want:
- Proactive compliance expertise and HR support
- Consolidated HR systems with deep third-party integrations
- Premium end-to-end service model with dedicated account management
Justworks will appeal less to highly cost-sensitive businesses or companies needing advanced features like shift scheduling.
