New Paychex Products Address Evolving Workplace Norms Due to COVID-19

Over the course of the last quarter, Paychex, Inc., a leading provider of HR, payroll, benefits, and insurance solutions, has released several new Paychex Flex® features and functions to its customers to address the ongoing business challenges and shifting workplace dynamics as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s most recent round of product releases includes solutions to help organizations stay connected, maintain compliance, unlock productivity, and lead with insights.

“COVID-19 has introduced even more complexity to an already rapidly changing business environment,” said Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO. “Employers are grappling with a staggering number of questions and new challenges – all without a playbook – due to these unprecedented and uncertain times. As a trusted business partner, it’s our job to help them overcome those challenges, plan for what the future of work looks like for their business, and provide them with the solutions needed to help get them there.”

According to a recent Paychex poll, nearly one-third of businesses plan to allow remote work post-pandemic. The same study found that 23 percent of organizations plan on permanently increasing their use of technology to improve employee productivity. Another 38 percent of respondents viewed technology as the No. 1 solution to help them in the short-term as they transition back to the workplace.

“While HR technology has been enabling productivity and driving better business outcomes in organizations for many years, COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation in organizations of all shapes and sizes,” said Tom Hammond, Paychex vice president of corporate strategy and product management. “The current work environment has reinforced the critical role technology must play in supporting business operations, infrastructure, and the workforce. The products we’ve introduced over the last several weeks are designed to do exactly that.”

Headlining the FY21 Paychex Flex products released over the last quarter are:

• HR Connect: Enables employees to digitally submit questions, requests, and incidents directly to HR through an easy-to-use workflow. With more employees working remotely due to COVID-19, the volume of issues may be increasing. HR Connect helps simplify the case management process for all involved, allowing for the verification of concerns received and facilitating the appropriate attention is given so matters can be quickly and efficiently addressed. Administrators can also document injuries or illnesses, information that automatically populates in required OSHA forms. In addition, a new HR Connect report can provide insight into specific workplace issues, including OSHA-related data such as tracking issue counts, type, on-hold time, and injury by location.
   
• Conversations: Initially launched in summer 2019, significant enhancements offer additional functionality and improve the user experience. Updates include the ability to print notes and filter based on tags and dates, enable employees to add their own notes, and allow administrators to share notes with other leaders. Communicating often and openly using HR Conversations, leaders can reinforce and strengthen connections to help keep workers engaged, supported, and productive.
   
• OSHA Dashboard: Prepares documentation for OSHA-reportable events, tracks open items, allows users to access forms, and provides a snapshot of reported injuries or illnesses by location. The dashboard also features links to relevant Paychex WORX content, which includes up-to-date information on the compliance, HR, and business trends leaders need to know.
   
• Worker Templates: Simplifies the process of adding new workers by allowing administrators to create templates with default settings that automatically populate commonly used fields within Paychex Flex. Templates can be created by position type, worker status, and other scenarios. This solution helps streamline the hiring process and enable administrators to focus on more high-value work during a time when organizations may be looking to onboard new employees quickly.
   
• New Live Reports: The unpredictable nature of COVID-19 has exposed gaps and risks in many organizations, increasing the need for workforce insights that can support business strategy and preparedness. In addition to improved report search capabilities, the release of the following new Live Reports will help businesses lead with insights:
   
  • Job Costing and Labor Distribution: Improves visibility into costs across jobs, labor assignments, and departments through visualizations, including the ability to drill down for detailed analysis.
  • Workers’ Compensation: Employers can view a variety of employee and policy data, including policy number, policy date, state, and class code information. This can help leaders visually compare wage-related data and provide the required information in the event of an audit.
  • Employee Change History: Reviews employee data updates over time, including position, location, organization, supervisor, and status information.

“Simplifying work and removing barriers for businesses is more important now than perhaps ever in our company’s nearly 50-year history,” Mucci added. “We have been and will continue to be there for our clients as they take on the challenges of safely bringing employees back to work, complying with complex regulations, and modifying processes to support virtual working arrangements.”

To learn more about the features and functions included in this Paychex product release, visit payx.me/summer2020.

About Paychex
Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) is a leading provider of integrated human capital management solutions for human resources, payroll, benefits, and insurance services. By combining its innovative software-as-a-service technology and mobility platform with dedicated, personal service, Paychex empowers small- and medium-sized business owners to focus on the growth and management of their business. Backed by more than 45 years of industry expertise, Paychex serves approximately 670,000 payroll clients as of May 31, 2019 across more than 100 locations in the U.S. and Europe, and pays one out of every 12 American private sector employees. Learn more about Paychex by visiting paychex.com and stay connected on Twitter and LinkedIn.