Daniel Eisner is a payroll specialist with over a decade of practical experience in senior accounting positions.
Updated on July 21, 2024
If you’re starting a business and hiring employees, mastering the payroll process is one of the first and most significant hurdles. This can be terribly complex and time-consuming, which is why many entrepreneurs turn to a professional payroll service.
One of the top options is Justworks. But is it the best service? And is it the right choice for you? This review takes a closer look — putting ourselves in the shoes of an entrepreneur to help you choose the payroll service that will put your business on the road to success.
Pricing
Breadth of services
Help and Support
Customer Satisfaction
Ease of Use
Overall Score: 4/5
We recommend Justworks to companies that are looking for more robust HR management and are looking for a simple PEO solution.
Overall, Justworks’ services offer advantages and drawbacks, as detailed below.
Pros
Excellent customer service
Reliable and user friendly site
More robust HR functionalities (suitable for complex HR tasks)
Cons
Expensive compared to the competitors
Chat support only available with an account
Features and Services
Justworks offers different service levels. We explored all of the options and have broken down the services and pricing here.
Services overview
Basic
Plus
Price
$59/month per employee
$99/month per employee
Payroll service
X
X
Off-cycle payments
X
X
Vendor and contractor payments
X
X
Payroll tax filings
X
X
W-2 and 1099 filings
X
X
Unemployment insurance filings
X
X
Employment practices liability insurance
X
X
24/7 support
X
X
HR consulting
X
X
Harassment prevention & inclusion training
X
X
Online employee onboarding
X
X
PTO management
X
X
Calendar, doc center, directory
X
X
Accounting software integrations
X
X
Reporting
X
X
Commuter benefits
X
X
Plan setup
X
X
Access to the following:
Worker's comp
X
X
Life and disability insurance
X
X
Health and wellness perks
X
X
Fitness memberships
X
X
401K
X
X
COBRA administration
X
Health advocacy services
X
One Medical
X
Access to the following:
Medical insurance
X
Dental and vision insurance
X
HSA/FSA accounts
X
Basic Plan
The $59/month per employee Basic plan offers payroll services for hourly and salaried employees, tax filings, and several extras, making it a good value.
The Basic plan includes a full payroll service for hourly and salaried employees, employer tax filings, and W-2 and 1099 filings. It also provides vendor and contractor payments, online employee onboarding, PTO management, and HR consulting.
With the plan you’ll have access to 24/7 customer support and additional benefits for employees, including 401K.
At $59 per month per employee, you get a lot of services for your money, although the Justworks Basic plan is more expensive than the plans of some competitors.
Plus Plan
The $99/month per employee Plus plan has the additional benefits of access to health insurance, and a few extras.
With the Justworks Plus plan you get everything in the Basic plan plus continued health coverage (COBRA) administration, health advocacy services, and, if your company elects to sign up for health insurance with Justworks, healthcare appointments through One Medical, a primary care provider.
Justworks will also administer your dental and vision plans, health savings accounts (HSAs), and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) for employees.
Though a bit expensive, the Plus plan might be right for you, if you want to offer your employees a full suite of benefits.
Payroll Service
The Justworks payroll service offers a complete suite of services to take many tasks off your plate, such as dealing with federal, state, and local tax filings, including W-2s and 1099s. You can pay employees by direct deposit, and Justworks provides payroll reports.
The payroll process is complicated, but using Justworks will likely save you considerable time and ensure your compliance with all payroll laws and regulations.
Online Employee Onboarding
Justworks provides online hiring documents that can be electronically signed and stored.
You can use their onboarding tools to make an online company directory and set up an employee handbook.
Hiring employees comes with a lot of paperwork, but having a service like Justworks can make it much easier.
Benefits Administration
The Justworks Plus plan includes health insurance administration, which includes medical, dental, and vision insurance. You’ll receive full customer support and employees can enroll online. Employees also have online access to their health insurance accounts.
Most importantly, Justworks handles compliance matters related to health insurance, which can give you peace of mind. Justworks can manage most employee benefits, including 401Ks and health savings accounts.
Included in the Plus plan, health insurance administration is a valuable feature that will likely save your business a great deal of time. 401K administration is included in both the Basic and Plus plans.
Justworks Software Usability
The interface is clean and compact, with a focus on putting the key elements front-and-center. This makes sense considering their goal of fully taking over your company’s payroll.
Justworks bills itself as a fully automated provider, and indeed their default reports are comprehensive. I was impressed by some of the details offered, such as “benefits used” and “pay change history”. You can also view payroll reports on a per-person basis.
However, I was disappointed with the lack of customization options.
The HR displays are a bit weak, and some menus include upselling advertisements.
Since you never actually run the payroll yourself, I was unable to test the details here, only see the resulting information afterwards. Their customer service seems helpful for making changes or corrections.
Justworks is unique among payroll providers in that their service aims to fully outsource your payroll, effectively taking over the job of a payroll manager. Their service is definitely better suited to larger businesses, especially given the discount for firms with more than 50 employees.
They also offer a full insurance package, which is not necessarily the most competitive, but could further reduce the accounting burden as it will be integrated into your payroll. If saving time is a priority for you and your business, then Justworks is a solid option.
Website Interface and Navigation
The site is quite user friendly, and information is easy to find. . There is a handy menu at the top, so you can easily get where you want to go on the site.
The plan information is laid out very well. It’s very easy to find product and pricing information on the Justworks website.
The signup process is easy, and the customer service was good. The enrollment process can be done in 25-30 minutes.
The site also includes a help center page that has useful articles for employers and employees. If you’re ready to sign up, it’s easy to get started.
How is the signup process?
You’re first asked to enter your name, email address, phone number, company name, and number of employees. Then you’re taken to a screen where you can start enrolling.
Next, set up your account with a username and password, and you’ll come to your dashboard where you’ll be able to manage your account. Then the enrollment process begins. You’re first offered a health insurance quote, which you can skip if you choose.
Next you’ll enter your company information including your EIN and company address.
Then you’ll go through several steps to add your employees and your bank information.
After we signed up for an account, we received a welcome email.
Note that you are not offered a plan until you complete the enrollment process.
How is the mobile experience?
Justworks’ mobile app allows employees to view their pay stubs and benefits accounts. The app is handy, but offers little compared to competing apps.
Quick and Easy Cancellation?
According to the Justworks website, the cancellation policy is as follows:
“The Company may cancel, at its sole discretion, Services, and/or close a Customer Account and/or associated Site User Account at any time for any reason or for no reason, including, but not limited to, breach of these Terms. The Company will provide notice to the Administrator that it is closing the account. The Administrator may close its Customer Account by contacting [email protected].
The Company may retain data, including personally identifiable information, for as long as required to fulfill legal and regulatory obligations.”
Customer Support
We tested all three forms of Justworks customer support, and detail our findings below.
Chat support
We tested chat support by asking if both direct deposit and paper checks are available with the service. We received an automated response with a link to an article on the topic. The answer was that only direct deposit is available.
Chat Support Rating:
Response time:
Immediate
Note that chat support is only available after you sign up for your account.
Phone support
We called customer support to ask the same question. Our call was answered almost immediately and we received the same response. The customer service representative was polite and helpful and did not try to push us to sign up.
Phone Support Rating:
Response time:
Immediate
Email support
We sent an email to customer support asking the same question and received an automated response in a few minutes that someone would contact us soon. Just a few minutes later we received a response from a support representative. This was on a Sunday. Impressive!
Email Support Rating:
Response time:
Immediate
Customer Reviews
To understand how real Justworks customers feel about the service, we examined customer reviews at the Better Business Bureau and Trust Pilot.
Justworks has an A- rating from the BBB with 0 customer reviews. They are not a BBB accredited business. They have received five complaints in three years, all of which have a closed status.
All the complaints were from employees whose companies used Justworks, and they involved funds deposited into accounts, such as commuter benefits accounts, that were never refunded.
“I submitted a refund for unused monthly NJ Transit rail passes that cost me $840. Justworks sent an email saying they are not refunding for March and April despite that my refund request is postmarked from March ****. When I contacted NJ Transit, they said it has to be refunded through Justworks since it’s pre-tax. I also asked to cancel the April pass and they said it cannot be cancelled after the **** of the prior month. We have not received anything yet. Of course it should be able to be cancelled.”
Justworks has an average trust score rating on Trustpilot.
Gaps in the technical functions of the site.
Difficulty getting refunds.
Poor customer service.
The Trustpilot score for Justworks is 3.1/5 stars from 2 customer reviews.
Justworks reviews at Trustpilot break down as follows:
Excellent 0%
Great 0%
Average 0%
Poor 50%
Bad 50%
One review said that the software had some “gaps” and that it doesn’t show you certain options and information until it’s too late to change them. The other one, again, was about unrefunded transportation money.
Justworks was founded in 2012. According to the BBB, Justworks is managed by:
Mr. Isaac Oates, Founder/CEO
Mr. Jason Whitman, Vice President of Customer Success
Mr. Michael Greten, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Mario Springer, Vice President and General Counsel
The company website states: “Our mission is to help entrepreneurs and businesses grow with confidence.”
Alternatives to Justworks
Paychex
Paychex is slightly less expensive than Justworks, but has a more robust employee benefits service. However, the Justworks Basic plan offers more than the Paychex base plan. Paychex has an A+ rating with the BBB, though their customer review score is low.
ADP
ADP services are priced by quote only. They offer more health insurance options than Justworks. ADP has an A+ rating with the BBB, though their customer review score is low.
Gusto
Gusto has three plans, and is far less expensive than Justworks while still offering many of the same services. Gusto, however, has an F rating with the BBB.
Our Approach
We take our responsibilities seriously. We understand that countless entrepreneurs, and business owners, rely on our judgments and insights, particularly when it comes to creating their business.
As a result, our writers do their utmost to gain a comprehensive understanding of the services offered and the actual customer experience. In this case, we:
Examined every page of the Justworks website
Reviewed all of their offerings
Put ourselves in the customer’s shoes, creating an account
Communicated with customer service via chat, email and phone
Gained a full understanding of the customer experience and service value
Thanks to this full immersion in the actual customer experience, our reviewer and team are able to provide the most complete and insightful review of Justworks payroll services.
Human Resource’s Verdict
Our experience using the Justworks website was good, as it’s very user-friendly. Their pricing is a bit high, but their plans offer extensive packages of services. Their rating with the Better Business Bureau is good and their customer service is excellent.
If you’re looking for an affordable payroll option, you may need to find a different service. But if you’re looking for a reliable provider with many employee benefits options, Justworks is a great choice. Based on our experience, we would strongly recommend Justworks.
