Paycor Expert Review, Pricing, Alternatives - 2022

Paycor is a robust and data-centric HCM for leaders at US-based companies that want their teams to save time with HR transactional tasks. They also offer an ACA service to ensure compliance.

Built from scratch with the help of experts, Paycor's ACA software is laden with best-in-class features; real-time alerts, error management system, in-app training for clients, comprehensive reports. Use it to eliminate complexities and ensure compliance.

Aside from having payroll, employee experience, recruiting, benefits, learning, onboarding, and performance management, Paycor stands out from most HCM vendors for having some of the most potent HR analytics out there. They provide a custom company dashboard that leaders can build out as they please, choosing from literally hundreds of reports such as headcount trends by employment time, projected headcount, and voluntary turnover by tenure, just to mention a few.  

Further, some of their reports use secondary pools of data in order to provide benchmark analysis in real time. This effectively helps executives and HR leaders alike better understand their workforce and how their efforts stack up in comparison to similar companies.

If you're just looking for an ACA tool, Paycor isn't for you. It will work best for companies needing an entire HCM, which happens to have a great ACA module.

Among the companies that use Paycor, you’ll find names such as Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Detroit Zoo, and, remarkably, several sports teams such as the Cincinnati Bengals and the Chicago Fire.

• Paycor is used by over 29,000 customers
• Raised $270M in private equity during 2020
• Went public in July 2021, raising $426M in their IPO
• 2080+ employees
• Founded in 1990

• IRS Filing
• Proactive Penalty Alerts
• Generate Employee Forms
• Dashboards and Interactive Charts
• Expense Management
• Employee Self-Service
• Mobile App Scheduling
• Earned Wage Access via Digital Wallet

Paycor integrates with many 401(k) providers and other benefits carriers. Since payroll is a core part of their offering, they want deductions to happen without any manual effort whatsoever. For other sorts of integrations, they have an API and extensive documentation. In case you need their help with something custom, their professional services organization can help with that at an additional charge.

Paycor also hosts a marketplace with hundreds of solutions that it can integrate with.

Paycor's ACA Connect service is an add-on to their greater HR software. Therefore, you're paying for an entire HCM. The ACA is relevant only to companies with over 50 employees. This means you'll have to pay for their Mid-Market plan, which doesn't have listed prices online. You'll have to meet with their sales team to negotiate pricing. However, you do get the bonus of a free first three months.

Companies in the US with up to 1,000 employees, mainly in manufacturing, healthcare, food and beverage, non profits, and professional sport organizations.

A new customer implementing Paycor would typically go through their Guide Elite process, which entails a higher level of interaction and hand-holding than you would expect from their competitors. Their philosophy is to let the client decide when the implementation is finished and things can be handed to the service team. While times vary depending on company size and bundles purchased, the average tends to be between 8 and 12 weeks.

As to their ACA offering, Paycor has a five step plan to implementation, which they call GUIDE: 

• Gather: They meet with your company to establish a timeline and share training resources.
• Understand: They get to know your company's specific needs. 
• Import: They take all of your existing data to put into the new system. 
• Deliver: They give you access to the platform and make sure all initial setup steps are smoothly completed. 
• Evaluate: They review some key metrics and introduce you to your support team.

Timelines will be different based on your specific needs.

Both during and after implementation, Paycor has a good variety of resources put in place for clients. These include perks like a portfolio manager, a change management toolkit, ongoing support, post go-live training, and a team of subject matter experts.