Written by: Neil Powell

What is Justworks?

JustWorks is a platform for businesses looking to operate HR, payroll, benefits administration and compliance management in a streamlined way. In offering all-in-one services, JustWorks reduces complexity and provides businesses with a platform that automates employee onboarding, allows employees access to attractive health benefits as easily as those offered by large corporations, and supports payroll management and compliance through expert support and integration.

In this Justworks payroll review 2024 we will take a closer look at the comprehensive features and functionalities of the platform.

Pros

✅ 24/7 customer support to all users, ensuring assistance is always available

✅ Transparent pricing which eliminates the need for custom quotes

✅ User-friendly technology platform which simplify HR and payroll processes

✅ Employee self service platform on both mobile and website

✅ Automates tax filings across all states in the U.S

✅ Comprehensive PEO services including payroll, benefits, compliance, and HR support

✅ Intuitive dashboard for easy management and access to essential HR functions

✅ Customizable reports

✅ Dedicated account managers, offering personalized support with a fast response time

Cons

❌ Additional fees are required for some features, like the Justworks hours time-tracking tool​​

❌ Relies on third-party integrations for certain functionalities, such as applicant tracking

❌ The software does not support payroll services for employees located outside of the United States

Pricing and plans

Justworks offers three main pricing plans for their PEO services, Basic, Plus and Payroll, catering to different business needs with a focus on providing payroll, benefits, HR tools, and compliance support. There are no free trial or free version available.

The Basic Plan: is designed to cover the basics, including payroll for all employees, HR advising, 24/7 support, and commuter benefits. This plan also allows you to keep track of time being put in. The Basic plan costs $59 per month per employee.

The Plus Plan: Expanding on the Basic plan, the Plus plan includes rich health insurance offerings that include medical, dental, and vision plans as well as HSA/FSA accounts, health advocacy services, and access to One Medical where available. The Plus plan is currently offered for $109 per month per employee.

Each plan includes a lot more than the base features: Payments & payroll, Benefits-backed compliance assistance, HR support & consultation, Reporting tools, Contractor and vendor payments, Commuter benefits, Group workers’ compensation, life and disability insurance, Health and wellness Special perks (e.g., fitness memberships) and a 401(k) plan.

The Plus plan brings richer benefits and incentives – larger medical, dental, and vision plans at prices typically associated with larger companies, Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), as well as access to One Medical and Teladoc if available in their area​.

Payroll & HR tools – with access to Time Tracking: Starting at a base fee of 50$/month, + $8 per month per employee.

What key features are available with Justworks?

Payroll

The payroll feature, which is the backbone of Justworks’ PEO (Professional Employer Organization), which, in this context, refers to a set of services that help businesses with onboarding, taxation, payroll processing, and other compliance requirements related to paying workers.

Justworks automates the entire payroll process for ease of use by providing an authoritative payroll data source, thereby helping employees get paid accurately every pay period, instead of having to entrust it to someone.

By automating the calculation of wages, the platform will more accurately allocate payment to employees based on the hours worked, overtime pay, bonuses and other payment variables, mitigating the possibility of mistakes that cause employees to be underpaid or overpaid, which in turn reduces employee distrust or dissatisfaction.

The intuitive dashboard makes paying your employees a breeze (Source: Justworks)

(Source: Justworks)

Automated payroll processing guarantee that payments will be made on payday, and direct deposit into employees’ accounts provides them with more convenient and safer access to their wages on the exact date required.

Another principal advantage of automation on payroll can be realized in the mass reduction in manual intervention and data entry associated with it. Justworks minimizes opportunities to make human errors ensuring more reliable payroll output. The less likely the opportunity for mistakes, the less likely the risk for non-compliance and associated penalties.

Payroll Taxes

The platform automates payroll tax for businesses. The service calculates, withholds and pays all federal, state and local taxes so that the business doesn’t have to worry about violating US tax law and incurring penalties and interest for late filings or other errors.

It also sends out the annual W-2s and 1099s (W-2s are forms employers provide to their full-time employees, while 1099s are paid to contractors), meeting the federal requirement of businesses to send these forms, and it helps employees and contractors complete their annual tax returns on time.

Justworks keeps up with the changes in the tax laws year-round, so that businesses don’t have to. Firing problems can be stressful and operations can be disrupted for time when an employee is let go. A company can have control over who’s on the payroll by using Justworks because it runs a background check on new employees.

It also keeps track of state regulations and requirements for employee leaves or vacation days, such as whether they should receive paid annual leave, paid or unpaid sick leave, holiday pay and so on.

Benefits administration

Justworks provides a way for small and medium-sized businesses to get high quality benefits, such as health insurance, which are not generally available at small companies. This is possible because Justworks is able to aggregate a large number of clients with which it negotiates highly competitive rates with insurance carriers, resulting in its ability to offer various health plan options (including medical, dental and vision) that these businesses might not otherwise be able to provide to their employees, without a high, self-insured cost.

Also, because they consider savings and supplemental benefits important, Justworks offers Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), which both give employees tax-free advantages to spend money on medical expenses and dependent care. By including HSAs and FSAs, employees are incentivized to become a partner in their own health care spending.

Its easy to navigate through the different health benefits provided by Justworks (Source: Justworks)

Along with health insurance, Justworks offers employees life and disability insurance to help cover life’s inevitable surprises. Wellness programmes, such as Justworks’s, also contribute to increased productivity and employee wellbeing in the workplace by addressing mental health and physical wellbeing.

When it promises such a broad range of health and wellness benefits, Justworks allows smaller businesses to become desirable employers of choice able to recruit and retain talent with flexible, holistic benefits packages that rival those of larger companies in size.

HR Tools

Justworks is a digitalized platform that offers HR tools needed for streamlining the entire employee lifecycle, from onboarding to offboarding. Its digital onboarding tool streamlines the integration of new hires by automating standard paperwork and providing basic compliance and checklists, while its HR consulting services provide best practices for any small to mid-sized business.

Its online employee handbook that provides tangible written company policies in addition to performance management tools, provides continuous support to ensure that employees are engaged in their growth. Its PTO management tool makes it easier for employees to make time-off requests, which helps boost engagement.

Finally, It has a central HR dashboard that keeps track of all HR activities, being the one-stop centre for payroll and benefits to ensure strategic decision making. Its tools significantly reduce administrative work, which makes it easier to handle HR tasks, track employees, and determine strategic goals.

HR dashboard displaying an employee’s profile information (Source: Justworks)

Compliance

Justworks integrates compliance, including policy resources to ensure that retailers have the right Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) and workers’ compensation to shield their business from the financial impact of employment lawsuits and protect their employees from on-the-job injury. It also offers the latest federal, state and city regs on everything from wage laws to workplace safety.

Compliance and Tax Filings

Justworks greatly reduces business administrative pressures by filing numerous (and sometimes complicated) federal, state, and local tax filings under its federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) – including Forms 940 and 941, which cover taxes paid under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), as well as financial details about quarterly federal taxes withheld from employee paychecks, including withholdings for both Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes and Income Tax withholdings.

This includes a checklist with deadlines, specifying what businesses will need to do at the end of the year: review employee and company data, set up bonuses and payments, track payments made outside the system, and log any taxable fringe benefits.

Time Tracking and Reporting Tools

Justworks Time Tracking (formerly Justworks Hours) allows you to effortlessly track employee time, and it seamlessly syncs with payroll. Features include syncing with payroll, geofencing to ensure employees always clock in and out on site, and compliance tools that automatically enforce overtime and break rules.

Using its time-tracking tool employers can capture accurate data of hours worked and ensure that the hours are correctly reported to the payroll. It lets them manage their in-person and remote employees easily and seamlessly as all their work hours and legal compliances are met.

Justworks Time Tracking provides an innovative way for businesses to improve productivity and compliance, allowing managers to track, manage and analyse time and attendance.​​​​​​​ Justworks Time Tracking’s API integration with Justworks’ payroll and HR services seamlessly manages time, attendance and employee payments.

You can add a new location to your Justworks Time Tracking account in just a few quick steps (Source: Justworks)

The Justworks Time Tracking tool is available for mobile phones as well, and the app syncs up with the main payroll system for accurate results. Employees can log in via their Justworks accounts and employers can oversee timesheets on a week-to-week basis, while drilling down into detailed reports to see where payroll and overtime stand.

The Justworks Time Tracking app can be downloaded from the App Store for iOS devices and from the Google Play store for Android phones (Source: Justworks)

Furthermore, businesses would be able to download reports directly from the dashboard on issues such as employees’ training status, paid-time-off balances, onboarding status, work history, and more. Businesses can use these reports to track what employees are doing and keep track of crucial aspects of the business as a whole. The reports can also help with budgeting and compliance with regulatory laws.

In a company census report admins with the payment permission can download personal and work information for all their employees (Image: Justworks)

Integrations and Add-Ons

Third-party apps can also be integrated for ease of execution, for both HR and for accounting – they’re all listed in the Justworks Integrations Marketplace (which you’ll find in a ‘Integrations’ drop-down menu in the navigation bar). HR integrations include Greenhouse and Lever for candidate tracking; accounting integrations include QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero to process invoices and track finances.

To enable these integrations, click on the ‘Integrations’ drop-down menu in the navigation bar and sign into whichever account needs to be linked. But be advised that admin-only access within the Justworks dashboard requires specific permissions.

Justworks integrates with various third-party applications to streamline HR and accounting tasks (Source: Justworks)

Customer support

Justworks’ customer support is known to aid clients with additional questions about payroll, compliance, HR and benefits with friendly and handy support available over the phone, through email, live chat, sms and slack. The company’s support team is incredibly helpful and always responsive with plenty of users voicing their appreciation for Justworks’ great customer service.

You can contact Justworks at their website or customer support hotline for any issues or guidance. Customer service is often cited as a key plus point for Justworks because the service is available via several channels including 24/7 support. Other key pros of Justworks is its implementation and onboarding.

What do Customers Think of Justworks

Most reviews appear to be 5-star reviews. The majority of reviewers mention that the platform is very “user-friendly”, and the customer service is very helpful, however, some feedback mentions areas for improvement.

There aren’t many negative online reviews of the platform, although a few users complain that the customer support occasionally redirects them to irrelevant articles. Others report “hundreds” of emails per day, making it difficult to distinguish the important ones from the unimportant. Some reviewers also mention the limitation on customization and integrations.

How does the biggest review sites rate Justworks?

• G2 gives the platform 4.6 out of 5 (435 reviews)
• Capterra gives the platform 4.6 out of 5 (718 reviews)
• Trustpilot gives the platform 4.6 out of 5 (718 reviews)
• Trustradius gives the platform 8 out of 10 (88 reviews)

Justworks is ideal for…

• Justworks is a great solution for small to midsized businesses looking to streamline administrative and day-to-day employee responsibilities around payroll, benefits and employee onboarding.
• Companies in need of compliance support with federal, state, and local employment laws will benefit from Justworks’ expertise and resources.
• Businesses aiming to offer competitive benefits packages, such as health insurance and 401(k) plans, can leverage Justworks’ group buying power for better rates.
• Startups and growing companies without dedicated HR departments can outsource HR functions to Justworks, so founders and managers can concentrate on the company’s core business activities.
• Organizations undergoing growth and requiring scalable HR solutions find Justworks adaptable to their changing needs.
• Companies looking for a platform with an easy-to-use interface for HR and payroll functions will find Justworks appealing.
• Justworks can be a good fit for businesses of many types that seek an all-in-one HR solution that combines the convenience of software with the surety of professional employer organization services.

Justworks may not be ideal for…

• Justworks may not suit very small businesses with minimal HR needs, due to the cost-benefit ratio.
• The company’s offerings might not be appropriate for large corporations that have complex HR requirements across the globe (for larger corporations check out our ADP review).
• Justworks could also appear too integrated for startups that seek only single HR services (for example, standalone payroll processing) and don’t want to try everything all at once.
• In industries with a lot of training specialization, Justworks might not be sufficient to meet a company’s HR needs.
• Organizations preferring to manage HR tasks internally, rather than outsourcing, may not see Justworks as a fit.
• International companies in search of a single global HR and payroll solution may need to look to providers other than Justworks, which only supports employers in the US.

Conclusion

Justworks is a platform that helps small and medium businesses expedite common human resources admin, (like payroll, benefits and compliance) and offers an all-in-one solution. It’s ideal for companies aiming to provide the best benefits for their employees and keep up with labour laws.

It’s a simple-to-use platform for US-based businesses because it helps to streamline HR operations and allows a business to scale their teams while making sure that managers within a business can focus more on their work, and not on having to worry about HR.

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