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Are you interested in using HR and payroll services offered by a number of platforms in 2022 but cannot decide which one is better for you?
No worries, we’ve got you covered.
Even though there are tons of operational services you can choose from, Gusto and Justworks are two of the best alternatives compared to any other mediocre payroll platform. 😉
Although both Gusto and Justworks provide tools that help you automate your payroll, tax filings, managing health and employee benefits and so much more, they are different in most fundamental ways.
In this Gusto vs Justworks review we will be comparing and rating both the platforms on a number of factors including payroll features, HR and compliance, employee benefits, pricing & plans, and customer support. Before exploring the key aspects of both the services, let us start with a brief introduction to both Gusto and Justworks.
Gusto Overview
Launched in 2012 as ZenPayroll, Gusto is headquartered in San Francisco. The platform is highly reputable coming from the fact that they are backed by various renowned investors including General Catalyst, T.Rowe Price,Sands Capital, Glynn Capital, Franklin Templeton and so many more.
The company is worth $175 million with the latest E series funding in 2019. Gusto offers their services and currently caters to over 200K businesses worldwide. You get access to excellent and feature rich services for multiple tasks at very affordable pricing plans.
However, Gusto primarily focuses on payroll solutions with an additional offering of health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools.
Justworks Overview
Founded in 2012, Justworks is a certified and accredited professional employer organization, often abbreviated as PEO. The company bagged $50M in E series funding with $143M as the total raised amount till date.
Investors like Union Square Ventures, Redpoint, Spark Capital, Bain capital, Index Ventures, Thrive Capital and few others support Justworks. The platform offers employee benefits, HR tools & consulting, compliance support, automated payroll and full service support. 😇
Features of Gusto
Apparently, both the platforms, Gusto and Justworks offer tons of features and functionalities, some of which help in managing the similar tasks while for other aspects they provide distinct tools and resources. Let us individually discuss the vital attributes of both the services.
Payroll Features
- Automated taxes – Local, state and federal taxes are calculated, filed and paid automatically.
- W-2s and 1099s – Automatically create, file and send W-2s and 1099s to employees and contractors.
- Child support garnishments – Automated deductions from employee’s salary for wage garnishment accounts.
- New hire reporting – Details regarding new employees recruitment are updated automatically.
- FLSA Tip credits (Minimum Wage Requirement) – Salaries of employees are adjusted to meet the minimum wage criteria.
- Multiple pay rates – You can pay your employees at different pay rates depending on their designations.
Hiring and Onboarding
Need help in hiring employees and getting them to start working for you? You’ve got it. Gusto helps you find and recruit new employees for your organization by posting the recruitment offers and job descriptions on public forums, tracking the applications and selecting the skilled candidates. You are offered the following functionalities related to hiring and onboarding categories.
Talent Management – It provides employee’s performance evaluation, improves culture building, provides manager reviews, career development resources along with peer feedback.
Insights and reporting – You get access to customizable reports, automatic compliance alerts, compiled insights, employee retention tax credits, anonymous team surveys, etc.
Time and attendance – You can track your employee’s PTO, workforce costs, working hours, time off, holidays according to dates, employees or departments. The team members can clock in and out their working hours using Gusto’s mobile app or computer whereas the geolocation tracker verifies their location.
Employee Benefits
The platform offers affordable health and financial benefits for employees. You get access to over 100 insurance carriers, 3500 plans and licensed advisors and can customize worker’s compensation, flexible spending accounts, cash accounts, health savings accounts (HSA), cashout, 401(k) plans, commuter benefits, etc.
401(k) plans – You can configure 401(k) savings with no fees or minimum members.
HSA – It is a tax advantaged account that employees can use to pay for their health expenses like dental or vision costs. 😍
Cashout – Employee’s can receive a part of their paycheck before the actual payday. However, you need to fulfill the prerequisites.
Worker’s Compensation – It acts as coverage for employees if they get hurt or sick during work hours. It can be used by employees to pay for their medical bills and rehabilitation costs.
Commuter Benefits
Employee’s are eligible for reimbursements against the following; transit expenses for train, ferry, subway, bus, vanpool, lyft line and uber pool along with parking expenses for parking garages, lots, meters.
Also Check: ZenBusiness Review: Can It Help To Start A Business?
Pricing & Plans of Gusto
Everyone needs services that are useful yet affordable so let us look at the pricing structure provided by both the companies in detail.
- Core – The plan can be bought for $39 on a monthly basis as well as for $6 per month per employee. The plan is perfect for you if you own a small business that takes care of responsibilities such as paying salaries according to pay schedules. It includes features like lifetime access, employee profiles, integrations, time tracking, direct deposits, multiple pay rates, payroll reports, etc.
- Complete – You can buy it for $39 on a monthly basis or for $12 per month per employee. It is curated for businesses that have to deal with complex work operations and require team management resources. Some of the offered features include next day direct deposit, workforce cost reports, PTO management, project tracking, unlimited projects, performance reviews, etc.
- Concierge – The plan can be purchased for $149 on a monthly basis or at just $12 per month per employee. It is designed to be compatible for organizations who follow multiple sophisticated HR compliance principles and policies. You get access to functionalities like certified HR pros, HR resource center, dedicated support team along with compliance alerts.
- Select – You need to contact Gusto’s sales team and inquire about the prices. It is the right plan for you if your business is growing fastly and you need a dedicated support team and advanced tools on an urgent basis. You get access to features like full service payroll migration, waived fees, health insurance broker integration, direct access to customer success manager and exclusive pricing.
- Contractor Only – Available only for contractor businesses who have not employed any W-2 members. It will cost you $6 per month per person. The plan allows you the following attributes; 4 day direct deposit, unlimited contractor payments and much more.
Features of Justworks
Compliance
Running a business is more than just managing your niche, you need to follow federal, state, and local employment regulations all at once. The platform offers W-2 filings, 1099 filings, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance filings, aca filings along with employer payroll tax filings support.
You can accurately track time for hours worked for both employees and contractors, project tracking, payroll, invoice reports, etc.
Payroll & Payments
The platform simplifies your payment process, handles direct deposits for both full and part time employees automatically, and provides resources to comply with payroll tax and employment regulations.
You can also very easily manage payments for all your team members including employees, contractors, and vendors. You can make the following payments via Justworks; automated direct deposit, one-time payments, overtime payments, bonuses, commissions, and reimbursements.
You can also seamlessly link your timesheets to payroll and get access to automated reminders, overtime alerts, geographically stamped time-keeping, integrations and so much more.
Employers Benefits
Justworks provides high quality employee benefits coverage which lets you directly contact health insurance carriers. You can configure Health Advocacy Services, On-Demand Primary Care Services, Life Insurance, 401(k), Commuter Benefits, HSAs, and so much more. 😚
HR Tools
The platform handles various administrative HR tasks including an automated digital hiring and onboarding process. The offered tools help your employees with the joining process, manage a company directory and establish an employee handbook for your organization.
You can also access various time tracking solutions to easily calculate, manage, and approve paid time off requests. In addition, you can also track accruals, sync your PTO calendar with your own and approve PTO requests.
The platform offers personalized reports and business insights based on relevant data points which can be previewed in real time.
Pricing & Plans of Justworks
The platform offers a total of two plans, namely, Basic and Plus. You are charged prices depending on how many employees are enrolled in the subscribed plan.
Justworks Basic – If you have less than 25 employees you have to pay $49 per month per employee. If the number of employees is between 25 to 99, you’ll be charged $44 per employee for a month whereas for 100 to 174 employees, the cost is $39 per month per employee. In case your organization has 175 employees or more, you’ll be presented with a quoted price.
Some of the features included are as follows; Payroll for salaried and hourly employees, Support from certified HR consultants, Unemployment Insurance Filings, HR Consulting, Online Employee Onboarding, PTO Management, Accounting Software Integrations, Commuter Benefits, E-Signature, etc.
Justworks Plus – For employees fewer than 25 you will be charged $99 per employee per month, $89 per employee if the numbers are between 25 to 99 and $79 per employee for 100 to 174 employees.
Just like the “Basic” plan if the number of employees is more than 174 employees, you will receive a quoted price.
In addition to the Basic plan features, you have access to the following; COBRA administration, One medical, Dental and vision insurance, Health savings account and flexible spending account access along with Health advocacy services. 😊
Customer Support
Gusto Customer Support
The platform provides a Help center which includes extensively detailed articles, business guides, frequently asked questions, videos tutorials, and blog posts.
Gusto’s support team can be contacted via email, live chat and phone call services which are available from 8am to 5pm MST, Monday to Friday. You can join social forums on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook.
Justworks Customer Support
The platform offers a Resource center as well as Help center, both of which incorporate articles, guides, and featured videos. You also have access to webinars, newsletters, various events along with dedicated product updates pages.
You can reach out to Justworks’ support team via five different methods which includes phone, email, live chat, SMS, and Slack. Connect and join Justworks’ various social communities such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Must Read: ZenBusiness Vs Incfile: Which One Is Best LLC Service?
Conclusion
It goes without saying that both the platforms are great and goes above and beyond to help you with your business operations related to HR as well as payroll. Wrapping up our Gusto vs Justworks review by recommending when to use which platform.
Choose Gusto over Justworks if all you need is an excellent payroll software which is capable of integrating with multiple third party apps with mediocre HR management tools whereas Justworks is better when you need to get rid of HR and payroll tasks altogether to focus on more important things.
