How to choose payroll software: Know thyself

Choosing payroll software is like tasting wine with the label on the inside: all polish up front and, too often, regret on the back end. 

By the time you know what’s inside, you’re already seeing double.

To be fair, it kind of has to be that way. Software demos are optimized for the sale, not the setup, and payroll software is only as good as your configuration. 

It's impossible to show you the settings that actually matter, because they're the ones you choose. So none of your team’s idiosyncratic workflows, the edge cases, and habits come out in the demo.

And that’s the real dilemma. You don’t get a system. You got a sandbox and no instructions. 

Picking the best tool is about knowing in advance what “best” means for your working style. The settings you skip during setup are the ones that bite. 

The support team can help, sometimes. They just won’t tell you unless you ask the exact right question.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad product. It’s doing exactly what you told it to do. Unfortunately.

It would help to have a list of all the things you don’t know to ask. But how are you supposed to know the right questions if you’ve never configured the system before? 

The solution? Call in someone who’s seen the guts of a dozen HRIS systems across scores of teams. 

Someone knows which tools protect you from avoidable errors and which ones fold under complexity and conditional logic. 

Someone who’s solved problems across enough platforms to know which systems won’t turn your needs into dysfunction. And how to prevent problems from happening in the first place.

But someone with that kind of experience probably doesn’t work on your team. Only a journeyman (or journeyperson) who wanders the corporate landscape has enough range to have seen it all.

Having buyer's remorse with your HRIS?

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