Since Paychex acquired Oasis Outsourcing in 2018, Oasis PEO is now a part of the Paychex brand.
Currently, the Oasis professional employer organization (PEO) provides users a comprehensive offering of HR and payroll services that includes employee benefits, compliance support, applicant tracking, risk management, and performance reviews. You can choose between outsourcing completely to save the money involved in hiring a full-fledged in-house HR department or opting for selected services to supplement your in-house team’s efforts. The fact that you’re always in complete control of your PEO solution is another aspect we appreciate.
Compared to other PEO companies, Paychex Oasis is preferable for growing SMBs. But if you have very small teams that handle minimal admin tasks, you may find this tool a bit excessive for your needs.
Comparing Oasis PEO to the Best PEO Companies
One of the main reasons why Paychex Oasis made our cut for the best PEO companies was its suitability for SMBs with less than 49 employees.
You can use its full-service PEO option to get both top-of-the-line software and scalable one-on-one HR services. Expect feature-rich custom plans that you can add and remove services from as needed, complete with flexible pricing. As part of its dedicated customer support, Paychex Oasis also assigns a payroll accountant manager and an HR expert to you, helping you easily navigate common business challenges.
Paychex Oasis is undoubtedly an excellent PEO company, but that doesn’t mean you can’t consider other options. After looking into some of the more popular PEO companies, we narrowed down our list to five options that tick all the right boxes.
Oasis PEO: The Good and The Bad
The Good
Dedicated Customer Support: Paychex Oasis is one of the few PEO companies that take customer support (very) seriously. It assigns a payroll accountant manager and HR professional to every customer whose experience and expertise can help you solve recruiting, hiring, and scaling challenges. For instance, the HR representative can provide expert advice on compliance issues and mandates specific to your business, and the payroll accountant manager can help you create realistic paid time off (PTO) policies. While you can reach out to these experts by phone during normal business hours, there’s also a 24-hour HR service center phone number for questions outside working hours.
Access to Comprehensive HR Tools and Employee Benefits Expertise: Paychex Oasis gives you access to Fortune 500-level benefits packages, including health insurance, telehealth, 401(k) plans, and flexible spending accounts (FSAs). In addition, you get financial business and employee assistance programs to help your workforce better manage stress related to financial planning. Ensure your employees’ continuous development with Paychex Oasis’s excellent training and performance evaluation solutions to help them identify and eliminate skill gaps.
Comprehensive Payroll Processing: You can easily manage all vital tasks related to payroll processing with Paychex Oasis. The tool supports multiple employee payment options (manual paychecks, direct deposit, pay cards) and can handle PTO accruals tracking and year-end reporting, as well as tax calculations, filing, and payments. The tool also offers time tracking functionalities, making it easier than ever to pay employees by the hour. Other features offered by Paychex Oasis include job costing, expense management, and worker’s compensation claims administrations.
Compliance Assistance: One of the main reasons why small businesses hire a PEO is to have experts guide them through the legalities and compliances involved in running a business. Accredited by both the IRS and the Employer Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC), know that Paychex Oasis has been thoroughly examined for compliance with critical operational, financial, and industry standards on top of government regulations. Moreover, in case of new legislation and changes to existing ones, Paychex Oasis‘s team of HR professionals always sends you timely updates and alerts. You can also expect compliance help with EEOC, HIPAA, and OSHA rules and regulations.
Risk Management: As part of its risk management services, Paychex Oasis helps customers handle worker’s compensation (think: finding the right insurance coverage, obtaining insurance certificates, tracking claims). You also get access to cyber liability and employment practices liability insurance plans to protect your company against various financial risks. In case you need more assistance, you can always talk to advisors who will help you develop safety training manuals and programs.
Easy Employee Access to Portal: Your employees can use the Paychex Oasis app to enter the portal online and view their pay stubs, pay summary, and time-off balance from anywhere and at any time. They can tweak personal and direct deposit information and take advantage of available employee discounts as well. A document station within the app allows them to store important paperwork emailed by managers to employees.
The Bad
Dated Interface: Paychex Oasis has a clean but dated card-based interface which is one of its biggest drawbacks, especially when compared to the more user-friendly and attractive user interfaces of other software tools. One section of the platform includes links to commonly used documents and forms, but you won’t find additional help articles and online guides. There is, however, a support screen that you can use to contact the help desk and check the status of open issues. With people increasingly using knowledge bases and live chat, this method can feel old-school and frustrating, especially when you only need quick instructions on how to complete a task.
No Pricing Transparency: Paychex Oasis has quote-based pricing, which is highly inconvenient when comparing software plans. You have to contact the provider and discuss your requirements who will then recommend a customized PEO package that best fits your business needs. Besides the standard PEO services we mentioned before (HR, benefits administration, payroll), you also get access to comprehensive benefits offerings. In case you need additional services like applicant tracking and performance management, you’ll have to shell out extra money for each solution.
Paychex Oasis Pricing and Options
You need to have at least five employees to be eligible for Paychex Oasis’s PEO services. You also need to sign a one-year contract at the minimum, but you aren’t exactly locked into it as you can cancel your subscription by submitting a 30-day written notice. Keep in mind that you may be subject to an early termination fee.
As discussed, Paychex Oasis has quote-based pricing plans, where you will have to contact the sales team to get a customized quote based on your use case and requirements. The good news is the consultation is totally free of cost once you reach out to the team and can help you identify your organization’s exact outsourcing needs.
Paychex Oasis Human Resources
Paychex Oasis’s HR PEO provides you with proactive HR advice from a dedicated HR professional. With access to top-class technology and services, you can simplify your HR administration and use tools and expertise to recruit and retain top talent while focusing on your business.
Paychex Oasis Risk Management
Fulfill state laws and regulations regarding insurance coverage using Paychex Insurance Agency’s workers’ compensation plans, effectively reducing the level of risk to your business.
Paychex Oasis Employee Benefits
Offer attractive employee benefits that you haven’t been able to in the past with Paychex Oasis.
Attract top-level talent with benefits like 4O1(k), Pooled Employer Plan (PEP) 401(k), health insurance, dental, vision, Multiple Employer Plans (MEP), retirement, and much more. You also get access to the company’s all-in-one HR platform, Paychex Flex, to efficiently manage all these benefits.
Paychex Oasis Payroll Processing
With Paychex Oasis, you can process payroll anytime, anywhere—and from any device or over the phone with a dedicated payroll specialist.
Filing federal, state, and local payroll taxes and sending payments to the rightful agencies is also a part of the package.
Paychex Oasis Regulatory Compliance
Paychex Oasis has a whole team of experienced compliance specialists to keep up with changing federal and state employment laws and regulations.
Not that you have to worry about non-compliance—your Paychex HR professional will send you timely notifications and prompts to keep you ahead of changes affecting your business. This helps you save time and money that would otherwise be spent on dealing with potential non-compliance expenses.
HR Technology and Service
You can use Paychex Oasis‘s top-notch HR technology platform, complete with useful payroll integration, to simplify HR admin work. You can also use your assigned HR professional’s guidance and advice to grow your business and resolve HR issues to keep your employees happy and satisfied.
How Paychex Oasis Ranks
Paychex Oasis is one of the better PEO companies on the market, for sure.
It gives you access to a variety of services and provides expert guidance in different aspects of your business that you typically wouldn’t be privy to if you didn’t hire a PEO. The fact that Paychex Oasis is also scalable and available in all 50 states, complete with custom and flexible pricing plans, makes it a great choice for small and growing businesses.
If you want to explore more options, check out our top picks for the best PEO companies that may meet your requirements better.
- Resourcing Edge — Best for most
- Deel — Best for managing a small global workforce
- Justworks — Best for businesses without an in-house HR department
- Paychex — Best for growing SMBs with fewer than 49 employees
- Insperity — Best for businesses with more than 150 employees
- ADP TotalSource — Best for businesses needing full-time HR support
Summary
Paychex Oasis is definitely Crazy Egg-approved!
It gives you complete control of your PEO solution, allowing you to outsource as much or as little as possible. Choose from dozens of services, including payroll processing, recruiting and onboarding, employee benefits management, and risk and compliance management, among others, while being reassured you have a reliable partner in Paychex Oasis.
The fact that there are dozens of services to choose from, including payroll processing, recruiting and onboarding, employee benefits management, and risk and compliance management, ensures you have a reliable partner. The Paychex team is essentially an extension of your business and is dedicated to seeing your company succeed.
