Your payroll system is late for every party. Onboarding still means thumbing through a stack of paper forms. Your HR data lives in three different places. If this sounds familiar, you may be overdue for a new Human Resource Information System. The good news? You do not have to navigate the switch alone.
At Flex HR, HRIS guidance is one of our core consulting services. We help clients evaluate their options, select the right platform, and manage migration from start to finish. Here is how we approach it and what you can expect when you work with us.
We Start by Asking the Right Questions
Before we ever mention a specific platform, we listen. Our consultants use a structured discovery process to understand your business, not just your technology. The questions we ask include:
- How many employees do you have today, and where do you plan to be in two to three years?
- What payroll issues are you currently experiencing?
- Do you operate in multiple states?
- Which HR tasks are still manual, and which are most painful?
- What other systems (benefits, accounting, time tracking) need to connect to your HRIS?
- What is your budget, and how comfortable is your team with technology?
These answers shape everything. A restaurant group with 20 employees has very different needs than a manufacturer with 400 expanding into new states. Recommendations that treat every company the same are not recommendations at all; they are guesses.
Migration takes time and carries real risk. Before recommending migration, we ask whether your current system can be optimized to meet your needs. If better configuration or training can solve the problem, that is always the better path.
Our HRIS Partner Network
Flex HR maintains preferred partner relationships with six leading HRIS platforms. Our clients benefit from preferred pricing, dedicated implementation contacts, and enhanced service that simply are not available when companies go it alone.
Here is a brief overview of each platform and where each excels:
Netchex is our preferred platform for growing companies in the mid-market range, and it is particularly strong for clients who need payroll, HR, and benefits managed in one system. It is especially well-suited for the hospitality industry, including restaurants and hotels. Flex HR clients pay $14 per employee monthly with no implementation fee.
Gusto is the right fit for small businesses and organizations adopting an HRIS for the first time. It is highly user friendly and affordable, making it an excellent choice for teams that are less comfortable with technology and have straightforward payroll needs. Gusto also serves industries that some platforms will not, which makes it a practical and flexible option.
Paylocity is a robust platform for midsize organizations seeking strong employee engagement tools, a modern interface, and comprehensive HR reporting. It offers a solid balance of features and usability for companies ready to invest in the employee experience.
ADP Workforce Now is ideal for larger, more complex organizations that need enterprise level compliance support, international payroll capabilities, and long-term scalability. If your company is currently using ADP Run and outgrowing it, we typically recommend upgrading to Workforce Now for broader functionality.
Paycom is a comprehensive platform built around a strong employee self-service model. It is a good fit for midsize organizations with multiple locations that want automation and solid HR process control, though it offers less administrative flexibility than some alternatives.
Rippling is a modern platform that brings HR, IT, and payroll together in one system. It is a strong choice for companies in a growth phase, remote workforces, and teams that are comfortable with technology. It supports international payroll along with an extensive library of integrations.
Common Migration Scenarios
Not sure which situation applies to you? Here are some of the most frequent migration paths our HR experts encounter:
- Companies moving from QuickBooks Payroll or manual spreadsheets to a true HRIS for the first time typically find that Gusto or Netchex are the right starting point.
- Organizations that have outgrown Gusto as they scale often move to Paylocity or Rippling.
- Businesses currently on ADP Run that need broader payroll and compliance capabilities are strong candidates for an upgrade to ADP Workforce Now.
- Companies with disconnected HR systems that need to consolidate into one platform are well served by Paycom or Rippling.
- For rapidly scaling companies or those expanding internationally, Rippling and ADP are both built for that challenge.
If you recognize your company in any of these scenarios, it is worth having a conversation about whether your current setup is still serving you.
Managing HRIS Migration: A Rigorous Process
Once a platform is selected, the real work begins. Our HR professionals serve as dedicated project managers throughout the implementation, coordinating between you, your payroll team, and the HRIS implementation specialists. We follow a structured three-phase process:
Phase 1: Initial Setup. We work with the HRIS implementation team from day one, completing contracts and required documents (including power of attorney tax forms), gathering foundational information such as payroll schedules and deduction structures, and reviewing your account setup. We also develop a communication plan and timeline for your employees, which typically includes at least three touchpoints: when the decision is made, when employee access is established, and before the system goes live. When additional changes are layered on top of migration, such as a new benefits package or a payroll schedule change, employee communication and training become even more critical, and we plan for that from the start.
Phase 2: Data Migration and Payroll Setup. This is where the detailed work happens, and where errors are most costly. We pull and organize all relevant records from your current system, including I-9s and W-4s, 941s going back three years, workers’ compensation audit data, year-to-date payroll figures, paystubs, PTO balances, 401(k) records, 12 months of payroll registers, and benefits deductions. Every file is saved and backed up before the transition. We verify state tax account information, confirm direct deposit requirements, verify bonus setup, review involuntary deduction processes such as garnishments, run a census to confirm all terminated employees carry the correct termination date, and check that all third-party connections, including benefits carriers, 401(k) providers, and HSA and FSA administrators, are correctly mapped with pretax and post-tax designations in place.
Phase 3: Mock Payroll and Final Verification. Before the system goes live, we run mock payrolls to catch discrepancies between the old and new systems. We pull reports from both platforms side by side and reconcile them. PTO setup is verified against your employee handbook, benefits documents are reviewed, and deduction configurations are confirmed. Only when we are confident the data is accurate do we proceed to launch.
What Can Go Wrong, and How We Prevent It
HRIS migrations are complex, and complications are common. The most serious issues we encounter involve:
Taxes. Migrating partway through a quarter creates payroll tax complications and can result in duplicate W-2s that require costly corrections. Whenever possible, we recommend timing your migration to align with the start of a new quarter.
401(k) contributions. Improper setup can prevent deductions from transferring correctly, sometimes for months before anyone notices. The resulting reconciliation bills can be significant.
Benefits. When benefit carrier connections are not properly established, employees may lose access to coverage or experience delays in claims. We work carefully with carriers and HRIS teams to verify these integrations before launch.
We also watch for warning signs that indicate a migration may need extra attention: disorganized client data, recent mergers or acquisitions, the absence of an internal HR or payroll owner, multiple payroll systems being merged at once, a lack of executive sponsorship, unrealistic timelines, or the expectation that a new system will automatically fix broken HR processes without any change to the underlying workflows. When these factors are present, we flag them early and plan accordingly.
One important note on benefits: many HRIS platforms have an internal benefits brokerage team, and they can make it sound appealing during the sales process. In our experience, when it comes time to make changes, handle claims, or resolve service issues, companies are better served by working with a dedicated, independent benefits broker. Flex HR has excellent broker relationships we can draw on, and we will always recommend that route.
Our guiding philosophy is to communicate early and often: with clients, with the HRIS team, and with employees. Migrations can be messy, and we cannot control every variable. What we can do is make sure no one is caught off guard.
Why It Matters to Work with HR Professionals
When clients contact HRIS vendors directly, they often miss out on preferred pricing, dedicated implementation support, and the advocacy that our partner relationships provide. More importantly, they miss out on an independent advisor who is not trying to sell them a particular platform. According to Gretchen Groh, VP of Operations at Flex HR, “Our partnership with HRIS vendors is a real value-add we can offer our clients. The relationships we have developed allow us to advocate on their behalf and solve issues quickly that would otherwise turn into major problems”.
Our HR experts and consultants are not HRIS salespeople. We let the vendor teams pitch their product. Our job is to understand your business, ask the right questions on your behalf, and guide you toward the decision that is right for you, whether that is migration, optimization, or simply a clearer picture of the HRIS and payroll systems you already have.
Ready to Talk About Your HRIS?
If you are feeling the limits of your current system, or wondering whether migration is worth it, let us start with a conversation. Our consultants will help you cut through the noise, evaluate your options honestly, and build a plan you can actually execute.
Contact Flex HR to schedule your discovery call.