Paychex reviews

I spent a decade at Paychex and bled more blue than anyone. At the time, saying that I was #PaychexProud wasn't just a tagline - I truly was. I was close to a lot of the inner workings of what happened during Covid and was unfortunately able to see firsthand how the company prioritized things -- shareholders first, clients second, and employees a distant third. Without any logical explanation or business case, I watched as efforts to influence executive leadership to open their minds to flexible ways of working were snuffed out in lieu of old school ways of working in a cubicle farm so ineffective managers could watch their employees work... I slowly felt my love for the company fade out - and ultimately chose to move on from my role myself a couple of years ago. I honestly thought I would retire from the company - but it all shifted so quickly and so drastically. Culture at Paychex was always a calling card. And in the last two years since I left, I have watched the culture at Paychex circle the drain. I speak with friends who are still there (though that number has drastically decreased as many others have left themselves before this layoff). John's leadership is abysmal and completely out of touch. The warmth that Marty exuded is now gone from the executive team. Even if I didn't always agree with Marty's old school approach to things, and his conservative nature around DEI and taking a stand on societal issues, he was always kind and was open to hearing out different opinions - you felt like your voice mattered and he was willing to compromise. John is all about the numbers, not the people, and it doesn't matter how long you've been with the company, how loyal you've been or how much you've sacrificed. You're on board with his direction or you're out. Full stop. Hundreds of good people were terminated last week. The news reports are so alarmingly skewed... 3-4% of the entire organization was jettisoned. But hey, whatever makes the shareholders a few extra bucks... Wall Street loves a layoff... Investors want increased margins, regardless of how many billions Paychex has in the bank.

Unfortunately, the company does not live up to its constant internal chant of building a "positive culture". Possibly like many publicly traded companies its just lip service as the only thing that matters is the bottom line. In fact the culture that used to exist was great and was trying to improve that culture a few years ago. Now, its obvious that its just talk, and there's no real effort to educate people on the values. And, you have to have good values in upper management to actually show good values. Also, in my experience I'm seeing more and more hiring from outside for all top positions, so you can't move up as they just look to hire from outside of the company.