Paylocity serves the mid-market with a full HCM suite covering payroll, HR, benefits, talent, and time and attendance. The platform is polished, well-reviewed, and strong for companies with dedicated HR departments and predictable, salaried workforces. But Paylocity was built for office workers and managers, not for hourly, shift-based, multi-location operations. When you layer in high turnover, frequent hiring, tipped wages, and the need for integrated hiring and scheduling, Paylocity's mid-market complexity becomes a burden instead of a feature.
Netchex was built specifically for the businesses Paylocity wasn't designed to serve: hourly, multi-location, high-turnover franchises.
Paylocity: Polished, Expensive, Office-Focused
Paylocity is well-regarded in the mid-market space. The platform has strong G2 ratings and appeals to companies with 500 to 5,000 employees that want a comprehensive HCM solution. Paylocity's strength is in creating a unified employee experience for salaried, office-based workforces.
Pricing reflects that mid-market focus. Paylocity is expensive. Per-employee-per-month (PEPM) pricing typically runs $15-40 per employee depending on modules, headcount, and configuration. For a restaurant franchise with 300 hourly employees across 10 locations, that's $4,500-12,000 per month just for the platform. Then add the implementation costs, training, and the fact that Paylocity's workflows assume office-based, salaried workers, not hourly, shift-based teams.
Paylocity doesn't include hiring as a core module. Candidate management is add-on functionality, not purpose-built recruitment tools. For a franchise operator managing high turnover, that's a significant gap.
Netchex: Built for Hourly, Priced for Scale
Netchex is built natively as one unified system for hourly, shift-based, multi-location workforces. The platform includes Netchex Recruit (Text-to-Apply via QR code, two-way SMS screening, AI pre-screening, Hiring Hub for managing candidates across locations) integrated directly into payroll, onboarding, and scheduling.
Netchex is ranked #1 on G2 for service, with 98% customer satisfaction, 90% of calls answered in under a minute, 90% first-call resolution, and a dedicated account manager for every customer.
Pricing is quote-based and typically lower than Paylocity for multi-location, hourly operations because it's designed specifically for that use case.
Hiring and Onboarding: Netchex Recruit Is Purpose-Built, Paylocity Adds It On
Paylocity has candidate management and onboarding workflows, but they're built for office environments. Candidates don't apply by QR code and text. There's no two-way SMS screening. Onboarding requires access to a computer, not a mobile phone.
Netchex Recruit is designed for hourly, high-turnover hiring. Managers post a shift at 2 PM. Candidates scan a QR code and apply by text. AI screens candidates and surfaces the best fits. Interviews are scheduled through text. Offers go out by text. Onboarding happens on a mobile device before the first shift.
For a franchise hiring 50+ people per month, Paylocity's office-oriented onboarding is inefficient. Netchex Recruit is built for exactly this volume and workflow.
Payroll and Compliance: Both Handle It, Netchex Understands Hourly
Both platforms handle multi-location, multi-state payroll correctly. Paylocity's payroll engine is solid. Netchex's is equally solid and includes native support for tipped wages, shift differentials, and the complexity of hourly workforces.
The difference is context. Paylocity was built for office workers and managers. Its default assumptions are salaried employees, benefits administration for full-time staff, and predictable work schedules. When you layer in tipped employees, split shifts, and high turnover, you're working against the platform's core assumptions.
Netchex was built for restaurants, hotels, manufacturing, and healthcare. Tipped wages, shift differentials, high turnover, and multi-location compliance are native to the system.
Time and Attendance: Scheduling and Payroll Integration
Paylocity has time and attendance tools, but they work as a separate module that connects to payroll through standard integration. Schedule data doesn't automatically flow into payroll calculations.
Netchex's scheduling is built into the platform. When a manager schedules an employee for 10 hours, those 10 hours automatically appear in payroll as the baseline for pay calculations. No manual reconciliation. No data entry. Scheduling and payroll talk natively because they're built on the same system.
For hourly operations, that native integration saves hours of administrative work every pay cycle.
Support and Implementation
Paylocity offers standard mid-market support. Implementation typically takes 3 to 4 months and requires significant IT coordination. Cost for implementation can exceed $50,000.
Netchex offers free, white-glove implementation completed in about 6 weeks, with a dedicated account manager included from day one. Implementation is project-managed and includes data migration, configuration, and staff training.
Who Should Choose Which
Choose Paylocity if you're a mid-market company with 500+ salaried employees, you have dedicated HR staff, and you need a polished, comprehensive HCM suite for office-based operations.
Choose Netchex if you operate 5 to 50+ locations with hourly, shift-based employees, you need hiring integrated into payroll, you want support that's actually reachable, or you need transparent pricing that doesn't multiply with each new location.
The Bottom Line
Paylocity is a strong mid-market platform for office-based organizations. But it's expensive, complex, and built for salaried workforces. Franchise operators managing hourly employees, high turnover, and multi-location complexity are better served by a platform built specifically for that use case.
Netchex Recruit handles high-volume hiring. Native scheduling integration handles scheduling complexity. Integrated benefits handle multi-location compliance. All in one system, with support that understands your business.
For a franchise, that's not a nice-to-have. It's essential.
See how Netchex handles hiring, payroll, scheduling, and support for hourly franchise operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Paylocity good for mid-market companies?
Yes. Paylocity is well-designed for mid-market, office-based organizations with salaried employees and dedicated HR staff. But Netchex is better for franchises. Paylocity's office-oriented workflows and higher pricing don't fit hourly, multi-location operations.
2. How expensive is Paylocity compared to Netchex?
Paylocity typically runs $15-40 per employee per month. For a 300-employee franchise, that's $4,500-12,000/month. Netchex's quote-based pricing is typically lower for multi-location, hourly operations because it's designed specifically for that use case.
3. Does Paylocity include hiring?
Paylocity has candidate management and onboarding, but it's built for office environments. No QR code applications. No two-way SMS screening. No mobile-first onboarding. Netchex Recruit is purpose-built for high-volume hourly hiring.
4. Does Paylocity support tipped wages and shift differentials?
Paylocity can be set up to handle these but requires work arounds because the platform is built for salaried employees. Tipped wages and shift differentials are foundational to the platform’s architecture, so Netchex handles them natively.
5. Is Paylocity's scheduling integrated with payroll?
Paylocity’s time and attendance integrates to payroll in a standard way, but scheduling data does not automatically feed into pay calculations. Scheduling and payroll are native to the same system, so scheduling hours automatically populate payroll, Netchex said.
