ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration • Hacker News Board

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#21

Post by Ntrails » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 3:47 PM UTC

rblatz wrote: post #9

ADP has some of the worst online offerings. In order to see my paystub or signup for health coverage I use one site. To request time off I have to use a different ADP site. Both have different usernames and passwords. Both sites look like they were made in the IE 5/6 web development drought. I have no real complaints though with how everything actually works though, never had an incorrect paycheck or messed up PTO.

I used to send a monthly email asking for my payroll slip since VS2013 required an upgrade to IE 10/11 and adp was only able to run on IE 5-9. The thing that always got me was the error message which ran something like: "please update your browser to a compatible one from this list of 4 year old software, your current browser is not advanced enough".

Sigh.

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#22

Post by olafskyansian » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 3:49 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #13

tomjen3 wrote: post #10

If the problem is the email address, why not give them one of your companies emails?

The way I read it, that would work. But since the intent of the action is clearly to cut off the competition, why would we assume they will stop at "just" email address? That's their first sortie in what could become a long war. Next it could be IP address, then they could subtly alter their API to break automated access (and give out a different API to trusted insiders), and so on. Ultimately when it comes to web-sc…

I'm pretty sure that aside from Zen Payroll and Intuit there is no actual API in place.

Why on God's green earth should a change I make in Zenefits take two friggin' days to show up in ADP? That's not an API. That's a high-school dropout earning minimum wage entering into ADP they changes you made in Zenefits.

I don't agree with ADP's heavy handed approach, but if this "integration" is Zenefits' service, they have half a billion in the bank to make it better now.

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#23

Post by jusben1369 » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 3:54 PM UTC

tomasien wrote: post #17

whoiskevin wrote: post #15

I have to put the blame on Zenefits here. You cannot offer something to a customer that depends on integration with a competitor. Shame on you. No I don't support ADP and am not a fan but basic business dictates that you should not even offer this service if it depends on integration with a competitor.

Zenefits' entire service is about re-selling and managing other services. That's like saying an accountant is at fault for relying on payroll processors that may someday decide they want to be accountants too - of course they're not at fault, that's how accounting is DONE. This is ridiculous on ADPs part.

I'm not close enough on the details so I could be wrong. But it sounds like a) Zenefits integrates to ADP and starts being the flow through for payroll. b) Zenefits decides to become a direct competitor to ADP by launching their own payroll service (ZenPayroll mentioned here) c) ADP isn't enthusiastic about supporting a service that plans to upsell or cross sell shared customers to move away from them.

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#24

Post by 15155 » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 3:54 PM UTC

whoiskevin wrote: post #15

I have to put the blame on Zenefits here. You cannot offer something to a customer that depends on integration with a competitor. Shame on you. No I don't support ADP and am not a fan but basic business dictates that you should not even offer this service if it depends on integration with a competitor.

Banning a specific domain from being part of a user's email address is not a "breaking integration", it's an intentional, anti-competitive action.

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#25

Post by the_ancient » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 3:58 PM UTC

rblatz wrote: post #9

ADP has some of the worst online offerings. In order to see my paystub or signup for health coverage I use one site. To request time off I have to use a different ADP site. Both have different usernames and passwords. Both sites look like they were made in the IE 5/6 web development drought. I have no real complaints though with how everything actually works though, never had an incorrect paycheck or messed up PTO.

>Both sites look like they were made in the IE 5/6 web development drought.

Complete it old Java Requirements and everything...

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#26

Post by jjulius » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 4:01 PM UTC

rblatz wrote: post #9

ADP has some of the worst online offerings. In order to see my paystub or signup for health coverage I use one site. To request time off I have to use a different ADP site. Both have different usernames and passwords. Both sites look like they were made in the IE 5/6 web development drought. I have no real complaints though with how everything actually works though, never had an incorrect paycheck or messed up PTO.

Huh, interesting. Our company switched from Paychex to ADP last year. In the last month or so their online portal went through a redesign and now looks fairly similar to most modern-day web content. We also have the ability to see our paystubs, request time off and sign up for health coverage all from the same portal.

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#27

Post by threefour » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 4:03 PM UTC

I once had COBRA benefits administered by ADP and they everything they could to boot me off, and once they did they made a mockery of the appeals process (this was before the day of the Affordable Care Act when getting health care could be impossible otherwise).

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#28

Post by Osiris » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 4:08 PM UTC

When I started working at the startup I'm at, we were using Zenefits and Expensify. For some inexplicable reason, in the last few months everything got switched to ADP and Concur, both of which offer a worse experience than what we were using.

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#29

Post by reedloden » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 4:10 PM UTC

jusben1369 wrote: post #23

tomasien wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zenefits' entire service is about re-selling and managing other services. That's like saying an accountant is at fault for relying on payroll processors that may someday decide they want to be accountants too - of course they're not at fault, that's how accounting is DONE. This is ridiculous on ADPs part.

I'm not close enough on the details so I could be wrong. But it sounds like a) Zenefits integrates to ADP and starts being the flow through for payroll. b) Zenefits decides to become a direct competitor to ADP by launching their own payroll service (ZenPayroll mentioned here) c) ADP isn't enthusiastic about supporting a service that plans to upsell or cross sell shared customers to move away from them.

Zenefits and ZenPayroll are two completely different companies. Don't let the "Zen" part confuse you. :)

Re: ADP intentionally broke its Zenefits integration

#30

Post by colmvp » Mon, Jun 08, 2015, 4:12 PM UTC

netaustin wrote: post #7

bwb wrote: post #3

We use ADP and they are one of the worst companies to work with, very very difficult and their web interface is like the 90s.

That's what initially sold us on Zenefits, though — it puts a reasonably polished interface on ADP, which is reliable enough for the commodity money transfer service it provides, I guess. Same goes for Aetna — Zenefits puts a nice UI on commodity health insurance. Working with a traditional broker was a nightmare.

Zenefits was easily one of the worst experiences I've ever had for dealing with switching/canceling health insurance.