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July 2025 Release

Check out everything pushed out to Paychex Flex® Engage This month we added brand new features to better engage your workforce.

Varrsha Ramanna Kumar avatar
Written by Varrsha Ramanna Kumar
Updated over a week ago

Messaging Enhancements

Messaging on Mobile App (Android & iOS):

Users can now access the entire messaging experience from the mobile app. This includes sending and receiving direct messages, participating in group chats and channels, message mentions and reactions, and staying updated in real time. Additionally they can share links, images, videos and files. Messages sync seamlessly between web and mobile for a consistent communication experience. They can download the mobile application from Appstore/Playstore.

Web Notifications & Daily Email:

Staying in the loop even when users are not logged into the chat! Plus, daily email summaries will notify the users about the unread messages across conversations, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. Users can customize their notification preferences through the new bell icon in the UI.

Remove Users from Groups or Channels:

Group and channel owners now have the ability to remove members. This feature allows better control over group membership, ensuring that discussions remain relevant and secure.

Delete Obsolete Groups/Channels:

Messaging admins can now permanently delete channels and group chats that are no longer in use. This helps declutter the messaging interface and improve navigation for active conversations.

Profanity Filters:

In the Messaging module, a profanity filter has been implemented to automatically censor inappropriate language in real-time. When a user sends a message containing any word from the system’s configured list of offensive terms, the word is immediately masked with asterisks (e.g., “****”) before it appears in the conversation. This filter ensures that messages remain professional and respectful without interrupting the user experience with pop-ups or prompts.

Rewards

Company Swag Kits:

Users can now order and track company swag kits (e.g., onboarding gifts, branded merchandise) Users are allowed to make a single order with a specific type of kit - New hire kit that gives users a starting set of company swag. This streamlines swag logistics and ensures timely distribution. This is a great opportunity for employers to send kits for holiday season!

Org Chart Improvements

Department-Based Color Coding:

Each department can now have only one assigned manager. The organizational chart now visually distinguishes departments using color coding. Each department block is labeled, and the designated manager appears prominently above their respective teams. Managers can be assigned or updated from the Organization > Departments section, making reporting structures more transparent.

AI-Powered Enhancements

AI Tools in Text Editor:

Our legacy text editors now support inline AI assistance. Users can select text and apply enhancements like "expand," "shorten," "rephrase," or "formal", or “casual”. Additionally, you can enter your own prompts for more customized assistance and refine them in AI prompt. The AI respects the original formatting, ensuring consistency when inserted into documents or messages.

Example use case - Generate News and Events with AI:

Save time when crafting internal announcements. Just describe the type of news or event you want to publish, and the system generates a draft article automatically. You can then fine-tune the output before publishing.

Forms

Scored Forms for Quantitative Insights:

Forms now support scoring logic for rating-type questions (e.g., star rating, matrix, scale). Admins can enable scoring when publishing the form. The score is calculated upon submission by averaging all applicable responses, excluding “Not Applicable” answers. The final score is stored and displayed with the response record.

Form Acknowledgement Tracking:

When forms require confirmation, users can now explicitly acknowledge they’ve read or accepted the content. Acknowledgement status is visible to admins, which helps with compliance tracking and audit readiness.

Form Export CSV

Additionally, to ensure consistency and compliance with the rest of the system's behavior, the export functionality should respect any active filters or search terms applied within the Form results view. This means that only the currently displayed, filtered rows should be included in the export, allowing admins to download targeted datasets as needed. The exported CSV should support UTF-8 encoding to preserve special characters in responses and employee names, and multi-line text fields (e.g., open-ended question answers or descriptions) should be wrapped in quotes to prevent formatting issues in spreadsheet tools.

Events

Events Posting permission based on group membership

Admins will now see an additional permission under events in the access group management section. Manage Team Events will allow users with that permission to post events ONLY to groups that they are a part of. For example, they will only be able to post to departments, locations, or teams they are also members of. This removes the ability for users to have access to send to the whole company or nothing.

Compensation

Create Bonus- or Equity-Only Cycles:

Admins can now create compensation cycles that include only bonus or equity adjustments, without mandating a base pay increase. This provides more flexibility for different types of compensation reviews.

Reviews

Anniversary Reviews:

A new review type — Anniversary Reviews — is now supported. Admins can schedule performance reviews based on an employee’s work anniversary, streamlining periodic feedback cycles independent of calendar-based timelines.

Review Execution Status CSV:

Admins can now download a CSV report showing the execution status of active review cycles, including participation, submission, and approval stats — making tracking and follow-up more efficient.

Review Process Editing Enhancements

Now after a review process has closed, users are allowed to re-open the whole review process rather than single user's review at a time.

Coming Soon

Rewards

Points from Hours Worked:

A new automation allows reward points to be awarded based on hours worked per pay period. Admins can configure the value-per-hour rate and apply filters to determine eligibility. Once the criteria are met, employees are automatically credited with reward points, making performance-linked incentives easier to manage.

Tasks MVP

The platform now supports an upgraded Task Management feature tailored for individual, team, and workflow-driven tasks. Users can create and manage personal tasks for their own tracking, while team tasks allow visibility and delegation within designated departments or groups. Tasks tied to workflows are system-generated and support actions like onboarding steps or review participation. Admins can define task types, due dates, and priorities, with flexible visibility controls. Future iterations will support recurring tasks, filtering, and integration with a unified “To-Do” dashboard view for streamlined work management.

Access management MVP

The new Access Management module, available under System Settings, gives administrators centralized control over user permissions, device access, and system integrations. Divided into three key sections—Devices, Systems, and Users—this feature allows admins to monitor login activity, manage system-level tokens and integrations, and assign roles and access rights to users. Additionally, the module includes a History & Audit tab that provides a complete log of access changes and user activity, ensuring transparency and reinforcing organizational security protocols.

Career Development MVP

Employees now have a dedicated space to manage and explore their growth journey with the new Career Track module. Users can view their current role, understand role expectations, and explore adjacent roles in their career path. Each role includes a clear breakdown of required competencies, and a side-by-side comparison tool helps employees see how they measure up. To support ongoing development, users can take personal notes, plan future growth with scrap lists, or even schedule a 1-on-1 with their manager directly from the platform using the integrated meeting setup feature. Managers see an extended view with oversight on team progress, enabling proactive career planning.


SMS notifications for Messaging and News

SMS Notification Preferences

Users now have the option to receive important communication summaries via SMS. By accessing the notification preferences through the bell icon in the UI, users can enroll their mobile number, verify it through an OTP, and opt in for daily SMS notifications. These messages provide a quick summary of unread content, helping users stay informed without needing to be logged into the platform.

News Notifications (Email/SMS)

Stay informed about company-wide announcements with the new notification system for News articles and Events. Users can now receive alerts through daily emails, or SMS messages whenever new content is published. Whether you’re away from the platform or offline, these notifications ensure critical updates reach you promptly. Users can personalize their alert settings using the same bell icon used for message notifications.


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