Payroll Made Easy: Automated Payroll Service Claims To Make the Process Quick and PainlessZenefits' new product can reduce the bimonthly task to less than five minutes, the company claims.

Zenefits is one of those Silicon Valley unicorns -- a billion-dollar company once the darling of investors. It grew by offering free accounting and automated, cloud-based HR programs for small businesses (and made its money selling health insurance). But after three years of boom times, the company's revenue growth slowed. So now it's expanding its services -- and the company's attempt to save itself may also save entrepreneurs a big hassle.

The new product: automated,freepayroll services.

The service, which is still being tested with a small group of companies, aims to handle payroll for employers of any size. It automates state tax filings in all 50 states and deductions for health and retirement benefits and adjusts paychecks based on vacation days and sick leave taken. It handles prorated checks for new hires as well as COBRA premiums and final payouts for exiting employees. (An upgraded version, at $25 plus $4 per employee per month, lets companies tweak deductions or contributions for benefits programs outside of Zenefits.) The company is aiming to roll out the service on April 1.