ADP Workforce is a robust HR and payroll management platform designed to help businesses streamline and automate key processes. With comprehensive features for payroll, benefits, talent management and more, ADP Workforce provides an all-in-one solution.
In this detailed ADP Workforce review, we will cover the key features, pricing, pros and cons, and ideal users of this platform. Read on to determine if ADP Workforce is the right HR and payroll software for your business needs.
Introduction to ADP Workforce
ADP Workforce is a cloud-based platform that combines HR, payroll, time tracking, talent management and benefits administration. Developed by ADP, one of the largest HR solutions providers, ADP Workforce serves over 740,000 companies across 140 countries.
With ADP Workforce, all your key HR data and tools are accessible in one place. Core features include:
- Payroll – Process payroll across multiple states and countries. Includes tax filing and payments.
- Time & Attendance – Track employee hours and time off. Enables seamless payroll integration.
- Benefits Administration – Manage, enroll and update employee benefits plans.
- Talent Management – Recruit, onboard and develop employees with talent tools.
- HR Tools – HR document management, employee self-service, org charts and more.
- Reporting & Analytics – Real-time reports and analytics for data-driven decisions.
ADP Workforce aims to provide an all-in-one HR platform suitable for SMBs to large enterprises. Let’s examine the details of ADP Workforce’s features.
Key Features and Tools of ADP Workforce
ADP Workforce provides a deep set of features across HR, payroll, time tracking, talent management and more. Here are some of the platform’s core capabilities:
Payroll Management
- Multiple pay types – Salary, hourly, overtime, bonuses, reimbursements, garnishments
- Payroll processing – Automatic tax calculations, direct deposits, paycheck printing
- Tax management – Tax filings, W-2s, year-end reporting
- Global capabilities – 130+ countries, currencies and languages
Time & Attendance Tracking
- Clock in/out systems
- PTO management
- Scheduling and shift tracking
- Labor cost tracking
- Automated timecard approvals
- Integration with payroll
Benefits Administration
- Benefits enrollment management
- ACA compliance tracking
- Carrier connections for online benefits enrollment
- Life event change management
- COBRA administration
- Benefits self-service portal
Talent Management
- Applicant tracking system (ATS)
- Onboarding tools and templates
- Performance management
- Succession planning
- Compensation management
- Learning management system (LMS)
- Diversity, equity and inclusion tools
HR Management Tools
- Organization charts with profile management
- Employee self-service portal
- Document storage and digitization
- Customizable workflows
- HR task reminders
- Standard and custom reports
Platform Experience
- Multi-device access
- Single database
- Real-time reporting and analytics dashboards
- API and integrations
- Permissions-based access
- Multilingual capabilities
- 24/7 support and training
This overview highlights the comprehensive features provided across ADP Workforce. It enables robust management for the entire employee lifecycle. Next let’s look at how ADP Workforce handles core payroll processing.
ADP Workforce Payroll Management Capabilities
Payroll processing is a core capability of ADP Workforce. The platform aims to automate and simplify payroll tasks for accuracy and efficiency.
Some key highlights of ADP Workforce payroll features:
- Multiple pay types – In addition to standard salary and hourly pay, ADP supports overtime, bonuses, commissions, reimbursements, garnishments and more.
- Payroll frequencies – Process payroll on weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly schedules. Supports off-cycle or one-time payments.
- Payroll taxes – Automatic federal, state and local tax calculations. Supports tax deposits and filings.
- Direct deposit – Deposit employee pay to bank accounts, pay cards or checks. Includes on-demand pay options.
- Global capabilities – Calculate pay in over 130 currencies. Complies with country-specific regulations.
- Reporting – Generate reports on payroll costs, liabilities, taxes, deductions, pay history and more.
- Payroll integrations – Connect payroll with time and attendance, accounting tools, benefits systems and more.
- Employee self-service – Employees can view pay statements, W-2s and make changes in a self-service portal.
ADP Workforce handles complex payroll tasks and enables seamless integration with other systems like time and attendance. Customizable roles and permissions allow access control over payroll.
Below are some examples of how ADP Workforce calculates different pay types and deductions in the payroll process:
Sample Pay Types
| Pay Type | Calculation |
|-|-|
| Salary Pay | Annual salary / number of pay periods |
| Hourly Pay | Hourly rate x hours worked|
| Overtime Pay | Overtime hours x 1.5 hourly rate |
| Bonuses | Flat bonus amounts or percentage of base pay |
| Reimbursements | Based on receipts submitted |
Sample Deductions
| Deduction | Calculation |
|-|-|
| Federal Income Tax | Based on federal tax brackets, filing status, deductions|
| Social Security | 6.2% of gross pay, up to annual limit |
| Medicare | 1.45% of gross pay |
| 401(k) | Percentage or fixed amount elected for contribution |
| Health Insurance | Monthly premium cost |
This level of flexibility and automation simplifies payroll processing for any organization. Next let’s examine the time tracking capabilities.
Time & Attendance Management
ADP Workforce provides robust tools to manage and track employee time. This enables seamless integration with payroll.
Key time tracking features include:
- Time clock – Employees can clock in and out via web portal, mobile app, biometrics.
- Scheduling – Create and manage employee schedules with shift tracking.
- Time off requests – Submit and approve PTO requests.
- Rules engine – Configure pay rules, overtime policies and time tracking.
- Labor cost tracking – Reports on labor hours, costs and productivity.
- Notifications – Alerts for pending approvals, missed punches, overtime.
- Integrations – Auto-sync with payroll, ERPs, shift-scheduling software.
With these tools, managers can ensure accurate time tracking and simplify the process from time to payroll. It eliminates manual processes while enforcing policies.
Below is a sample time and attendance workflow in ADP Workforce:
- Employees clock in/out each day via mobile app. GPS coordinates validate location.
- Timecard is generated with hours worked, overtime, and time off.
- Manager approves timecard by end of week.
- Approved hours sync automatically to payroll.
- Payroll processes with time data factored into earnings.
- Labor reports provide analysis on hours worked, absenteeism and more.
This demonstrates how ADP Workforce optimizes and connects time tracking with payroll for a streamlined process.
Next let’s look at how ADP Workforce manages benefits administration.
Benefits Management Capabilities
ADP Workforce provides robust tools for managing employee benefits plans and enrollment. This simplifies benefit administration processes.
Key benefits management features include:
- Benefits configuration – Set up, manage and update benefit plans.
- Enrollment – Annual open enrollment management and life event enrollment.
- Carrier connections – Integrate with insurance carriers for online enrollment.
- Compliance – Manage ACA reporting, 5500 forms, COBRA.
- Self-service – Employees manage benefits via online portal.
- Notifications – Alerts on enrollment deadlines, qualifying events, terminations.
- Reporting – Benefit cost analysis, enrollment analytics.
By leveraging these tools, HR can optimize the benefits administration process from open enrollment to life events. Key advantages include:
- Reduce manual processes by digitizing paperwork.
- Ensure compliance with changing regulations.
- Allow employees to make changes and updates digitally.
- Gain data-driven insights into benefits plans.
Below is an example employee enrollment process using ADP Workforce:
- HR configures health, dental, vision benefits plans in the system.
- During open enrollment, employees review plans and elect benefits online.
- Benefit elections integrate automatically with payroll deductions.
- Life events like marriage are entered in the self-service portal, triggering enrollment changes.
- Reports provide open enrollment analytics for future planning.
This demonstrates how ADP Workforce simplifies and automates complex benefits administration processes.
ADP Workforce Talent Management Tools
ADP Workforce provides an integrated talent management suite to optimize the employee lifecycle. This includes features for:
Recruiting and Onboarding
- Applicant tracking system to manage job postings and candidates
- Customizable onboarding templates and tasks
- Digital paperwork and eSignature capture
- Automated profile creation from recruiting to payroll
Performance Management
- Goal setting and reviews tied to compensation
- Customizable performance review forms
- Ongoing feedback and check-ins
- Calibration tools to ensure rating consistency
Learning
- Content libraries for training courses and videos
- Assignments, quizzes and surveys
- Reporting on learning programs
- Certification and compliance training
Succession Planning
- Organization charts with profile management
- Job description analysis
- Succession review process
- 9-box grid reporting
With an integrated talent management system, growing businesses can optimize their people processes under one platform. This enhances the employee experience from hire to retire.
Additional HR Tools in ADP Workforce
In addition to the above features, ADP Workforce provides a full suite of HR management tools including:
- Employee self-service – Allows employees to access pay statements, request time off, update info.
- Document management – Store, manage and organize employee files digitally.
- Org charts – Visually manage and update organizational structure.
- Custom workflows – Automate multi-step HR processes for efficiency.
- Task management – Assign and track HR tasks with reminders.
- Reporting – 300+ standard reports on all HR data, plus customization.
- Mobile access – Manage HR tasks on-the-go with mobile apps.
- Integrations – Connect with leading business systems via API.
These tools aim to provide an all-in-one HR system-of-record for core to advanced functions. The platform experience is designed to be user-friendly, highly configurable and mobile-accessible.
Next let’s examine the ideal users of ADP Workforce.
Ideal Users of ADP Workforce
ADP Workforce is built to serve HR needs for SMBs to large enterprises in any industry. Ideal users include:
- Growing mid-market businesses – With 50 – 1000+ employees, ADP provides robust capabilities without overcomplexity.
- Large enterprises – Global, complex needs are supported with advanced payroll, talent management and analytics.
- Multistate/national businesses – Those operating across multiple states benefit from unified payroll and compliance.
- Franchises – Franchisors and franchisees can collaborate within the system.
- Any industry – Vertical-specific features support healthcare, manufacturing, services, non-profit and more.
- Distributed workforces – With remote tools, ADP Workforce enables managing decentralized teams.
Businesses aiming to optimize HR processes with a unified, data-driven platform are well-suited for ADP Workforce. The system scales to needs of SMBs and large enterprises alike.
Now that we’ve reviewed the features, let’s compare ADP Workforce pricing and plans.
ADP Workforce Pricing and Plans
ADP Workforce uses a tiered pricing model based on number of employees. All plans include core HR, payroll, time management, and access to the ADP Marketplace.
Here is an overview of ADP Workforce pricing:
| Plan | Employees | Cost Per Month |
|-|-|-|
| Essential | 1 – 49 | $144 base + $8 per employee|
| Enhanced | 50 – 999 | Quote-based|
| Comprehensive | 1,000+ | Quote-based|
Custom quotes are provided for plans above 50 employees. All quotes are based on your unique needs and number of product modules.
Some additional cost factors include:
- Set up fees – One-time fee for implementation and onboarding
- Add-on modules – For supplements like recruiting, learning, or advanced analytics
- Payment processing – Per-employee fee if paying via ADP instead of company bank
Overall, ADP Workforce offers flexible pricing suitable for most growing businesses. Competitive quotes are given based on your specific needs and modules.
Next let’s compare the pros and cons of this platform.
ADP Workforce Pros and Cons
ADP Workforce has many strengths as a leading all-in-one HRIS and payroll platform, but there are some downsides to consider.
Pros
- Very robust feature set across HR, payroll, time, talent, and benefits
- Specific capabilities for complex needs like global payroll
- Platform scales smoothly from SMB to large enterprise
- Integrated talent management system
- Highly configurable to your processes and workflows
- Mobile apps provide access from anywhere
- Industry-leading payroll accuracy and compliance
Potential Cons
- Can be complex to learn with deep feature set
- Implementation requires heavy lifting for desired customization
- Must go through sales for pricing details
- Add-ons and upgrades increase costs significantly
- Limited native analytics and reporting
- HRIS capabilities lag behind pure SaaS competitors
For the right business, ADP Workforce provides an end-to-end platform with advanced capabilities. However, it requires investment to customize and optimize. The platform also lags behind in ease of use compared to SaaS solutions.
Let’s look next at customer reviews of ADP Workforce from real users.
ADP Workforce Reviews: What Real Users Are Saying
ADP Workforce earns positive feedback for its payroll accuracy, global capabilities, and platform depth. But users cite challenges with complex configuration, average support, and clunky UI.
Here are some sample customer reviews from Gartner, Capterra, and G2:
“Does payroll very well including direct deposit, quarterlies, W-2s. We have employees in about 15 states and it handles everything seamlessly.”
“Tons of features and customization but far more complex than it needs to be. Took forever to set up and still having growing pains.”
“Helpful for tracking global employees. We run payroll in over 20 countries smoothly.”
“The UI is pretty outdated looking and clunky on desktop and mobile. Takes too many clicks to do simple tasks.”
“It takes a lot of effort to get it highly customized to our processes. But well worth it in the end.”
“The support team is hit or miss. When they know what they’re doing, they’re helpful, but wait times can be long.”
In summary, ADP Workforce provides extensive capabilities with the expected challenges of a large legacy platform. It excels at handling complex payroll needs but falls short on ease of use.
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Next we’ll look at some of the top alternative HRIS systems to consider.
Top Alternatives to ADP Workforce
ADP Workforce is one of many options in the HRIS and payroll management space. Top competitors include:
Gusto – A simpler, more user-friendly SaaS HRIS targeted at SMBs. Streamlined payroll and benefits with clean interface. More limited capabilities compared to Workforce.
BambooHR – Cloud-based HRIS with intuitive UI and robust employee data tools. Lacks payroll processing and talent management of Workforce.
Oracle HCM Cloud – Full-featured global HRIS from enterprise leader Oracle. Comparable to Workforce but with a modern SaaS platform.
SAP SuccessFactors – Leading HRIS and talent management suite focused on large enterprises. Comparable capabilities to Workforce.
Workday – End-to-end cloud HCM system with leading payroll engine. Cleaner interface than Workforce.
Paychex Flex – All-in-one payroll and HR solution aimed at SMBs. More basic features compared to Workforce.
UKG Pro – Unified HCM platform from Kronos and Ultimate Software merger. Competes directly with Workforce.
For growing mid-market businesses, Gusto, BambooHR, Oracle HCM or SAP SuccessFactors provide strong alternatives to ADP Workforce depending on needs.
Is ADP Workforce the Right Platform for You?
ADP Workforce provides a robust all-in-one HCM platform suitable for complex needs at enterprise scale. But it requires heavy investment to customize and may prove too complex for lean HR teams.
The platform makes the most sense for larger businesses with advanced global payroll and compliance needs. Growing mid-market firms may be better served by a modern SaaS competitor that prioritizes ease of use.
Determining the best HRIS and payroll partner for your business depends on:
- Your current scale and growth trajectory
- The complexity of your HR processes
- Appetite for investing time in a deep platform
- Need for advanced global capabilities
- Available HR and IT
