ADP Workforce Now vs. TriNet

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ADP Workforce Now
Score 7.4 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
ADP Workforce Now is a cloud-based HR platform for mid-sized businesses. It features customizable modules of various HR services that businesses can tailor to their specific needs, as well as regulatory monitoring and alerts to help businesses remain compliant.N/A
TriNet
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
TriNet provides small and medium size businesses (SMBs) with full-service HR and payroll solutions tailored by industry. TriNet also offers specialized services through client access to HR representatives for advice and notifications on impactful regulatory changes.N/A
Pricing
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Editions & Modules
Essential
Contact sales team
Enhanced
Contact sales team
Complete
Contact sales team
HR Pro
Contact sales team
Payroll Essentials
Contact sales team
HR Plus
Contact sales team
Hiring Advantage
Contact sales team
Performance Plus
Contact sales team
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPlease contact ADP for a product demo and ask about a hands-on "test drive" of Workforce Now.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Considered Both Products
ADP Workforce Now
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Still new to ADP, processed first year end and happy with overall result and timeline.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
A lot of products attempt to please everybody and in the end please nobody. They make their products too complicated and too customizable so they don't really work well, they lack structure. ADP has experience and support, it gives you just enough ability to create your own …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now offers more custom modules that provide an excellent workflow, where as Synerion doesn't.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now has greater integration possibilities, scheduling and data management capabilities than Payworks. ADP Workforce Now is better designed for businesses with more complex needs. I have found ADP's customer service more responsive and better informed to help …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Great system and easy to use by employees for payroll and time off but too many functions to master easily. Don't want to call ADP for support every time I need assistance.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Price, user experience, user interface, all in one system, customization, on-boarding and payroll. ADP customization with user fields, employment profile and automation of employment changes, on-boarding and off-boarding.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
The 100% error free payroll each pay period has been PRICELESS compared to other payroll providers we have used.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now is hands-down much more user-friendly with more functionality than Paylocity. Reporting is also much easier and better on ADP Workforce Now. Integrations, much more fluid on ADP Workforce Now.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
From the very beginning, we’ve felt completely confident in every step of our journey with ADP Workforce Now. The clarity and guidance we’ve received have been immaculate, and at no point have we ever felt confused or unsure of what the next steps were. The communication has …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
I also used UltiPro (way back -- it didn't even appear in dropdown). Recommend ADP Workforce Now above all others. Paycor and Paycom were both very clunky. I even helped implement Paycom and could never get it to work how the business needed it to.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Dayforce was used for a previous acquisition. We only used it for a few months, but I was so glad we didn't need to continue using it. It was not an easy platform to use at the time. Not sure if it has gotten any better since we were required to use it.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now is a mature player with many customers, which means issues tend to be well-documented, patches distributed, and there is institutional support for keeping things running. Because many core needs (payroll, benefits, HR, compliance) are bundled, often there is …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We are seriously considering moving to Paylocity due to challenges with labor allocations in ADP Workforce Now. Currently, it’s difficult to preview payroll reports when labor allocations are applied. The system breaks down the payroll register by employee and allocation, but …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now has a more robust reporting program, ADP has better hours for customer service, and was much easier to learn. I have used both Paycom and Paychex and both came with little to no training, and was a pain to learn. The reporting was less than desirable. ADP was …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now is simpler than workday. Workday can act up sometime but ADP is mostly sane.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Very comparable items. UKG seems to have better reports to build. More customizable dashboard for employees. As of right now, the customer service is quicker. ADP Workforce Now is widely known and therefore more people seem comfortable with it.
I do hate when a new hire has …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP offers a more robust catalogue of solutions, making it a true HRIS system as opposed to other solutions, such as Gusto or QuickBooks. Both are great for payroll processing and QuickBooks for enhanced accounting support, but neither is an HRIS system that allows you to …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now stacks up pretty well however Paycom seems like it would be a lot easier to navigate and use. All the data is centralized in one platform section making searching and setting up a lot easier. Compared to ADP Workforce Now if you search in one area for data and …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
I used Humanity for scheduling and organization communication. I found it to be a better system for those needs than similar uses in ADP.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Our company was with Paycom and while it was very customizable - it required a lot of manual entry / management - often in multiple places within the system. Paycom did not offer the ability to easily scale that we were looking for - they also did not have a clean solution for …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP works better- user friendly. The reporting is the main reason I prefer ADP over UKG. There is simply no comparison! ADP make is easy to pull information you need in no time at all. I felt like with UKG you needed to be a pro at building reports. Hands down ADP is better
Chose ADP Workforce Now
They pale compared to ADP because they each have broken systems that do not flow from beginning to end. Another system is required to support all of the functions needed to process payroll. That puts too much on me, the person, instead of the system. We should work smarter, not …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
The employee facing app for Paycom is better than ADP but on the back side administration ADP is more robust and provides a better experience for the payroll professional.
TriNet
Chose TriNet
Justworks was a front runner but literally couldn't run payroll the way we needed at all. There was no way to make it work.
Rippling didn't have the certifications we wanted and found that their 'we don't nickel and dime you' promise as all-inclusive as they promised.
ADP is …
Chose TriNet
TriNet stands out far from the crowd. The Trinet team is pleasant to work with and understands our organization's needs. Their sales team was reasonable and worked with our PEO broker to ensure the arrangement was beneficial for everyone. Unlike some other popular payroll …
Chose TriNet
GreenShades had several issues with the benefit platform! We continued to find issues with the benefit deductions and enrollments with the providers for 9 months after open enrollment. Much of my time was spent auditing and fixing the errors.
Chose TriNet
TriNet is more streamlined than Workday
Chose TriNet
TriNet is quite similar, but not as user-friendly. The support is much better in my experience, though.
Chose TriNet
Easier implementation and processing with other vendors, but HR compliance is strong at TriNet.
Chose TriNet
Rippling is more of a tech company than HR. They didn’t provide a specific point of contact but a generic email address for customer success/support. Overall, the platform looked better than TriNet, but we were not sold on the EPLI they offered. We didn’t hear good things from …
Chose TriNet
I researched all 3 but TriNet clearly had the most to offer. Justworks focuses on small businesses like us and they were a close second but ultimately, I felt that TriNet gave us the biggest bang for our buck. Plus, our specialist is local to our headquarters which just made me …
Chose TriNet
TriNet does a great job at payroll, compliance, caring for the employees, resources for benefits, even free services offered to help and assist if needed. Very clean UI, and user-friendly and intuitive. Great for back office compliance. The customer service is vastly better …
Chose TriNet
I used ADP in the company I worked for before, but I was not responsible for nearly as much as I am with my current job. I never got too in-depth with ADP, but I already know that TriNet far exceeds what we had with ADP.
Chose TriNet
In short, cost. The per-person admin fee and benefit costs were less expensive, with overall services provided being commensurate.
Chose TriNet
Leaving TriNet due to high fees and poor tax team support
Chose TriNet
My company has been using TriNet for over a decade. The decision was made before I joined; however, it was a good business decision for us at the time due to the size of our company.
Chose TriNet
Not listed in the database is CoAdvantage, another excellent competitor that is under the radar. In any case, all three offer dramatically higher quality product, better benefits negotiation and stronger customer support. In my opinion, they are clearly going after clients who …
Chose TriNet
Because of TriNet's ability to work with Hawaii and K-1, they've stood out. However, our search for other PEO's or doing an ASO partnership haven't stopped due to the cost of medical coverage.
Chose TriNet
Smaller business feel, a lot more attentive fees seem comparable
Chose TriNet
When we first started with TriNet, it was a long process to get a report setup with all the information we needed on it. This report is what I use to complete my own report to corporate office. I was able to get all the information on one report but I was not able to have it …
Chose TriNet
In my opinion, TriNet is old and slow compared to some of the others.
Chose TriNet
We use ClearCompany for performance management and as our ATS. At the time, we were looking to add an ATS, TriNet's system was just not as flexible and was not as advanced as ClearCompany's system. Same with performance management. We are able to do a lot more with a lot more …
Chose TriNet
We use Justworks quite a bit, but the difference is the designated support specialist. They only offer a general # to call into or a chat box. Also, they don't offer an audit prior to payroll processing, which I find helpful to keep accuracy and detect any errors. The JW …
Chose TriNet
Comparable on most things. But the education and the Wing is great and a huge additive to TriNet.
Features
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.7
Ratings
5% below category average
TriNet
7.2
Ratings
12% below category average
Employee demographic data8.60 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Employment history8.40 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.10 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.40 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Organizational charting7.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Organization and location management7.50 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.20 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
8.1
Ratings
0% below category average
TriNet
8.0
Ratings
1% below category average
Pay calculation9.10 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.30 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.40 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.20 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.20 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.30 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
8.0
Ratings
2% below category average
TriNet
6.9
Ratings
17% below category average
Approval workflow7.70 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Balance details8.30 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.10 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.9
Ratings
4% below category average
TriNet
7.4
Ratings
10% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.50 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Update personal information8.60 Ratings8.10 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.10 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Employee recognition6.30 Ratings6.00 Ratings
View job history7.70 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.0
Ratings
29% below category average
TriNet
1.0
Ratings
156% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets6.00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.9
Ratings
9% below category average
TriNet
6.7
Ratings
11% below category average
Report builder7.60 Ratings6.40 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.20 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.80 Ratings6.50 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.3
Ratings
9% below category average
TriNet
7.2
Ratings
10% below category average
New hire portal7.70 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Manager tracking tools7.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.7
Ratings
18% below category average
TriNet
6.4
Ratings
23% below category average
Corporate goal setting6.80 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Individual goal setting6.40 Ratings6.40 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility6.60 Ratings6.40 Ratings
Performance tracking6.90 Ratings6.60 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.5
Ratings
19% below category average
TriNet
6.6
Ratings
18% below category average
Performance plans6.50 Ratings6.60 Ratings
Performance improvement plans6.20 Ratings6.40 Ratings
Review status tracking6.30 Ratings6.40 Ratings
Review reminders7.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Multiple review frequency6.50 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.0
Ratings
27% below category average
TriNet
7.3
Ratings
7% below category average
Create succession plans/pools5.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking5.80 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Candidate search6.30 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Candidate development6.20 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
5.6
Ratings
33% below category average
TriNet
7.3
Ratings
7% below category average
Job Requisition Management6.90 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Company Website Posting6.60 Ratings5.50 Ratings
Publish to Social Media4.20 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting5.90 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention2.30 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Applicant Tracking6.70 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts6.80 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.2 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(0 ratings)
5.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
2.8
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
7.3
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Performance
6.4
(0 ratings)
7.7
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.2
(0 ratings)
7.1
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Online Training
5.8
(0 ratings)
8.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.5
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(0 ratings)
5.2
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.1
(0 ratings)
5.2
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.7
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.2
(0 ratings)
7.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
6.1
(0 ratings)
6.9
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Likelihood to Recommend
My great experiences with ADP are largely due to the experience I have within the system and the service level we receive through Kelly and Brian. On the technical side, we have immense support from Abhayjyot Mann who heavily supports the payroll team with any request or problem. All in all, my team is satisfied with ADP and are excited for our continued partnership.
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TriNet is extremely knowledgeable and able to meet a wide variety of needs, such as handling K-1 employees and employees in Hawaii. It's challenging in the sense that pulling reports can result in blocks/barriers based on the number of employees one has.
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Pros
  • HRIS that is personalized for the employee and addresses DE&I needs.
  • Payroll, of course! The system addresses all needs, such as deductions, additional pay, premium OT, and shift differentials.
  • Onboarding is an excellent way to stay in compliance and have all documents completed.
  • Tax and Banking and resolution to any issues.
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  • Extensive variety of benefit program plan designs and partners. Something for everyone.
  • One stop shopping for all health and wellness benefits.
  • Continue to add new offerings, such as access to Salary.com at a discount and access to Carta at a discount to manage employee stock programs.
  • On top of compliance by state.
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Cons
  • Customized pre-process payroll reports (Limited on pre-process payroll reports)
  • Labor Allocation (Allocations make payroll reporting very hard to review and find any errors )
  • Recruiting (ATS is very basic)
  • Geofencing (should be able to change shape rather than a circle)
  • Pay Classes (should be able to change at Practitioner level rather than reach out to support)
  • Cookies and Cache have to be cleared on a regular basis
  • Only able to see employee documents/acknowledgements one at a time in the employee file
  • Timecards can only be managed/viewed by 1 person
  • Timeoff emails do not have a link
  • Cost per payroll - not just monthly fee so cost with off cycle payrolls
  • Separate I9 step not needed - during onboarding - 2nd Everify step
  • ADP Workforce Now does not pull in allowances for Houly employees into payroll ONLY Salaried employees
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  • Time Clock More User Friendly
  • On Staff Admin ability to assist employees is slightly less than I'd like. I don't like being told to have the employee contact for platform issues. I'd like to advocate more for my employees.
  • Expense Reimbursement better integrated with the payroll functionality.
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Likelihood to Renew
We are happy with the service and options offered by ADP. Although the cost is a bit high for a not-for-profit organization, it is essential that we have multi-jurisdictional support for the 20 plus states where employees work and reside. As our company is diminishing in size, we may need to look at making a change to conserve costs. At this time, that would be the only reason we would not renew our WFN contract.
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e are currently seeing a massive shift in HR tech, with rapid strides being made in the integration of AI and Machine Learning models. These advancements allow for:Predictive analytics for workforce planning.Automated, intelligent chatbots for instant employee support.Smart data synthesis that provides actionable insights rather than just raw numbers.TriNet appears to be lagging in these areas, missing opportunities to leverage AI to reduce administrative overhead and improve data accuracy
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Usability
Lack of documentation and test environment make it extremely difficult to deploy work processes through the system. While there are a handful of things throughout the system that work well, particularly from an employee's perspective, many tasks, which would be simple for practitioner users in other systems, require these users to ask for administrator support. Additionally, the ghosts in the ADP machine cause established process (e.g. automated report delivery) to stop working with no notice and no error report.
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The platform is highly intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy to navigate for both admins and employees when handling everyday tasks like payroll processing, benefits enrollment, and HR reporting. The flexibility in HR and payroll features does not require a need for extensive training. The mobile app stands out as amazing, with a great interface that enables quick access to employee related items
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Reliability and Availability
ADP outages are very rare
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We had an issue with application errors - took TriNet 5 months to fix it, mean while we had someone manually tracking and keeping up with many requests and questions about the application error which affected time off. When we were all registering for Benefits during open enrollment there were lots of bugs that caused issues with registering for benefits or being able to see what benefits were available
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Performance
Overall, I think the functionality of the program works pretty well. Sometimes, certain browsers do not work well for the policy function of ADP, but that is the only issue thus far
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For the most part pages load quickly. Working for a software company we understand performance is everything, even a few seconds delay can feel like a lifetime, that being said, we ran into a few times where pages didn't load, information didn't load correctly, and an influx in users (like open enrollment) cause things to slow down
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Support Rating
The Bridge is great for self-service. The ticketing system is effective and people are responsive. I really like the chat feature which is available for many sections of ADP. Those agents are top notch and quick to get you an easy and correct answer
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The support overall is very good. There seems to be a good number of customer support staff and they are knowledgeable and pleasant to deal with and it almost all cases are able to resolve the question or issue very quickly. My only complaint would be having to wait in some cases as I'm based in the UK and the correct department may not be open 24 hours.
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In-Person Training
In-person training was pretty good - I think this significantly depends on the trainer. Our trainer was really good and showed what ADP can do - but I know that all trainers are not the same - and this truly makes such as difference. Overall, our training went pretty well.
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it's been awhile, but I recall them being helpful. I got through a lot of it and when I needed help, they can walk me through it over the phone. It's also pretty user friendly in general at a platform. I don't really know what else to type, but they came and helped me in person and also when there was something new, they came and talked to me. They have not done that since with the new model that I hate
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Online Training
At the time training was not as expansive as it is now. If it could go wrong it did for me so the process was difficult and lengthy. I needed to have more in person walkthroughs of things to ensure the transition was done correctly. Not sure what else I can say, we were part of the initial move to Workforce Now when it was introduced.
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it was good, but now I haven't done much and since they changed their model, it's a lot harder to deal with. We're talking online training of the trinet platform and not the online training they provide, right? Their online training is ok, and is unfortunate that there is a totally separate model for training that costs extra when we would only watch one or two things. However, the mandatory sexual harassment training is actually pretty good, it was just a little clunky
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Implementation Rating
Either assign more than one specialist to the implementation process, or assign less clients to the implementation specialist. The process requires attention to detail and the ability to test and re-test as well as verify the information. It also requires a lot of back and forth between the client ant the implementation specialist, so they need to be readily available during the whole implementation process.
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not applicable as I implementation was done 5 years ago and have no recollection of the details of the process. Above it says to skip question if not involved in the process but it will not allow me to skip it as it states explanation requitred thus making this process extremely frustrating.
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Alternatives Considered
ADP Workforce Now has greater integration possibilities, scheduling and data management capabilities than Payworks. ADP Workforce Now is better designed for businesses with more complex needs. I have found ADP's customer service more responsive and better informed to help customize the product, reports, and/or just clarify instructions to complete payroll. Payworks may be better suited for small businesses with simply payroll needs, however ADP does offer the On The Go platform which stacks up well them, so I would advise someone to explore this option as well.
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I researched all 3 but TriNet clearly had the most to offer. Justworks focuses on small businesses like us and they were a close second but ultimately, I felt that TriNet gave us the biggest bang for our buck. Plus, our specialist is local to our headquarters which just made me feel better
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Scalability
We have several departments that utilize the reporting, utilize the timecards and the system. We also have self service that is nice for all of our employees. This system allows us to designate what each group can see, and what employees can change, or who can clock in and out offsite
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We are a small company, do we use it across departments and sites? Yes, we are all remote working, so there are as many sites as there are people. We also have our entire staff using TriNet, so every department from Accounting, Admin, HR, Development, QA, and Management are all using this. Can't say for sure how great the scalability is as we are only about 30 employees
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Return on Investment
  • ADP Workforce Now handles all of our tax filing which frees up our time to do other things. They keep us compliant communicating updates on a timely basis.
  • Calculates payrolls accurately. Our management and employees have built a level of confidence due to the ease of pulling statements, year end documents etc.
  • A really nice feature is the follow up email what a change has been made to banking information. There were a couple of times the employee did not make changes to their account information. This kept their funds from getting routed into the wrong hands.
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  • TriNet has raised the level of professionalism for our organization by having a really good platform that provides employees and management with easy data entry and reporting infrastructure.
  • I am sure that the benefits that TriNet offers have helped us recruit and retain excellent staff.
  • TriNet has reduced the time and energy spent on onboarding new employees.
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ScreenShots

ADP Workforce Now Screenshots

Screenshot of ADP Workforce Now: a simple and complete human capital management solutionScreenshot of Benchmarking by ADP DataCloud: an application with an extensive data set ... available to ADP Workforce Now clientsScreenshot of ADP Workforce Now clients can equip their employees with the ADP Mobile self-service app