ADP - Strong but not without its drawbacks.
Updated February 16, 2021

ADP - Strong but not without its drawbacks.

Stephanie Swap | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with ADP Workforce Now

We currently use ADP Workforce Now for payroll and timekeeping. Some departments utilize the scheduling feature. We also use it for benefits enrollment, reports/analytics, time off, employment applications, and some applicant tracking.
  • Reporting: can create reports to analyze any aspect of labor resources
  • Payroll: relatively easy to use, efficient
  • Mobile app easy to understand for employees
  • ADP support fairly strong, fast
  • When something goes wrong on ADP's side (i.e. incorrect time-off accruals), issues can be difficult to fix.
  • ADP data is so vast that one small change can set off a chain reaction of issues not planned for; prevention of this is only so good as ADP Account Mgr's expertise in preventing it.
  • Some aspects of mobile app will not work (ie mobile punching) and there is not explanation or ability to fix issue
  • ADP has tendency to constantly change their platform; changes don't always add value and can get annoying
  • Essential timekeeping is not as flexible in dealing with shifts as other payroll platforms (we are healthcare)
  • Report building has assisted us in assessing budgeted hours, labor hours, and labor costs, and it assisted us in developing a comprehensive wage-enhancement plan for the next five years. Powerful report building.
  • Platform works well for managers/timekeeping supervisors, allowing them to manage their own staff's labor hours
  • Mobile app gives employees ability to see timecard, request time off, view pay statements and rely less on paper
  • Reporting, reporting, reporting, reporting. This is by far the best feature of ADP. Incredibly powerful tool.
ADP can assist both small and large organizations, although with its tendency to have issues "behind the scenes," I would be hesitant to use it for a very large organization. Problems at scale would be amplified.
  • On line training/inservicing
  • Scheduling/payroll based journal
Employee hire/term updates and departmental organization (online training) have been moderately effective but it is difficult to find someone at ADP who can truly assist in the event of an issue.
Scheduling (timeclock punches, employee hires/terms) has been extremely effective, but assistance always comes from a third-party individual in the event of a system issue, not from ADP.
ADP Workforce Now has much more powerful reporting/analytics tools, but individual attention in the event of an issue is more difficult to obtain.

Do you think ADP Workforce Now delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with ADP Workforce Now's feature set?

Yes

Did ADP Workforce Now live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of ADP Workforce Now go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy ADP Workforce Now again?

Yes

My first ADP Account Manager taught me an incredible amount and I'm grateful for her expertise when I was so new to the platform. Acct Mgrs since have been young and learning, don't always have knowledge to resolve issues immediately. However, ADP has developed system of Service Requests wherein other subject matter experts will step in and resolve issues, which has made the process much better.
ADP Workforce Now is well suited for organizations that wish to analyze their own labor/workforce data and are comfortable creating reports. Payroll practitioners who have confidence in processes and who can operate independently will like ADP Workforce Now. Those that need more hand-holding will not. ADP Workforce Now is also great for organizations that want to put HR/payroll/timekeeping processes in the hands of managers.

ADP Workforce Now Feature Ratings

Employee demographic data
9
Employment history
6
Job profiles and administration
6
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.
6
Organizational charting
6
Organization and location management
6
Pay calculation
10
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment
9
Benefit plan administration
8
Direct deposit files
9
Salary revision and increment management
9
Approval workflow
9
Balance details
8
Annual carry-forward and encashment
9
View and generate pay and benefit information
10
View company policy documentation
3
Report builder
10
Pre-built reports
9
Ability to combine HR data with external data
3
Job Requisition Management
3
Company Website Posting
5
Publish to Social Media
5
Applicant Tracking
4
Notifications and Alerts
1

COVID-19 Response

Mobile clocking - ADP enabled mobile clocking for employees immediately, which allowed staff to clock in upon arrival and not repeatedly use timeclock (high tough surface) in congested area.
Benefit Open Enrollment - ability for staff to complete open enrollment remotely was very helpful
N/A: we are in healthcare and have been working in our facility during the pandemic.
Again, as we are healthcare and had resources that we relied upon from Dept of Health and CDC. Did not use ADP's resources as result.
Clocking in/out, viewing pay timecards and pay statements, requesting future time off.

Using ADP Workforce Now

200 - Employees: mobile app or self service.
Managers: essential time
HR/Finance: Reporting, GL interface, payroll/HRIS management
2 - HR Director: strong front line knowledge of capabilities, reporting, troubleshooting
HR Coordinator: strong payroll/HRIS knowledge, moderate reporting and troubleshooting
  • Payroll
  • Timekeeping
  • HRIS
  • Benefits
  • Reporting
  • Mobile clocking
  • Remote open enrollment
  • Paperless time off requests (future only)
  • Performance Management
  • Workflow approvals
  • Onboarding
  • Document management
The reporting capabilities within ADP provide us with the ability to easily plan and analyze labor budgets and performs other functions that are strong than other platforms we've used. Makes it very hard to give up and consider other options!

Evaluating ADP Workforce Now and Competitors

Yes - Kronos - wanted stronger analytics
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Prior Experience with the Product
Product features: ability to use reporting function to analyze org data/labor resources was leading factor. Organization had prior experience with ADP and new its capabilities.
Would review all platform reporting capabilities, knowing that is a key differentiator for us.

ADP Workforce Now Implementation

Implementation occurred prior to my hire.
Not sure - Implementation happened before my hire.

ADP Workforce Now Training

  • Online training
  • in-person training
Was designed to be applicable to multiple industries, not always applicable to our situation
ADP has some training built into various screens which is very helpful, though helps if you have some background. Many of the screens are also fairly intuitive, which helped in learning to navigate. Self learning is effective if the person has some background with other platforms.
Conducted by person in role previously, did not have broad ADP knowledge

Configuring ADP Workforce Now

Because ADP is used by so many different industries, it has to be many things to many companies. This limits its ability to provide specific benefits to just one. For example, scheduling feature does not work for healthcare (shifts, roles, etc).
Perhaps establish configurations for various industries to meet specific needs (healthcare, manufacturing, retail, administrative/service).
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
Some - we have added small pieces of custom code - It was implemented before hire, but has been relatively easy to adjust with assistance of acct manager.
Time off policies/calculations
Pay classes
Benefit eligibility roles

ADP Workforce Now Support

ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes - Has occurred on several occasions. Not fully satisfied with resolution(s). First was error with time off accruals with caused all staff to accrue too much time, ADP left it to me to correct accruals. Other issues include incorrect 401k calculations, remain an unresolved issue.
SUI wages were not being reported to our state!! Prior TWO account managers were not able to resolve issue. Current Acct Mgr investigated, found resolution, explained solution to me, put change into effect quickly to resolve issue. Took less than one week. Issue is now resolved!

Using ADP Workforce Now

ADP's basics are quite easy particularly for employees (self service) and manager/timekeepers. For HR, some aspects are quite easy, others are complicated and require thorough knowledge of "ins and outs" to avoid issues. Some of ADPs workflows, meant to be used for all organizations, don't quite meet our needs and could result in issues without knowledge of how to avoid.
ProsCons
Like to use
Easy to use
Well integrated
Consistent
Feel confident using
Lots to learn
  • Reporting
  • Timekeeping
  • Mobile app
  • HRIS - employee status changes/workflows
  • 1095C review and corrections (Healthcare Compliance/ACA)
  • Ireports
Yes - For the most part it works well, but far too frequently employees are unable to access, get error message that server is not available, or are unable to use mobile punching feature even if standing next to timeclock.

ADP Workforce Now Reliability

ADP outages are very rare
ADP pages rarely have loading issue, is very reliable and rarely goes down. I can email acct manager when we are having issues and typically get very timely response.

Integrating ADP Workforce Now

It's a powerful tool but when it's not going right i have a hard time finding someone w/in ADP to assist
  • Health Care Academy (online training platform)
  • Benefit plans (Cigna, EyeMed)
  • Accushield
Health Care Academy: integration did not work, we were not able to find assistance in ADP to make integration work
Cigna/benefits: integration not permitted by benefit platforms due to our smaller size/
Accushield (health screening tool): would appreciate integration, not available right now
  • File import/export
Provide Acct Managers with training to quickly troubleshoot integration issues

Relationship with ADP

responsive with issues and resolved quickly, but can be a bit pushy with ADP products
Easy when you have good quality acct manager, hellish if you don't . There is also a good amount of turnover w/Acct Mgr.s
20% discount for first 4 years
Don't be afraid to voice discontent and demand better service when needed.

Upgrading ADP Workforce Now

Yes - No downtime, upgrade occured at off hours. No issues
  • None i can think of
  • minor, incremental changes
  • many of which drive us nuts, lol
  • don't know!
  • What's on horizon is not shared