ADP Workforce Now - What you can expect from the good, the bad, and the ugly
August 01, 2022
ADP Workforce Now - What you can expect from the good, the bad, and the ugly

Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with ADP Workforce Now
We were exiting a PEO with TriNet due to high costs and poor service so we wanted to bring payroll and benefits in house for cost savings and more control over our own data. I was hoping to have similar implementation experiences as at previous employers but that wasn't the case here at my current job. We were looking for a product that would allow us to build out our employee experience with payroll and benefits enrollment as well as handle our payroll and tax filings in a multi-state environment. The level of service I previously received from ADP was a selling point as well as having many business contacts at ADP. Our team was familiar with ADP but were open to new software platforms that could rival that of ADP.
Pros
- ADP's industry reputation as well as the duration ADP has been in business allows the decision-makers to feel confident in tax filings, resource availability, and virtual classroom training of the product.
- The new WFN platform is very much improved from previous versions and has many ways to get to where you're going in the platform without having to remember just one way.
- ADP offers SmartCompliance with WFN as an add-on that provide a resource document for companies in a multi-state environment.
Cons
- The implementation process was very broken and had much room for improvement
- The Service Center Support is very hit and miss, mostly miss. For example, I can be on the phone with support for an urgent issue with an inexperienced employee that can take well over an hour, or I could have a lucky day and a very experienced employee will answer my call and walk me through the issue in 5-10 minutes.
- Service Connect in theory is a great idea to log your cases and see the follow up and updates but it is poorly managed. I will start a case with one employee, sometimes it will transfer to another employee, then there will be radio silence. I have to call in to ask for an update and that will create a new case. So very frustrating.
- ADP's Account Management/Sales Team should be more cohesive and accountable to the client where there are issues in the implementation phase and at least a few months outside of the handoff process.
- Negative: Required the engagement of an outside consultant due to the lack of support we had during the implementation of the product and the turnover we experienced from the team we worked with at ADP.
- Negative: Tracking down service requests and where each case stands has been unbelievably frustrating. I'll receive emails from ADP with Case updates which include the case number and then I will look for the case number in Service Connect and it's not there. I click off any filters and ensure that both OPEN and CLOSED cases are displayed and somehow they aren't there. That requires another dreaded call to ADP's support line.
- It's taken 6-8 months post implementation to finally start seeing things work out. Granted, we exited a PEO and moved payroll and benefits in house with 25+ states which caused so many issues throughout these months. Perhaps that's the way it goes with such a complex implementation but we have just over 100 employees and the amount of time and effort put into this project has been very disappointing.
- Positive: The new version of WFN is very slick and allows you to navigate quickly. The reporting engine is very much improved from the days at previous employers. I like the fact that things are better organized in ADP now and it's much more intuitive. The only negative is making sure the "back-end" has everything in sync with what you're seeing on the front-end user interface.
- WEX Health for FSA/HSA Administration
- QuickBooks GL interface
- Other platforms (used by HR so I'm unsure)
The Wex Health FSA/HSA integration is still a work in progress and we were hoping to have it up and running in a few months after implementation and it's still not working as of today. We've tried leveraging support and escalating the issue but it seems to fall on deaf ears. Our insurance broker has been involved in pushing for ADP's support to get this live so we don't have to submit manual files. The QBO integration was basic so we've opted to create our own custom reports that book our payroll and benefits accounting entries.
I have exited 3 PEOs now and brought my business to ADP in house. My experience is with TriNet's PEO, Paychex's PEO and ADP Workforce Now. ADP beats both TriNet PEO and Paychex PEO as I couldn't wait to exit from TriNet and Paychex. Workforce Now will eventually be in a place where we can be happy with our decision and work out all of the benefits, tax and compliance issues that ADP is known for being on top of. Hopefully that day will come soon.
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?
No
Did implementation of ADP Workforce Now go as expected?
No
Would you buy ADP Workforce Now again?
No
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