Dayforce from a Multi-state and International Perspective
Updated October 22, 2019
Dayforce from a Multi-state and International Perspective
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Ceridian Dayforce
We use Dayforce for timekeeping, sick/vacation entitlement tracking, HR records, payroll, labor law compliance, and document management. In our US UK and Canada operations, we use Dayforce exclusively for our payroll processing, and we're working toward adding Australia and possibly Singapore to the list of our countries that process payroll through Dayforce. We currently use timekeeping, entitlement tracking, and HR records for all employees company-wide. We love the single platform approach since it nearly eliminates the need for dual entry we have to do between our HR/Payroll departments.
- Single platform for HR and Payroll. When one thing changes, it cascades through the whole system, keeping us on track and reducing the likelihood of data entry errors.
- Time Calculation flexibility. If there is something that can't be configured within the pay configuration, I've yet to discover it. Need your employees to get OT for hours after a certain time? Done. Need shift rates applied? Done. Need meal penalties assessed for shifts above a certain length (for you CA employers)? Done. I could go on and on- but the point is that the system can work for you, no matter your needs.
- Real-time payroll calculations. Need to check if a garnishment is going to be correctly applied to an employee's pay? Need to see what impact a commission payment will have on employee taxes? Need to check to see what your to-date payroll liability for the pay period is? Any of these and many more are at your fingertips in just a few minutes with the ability to recalculate the pay file at any time during the pay cycle. You no longer have to wonder what your payroll will look like when processing day comes along- you can see it all along.
- Configurability. Dayforce is still getting up to speed on how to manage the configuration abilities of the product. You can do pretty much anything, but this provides an issue when trying to get support from them - no one is an expert on your system since literally, no two clients have the same configuration. It's best to have an on-site Dayforce expert to handle system updates and maintenance.
- Reporting. While constantly improving, the reporting feature is complicated to use for someone who needs specific information. You practically have to be a programmer (and some options require SQL knowledge to implement) in order to get the report you want. Also, the auto-formatting makes it tricky to manipulate the data after the report is run, if you are trying to use Excel or CSV to extract data points for complex analytics. Fortunately, you can turn this off - you just have to remember to update the settings before processing the request for the report.
- Workflows. We've run into issues with certain things, like time off requests, being stuck in limbo when management changes. If the request was originally submitted to one manager, and then that manager makes a move or leaves the company, the new manager cannot view the request, so the SysAdmin has to intervene.
- Our value has been primarily a uniform end-user experience. It's not cheaper than other programs we've used. It's not all-around more user-friendly than other programs. However, it gives us the capability to provide a single set of instructions company-wide so that all employees and managers have the same experience, no matter where they are located.
- The secondary value we've seen is in the streamlining of our hiring/termination processes. Our business is very seasonal in nature, and we hire about 800 employees at the beginning of each summer season, only to have them separate from the company 6-12 weeks later. As you can imagine, the burden this places on HR and Payroll is staggering. Dayforce has allowed us to reduce the amount of time our staff spends directly interacting with the system to hire or terminate an employee.
The configuration abilities of the program are superb. They have many built-in configurable policies that allow you to tailor your time tracking to state labor laws, union contracts, or whatever else you need. We recently had to add a feature to a subset of employees that pays time and a half for hours worked outside the set office hours for the location. They are constantly reviewing customer needs and adding to this functionality.
The tax engine is also very robust. It automatically calculates state/local taxes based on the address of the worksite and the employee's primary residence, with very little interaction from us.
The tax engine is also very robust. It automatically calculates state/local taxes based on the address of the worksite and the employee's primary residence, with very little interaction from us.
We're still exploring all that Dayforce is offering to us in this regard. Getting buy-in from our managers and executives is our biggest challenge here.
It's great having everything in one place, but we do have to have excellent coordination to avoid stepping on each other's toes. For example, backdating changes on the HR side has real-time consequences on the payroll side. It's wonderful - just be careful that all users are cognizant of the cascade effect of their changes on other departments.