Paycom is a full-service HCM solution that unifies HR and payroll functions into a single, unified platform. Automation and time-saving tools within Paycom can help organizations improve efficiency for their HR departments as well as managers and employees across their workforce. Furthermore, Paycom’s AI engine, IWant™, enables users to instantly access accurate information in its single database through natural language commands, reducing navigation, driving efficiency, and supporting adoption across roles.

Paycom commissioned Forrester Consulting to interview five representatives at four organizations to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Paycom.¹ Based on the interviews, Forrester found that over three years, a composite organization experiences a return on investment (ROI) of 362% from adopting Paycom with a net present value (NPV) of $1.4 million.

This abstract focuses on the interviewees’ use of Paycom’s full-service HCM solution, including its AI engine IWant, and the value delivered to their organizations. Interviewees noted that IWant simplified employee information and management dashboard data access for employees, HR, managers, and executives by allowing them to ask questions and receive immediate answers without navigating multiple screens. It operated within Paycom’s single database architecture, ensuring responses were accurate and permission based. The interviewees who spoke of their use of IWant within the unified Paycom solution include:

• The chief HR officer at a consumer goods organization.

• The director of HR at an entertainment organization.

Interviewees said that prior to using Paycom, their organizations used legacy systems often from multiple providers and, thus, faced fragmented data along with a lack of automation and modern tools. This prior environment led to inefficient manual processes and poor user experiences for employees. Moreover, limited data analysis and reporting capabilities hindered insights that could help drive their businesses forward.

With the investment in Paycom, interviewees’ organizations implemented a single solution that met all their HR and payroll needs with seamless data transfer and automation across tools. Key results from the Paycom investment included time savings of more than 45% for HR due to streamlined workflows, improved compliance, and efficiencies brought by position seat management. Interviewees noted managers and employees across their workforces also saw time savings given Paycom’s accessibility and ease of use, including through IWant which eliminated the need to search through the system or rely on HR for answers. On top of these efficiency gains, better visibility and data analytics with Paycom contributed to business growth and cost savings.

Investment Drivers

Before adopting Paycom, the interviewees’ organizations used legacy HR solutions and faced the following challenges:

• Lack of a single unified system. Interviewees’ organizations lacked a single solution that met all their HR needs. Interviewees explained that this resulted in disconnected systems (e.g., payroll being separate from other HR functionality). In contrast, the director of HR in entertainment explained: “You have a one-stop shop with Paycom. Everything is in one platform.”

• Manual work. Disparate systems, along with the absence of time-saving features and smooth workflows, led to manual work for HR as well as employees at-large. According to interviewees, tasks related to payroll, benefits, onboarding, and time off, for example, lacked automation and were significant time sinks.

• Lack of ease of use. Given suboptimal user experiences in their legacy environments, interviewees sought a solution with user-friendly interfaces and features that were intuitive even for employees who were not tech-savvy. Interviewees spoke of Paycom’s ease of use and the value of being able to access it from anywhere. The director of HR in entertainment added: “IWant reduces any barrier to the Paycom system. No matter your level of technological savvy, you can use it and quickly find the information you need.”

• Need for data and analytics to drive business decisions. Interviewees explained that in addition to driving more efficient processes, a key aim was an HR system that unlocked broader business benefits. In particular, they sought a solution that provided accurate, insightful, and easy-to-access analytics to support growth and minimize business costs, such as overtime spending.

Key Results

The results of the investment for the interviewees’ organizations include:

Improved efficiency for HR with time-saving tools in a single solution, saving 35% of total HR time. Interviewees reported that Paycom delivered time savings to their HR teams. As a single solution with interconnected data and automation, Paycom streamlined workflows at the interviewees’ organizations and reduced manual effort across several functions. In particular, interviewees noted that their HR teams saw time savings as they managed responsibilities such as payroll, benefits, onboarding, training, and time off. IWant further enhanced efficiency by enabling HR quick access to employees’ information (from basic to less frequently used) and reducing HR-related inquiries from the rest of the workforce. On average, interviewees’ organizations reported time savings of approximately 35% for their HR teams due to the efficiency-enhancing features of the unified Paycom solution.

• Interviewees said a key differentiator of Paycom was that it served as a single, interconnected solution with seamless data flow across its various tools, which resulted in greater data accuracy. In contrast, their legacy HR tech was disjointed and often required working with disparate data.

• The chief HR officer in consumer goods described the effectiveness of various tools across Paycom’s single solution: “Paycom has really helped us. Onboarding — never been better, people love it. Applicant tracking — amazing. Beti® [payroll] — great. Background checks — awesome. Benefits administration — simple, easy. Time and attendance — amazing.”

• Paycom’s interconnectivity saved time and reduced mistakes associated with entering, compiling, and reviewing data for core HR responsibilities like benefits, payroll, and time off. The director of HR in entertainment added, “The automation that Paycom puts in place with Beti [payroll], GONE® [its automated time-off request decisioning feature], and their other tools reduces our manual interventions.”

• The same interviewee highlighted that IWant contributed to HR time savings by enabling HR to more efficiently do their work and alleviating inquiries from employees across the workforce: “IWant makes it easier for [HR] to find exactly what we’re looking for, especially if it’s something we don’t look at every day. And IWant empowers employees to access information themselves, making HR communications with them much easier.”

Automation and standardization with position seat management, saving 10% of total HR time. Interviewees explained that their HR teams saw additional time savings specifically due to Paycom’s position seat management functionality, a feature of its overall position management tool. By tying job attributes to positions rather than individuals, the software drove efficiency and compliance by prepopulating fields, enabling workflows, and ensuring uniformity. Among interviewees who could quantify the benefit of position decisioning, HR teams saw 10% to 15% total time savings.

• The director of HR in entertainment explained that seat positioning was an important feature of Paycom’s single solution, stating, “The interconnectivity and data flow [with Paycom’s seat positioning] saves time, which has been a big benefit for us.”

• Interviewees explained that when they set up new position seats in Paycom, the software anticipated what needed to be done by prepopulating fields and enabling automatic workflows.

• Interviewees further explained that position seat management helped maintain uniformity and kept everyone on the same page. The director of HR in entertainment added, “Position seat management has been really helpful for us from a budgetary perspective and an audit perspective, making sure all our data is clean.”

Productivity gains for managers. Interviewees said that a top benefit of Paycom was its effectiveness in easing the pain points managers across their organizations experienced. Paycom allowed managers to more easily and efficiently execute tasks, such as approving timecards, generating PAFs as needed, completing employee reviews, and using IWant to retrieve employee details (e.g., time-off balances, contact information, review history) without navigating the system. Managers at the composite organization save an hour per week due to Paycom.

• Interviewees noted that Paycom made the data that managers needed easily accessible in a single system. The director of HR in entertainment noted the efficiency gains from this: “From the standpoint of managers, the real time savings is being able to access their employees’ information. They can manage a high volume of timecards, which is critical for us. … Having Paycom is great for managers.”

• The same interviewee explained that IWant accelerated manager productivity: “Managers are able to find the employee information they need efficiently. It’s a great tool from an on-demand perspective. In one click, they put in what they need and find it, versus navigating the system.”

• Interviewees said that the benefits of IWant extended beyond managers to executive leadership. The director of HR in entertainment said: “We don’t expect executives to master Paycom. With IWant, they have an easy tool to find things quickly. They can just ask IWant and be navigated directly to [the information they want].”

• Paycom’s PAF functionality was extensively used at multiple interviewees’ organizations. This allowed managers to complete all necessary documentation (e.g., related to performance, training, accidents, etc.) in a single solution, either at their desk or from anywhere with the Paycom mobile app.

• In addition to driving efficiency, Paycom enabled managers to execute more robust, transparent, and accurate employee reviews. The chief HR officer in consumer goods explained that this became an employee enhancement tool and helped their organization achieve “best place to work” status.

Time savings for employees across the workforce. Interviewees also noted that Paycom resulted in time savings for all employees across the workforce by enabling them to efficiently manage HR-related tasks on a single platform. With Paycom’s Employee Self-Service®, Beti [payroll], and IWant, interviewees noted their employees took greater ownership of their data and could easily self-serve as they handled tasks such as benefits management, personal information updates, time-off requests, and time sheet approvals. Interviewees also highlighted that Paycom streamlined key moments in the employee lifecycle, including onboarding and open enrollment. Employees at the composite organization save an hour per month due to Paycom.

• Interviewees repeatedly noted that employees benefited from taking greater ownership of their own data in Paycom. They explained that time savings resulted from Paycom being easy for employees to access and use.

• The director of HR in entertainment elaborated: “IWant is a great tool for employees. It saves time. They can use the tool to understand [for example] how much time off they have and how to put in a PTO request.” The chief HR officer in consumer goods added: “Employees use IWant to understand their paychecks and time off. It’s fewer clicks for them.”

• Paycom served as a single solution throughout the employee lifecycle, from application and onboarding to time-off requests and the employee review process. The single, unified system eliminated the need to learn multiple systems and improved the overall employee experience at interviewees’ organizations.

• Interviewees observed that the time savings with Paycom allowed employees to concentrate on their actual jobs, instead of being tied up by HR-related administrative tasks.

Business benefits due to better visibility and data analytics, resulting in financial impact across multiple use cases. Interviewees emphasized that beyond HR-related efficiency, Paycom’s value extended to broader business benefits. In particular, the improved visibility and data analytics with Paycom allowed their organizations to better understand their operations and see growth and cost savings. Specific use cases at interviewees’ organizations varied but commonly included reduced overtime and temporary employee spending, which in some cases resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual savings.

• Having a single solution built on one database allowed for the comprehensive analytics that interviewees wanted. The director of HR in entertainment explained: “Having a single solution makes the data analytics much easier. It’s not different formats of data. All analytics coming from one solution has been critical for the speed of our evaluations and for analyzing strategy.”

• The same interviewee added, “IWant is a good tool for diving into [information] to start understanding where you have some gaps that you might want to look at.”

• Reporting and scheduling tools with Paycom better tracked and ultimately reduced overtime at interviewees’ organizations. The chief HR officer in consumer goods added, “Paycom helps managers in holding people accountable and watching the overtime.”

• Interviewees also said Paycom allowed them to streamline hiring and better plan for when employees take time off. This allowed for a reduction in spending on temporary work. The chief HR officer in consumer goods explained, “My temp spending has gone down over $300,000 using Paycom and having a single source to capture resumes and cover new hires.”

Improved compliance, saving 80% of the time HR spends on audit work. Interviewees estimated that their HR teams saved several hours a week on audit-related work due to Paycom’s easy data access and more automated reporting. Furthermore, Paycom helped ensure compliance at interviewees’ organizations by streamlining and standardizing processes related to maintaining documentation, ensuring confidentiality, and completing training.

• Interviewees explained that Paycom’s single solution consolidated data in one platform, eliminating the inefficiency and risk that came with pulling information from the disparate sources in their legacy environments. They said that with Paycom, data flowed where it needed to, making it simple to pull information or create reports.

• The director of HR in entertainment said: “We’re able to do our ACA reporting, our W-2s, our I-9s, everything we need to think about from a compliance perspective is all on the same platform [with Paycom].” The chief HR officer in consumer goods added: “We love the OSHA reporting. Paycom makes it so easy… [and] helps us stay in compliance.”

• Interviewees also noted that IWant provided accurate, real-time information from Paycom’s single database, with permissions that ensure users can only access data they are authorized to view.