Improved Payroll Efficiency

Evidence and data. Prior to Dayforce, interviewees described how HR staff spent considerable time and effort transferring and reconciling data across multiple HR systems. One common bottleneck was the payroll process. Typically, interviewees used separate systems for time and attendance management and payroll. Although the two data systems were linked, there was usually a time lag that led to data inaccuracies. Payroll teams often had to check reports manually and correct payroll errors for each payroll cycle.

Interviewees shared that with time and attendance and payroll operating seamlessly within a single platform, they saw a 75% to 90% decrease in the number of payroll errors that they had to correct manually.

The senior manager of HR technology at an agriculture and manufacturing company further shared: “Dayforce has always been highly reliable and flexible from a payroll standpoint. We’ve been successful in paying employees accurately and quickly, even with complex pay structures like piece rate, daily rate, and case rate.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The HR team makes up about 1% of the overall workforce of 7,500 employees.

• The payroll team comprises about 25% of the overall HR team (i.e., 19 out of 75 FTEs).

• With Dayforce, the composite organization saves significant time reconciling payroll data and remediating payroll errors; overall, it reduces the amount of time spent on payroll processes by 35%. This is equivalent to about seven payroll staff, which it can redeploy to other HR processes.

Risks. Several factors can impact the savings that organizations can experience in improved payroll efficiency, including:

• How current payroll processes and systems are set up.

• Complexity of payroll requirements, for instance, the range of different types of workers in their workforce and different regional requirements.

• The organizational structure of the HR team.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.4 million.

Reduction In Hourly Worker Turnover

Evidence and data. Interviewees shared that with the introduction of Dayforce, many hourly workers now had access to self-service tools for the first time. This gave them greater control over their schedules (such as through time off or shift requests and shift swapping) and their pay (including on-demand access to earned wages before payday).

These changes had the highest impact on hourly workers. Interviewees shared that these employees had widely adopted on-demand pay in particular, and it was a key factor in improving turnover since adopting Dayforce.

Modeling and assumptions. For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

• Frontline employee turnover prior to Dayforce is 65%. With Dayforce, this improves by 20%, to 52%.

• The cost of hiring each new hourly worker is about $1,490. This includes recruitment fees, hiring manager and HR screening and interview time, and new hire ramp-up time.

Risks. Several factors can impact the savings from reduced hourly worker turnover, including:

• Macroeconomic conditions that influence baseline turnover.

• Recruitment costs, which may depend on the industry in which an organization operates.

• Benefits/features enabled for employees, for instance, on-demand pay.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 20%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $2.6 million.

Improved Scheduling Efficiency

Evidence and data. With Dayforce’s template-based scheduling and automatic shift filling, interviewees noted that their frontline managers (e.g., shift or site managers overseeing hourly workers) significantly reduced the time and effort required to create employee work schedules.

Furthermore, as hourly workers could now put in time-off requests and swap shifts directly through the mobile app, managers had far fewer requests to address. This freed up significant time for them to focus on serving customers, improving store operations, and other higher-value activities. In addition, frontline leaders could manage tasks from their mobile devices while on the floor, enabling greater efficiency and multitasking.

Modeling and assumptions. For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

• Managers create and manage shifts on a weekly basis.

• Each manager oversees 20 hourly workers.

• Managers used to spend about 8 hours weekly creating and then updating schedules. With Dayforce, they see a 60% reduction in overall time spent on schedule management.

Risks. Several factors can impact the savings organizations may see from improved scheduling efficiency, including:

• Different workforce policies around shift changes.

• Varying scheduling frequencies.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $4.0 million.

Cost Savings From Retiring Legacy Systems And Processes

Evidence and data. By consolidating different HR solutions into the Dayforce suite, interviewees’ organizations gained savings from their overall HRIS spend. Interviewees shared that they could now retire separate solutions related to timekeeping, workforce management, benefits management, compliance solutions, and more.

As a result of this simplification, two interviewees also shared it significantly lowered their dependence on IT resources to keep the different solutions operating, given reduced need for technical maintenance.

Modeling and assumptions. For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

• It achieves direct cost savings of $1.125 million per year on license fees toward other HR solutions.

• It reduces IT dependence by two FTEs.

Risks. Factors that can impact an organization’s cost savings on legacy systems and processes include:

• The range of legacy HR systems in place.

• Contractual agreements with previous vendors.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 20%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $2.6 million.

HR Administration Time Savings

Evidence and data. Interviewees shared that introducing Dayforce streamlined several HR processes. Two examples they provided involved reporting and audits and new employee onboarding onto the Dayforce platform. With HR data consolidated into a single platform, creating and updating reports and dashboards became faster and more accurate. Real-time insights replaced manual data transfers, and the platform enabled automatic scheduling of recurring reports. This significantly improved audit efficiency, cutting preparation time and reducing errors. For example, one organization reduced payroll audit time by more than 30 days through continuous auditing during the pay cycle, while another cut off-cycle corrections by about 75% thanks to embedded audit checks.

Onboarding also became smoother. Candidate information flowed directly into the system, eliminating manual entry and automating compliance steps such as document collection and eligibility verification. One interviewee stated that onboarding administration time dropped by 50%.

Modeling and assumptions. For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

• Two dedicated staff members out of a 75-person HR team (approximately 3%), handle audit responsibilities, and each saves 7.5 hours per week on auditing tasks.

• The fully burdened hourly rate for HR employees is $42, and there is a 75% productivity recapture rate.

• The composite previously onboarded 4,388 employees annually. After implementing Dayforce and reducing employee turnover by 20%, this drops to 3,510. Onboarding time per employee decreases by 0.3 hours (i.e., 18 minutes).

Risks. Factors that can impact an organization’s cost savings on HR administration time savings include:

• Existing systems that automate and integrate onboarding processes, reducing incremental benefits.

• Audit functionality already embedded and integrated within current HR platforms, limiting additional efficiency gains.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $160,000.

Unquantified Benefits

Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:

• Improved quality of hires. Real-time dashboards and standardized onboarding workflows created a more consistent candidate experience and reduced early errors. Managers had better visibility and therefore made better hiring decisions. One interviewee noted that Dayforce helped attract talent in a highly competitive market. Another highlighted the advantage of having a single system that integrated the applicant tracking system with onboarding and core HR. Instead of having to access separate systems and data, they could now seamlessly pull candidate information from a single source and use it for onboarding, streamlining processes and improving efficiency.

• Enhanced employee experience. Mobile access to real-time earned pay before the end of the pay period, scheduling, and benefits gave frontline/hourly employees more control and transparency, which reduced the frustration associated with having to call HR for basic information (e.g., address, pay details). On-demand pay and intuitive interfaces improved employee satisfaction, engagement, time to hire, and retention. All interviewees agreed that their organizations had experienced a significant improvement in employee experience.

• Reduced compliance risk. Embedded audit tools and role-based access helped prevent payroll errors and enforced policy adherence across sites. This strengthened readiness for regulatory audits and reduced exposure to fines. One interviewee stated that they were making more than 100 corrections per pay period before Dayforce, which created noncompliance issues and required additional effort to fix. However, with Dayforce, payroll cycles were clean, audits were faster, and external audit time was cut by 30 days.

• Reduced unplanned overtime. Real-time visibility and streamlined scheduling helped prevent costly overtime. Interviewees highlighted how Dayforce’s single-database architecture used continuous calculation to alert managers the moment employees approached their hourly limits. By linking time tracking with scheduling, the system identified potential overages early and recommended cost-effective shift coverage options that avoided premium pay. This proactive approach reduced unnecessary labor costs and ensured compliance with organizational policies. One interviewee shared that they now have clear visibility and control over their overtime, something that was nearly impossible with previous manual processes.

• Reduced manual work and increased HR personnel redeployment. Automated payroll calculations, scheduling, and reporting replaced time-intensive manual processes, allowing interviewees’ HR teams to redeploy effort from data entry to strategic tasks (e.g., talent development, analytics). All interviewees agreed they had seen significant decreases in manual work. One interviewee reported a reduction in manual data entry time from 200 hours per month to just 40 hours. This improvement was largely due to consolidating multiple systems into a single platform, which eliminated the need to enter data repeatedly across separate systems. This reduction freed up valuable time for HR employees to concentrate on more strategic tasks.

• Faster M&A integration. Dayforce’s platform and low-code integrations enabled  rapid onboarding of acquired entities without heavy IT or vendor reliance, which reduced complexity and accelerated post-close stabilization. Two interviewees highlighted this as a benefit: One specifically noted that their organization’s strategy was to move acquisitions into Dayforce immediately, emphasizing that scalability was not an issue. It could treat acquisitions as if it were onboarding new hires, streamlining integration, reducing disruption, and increasing overall organizational agility.

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are a number of scenarios in which a customer might implement the Dayforce HCM platform and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• Scaling without large HR headcount increases. Interviewees reported that they could easily open new sites or absorb acquisitions without adding proportional HR staff with Dayforce.

• Customizable for unique needs. Interviewees’ organizations were able to configure pay structures (e.g., hourly, daily, piece rate) and tailor user interface tiles within the Dayforce Hub for seasonal priorities without needing vendor intervention.