Compare Dayforce HCM vs Sage People (2025)

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Cloud HCM

"I have not encountered many bugs, and in the rare instances where problems occurred, Ceridian Dayforce HCM promptly fixed them. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."

"The solution's payroll portion is very streamlined."

"We like being able to hire from the Dayforce recruiting module straight into Dayforce and having the file feeds go to our benefits vendor."

"We used the solution to do a lot of performance management during the review cycle and it helped us alleviate the administrative burden."

"We have been able to automate many of our manual processes."

"Statutory holiday pay is calculated automatically."

"Configuring your HR policies and rules is straightforward."

"It has created efficiencies in HR and Payroll by eliminating double entry into two systems, implementing a time clock feature for hourly employees, and by having a downloadable general ledger (G/L) constructing journal entering for payroll."

More Dayforce HCM pros

"The solution is beneficial overall."

"The most valuable features of Sage People are the reports that are useful for decision-making and the API that can be integrated well. Additionally, the solution can be accessed from mobile devices onto the cloud."

"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."

"The reporting features are also very valuable because, on top of 300+ reports available on the system, you can also customize quite a number of reports."

"The solution provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."

"The solution's initial setup was straightforward."

"The report builder and dashboard builder are very, very good."

"Sage makes all the information accessible, like pulling a file because an employee needs something ASAP. It's all in the system. It's easy to find old reports if I need them for payroll purposes. It might take days to do some of this work by hand."

More Sage People pros

"It is a one-stop solution for everything. You can look for information about other employees or you can track your information. There is a directory, so you can search for other employees. You can also see and track your personal details and salary details on the employee profile page."

"I found the analysis features to be very useful for our company. I also found the modules installed to be aligned with our company's KPIs. These were the two features that stood out."

"Workday's best features are planning and finance."

"The most valuable feature of Workday is the ease of use which is overall user-friendly."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of reporting."

"Workday is easy to use. Timesheet and resource management are also easy."

"It saves a lot of time for onboarding processes."

"There is a lot to like about it. I really enjoy the business process framework. It's something that's really seamless. It allows you to have people within the flow. They get assigned a task to complete something to approve, etc. That's a really good piece of functionality that Workday offers. Their out-of-the-box reporting framework is also really powerful in terms of what it provides. These would be two things that I would highlight."

More Workday pros

"The solution's dashboards and geofencing could be improved."

"The solution's initial setup was difficult. Also, the solution's initial deployment took around six months."

"I would like to see more built-in forms. This would save a lot of time during the year-end process."

"I would like to continue to see improvements in the Recruiting module. I would like to see this module interact with Calendars, such as Outlook, etc."

"Our current software program offers a home page with important company documents and a place for company announcements. Unfortunately, Ceridian Dayfoce does not offer this."

"Many things are presented as though they will be included with the system but then require costly upgrades."

"It would be nice if retro pay calculations were made automatically for salaried payroll, so a calculation and manual entry do not have to be done."

"Management and reporting of the GL costing could be improved."

More Dayforce HCM cons

"Its technical support could have been better."

"The budget module does not work. Sage People need to maybe make it more user-friendly."

"The user interface is not great."

"Its stability could be better."

"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."

"In my opinion, the performance management module of this system could use improvement as it falls behind compared to other specialized performance management platforms."

"The automation in Sage People could improve. The solution is the best used for data storage but the automation could be better to have more functionality."

"If Sage People were to become a fully cloud-based solution, it could lead to significant improvements. With the COVID pandemic highlighting the benefits of remote work, a complete shift to cloud-based functionality would be a welcome development for users."

More Sage People cons

"The security console should be made less complex."

"Reporting systems should be improved. If you want to report it on paper, if you want something more BI oriented, more high level predictive or more data-driven, it should be improved."

"The user interface can be enhanced."

"The solution can be improved by speeding up the load time when pulling up information."

"The user interface could be modernized somehow."

"There could be a web-based application for making payments to the employees."

"Workday could give us industry-specific or vertical-specific solutions."

"They don't offer any backend database access. This is one limitation that I found in this product. Workday hasn't opened up about what kind of database they are into, which can make it easy for the technical team to emulate issues. It would be good if they can offer backend access to the technical team. It would be helpful if they can also provide a Troubleshooting Guide that we can use to troubleshoot issues. When we have an issue, there are very limited resources to refer to."

More Workday cons

"I rate the solution's pricing a seven on a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."

"Ceridian continually enhances Dayforce HCM. Some of these enhancements they charge for and some are just straight enhancements with no extra charge."

"Negotiate for everything you want."

"We found the setup costs and pricing to be very reasonable."

"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."

"In terms of pricing, the product is expensive. However, it is crucial to take into account the manner in which the solution will be utilized and the availability of other alternatives."

"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."

"The XOXO program associated with Dayforce allows you to earn credits towards registration and accommodations at their annual Insight Conferences, which can be a real savings to the company when sending employees to the conference."

"From an SME standpoint, I wouldn't necessarily describe it as expensive. However, for the average startup, it may not be affordable since our current annual expenditure on the system, which supports approximately 210-220 users, amounts to approximately £15,000 to £18,000."

"The cost of Sage People varies depending on the financial resources of the organization. While it may be affordable for middle-level companies, it may be more challenging for young companies to bear the cost."

"There is other software on the market that can do similar functions to Sage People that could be better in price. Some solution allows you to do your payroll processes by month or by the process. Small companies could benefit by using another solution."

"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."

More Sage People pricing and cost advice

"Its price is pretty high. It is more expensive than what is offered by other competitors in the market."

"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."

"It is on a yearly basis."

"The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."

"I would rate the solution’s pricing a six out of ten."

"You have the license fee per module, and then you have a kind of annual training fee, which is a kind of add-on. I wouldn't say it is exhaustive; it is minor. Licensing is pretty transparent for most of the part."

"Workday is an expensive solution."

"It's very, very expensive."

More Workday pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

See recommendations

Educational Organization

54%

Computer Software Company

8%

Manufacturing Company

6%

Healthcare Company

3%

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

9%

Educational Organization

8%

University

6%

Educational Organization

29%

Computer Software Company

9%

Financial Services Firm

7%

Manufacturing Company

6%

No data available

Dayforce

Sage

Workday

Dayforce HCM is a global, cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software platform for managing the complete employee lifecycle. This solution was designed to improve the employee experience by bringing together data from across the employment cycle to help managers make better decisions at all levels.

Dayforce HCM is an HR, payroll, benefits, workforce management, and talent management platform. The scalable software uses a single, flexible rules engine, as well as real-time updates and calculations, to help you meet complicated regulatory requirements.

Dayforce reduces the burden of disconnected applications by delivering a single application for all of your human capital management needs. All transactions made anywhere within the application flow seamlessly across all functional areas in real time, eliminating the need for repeated data entry, manual workarounds, and batch operations. This is thanks to a single employee record and a single rule engine. Organizations can achieve shorter training time, faster user adoption, and a faster return on investment.

With Dayforce HCM, users can view all HR data in real time in one place.

Here are some key tasks companies can do with the solution:

• Hire the right people
• Design work/life balance plans
• Manage employee development
• Handle payments
• Administer benefits
• Track compliance throughout the employee lifecycle

Dayforce HCM Features

Dayforce HCM has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

• Continuous payroll for staff: Dayforce HCM aids in paying staff accurately and on schedule. Give your payroll staff the ability to access and audit data at any time during the pay cycle.

• Personnel management: Empower and engage your frontline employees while keeping labor expenses and compliance under control. Make proactive, data-driven decisions that can help you run your business more efficiently.

• Optimized staff benefits: Assist employees in selecting the best benefit plans while streamlining administrative tasks. With the help of analytics, you can maximize the value of your benefits investments and gain a better understanding of your costs.

• Streamlined human resources: With a single consolidated, real-time solution, you can eliminate HR information silos. Improve HR productivity by streamlining administrative tasks and gaining access to key HR analytics.

Dayforce HCM Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Dayforce HCM. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

• Dayforce HCM aids in planning, hiring, retaining, and building your team, whether they be full-time employees or hourly workers. Insights based on data can help you see around corners and predict the future.

• Dayforce HCM helps you keep track of compliance everywhere in order to reduce risk. Simplify compliance in a global workplace. Keep up with complicated payroll and tax requirements from different regions and countries, as well as internal policies and processes. Dayforce can help you reduce the risk – and the cost – of noncompliance.

• Dayforce HCM empowers your workforce by improving your employee experience with always-on technologies like Dayforce Wallet. Transform pay, enable self-service, and assist your employees in developing future skills, no matter where they are or what device they are using.

Connect teams across borders

• Customise communications:Deliver business updates to specific groups and gather feedback with surveys.
• Personalise experiences: Create engaging, branded experiences – tailored by group or region.
• Connect global teams: Manage your entire workforce, wherever they are. Embed global policies while enforcing local regulations.
• Help teams thrive, anywhere: Support wellbeing, provide localised benefits packages, and more.

Get ahead with actionable HR analytics

• Make informed decisions: Use People analytics for actionable insights in seconds.
• Provide real-time insights: Give up-to-the-minute recommendations so leaders jump on trends and adjust plans.
• Customise dashboards: Plan hiring, analyse attrition, manage absence, and more.
• Get actionable feedback: Understand the employee experience through surveys, tailored to different groups.

Compete successfully for top talent

• Deliver a differentiated, stand-out candidate experience with easy-to-use employer branding themes and options that shows off your culture and company story.
• Fill roles faster with skilled talent using our unique, AI-powered, intelligent candidate matching.
• Have new employees hit the ground running with seamless remote pre-boarding and onboarding experiences.

Workday is a cloud-based software solution that specializes in developing applications for capital and finance management applications. The system is built to work in global workforces and is adaptable. The global system ensures that users are up to date and can manage internal career-related information, and everyday business problems like timesheets, payrolls, and time off.

“A Pioneer in Software-as-a-Service”

Workday Human Capital Management tool is designed to simplify and streamline your work. It leverages machine learning to adapt capital management to a changing environment.

The Workday model is based on delivering a single system that uses a single source of data and a single security model to deliver a unique user experience. The system is user-friendly and ensures that employees and management can use it from any and all devices. Workday HCM integrates into a central system that includes financial management, payroll, recruiting, learning, and planning. Managers and employees can provide feedback to one another, too.

Workday’s features include:

• Flexible framework that lets you organize your staff according to different criteria. You can group employees by function, hierarchy, or department.
• Personalized career guidance: Knowledge management and career guidance that can be easily customized for each staff member and also done at scale.
• Augmented reporting and analytics: Configure, change, update, and publish reports, scorecards, and dashboards. The system centralizes the transactional and analytical data so you can act on the data from anywhere.
• Compensation tools: Compensatio, payroll, and time tracking are automated and simplified.
• Workforce planning allows you to uncover and address talent gaps and get visibility of your staff.
• Mobile-first ensign approach: Users can access all resources from any device, and they are always in sync.
• Machine learning capabilities enable personalized enterprise experiences and faster business processes.

Workday smart platform consists of the following modules:

• Human resource management
• Business process management
• Reporting and analytics
• Benefits administration
• Compensation management
• Talent management
• Survey framework
• Employee and management self-service
  

Reviews from Real Users

Many organizations choose Workday because it provides an all-in-one modular solution for human capital and finance management. Our users say they like the ease of use for time-off requests, career and development segments, and overall HR management. The records and reporting capabilities are another popular feature.

"The solution was very good at reconfiguration and customization of their software. It helped us to meet federal regulations," said one user. Another said that the best feature is the optimization of the work day experience with a unified platform that can be applied across different business units. “You will never find a use case that cannot be covered," said a third.

Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Workday, Oracle and others in Cloud HCM. Updated: August 2024.

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