ADP Human Capital Management review

Hardly an internet phenomenon, ADP has been around for over 70 years, and is also a worldwide company, with a presence in over 140 markets. ADP offers a comprehensive suite of services that fit around the theme of Human Capital Management (HCM). This includes areas such as HR, compliance expertise, payroll, and benefits administration among its many offerings.

Plans and pricing

ADP does not provide upfront information about pricing, but rather takes the route of getting in touch for a custom quote. This does require contacting the company and providing your business credentials, but this does take some investment of time, and makes it difficult to quickly compare quotes between providers.

While we did not find details of the pricing, it appears to be based upon several variables. This includes an initial setup fee, a monthly base fee that depends on the options chosen, and an additional cost per user. It has also been reported that there are discounts available for paying annually, but then there are no refunds issued for unused months.

We searched, and did not find a free trial, but some users indicate that the first two months are free as an introductory offer. ADP does indicate that there is a customized demo available to better decide if this fits your company’s needs.

Features

ADP offers HR software that is designed to help with Human Capital Management (HCM), which can also go under the names of Human Resource Management System (HRMS) or a Human Resources Information System (HRIS)- although according to ADP the three terms can be used interchangeably. The goal is to automate, and streamline multiple different HR processes, including payroll, recruiting and onboarding, and time and attendance, from a single online dashboard, with an easy to use, and intuitive interface that ADP refers to as iHCM.

This iHCM is a cloud-based SaaS, which puts automation and the cloud to work, to take the drudgery out of human resources tasks, which can often be repetitive. This same dashboard gets used by multiple folks, and employee data can be easily uploaded, and accessed, so there is no need to maintain separate files. From there, time and attendance can be managed, including absences, such as having the ability for employees to request vacation time and approve the requests. Payroll can also be done with ease, and with accuracy. New talent can also be not only found, but also onboarded, and developed.

The advantages also go beyond the automation of routine automated processes. For example, teams can be tracked and motivated, and AI can be applied to find trends in staff behavior via ‘People analytics,’ such as a division with the most turnover. Tasks can not only be automated, but also reminders can be set to facilitate their completion. There is the Time & Attendance module that from the manager dashboard can track items including overtime worked, timecard approvals, late employees, absenteeism, and schedules that can get adjusted on the fly.

The ADP can be used for management of existing employees. It fosters high performance, so that individual and team goals can be aligned with the organizations through feedback along with coaching. Also, succession planning can be done to develop, identify and track individuals to take over positions as needed. Furthermore, skills development is done via focused learning and targeted training to keep the workforce’s education at a high level. Competitive compensation is done via “Equitable compensation strategies.” 

A potential downside of ADP’s iHCM is that it targets only a certain size organization, essentially a medium sized company. While it is scalable, ADP indicates that it is for 50 to 999 employees, so small businesses, and larger enterprises will need to look elsewhere for their HR software needs. For larger needs, ADP does offer an Enterprise HCM solution.

Support

Direct support options for ADP are plentiful on the administrative side. Customers can reach out via a direct phone number, with hours of operation from 9 AM to 5:30 PM Monday to Friday, and closed for bank holidays. Alternate options include a support portal, dubbed the ‘ADP eService Support Portal,’ which can initiate a live chat for immediate help, or can also submit a service ticket for a more complex situation.

There is also a closed, online community forum, dubbed ‘The Bridge.’ This is an interactive online forum for Payroll and HR Professionals to interact and exchange information among colleagues.

Support options for employees needing help with their paystub are far more limited. These users are encouraged to deal directly with the HR Department of their respective organization, for a situation of a lost password to access a paystub, or for problems logging in. For other assistance, a phone number is provided, but as it gets listed last, we get the sense that ADP wants these employees to more directly deal with their company, rather than with ADP.

Final verdict

The ADP iHCM is a human resource solution targeted for medium sized businesses. We appreciate the powerful dashboard that can manage the gamut of HR processes, from talent acquisition to separations, and everything in between including payroll, team goals, and time and attendance. We also like the direct support options. We take note of the disadvantages, that include the totally opaque pricing, and this can turn into an expensive solution. Still, for a company that needs to support its HR department, the iHCM showcases ADP’s decades of experience in HR solutions.

We've also featured the best HR software, best payroll software and best HR outsourcing services