I’ve worked with a couple but my favourite is Ceridian Dayforce. I find that once you drill down into the platform, there is a lot of customization that you can do to really make it work for you.

Let’s define “reliable”. In today’s day and age, reliability can mean a few things…especially when it comes to cloud payroll.

1 – Does the software require regular updates? Does it have unpredicted outages and downtimes?
All software and more importantly cloud software is amazing when it works, but there can be unpredicted slowdowns. Do your research to see what users are saying. How much time are they losing, is it consistent, and how big or how long are the outages? Also, keep in mind that older software systems tend to have more and more outages due to necessary updates to keep up with technology.

2 – Can you rely on customer support?
We all know how tight the turnaround times are for payroll. If your payroll software provider can’t assist you within a reasonable time or doesn’t have a ticket prioritization system in place, you could face critical and costly delays. Find a provider with reliable and consistent customer support.

3 – Can you rely on it to keep up with other technology and integration options?
Or do you have workarounds that may leave room for errors? Does your software integrate with time management software and/or your accounting software? These are important things to think about because the more you have to manually transfer data, the more open your process is for errors.

4 – Can you rely on it being secure?
Ensure that the payroll software you choose is meeting or exceeding security compliance. Choose software with features like:
*Two-factor authentication
*Admin and role delegation/ restrictions
*Portal for distribution of employee pay information (please do not email payroll information without additional security measures)

Hope these considerations help you decide which payroll software will be reliable for you!

This is my number one question. I’ve used 3 different systems so far, and they each leave a lot to be desired. I’d like to see more responses to this question, especially from PCP’s who have experience running payroll for companies with 50 to 100 employees. I’d like to find a better system for our company.

I have used a few, by far my favorite is Workday. It’s a fantastic Payroll. HRIS and Finance system. We have 3rd party support which has been fantastic.

I can’t answer this question as I work for a payroll software provider but I can say that it really depends on the company, number of employees, complexity of payroll and what other features are needed. There is no one size fits all.

It depends on your needs and budget. Don’t just go by what the sales person tells you . Ask about price per payroll, what they charge for ROE’s, special reports, and standard reports. What do they consider a “standard report”. Ask for demo’s that show how to create your own report, samples of their standard reports, and anything else that you specifically need.

Dayforce :OK but rather restricted, and does not allow employees who have terminated during the year to see old paystubs/T4’s, or even current T4’s unless company wants to spend mega bucks to allow them to keep their access. As well they charge a lot for little things that all add up. Also, if your company has more than one business number it can become confusing if you have someone that works under more than one business number as employees can not have multiple employee numbers. ie: McDonald employee working at two different locations.

ADP: OK and a lot cheaper in long run than Dayforce. Employee can have more than one employee number. Easier to navigate and run own reports.

I have worked with a few over the years, and if I had to pick one, I couldn’t. Now, if I could combine them all, that one would be my favorite. As everyone mentioned above, depends on your budget, needs, wants, senior management, etc..

I use ADP Workforcenow and it is reliable. I was involved with the implementation, so I know exactly how it is set up and I can easily make changes when needed.

I haven’t found one that I love or would outright recommend. I know that something to consider when picking a new system is how well it deals with Canadian regulations and if the company has a knowledge base for Canadian companies to use as a resource. In one of the most recent applications I worked in, Record of employments were a bit of a headache. And we ran tons of them. The company was fairly reliable when it came to tax updates etc. though.