Ceridian Dayforce

Note: In 2024, Ceridian changed their name to Dayforce and will operate under that brand going forward.

How Much Does Ceridian Dayforce Cost?

Ceridian Dayforce charges companies on an quarterly or annual subscription basis. Ceridian Dayforce is often priced towards the higher end of their segment, but isn't the most premium priced choice. Ceridian's software fees can cost between $22-31 PEPM for customers of their platform.

In addition to the software fees, implementing Ceridian Dayforce will require a one-time implementation fee. Ceridian Dayforce, or occasionally, their implementation partners, will charge ~50-60% of the annual software fees for their implementation fees (i.e., $50-60K implementation fee on a $100K annual purchase).

Administering Ceridian Dayforce does not require having a dedicated HRIS manager, but it does tend to work better when there are a few HR team members who can contribute to building and maintaining the system.

What Modules Are Included with Ceridian Dayforce?

• Payroll
• Benefits Admin
• HR / Employee Files
• Time & Attendance
• Onboarding
• Recruiting / ATS
• Performance
• Comp & Succession
• Engagement
• Learning

Ceridian Dayforce offers every module from hire-to-retire and has a very strong focus on Payroll, Time & Attendance and Workforce Management. Companies that have complex hourly workforces find quite a bit of value in these tools.

Who is Ceridian?

Ceridian Dayforce has long been in the payroll industry as one of the largest payroll bureaus in the country (outside of ADP). However, in 2011, Ceridian acquired an upstart technology company called, Dayforce, and shifted their focus from payroll to HCM more broadly. The CEO of Dayforce became the CEO of Ceridian in this transaction and Ceridian put the full weight of their focus behind the Dayforce product.

See How Dayforce Stacks Up: Interested in how Dayforce compares to the competition on cost, features, and more? Visit the HRIS Marketplace for a side-by-side comparison.

What Sized Companies Fit Ceridian Dayforce Best?

Ceridian Dayforce is considered a Mid-Enterprise HRIS, which means the system works best for companies with between 350 and 5,000 employees. Mid-Enterprise solutions are designed to be all-in-one HRIS's for companies with a moderate-to-high degree of complexity.

Mid-Enterprise solutions typically take about 4-5 months to implement and only occasionally require external consultants to successfully implement and manage the solutions. Mid-Enterprise solutions have more custom workflow tools and rules engines to support a business's growing complexity.

Ceridian Dayforce Pros and Cons

Strengths of Ceridian Dayforce

• Dayforce’s Core HR technology (payroll, benefits, time & attendance and tax) is as robust and integrated as any company in the market
• Dayforce is an integrated, single database solution, which drastically reduces manual re-entry and errors while improving the ability to create holistic reports
• This has allowed Dayforce to develop an industry leading Daily Pay tool, called Dayforce Wallet, which has improved recruiting & retention for hourly workers
• For international companies, Dayforce has one of the strongest global payroll offerings
• They can natively process payroll in 15 countries all within their single system, while using a network of partners elsewhere who also process in their system
• While Dayforce is often purchased as an all-in-one suite, their strong product architecture makes integrating with 3rd parties easier 
• While Dayforce’s Core HR capabilities are their calling card, their compensation, succession planning and recruiting functionality offers ‘good enough’ capabilities for many customers

Concerns with Ceridian Dayforce

• While Dayforce is actively investing in modernizing their user interface, parts of the system are still lacking excitement and can feel a generation behind
• Companies that don’t have complex time/tax/payroll needs, such as primarily white collar workforces, find that Dayforce’s strengths can be more robust than needed
• Dayforce’s implementations have been known to be a bit rigid which can cause companies to have to adjust their processes to fit the technology
• When companies aren’t able to make configurations to the platform on their own, Dayforce can charge a significant amount for professional services fees to make those changes on the client’s behalf