ADP Workforce Now vs. TriNet

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ADP Workforce Now
Score 8.0 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
ADP Workforce Now is a cloud-based HR platform for mid-sized businesses. It features customizable modules of various HR services that businesses can tailor to their specific needs, as well as regulatory monitoring and alerts to help businesses remain compliant.N/A
TriNet
Score 4.6 out of 10
N/A
TriNet provides small and medium size businesses (SMBs) with full-service HR and payroll solutions tailored by industry. TriNet also offers specialized services through client access to HR representatives for advice and notifications on impactful regulatory changes.N/A
Pricing
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Editions & Modules
Essential
Contact sales team
Enhanced
Contact sales team
Complete
Contact sales team
HR Pro
Contact sales team
Payroll Essentials
Contact sales team
HR Plus
Contact sales team
Hiring Advantage
Contact sales team
Performance Plus
Contact sales team
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPlease contact ADP for a product demo and ask about a hands-on "test drive" of Workforce Now.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Considered Both Products
ADP Workforce Now
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Our company was with Paycom and while it was very customizable - it required a lot of manual entry / management - often in multiple places within the system. Paycom did not offer the ability to easily scale that we were looking for - they also did not have a clean solution for …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
They pale compared to ADP because they each have broken systems that do not flow from beginning to end. Another system is required to support all of the functions needed to process payroll. That puts too much on me, the person, instead of the system. We should work smarter, not …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
The employee facing app for Paycom is better than ADP but on the back side administration ADP is more robust and provides a better experience for the payroll professional.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
With Bamboo they do not process Canadian payroll so we would have had to use a 3rd party to set this up which would have cost us additional money.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP is more comprehensive and has more resources to help with employee information.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
No other program used - was manually done prior to ADP inception many years ago
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We need it for capturing employee data
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We only considered ADP Workforce Now. Since we were already using Workforce Now in the US, we only considered this offering and did not explore other products
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now is so easy to use, like a iPhone. UKG Pro was to complicated like a Android making it to hard to use and you cannot find half the stuff you are looking for. ADP Workforce Now made an easy tool to work with and actually use.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
We had previously used ADP's Run platform and thought it would make for an easier transition. We could not have been more wrong. Pay information was not transferred, we were told we would have access to our reports in Run for a year instead we were locked out after a month. …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now is quite robust on the payroll side, but my overall favourite is BamooHR.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
I think every other payroll service is better. I left Payce because they were bought out by Deluxe. Paycom was fine, but need a HR component to our growing company. ADP Workforce Now proclaims to have this service, but I think it only exists on their time line and schedule. …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
ADP Workforce Now is lightyears ahead of Paycom! ADP's ability to accommodate our payroll needs surpassed anything that Paycom had to offer.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
not particularly different, except I think the customer service is worse with ADP Workforce Now.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
Although this SAS takes longer to perform the everyday functions related to payroll and HR data input, the difference in this software and our previous software is like night and day. We were on a very old server platform and had too many issues with continuous need for backup.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
The same if not a little better suited in a "start from scratch" type of way.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
The value of ADP Workforce Now is immense compared to ADP Run. There's so much more that can be tracked and managed in ADP Workforce Now.
Chose ADP Workforce Now
I've never used anything else personally. However, I have seen certain Kronos products and can 100% see why ADP Workforce Now is superior. It is 100% customizable and adaptable to suit your needs. A lot of other products are not this way and you kind of have to work with …
Chose ADP Workforce Now
In our evaluation of HRIS/Payroll systems we found ADP to be the most robust platform with the greatest number of features, fair pricing, quality, knowledgeable staff and so forth. None of the other systems offered as many features or options at the right price point for our …
TriNet
Chose TriNet
We are considering using the Engagement Survey this next year. The benefits are that our staff are already familiar with TriNet and trust the platform with their data. TriNet also offers insight through consultancy as well as as best practices for the Engagement Survey. We may …
Chose TriNet
I selected them for the payroll platform; however it was oversold by the sales team. It does not operate as I had wished.
Chose TriNet
TriNet was already in use when I started, I switched off of this software as soon as I was able to. ADP and Sequoia both had better customer support, though similar reporting functionality and UX. TriNet was better than both at payroll.
Chose TriNet
I was no involved in the decision to use TriNet as it was in place before I started my role but I have since looked at Deel but they were not able to offer the same level or variety of benefit options as TriNet so that is why we have stayed.
Chose TriNet
TriNet has way more features and functionalities than Gusto. Specifically, the HR function is a big life from mine and the VP of Operations shoulders, and it's nice to have an HR function where we can direct the team to.
Chose TriNet
better technology and consistency, more streamlined and the ADP product was not PEO
Chose TriNet
We selected them because of the great customer service/support - and we haven't been let down!
Chose TriNet
TriNet platform is much user friendly
Chose TriNet
I used Insperity for 1 year. they sold me mid year and screwed up our health insurance (something they promised me wouldn't happen which made the relationship start off bad. Their service was pretty good though, they were helpful just a little more expensive and had better …
Chose TriNet
Both Insperity and TriNet have failed us in the same and different ways. Justworks was initially more expensive for benefits than TriNet. However, TriNet's benefits renewed with an average 10% increase, so we did not see savings for very long. If we could just be free of a …
Chose TriNet
TriNet offered us a huge financial incentive to switch to their PEO. Benefit costs seem to be more expensive than competitors.
Chose TriNet
I didn't select TriNet, it was at my organization when I got here. No one at TriNet gave my company information on how hard it is to move companies in the middle of the quarter. Even UKG did that. I think that every other system works better.
Chose TriNet
These were specifically for Payroll and some HR, we did not use the PEO options for these companies. When we decided to go with a PEO these two companies either did have what TriNet offered, the prices were much higher. The switch over to TriNet was much easier than the …
Chose TriNet
I liked Rippling's software better than TriNet. However, the pricing on employee benefits was through the roof, and they don't offer many selections/options. If it was a software only decision, I would go with Rippling (the 2.0 version of Zenefits which TriNet offers). However, …
Chose TriNet
Overall, it was a better product, and it was also more cost effective. We ended up with better benefits for our employees and lower fees while also experiencing a better platform. The competitor was trying to charge us a very large one time set up fee, which we did not have …
Chose TriNet
Trinet was selected because they have a robust platform and many services that they provide. In addition, the first year discount provides piece of mind when changing providers.
Chose TriNet
I was not a part of the selection process, as I was brought in after we began using TriNet. I have seen others, though, and prefer this to anything else I have encountered. I very much like the look of the platform, but most importantly, the people that assist with each …
Features
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.8
Ratings
1% below category average
TriNet
3.0
Ratings
89% below category average
Employee demographic data8.00 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Employment history7.80 Ratings2.60 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.40 Ratings3.70 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.90 Ratings4.10 Ratings
Organizational charting8.00 Ratings1.90 Ratings
Organization and location management8.00 Ratings1.80 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)6.80 Ratings3.90 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.8
Ratings
2% below category average
TriNet
4.3
Ratings
60% below category average
Pay calculation8.50 Ratings2.80 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors6.70 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment7.40 Ratings3.40 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.50 Ratings3.50 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.40 Ratings5.10 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.70 Ratings3.90 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.20 Ratings3.00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.7
Ratings
4% below category average
TriNet
2.0
Ratings
120% below category average
Approval workflow7.60 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Balance details7.30 Ratings1.70 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.10 Ratings1.70 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.7
Ratings
5% below category average
TriNet
2.7
Ratings
100% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.00 Ratings4.00 Ratings
Update personal information7.70 Ratings4.00 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.90 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Employee recognition7.00 Ratings1.30 Ratings
View job history7.70 Ratings1.80 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.0
Ratings
29% below category average
TriNet
1.0
Ratings
156% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets6.00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.8
Ratings
10% below category average
TriNet
3.1
Ratings
83% below category average
Report builder7.80 Ratings3.80 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.20 Ratings3.90 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.30 Ratings1.60 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.2
Ratings
9% below category average
TriNet
3.4
Ratings
80% below category average
New hire portal7.60 Ratings3.80 Ratings
Manager tracking tools6.80 Ratings3.00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
7.7
Ratings
3% below category average
TriNet
1.6
Ratings
133% below category average
Corporate goal setting7.50 Ratings1.30 Ratings
Individual goal setting7.60 Ratings1.30 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility7.90 Ratings1.20 Ratings
Performance tracking7.60 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.4
Ratings
20% below category average
TriNet
3.1
Ratings
87% below category average
Performance plans6.90 Ratings2.80 Ratings
Performance improvement plans6.30 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Review status tracking5.50 Ratings1.30 Ratings
Review reminders7.00 Ratings1.40 Ratings
Multiple review frequency6.50 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.0
Ratings
26% below category average
TriNet
4.0
Ratings
65% below category average
Create succession plans/pools5.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking5.80 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Candidate search6.30 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Candidate development6.20 Ratings1.30 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
ADP Workforce Now
6.6
Ratings
16% below category average
TriNet
3.6
Ratings
73% below category average
Job Requisition Management7.50 Ratings1.30 Ratings
Company Website Posting7.40 Ratings5.50 Ratings
Publish to Social Media6.90 Ratings1.20 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting6.60 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention2.30 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Applicant Tracking7.20 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.00 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
2.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.2
(0 ratings)
3.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
2.2
(0 ratings)
3.2
(0 ratings)
Availability
7.3
(0 ratings)
6.6
(0 ratings)
Performance
6.4
(0 ratings)
6.8
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(0 ratings)
2.9
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.2
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Online Training
5.8
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.5
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(0 ratings)
7.6
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.1
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.4
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.2
(0 ratings)
7.7
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
6.1
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ADP Workforce NowTriNet
Likelihood to Recommend
well suited for folks in manufacturing or building (jobs and tasks required). Good for small and big business, ease of forming to what you want rather then getting oversold on items that you will not use. Lots of training options available
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For the areas I outlined previously, TriNet is the perfect solution for a young company (start up) to get 1) payroll services, 2) benefits (large offering, best rates), and support when critical issues come about and you don't have an HR Dept. The rates are the best. The people I work with are why I'd keep coming back.
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Pros
  • HRIS that is personalized for the employee and addresses DE&I needs.
  • Payroll, of course! The system addresses all needs, such as deductions, additional pay, premium OT, and shift differentials.
  • Onboarding is an excellent way to stay in compliance and have all documents completed.
  • Tax and Banking and resolution to any issues.
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  • Extensive variety of benefit program plan designs and partners. Something for everyone.
  • One stop shopping for all health and wellness benefits.
  • Continue to add new offerings, such as access to Salary.com at a discount and access to Carta at a discount to manage employee stock programs.
  • On top of compliance by state.
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Cons
  • Customized pre-process payroll reports (Limited on pre-process payroll reports)
  • Labor Allocation (Allocations make payroll reporting very hard to review and find any errors )
  • Recruiting (ATS is very basic)
  • Geofencing (should be able to change shape rather than a circle)
  • Pay Classes (should be able to change at Practitioner level rather than reach out to support)
  • Cookies and Cache have to be cleared on a regular basis
  • Only able to see employee documents/acknowledgements one at a time in the employee file
  • Timecards can only be managed/viewed by 1 person
  • Timeoff emails do not have a link
  • Cost per payroll - not just monthly fee so cost with off cycle payrolls
  • Separate I9 step not needed - during onboarding - 2nd Everify step
  • ADP Workforce Now does not pull in allowances for Houly employees into payroll ONLY Salaried employees
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  • Expense management could be improved upon. We use a state bank for credit cards, and we were unable to link our credit card accounts directly. I have a workaround, but it means manually uploading the charges. Also, in this particular area, the support is not the best.
  • Also in expense management, while it has many fields for you to enter information, some of those don't show up on the reports.
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Likelihood to Renew
We are happy with the service and options offered by ADP. Although the cost is a bit high for a not-for-profit organization, it is essential that we have multi-jurisdictional support for the 20 plus states where employees work and reside. As our company is diminishing in size, we may need to look at making a change to conserve costs. At this time, that would be the only reason we would not renew our WFN contract.
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This is one stop shopping perse. They provide tools for Benefits and 401k. There reports are easy to read and the support given from Trinet support is awesome. Having everything in one place is best then having multiple places for things. Why change if things are working well? All the information is all there when needed.
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Usability
Lack of documentation and test environment make it extremely difficult to deploy work processes through the system. While there are a handful of things throughout the system that work well, particularly from an employee's perspective, many tasks, which would be simple for practitioner users in other systems, require these users to ask for administrator support. Additionally, the ghosts in the ADP machine cause established process (e.g. automated report delivery) to stop working with no notice and no error report.
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Being only 8 months into using the product there are still some things I need to learn, but I am sure as we start to use the product to it's full potential the usability score will go up. The expense interface is a little clunky to what we have used in the past, but the employees are happier that they can have their expenses direct deposited instead of getting an expense check.
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Reliability and Availability
ADP outages are very rare
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We had an issue with application errors - took TriNet 5 months to fix it, mean while we had someone manually tracking and keeping up with many requests and questions about the application error which affected time off. When we were all registering for Benefits during open enrollment there were lots of bugs that caused issues with registering for benefits or being able to see what benefits were available
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Performance
Overall, I think the functionality of the program works pretty well. Sometimes, certain browsers do not work well for the policy function of ADP, but that is the only issue thus far
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For the most part pages load quickly. Working for a software company we understand performance is everything, even a few seconds delay can feel like a lifetime, that being said, we ran into a few times where pages didn't load, information didn't load correctly, and an influx in users (like open enrollment) cause things to slow down
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Support Rating
Most of it is not local, which impacts barriers and customs. I do think they know a lot, but not the cohesive piece. Some naturally know more about certain things than others. The payroll section should be broken out more because payroll is a big topic with many problems, so it can be hard to get the right person who can actually help you.
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again tough to say. Our account manager - 10 most others - 6 Benefits - 5 HR support - 2 (the joke in my team is "why ask, he's just going to say "do this and then check with your legal dept.") If we have to do our own research why do we need you. Like I said, great for smaller companies that don't have an HR team. There is almost an attitude of "we are TriNet, this is how we do it, deal with it. You're in our platform now". Every client may have different needs and TriNet needs to be able to adapt to them. The new role of strong HR teams is business partners - TriNet struggles with this and seems to be stuck in old "tell you what to do", plan the Christmas party and buy cake once a month for birthdays. Its timer to move forward!
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In-Person Training
In-person training was pretty good - I think this significantly depends on the trainer. Our trainer was really good and showed what ADP can do - but I know that all trainers are not the same - and this truly makes such as difference. Overall, our training went pretty well.
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it's been awhile, but I recall them being helpful. I got through a lot of it and when I needed help, they can walk me through it over the phone. It's also pretty user friendly in general at a platform. I don't really know what else to type, but they came and helped me in person and also when there was something new, they came and talked to me. They have not done that since with the new model that I hate
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Online Training
At the time training was not as expansive as it is now. If it could go wrong it did for me so the process was difficult and lengthy. I needed to have more in person walkthroughs of things to ensure the transition was done correctly. Not sure what else I can say, we were part of the initial move to Workforce Now when it was introduced.
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Since this was already implemented. I have another employee briefly train me. Then Trinet rep gave me some training as needed for things that came up. For one payroll preview report I figured it could be done, but I had asked the rep to be sure. One important training was when there was an employee leaving the company.
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Implementation Rating
Either assign more than one specialist to the implementation process, or assign less clients to the implementation specialist. The process requires attention to detail and the ability to test and re-test as well as verify the information. It also requires a lot of back and forth between the client ant the implementation specialist, so they need to be readily available during the whole implementation process.
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not applicable as I implementation was done 5 years ago and have no recollection of the details of the process. Above it says to skip question if not involved in the process but it will not allow me to skip it as it states explanation requitred thus making this process extremely frustrating.
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Alternatives Considered
I also used UltiPro (way back -- it didn't even appear in dropdown). Recommend ADP Workforce Now above all others. Paycor and Paycom were both very clunky. I even helped implement Paycom and could never get it to work how the business needed it to.
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I was no involved in the decision to use TriNet as it was in place before I started my role but I have since looked at Deel but they were not able to offer the same level or variety of benefit options as TriNet so that is why we have stayed.
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Scalability
We have been able to grow with ADP from just a few hundred employees to over 10,000 so it's actually very scalable for payroll usage. We do not use the benefits and onboarding offerings for most of our employees but they are built to scale easily enough for when our corporate team has over 1,000 FTE.
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We are a small company, do we use it across departments and sites? Yes, we are all remote working, so there are as many sites as there are people. We also have our entire staff using TriNet, so every department from Accounting, Admin, HR, Development, QA, and Management are all using this. Can't say for sure how great the scalability is as we are only about 30 employees
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Return on Investment
  • ADP Workforce Now handles all of our tax filing which frees up our time to do other things. They keep us compliant communicating updates on a timely basis.
  • Calculates payrolls accurately. Our management and employees have built a level of confidence due to the ease of pulling statements, year end documents etc.
  • A really nice feature is the follow up email what a change has been made to banking information. There were a couple of times the employee did not make changes to their account information. This kept their funds from getting routed into the wrong hands.
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  • Stay within HR Compliance - when the new laws about Salary change came into effect I received an email on impacted employees and how to address.
  • More involvement in employee benefits. With greater benefit selection more employees were able to find plans that suited their needs.
  • The TimeClock took a little time to get used to. It is still a little frustrating at times for hourly employees to be able to track how many hours they actually have for the week/pay-period. The off the clock meals count towards "hours" and employees have to subtract that out to be able to see what they need for the rest of the week.
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ScreenShots

ADP Workforce Now Screenshots

Screenshot of ADP Workforce Now: a simple and complete human capital management solutionScreenshot of Benchmarking by ADP DataCloud: an application with an extensive data set ... available to ADP Workforce Now clientsScreenshot of ADP Workforce Now clients can equip their employees with the ADP Mobile self-service app