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CERIDIAN GETS HIGH GRADES
FOR COMPLIANCE
A N A L Y S T
Brent Skinner
T H E B O T T O M L I N E
Employers are continually challenged to comply with complex
employment law – especially the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as
well as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Because of this, it is
significant that Nucleus’ investigation into the experience of Ceridian’s
Dayforce HCM users over the past year reveals that they give the vendor high
grades for compliance with employment law. It’s also not surprising, as
compliance is an area where Dayforce HCM excels, and where additional
research from Nucleus underscores the vendor’s skill.

W H Y T H I S I N V E S T I G A T I O N ?
For compliance, what employers need is a system that automates and unifies as
much as possible where compliance-related activity matters most: core HR, time
and attendance, payroll, and benefits administration – the essentials to employ
people. This is the epicenter of HCM, where employers usually contend with
fractured systems. A growing body of research from Nucleus shows Ceridian’s
Dayforce HCM to excel at the epicenter of HCM, and Nucleus’ communication over
the past 12 months with a broad cross-section of employers that use Dayforce HCM
corroborates that.
E F F I C I E N C Y A N D L O W E R C O S T
In complying with the ACA or FLSA, calculations figuring into payroll, as well as time
and attendance, are complex and – in the case of the ACA – must be just right in
informing benefits administration. Employers need technology that gets everything
P R O G R A M : H U M A N C A P I T A L M A N A G E M E N T
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straight on the first try or, at worst, with only a little bit of fuss. In its investigations,
Nucleus has found that Dayforce HCM delivers on these needs critical to proper
compliance with employment law.
 Payroll. When asked to estimate it, most users of Dayforce HCM with whom
Nucleus has communicated say their payroll rate is less than 1 percent, and in
many cases close to 0 percent.
 Time and attendance. More than half say they have to adjust employees’
schedules never or, at most, only once per pay period.
When asked to estimate it, most Dayforce HCM
users say their payroll rate is less than 1 percent, and
in many cases close to 0 percent. As for time and
attendance, more than half say they have to adjust
employees’ schedules never or, at most, only once
per pay period.
It is notable that not everyone Nucleus has spoken to about Ceridian uses Dayforce
HCM–sourced time and attendance or payroll specifically. In other words, it’s likely
that payroll error rates are even lower, and time and attendance even more
accurate, among organizations that indeed use Dayforce HCM for those
functionalities, too.
R O I A N D T H E D E C I S I O N T O D E P L O Y
D A Y F O R C E H C M
Nucleus-led analyses into the return on investment (ROI) of Dayforce HCM lend
additional credence to users’ claims. So do their reasons for choosing Ceridian over
competitors:
 In switching to Dayforce HCM from an old human resource–outsourced (HRO)
solution, ACCO Brands saw a 172 percent ROI. Additionally, the employer
experienced a drastic decrease in its payroll error rate and in what it was paying
to run payroll (Nucleus Research p165 – Ceridian Dayforce ROI case study – ACCO
Brands, September 2015).
 A recent, separate look by Nucleus into employers’ experience with Dayforce
HCM yields additional insight into the technology’s strengths. Users cited the
basic architecture of the solution as an aspect factoring heavily in their decision

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to choose Dayforce HCM over the competition: The solution rests on one
application producing a single data set governed by a single rules engine – a
boon to the prospect of complying consistently with employment law (Nucleus
Research p224 – Anatomy of a decision – Ceridian Dayforce HCM, December
2015).
T H E R E F R I G E R A T O R ’ S H U M
For compliance, employers need HCM technology they can set and forget.
Compliance should be a perfunctory achievement, a foregone conclusion not unlike
a refrigerator’s ability to keep perishables fresh. Just as the refrigerator hums in the
background, barely entering the household’s consciousness, technology at the
epicenter of HCM must be at once low-maintenance and next to flawless in carrying
out its job. Payroll must be free of unmanageable errors, every time. So must time
and attendance. Benefits must be distributed accurately. Employee data must be
stored efficiently and easily retrievable. Any slip-up by the technology in any of
these areas potentially leads to a fine, and much like when the refrigerator fails,
panic ensues. The cost of a week’s worth of groceries, however, pales in comparison
to the cost of penalties for failing to comply with the ACA, FLSA or any number of
other regulations governing employment.
H I G H G R A D E S F O R A C A C O M P L I A N C E
On average, users of Dayforce HCM give Ceridian an A- for the vendor’s ability to
help with ACA compliance. The largest subset give the vendor an even higher grade.
On average, users of Dayforce HCM give Ceridian an
A-for the vendor’s ability to help them comply with
the ACA. The largest subset give the vendor an even
higher grade.
Customers said:
 “While many folks were breathing a sigh of relief at the postponement of required
ACA reporting, ours is already in and printed. We scrubbed and tested early and
feel confident with the reporting. We have such autonomy in the program, which
we have not had with other vendors. It makes both my payroll director and benefits
director comfortable in the fact that we truly control our data.”

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 “The system fully provides us a great tool to help us comply with all facets of the
ACA. The setup has been quite easy in Dayforce, as well as any reporting we need.”
 “Ceridian has always been very good at keeping track of information and notifying
us of changes.”
Themes have emerged. Many point to the single application that runs all of
Dayforce HCM. Again, by having just one data set and no need to integrate separate
applications for any activity with another at the epicenter of HCM, users enjoy a
large advantage in compliance. Lags are nonexistent, and the system furnishes
employers with data that meets the definition of real time (Nucleus Research p51 –
Fortifying its position, Ceridian expands from the epicenter of HCM, March 2015).
As one user giving a high grade said, “They’ve
always been very good at keeping track of
information and notifying us of changes.”
ACA REPORTING TO THE IRS
Notably, Dayforce HCM helps organizations comply with Sections 6055 and 6056 of
the Internal Revenue Code Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by automating the
completion of associated Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C. The IRS needs
Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, one for every employee that receives ACA-compliant
healthcare insurance that the employer subsidizes. Otherwise, the government
doesn’t know whether an organization has complied with the ACA’s Employer
Mandate. Forms 1094-C and 1095-C are complex.
ACA compliance is a fast-moving target. Vendors
across the board are scrambling to tweak their
systems for it. Against them, Ceridian fares
especially well.
It’s important to note that ACA compliance is a fast-moving target, and vendors
across the board are scrambling to tweak their systems to handle it. Against them,
Ceridian fares well. Even among users who give Ceridian a more critical grade for the
vendor’s ability to help them with ACA compliance, the overall sentiment is positive.
“We’re generally pleased with their ACA compliance,” noted one of these users, who
pointed to an area of reporting for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, where developers at
Ceridian are working to perfect workflow automation even further.

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L O O K I N G F O R W A R D
Dayforce HCM users on average give Ceridian a grade of A- for the company’s ability
to help them with employment law overall – not just with the ACA. Again, the
largest number give an even higher grade. None of this is surprising. In tackling the
complexities of today’s regulatory landscape as it pertains to the employment of
people, organizations need modern technology for HCM. At the very least, they
need one vendor providing all functionality at the epicenter of HCM, in the cloud and
with little to no need for integration. This is where extensive research by Nucleus
shows Dayforce HCM to be a particularly apt option for employers.