Tedious and Stereotypically Corporate - TotalSource District Manager ADP Employee Review

2.0
9 Feb 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- decent base pay, though you'll have little negotiating room since they disregard your negotiation skills and background in favor of geographic salary benchmarking. - great stock- this might have been the best and most legitimate perk - My manager was not only really intelligent but also funny and easy to get along with. I hit the jackpot in that regard. - Lots of autonomy and flexibility with creating your own work schedule to fit your needs. However, not in regard to PTO. - You're treated like the adult you are. Typically on the TS team, there is no micromanagement. - Deal Desk. You can leverage a deal strategist for mid- and late-stage deals. This is someone who was a top performer on the TS team, and when you use Deal Desk to help with your analysis and proposal, your deal will most likely close. - The benchmark tool. This is something legitimate and useful that separates us from competitor solutions and helps move deals to the next stage with the right people. - Career Growth and Mentorship. They actually practice what they preach here. You can be promoted within a role, laterally and upwards easily if you prove you're ready. - 401k match

Cons

- Shortly before I resigned, ADP paid top dollar to rebrand themselves as a best-in-breed HR and Benefits technology company in an attempt to stay relevant. I struggled coming from a B2B software background where I sold legitimate best-in-breed solutions because ADP's products, even after the re-brand, are notoriously antiquated, not-intuitive, have an ugly UI, and lack functionality. It is hard to sell a solution you wouldn't honestly want to use yourself, especially when the defects are so obvious. - More than 50% of the time, you'll hear existing clients you're trying to cross-sell complain about how they already hate ADP, dozens of random reps across multiple departments call them too often, and there is no chance they will even consider an alternative solution. This speaks to the disorganization across the sales department, lack of data and a culture of disregarding data in SFDC, and a mediocre product. If the product was as wonderful as ADP wants you to believe, than the majority of clients you speak with would not hate it so much. - ADP is super stingy. As an outside sales rep, it's expected that you dedicate your time to drops, face-to-faces, and the only time you're in the office is to do necessary paperwork, catchup on emails, or make calls. That said, ADP has the stingiest expense policy of any technology company I've ever worked for. You can only expense $65 for your cell phone and *up to* a certain amount of business related mileage. They will nickel and dime you, since the running joke is ADP is run by a team of accountants. If a business owner or CEO you are meeting with wants to go to lunch or meet for coffee, keep in mind that is on you. ADP will not give you a car, unless you've been there and have hit certain milestones. You need a car already for the job. - Expect to be your own SDR/MDR 100% of the time. The SBS team has 98% churn rate, and they are not trained nor engaged in their roles. They are typically fresh out of college and their targets are not directly aligned with TotalSource's. Unless you have an Elite SBS DM, which you won't just be handed one if you're new, you will probably just use SBS to increase your territory size, and cut them into your deals, just so you can hit your number. - One of the worst cons is SFDC. Sure, there is no "perfect" SFDC data at any company, but ADP's is by far the worst. It is such a nightmare disaster that it's like the show Hoarders. It may be a lost cause. In fact, the data is so inaccurate, confusing, and nonexistent, that you will be your own SFDC. No joke. There is no actual SFDC admin, and the "updated" data edited in SFDC is still old and inaccurate. You will rely solely on Google Maps and creating excel spreadsheets. Every process that should be automated and simple is the opposite at ADP. You will recreate the wheel. - There is so much paperwork involved and so many chains in the corporate ladder to close a deal. - You'll receive an insane amount of emails per day. Like thirty. Emails from random managers in other states congratulating their reps, emails about six different promotions happening simultaneously. It's information overload of the worst kind. In fact, when you do send an important email to someone at ADP, chances are they won't even really read it because they expect it's just another spammy or irrelevant email. You'll need to call everyone where an email would have sufficed, because it's like living in the Dark Ages (the 90s).

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ADP Response
7y
Thank you for the honest insights and assessment regarding your time with ADP. We appreciate you taking the time to invest in writing this review. Your experience and review help us to improve our overall processes and we appreciate your opinions.

Explore other reviews about ADP

5.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

benefits were great and scenary

Cons

no cons during my time there

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ADP Response
3w
We are glad that you enjoyed your time at ADP and appreciate the positive feedback you have shared about your experience.
2.0
15 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Established company with a long history and relatively stable business operations. - Provides a sense of job stability compared to many organizations navigating rapid changes in the current AI-driven market. - Lower risk of frequent restructuring or large-scale layoffs than many high-growth technology companies. - Opportunity to work with experienced employees who have deep institutional and domain knowledge. - Predictable work environment that may appeal to individuals seeking long-term stability over rapid change. - Strong choice for professionals who value job security and a steady career path in an uncertain economic climate.

Cons

- Documentation is limited or rusted, and many operational processes lack clear runbooks or standardized procedures, making onboarding and troubleshooting more difficult than necessary. - If you're coming from a modern, fast-paced engineering environment, the organization may feel behind current industry practices and tooling. - Internal politics can sometimes outweigh technical merit or execution. - There are teams with very long-tenured employees where change and innovation can be difficult to drive. - Decision-making often involves multiple layers of approval, resulting in significant bureaucracy and slower execution. - Processes can move slowly, and collaboration is not always transparent across teams, leading to inefficiencies and occasional confusion around ownership. - In some areas, roles, responsibilities, and operational processes are not clearly defined, creating unnecessary chaos and inconsistent ways of working. - Engineering standards and best practices vary considerably between teams, making cross-team collaboration challenging. - Organizational change tends to happen slowly, which can be frustrating for employees who are focused on modernization, automation, and continuous improvement.

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ADP Response
1w
Thank you for sharing your insights on your contractor experience at ADP. We value your feedback.
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