Sage People vs Workday comparison

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Sage People

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Workday and Sage People compete in the HR services sector. Workday appears to have the upper hand due to its strong integration capabilities and user-friendly design, whereas Sage People offers robust reporting and better adaptability to organizational needs.

Features: Workday excels in providing comprehensive HR services with a strong emphasis on user experience. Notably, its intuitive business process framework and extensive integration capabilities simplify annual reviews and enhance reporting. Sage People, leveraging Salesforce technology, is recognized for its customizable and powerful reporting capabilities. It facilitates integrated financial system functions and provides support for comprehensive employee information management.

Room for Improvement: Workday users point out analytics limitations, payroll system integration challenges, and configuration complexities. It lacks flexibility in handling global payroll, requiring outside assistance for reporting tweaks. Sage People could enhance performance management and automation areas. Additionally, better HR ticket management and more intuitive error messaging would improve user experience. Customization options in Sage People do not fully meet expectations compared to broader systems.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Workday offers deployment across public, private, and hybrid clouds, with a supportive user community despite occasional support delays. Sage People widely utilizes public and private clouds, with generally prompt direct support. Occasionally, technical support issues arise. Workday benefits from a stronger community support network.

Pricing and ROI: Workday is geared towards larger organizations with significant upfront costs, justified by comprehensive features and integration benefits, improving ROI through streamlined processes. Sage People targets SMEs with flexible licensing options, offering robust HR functionalities at balanced pricing, ensuring affordability and accessibility for mid-sized and growing businesses without incurring premium expenses associated with Workday.

To learn more, read our detailed Sage People vs. Workday Report (Updated: May 2026).

Sage People vs. Workday

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Helped 896,510 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Sage People

Ranking in Benefits Administration

19th

Ranking in Talent Management

27th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

23rd

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

17th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HR Analytics Software (9th)

Workday

Ranking in Benefits Administration

1st

Ranking in Talent Management

1st

Ranking in Cloud HCM

1st

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Sage People is 1.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 9.2%, down from 18.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Workday	9.2%
Sage People	1.6%
Other	89.2%

Cloud HCM

Featured Reviews

Ruth Baker

HRIS Implementation Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

A highly scalable product that provides excellent dashboard and reporting features

The initial setup is easy. We need to be technically savvy. We need to have experience with HR systems to be involved in the setups. For someone who's never had an HR system before, it's going to be very overwhelming. The solution has got a lot of functionalities, which is brilliant. It is 90% customizable. We can configure it exactly as we want it. We would definitely need someone with HR systems experience to understand the backend. We can configure the back end as much as we like. We can also do it once we’ve gone live with the system.

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Eslam Abo Elnaga

Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo

Has improved HR process efficiency through intuitive workflows and responsive support

There is something that could be improved in Workday, specifically in the time tracking module. While I am not working on Workday now, I was a regional HRIS working for Egypt, Malta, India, and China. I mention these countries to relate to high population countries and companies. In our company, we use assigned work schedules for our teams. Because we work with the time tracking module, we need to assign shifts. In the manufacturing industry, we might need to change shifts every day or week. Manufacturing teams are huge, approximately 50 to 200 people in one team. If this team has one leader, the leader needs to assign a work schedule for each person individually. While there is mass upload functionality where we can load shifts for all people or specific groups, we need to select multiple people and assign them to a schedule from the interface itself. I have requested this functionality many times. When extracting business processes awaiting actions report, I can select different processes in one box, hit okay, and the report comes up. However, the same functionality does not work for work schedule assigning. If implemented, it would help many people in companies with high populations and big teams.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable features of Sage People are the reports that are useful for decision-making and the API that can be integrated well. Additionally, the solution can be accessed from mobile devices onto the cloud."

"We are now able to visualize global team structures, and as we rollout other features, the organization will benefit from an easy to use system and standard processes."

"Sage makes all the information accessible, like pulling a file because an employee needs something ASAP. It's all in the system. It's easy to find old reports if I need them for payroll purposes. It might take days to do some of this work by hand."

"Without a doubt, the most valuable aspect of this solution is the reports, as it offers endless possibilities for report customization. You can easily build any report you can imagine with this system."

"It is easy to see all the information we have for a person across two screens, and reports are easy to run, view, amend, and add."

"The solution provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."

"The product is really easy to customise and configure, and the automation has enabled us to manage several HR processes at the right time in the correct manner."

"The reporting features are also very valuable because, on top of 300+ reports available on the system, you can also customize quite a number of reports."

More Sage People pros

"We use this solution to manage financials, payroll and recruiting."

"I'm happy with the features Workday offers. But in particular, Core HCM is the best."

"The most valuable feature of Workday is the ease of navigation to browse the application. The solution can hold information about the company and people with accounts can be discovered by others in the whole company."

"Workday is easy to use. Timesheet and resource management are also easy."

"Workday is highly intuitive from a customer experience perspective, and it was effortless for us to understand what to do even though we didn't have any related training, making it easy to use without guidance."

"The reporting capability is perfectly adequate in 90% of cases, given the requisite training."

"The platform itself is very robust and I generally like the reporting and analytics capability."

"Since adopting Workday, we have reduced HR administrative processing time by 45%."

More Workday pros

Cons

"The automation in Sage People could improve. The solution is the best used for data storage but the automation could be better to have more functionality."

"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."

"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."

"Right now, Sage doesn't seem to have what we are looking for when it comes to managing HR tickets. In my previous experiences with other HR software, we had to buy another solution to obtain this functionality, and it would be a great feature for Sage to consider adding. For an HR system, Sage would do very well to include it."

"Its technical support could have been better."

"The product lacks several features available in more mature products."

"If Sage People were to become a fully cloud-based solution, it could lead to significant improvements. With the COVID pandemic highlighting the benefits of remote work, a complete shift to cloud-based functionality would be a welcome development for users."

"Within the absence screens, we have it set up to automatically allow up to five days holiday to carry over. If staff members are allowed to carry over, it’s a bit difficult to add it in easily."

More Sage People cons

"Workday does have a community site where people can go on and off for suggestions. They call them Brainstorms, and you can vote them up. That is something that they do well, but oftentimes, they seem to be racing to deliver something based on what a competitor is delivering. For example, if they hear SAP has this new functionality and learning that's going to be coming out, they prioritize there, which makes sense, but unfortunately, some of these Brainstorms may get neglected where the product might not be improved as quickly or as needed for the customers. You might be waiting for a year or two to get a feature that you'd like released. They should pay more attention to customer feedback and ensure that customer feedback is an essential part of their product roadmap."

"If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive."

"This solution could be improved by providing user-level access to customization capabilities."

"It is very unique as compared to other tools in terms of the employee master data and how it is organized. That's why sometimes the information needs to sit in two different systems because, in Workday, it is organized differently. This issue is not related to benefits. It is more or so related to how you categorize employees. I don't think this is a problem that could be solved. Workday is aware of this. It is one of those kinds of situations that you just got to live with."

"I would really like to see a more robust timekeeping solution in Workday. Currently, most organizations are using Kronos for timekeeping and Workday for HR data. They then integrate Workday with Dimensions to manage time-related activities and payroll processing."

"There are other enhancements that go untended that have been languishing for years."

"It is good that much of the development is based on community input but often that can lead to details being ignored and small, nagging issues are ignored."

More Workday cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."

"There is other software on the market that can do similar functions to Sage People that could be better in price. Some solution allows you to do your payroll processes by month or by the process. Small companies could benefit by using another solution."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The cost of Sage People varies depending on the financial resources of the organization. While it may be affordable for middle-level companies, it may be more challenging for young companies to bear the cost."

"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."

"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."

"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."

More Sage People pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."

"I rate the product’s pricing a ten out of ten."

"Its price is pretty high. It is more expensive than what is offered by other competitors in the market."

"By and large, Workday is expensive. It is based on the headcount. I'd probably rate it a three or four out of five in terms of pricing. It'd be like buying a Mercedes or a high-end car. It's expensive, but there's a specific value that you're getting with additional features and things of that nature. Using that metaphor, Workday probably tends to be more of a luxury. There are others like ADP that can do your payroll, your time off, and other things, but they don't do it as well."

"You have the license fee per module, and then you have a kind of annual training fee, which is a kind of add-on. I wouldn't say it is exhaustive; it is minor. Licensing is pretty transparent for most of the part."

"The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."

"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."

"Workday is an expensive solution."

More Workday pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

15%

Construction Company

11%

Marketing Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

University

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	43

Questions from the Community

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What are the biggest differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors?

Differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud,w and SAP SuccessFactors:w Oracle: "simple interface and deep customization to suit the purpose." SAP: Multiple functionalities that increase process effi...

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How easy is to maintain Workday, Oracle Cloud, and SuccessFactors?

I implemented Workday in 2024 and without having previous Workday experience, it was very challenging. I spent most of 2025 putting out fires and cleaning up the business processes that came with l...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workday?

If you go with the launch implementation approach, the solution is generally not very expensive. If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive. The solution is fl...

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Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 22% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Workday

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 1% of the time

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Product Reports

Sage People

Download Sage People product report

Download Workday product report

Also Known As

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Overview

Sage People offers customizable reporting, system integration, and HR management capabilities tailored to companies managing diverse teams globally through Salesforce technology. It enhances workforce engagement and enables seamless interaction with payroll and financial systems.

Sage People is built for managing HR services, including payroll integration, employee data handling, and talent acquisition. It provides a visually appealing interface powered by Salesforce, enhancing employee processes with functions like time-off management and legally compliant reporting. Implementation supports global operations across APAC, EMEA, and Americas, optimizing workforce engagement and standardizing HR processes.

What are Sage People's key features?

Customizable Reporting: Enables detailed analysis and evaluation of HR metrics
Payroll Integration: Seamlessly connects with payroll systems to streamline financial transactions
Global Team Visualization: Visualizes team structures for better management
Employee Information Management: Centralizes employee data for easy access and updates
Cloud and On-Premise Support: Allows flexibility in deployment and ensures robust performance

What benefits are important to consider in reviews?

Process Standardization: Facilitates consistent HR practices across various regions
Employee Engagement: Enhances workforce interaction and satisfaction
Mobile Access: Provides remote accessibility for team management
Efficient Integration: Connects with existing financial systems for simplified workflows

Sage People is widely used across industries for efficient HR management, especially in talent acquisition and onboarding processes. Its adaptability enables companies to customize according to workforce requirements, whether in the cloud or on-premise, supporting comprehensive payroll management and application oversight.

Sage

Workday provides a cloud-based platform offering robust human capital management features, emphasizing security, user-friendliness, and operational efficiency through workflow automation.

Workday is utilized by organizations for human capital management, supporting everything from employee recruitment to retirement, payroll processing, and performance tracking. It centralizes HR operations to increase efficiency and manage employee data effectively. Its business process framework allows for drag-and-drop functionality, which along with real-time reporting, enriches the user experience. Workday's modules cover talent, compensation, benefits, and learning, enhancing the workforce management approach. Though integration with external systems can be complex, its usability and flexible configuration support adaptability. Users seek enhancements in customization, reporting, interface usability, and speed, particularly in financial, timekeeping, and payroll modules. Expanding automation, API connectors, language support, and introducing country and industry-specific modules would significantly boost its capabilities. Pricing remains a concern among users.

What are Workday's most important features?

Security: Ensures data protection with robust measures.
User-Friendliness: Intuitive design for ease of use.
Centralized Data Management: Consolidates employee information in one platform.
Real-Time Reporting: Delivers up-to-the-minute insights for decision-making.
Workflow Automation: Streamlines processes to reduce manual tasks.

What benefits should be evaluated when considering Workday?

Operational Efficiency: Automation streamlines HR processes and reduces redundancies.
Enhanced Usability: Integrated modules improve user interaction and efficiency.
Scalability: Adaptable configurations meet diverse business requirements.
Integration Capabilities: Connections with other systems bolster functionality.

Workday is implemented in a range of industries, including finance, healthcare, and technology, offering specialized HR management solutions tailored to each sector's unique requirements. These implementations improve workforce management and align HR strategies with organizational goals, showcasing its adaptability across different business landscapes.

Sample Customers

Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair

AAA, Allied Global, Avago Technologies Limited, Aviva, Cardinal Health, CareFusion, Chiquita Brands International, Equifax, Flextronics, HP, Life Time Fitness, McKee Foods, MGM Resorts International, Sanofi, ServiceSource International, Symantec, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!

Sage People vs. Workday