Dayforce: AI Revolution in Global Payroll

By Tracee Bowles, David Lloyd, and John Thompson
May 20, 2025
Season 6, Episode 26

On this episode of the “Gen AI Breakthrough” podcast, host and The Hackett Group’s Global Payroll Advisory practice leader Tracee Bowles facilitates the discussion exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and global payroll. Joined by Dayforce’s Chief AI Officer David Lloyd and The Hackett Group’s Senior Vice President and Head of the AI practice John Thompson, they highlight the transformative potential of generative AI in enhancing productivity, compliance, and managing cross-border complexities in payroll processes. Both guests share their insights on the evolving landscape of AI and its pivotal role in harnessing unstructured data and driving efficiencies in enterprise functions.

Welcome to The Hackett Group’s “Gen AI Breakthrough” podcast,where top experts give actionable artificial intelligence (AI) insights, expert advice and strategies to achieve breakthrough business performance. This episode’s host is Tracee Bowles, The Hackett Group’s Global Payroll Advisory practice leader. She is joined by David Lloyd, Dayforce’s chief AI officer, and John Thompson, The Hackett Group’s senior vice president and head of the AI practice. The discussion today centers around the transformative potential of generative AI (Gen AI) in enhancing productivity, compliance and managing cross-border complexities in payroll processes.

The discussion begins by acknowledging a key challenge with Gen AI – its lack of citation and the risk of inaccuracy in critical contexts like payroll. Both experts introduce their roles and experience with AI, expressing excitement about the shift from limited structured data analysis to the ability to process and act on vast amounts of unstructured data. This new capability allows AI to support business functions – such as compliance, policy analysis and global payroll – where regulatory environments are complex and constantly evolving.

The conversation highlights AI’s potential to proactively manage payroll challenges across geographies by identifying anomalies, automating compliance updates and offering real-time insights through natural language interfaces. For large organizations, AI enables better focus on exceptions rather than routine data, freeing professionals to handle strategic issues. Thompson shares how AI systems can help individuals understand personal tax liabilities when relocating internationally, while Lloyd envisions systems that suggest and potentially implement regulation-driven changes in payroll platforms. Together, they emphasize the shift from reactive to proactive information management, where AI empowers decision-makers with timely, personalized and actionable insights.

Lloyd and Thompson emphasize the practical and trustworthy integration of AI within established payroll platforms like Dayforce. They highlight the dual use of non-generative AI – such as payroll anomaly detection – and Gen AI tools that allow users to query systems for insights about operations or compliance using natural language. These capabilities are particularly powerful when supported by retrieval-augmented generation, which provides responses and cites the sources of those answers. This transparency builds trust and is critical for sensitive domains like payroll, where accuracy is non-negotiable. Lloyd stresses the importance of governance, security and privacy in building AI tools that organizations can rely on.

The discussion then pivots to the broader implications of AI use in regulated industries. Thompson warns against indiscriminate application of Gen AI, particularly with models trained on unvetted internet data. Instead, he advocates for rigorous oversight, especially when dealing with high-stakes areas like payroll.

In a closing rapid-fire round, both guests agree that autonomous agents are currently overhyped, while the value of unstructured data and the potential of synthetic data generation remain underappreciated. These tools can help organizations reshape datasets to reflect fair and desired outcomes.

The episode wraps up with a reminder of the importance of combining innovation with caution, inviting listeners to explore more resources and continue the conversation on AI’s evolving role in payroll.

Time stamps:

0:12 – Welcome to this episode hosted by Tracee Bowles.

5:37 – AI’s role in tackling global payroll complexity.

8:19 – Gen AI for personalization and proactive compliance.

11:18 – Natural language interfaces and real-world AI applications in payroll.

16:15 – AI tools built into trusted payroll systems.

18:13 – Risks and governance in AI for regulated domains.

20:07 – Trust, citability and AI maturity in payroll.