自動資料處理 (ADP) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Michelle, and I'll be your conference operator. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to ADP's Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call.

早安.我是Michelle，將擔任本次電話會議的接線生。現在，我謹代表ADP公司歡迎各位參加2023財年第三季財報電話會議。

I would like to inform you that this conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions). I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Danny Hussain, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我謹通知各位，本次會議正在錄音。 （操作說明）現在我將會議交給投資人關係副總裁丹尼‧侯賽因先生。請開始發言。

Thank you, Michelle, and welcome everyone to ADP's Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. Participating today are Maria Black, our President and CEO; and Don McGuire, our CFO.

謝謝米歇爾，歡迎各位參加ADP 2023財年第三季財報電話會議。今天出席會議的有我們的總裁兼執行長瑪麗亞·布萊克和財務長唐·麥奎爾。

Earlier this morning, we released our results for the quarter. Our earnings materials are available on the SEC's website and our Investor Relations website at investors.adp.com, where you will also find the investor presentation that accompanies today's call.

今天早些時候，我們發布了本季業績報告。您可以在美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 網站和我們的投資者關係網站 investors.adp.com 上查閱我們的業績報告資料，該網站還提供今天電話會議的投資者簡報。

During our call, we will reference non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe to be useful to investors and that exclude the impact of certain items. A description of these items along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release.

在本次電話會議中，我們將提及非公認會計準則（非GAAP）財務指標。我們認為這些指標對投資者更有幫助，因為它們剔除了某些項目的影響。有關這些項目的說明以及非GAAP指標與最接近的GAAP指標的調節表，請參閱我們的獲利報告。

Today's call will also contain forward-looking statements that refer to future events and involve some risk. We encourage you to review our filings with the SEC for additional information on factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations.

今天的電話會議還將包含一些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述涉及未來事件，並存在一定風險。我們建議您查閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與我們目前預期有重大差異的因素。

I'll now turn it over to Maria.

現在我把麥克風交給瑪麗亞。

Thank you, Danny, and thank you, everyone, for joining us. For our third quarter, we delivered strong results, including 10% organic constant currency revenue growth, 110 basis points of adjusted EBIT margin expansion and 14% adjusted EPS growth. Our continued solid financial performance underscores the power of our innovative and mission-critical HCM solutions that serve over 1 million diverse clients around the world as well as our highly recurring revenue business model.

謝謝丹尼，也謝謝各位的參與。第三季度，我們取得了強勁的業績，包括10%的有機固定匯率營收成長、調整後息稅前利潤率提升110個基點以及14%的調整後每股收益成長。我們持續穩健的財務表現凸顯了我們創新且至關重要的人力資本管理（HCM）解決方案的強大實力，這些解決方案服務於全球超過100萬家不同類型的客戶，同時也證明了我們高收益的商業模式的有效性。

As usual, I'll start with some highlights from the quarter. The demand environment was healthy overall. And in Q3, we drove another quarter of solid Employer Services, new business bookings growth, representing a record Q3 bookings amount. Bookings performance continues to be particularly strong in our down market portfolio. In Q3, we sold and started over 60,000 new RUN clients where a new user experience has helped us reach record level new client satisfaction rate these past few quarters. We also had strong bookings results in our insurance and retirement services offerings supported not only by legislative tailwinds but also by the competitive positioning of our down market HCM ecosystem.

照例，我先來介紹一下本季的一些亮點。整體而言，市場需求環境良好。第三季度，我們的雇主服務業務新訂單量再次穩健成長，創下第三季訂單量新高。在下行市場領域，我們的訂單表現特別強勁。第三季度，我們新增了超過6萬名RUN客戶，全新的使用者體驗幫助我們在過去幾季中實現了創紀錄的新客戶滿意度。此外，我們的保險和退休服務業務也取得了強勁的訂單業績，這不僅得益於立法利好，也得益於我們在下行市場HCM生態系統中的競爭優勢。

Demand for our Employer Services HR Outsourcing Solutions remained high, and we recently reached the 10,000 client mark. We also saw continued booking strength in our compliance-oriented solutions, including tax remittance and wage payments, which have always been key differentiators for us on a year-to-date basis, we are within our bookings guidance range and are trending in line with our expectations from the outset of the year, and we look forward to finishing the year with a strong close.

市場對我們雇主服務人力資源外包解決方案的需求依然旺盛，近期客戶數量已突破1萬大關。此外，我們針對合規的解決方案（包括稅務匯款和薪資支付）的訂單量也持續強勁成長，這些方案一直是我們今年迄今的關鍵差異化優勢。目前，我們的訂單量符合預期目標，並延續了年初以來的發展趨勢，我們期待以強勁的勢頭為今年畫上圓滿的句號。

Our Employer Services retention rate came in better than expected once again. While we continue to experience normalization in our down market out of business rates, this was offset by the strong retention rate in our U.S. mid-market and international businesses, both of which continue to benefit from years of improving client satisfaction.

我們的雇主服務客戶留存率再次超出預期。儘管低迷市場中的倒閉率持續趨於正常化，但我們在美國中端市場和國際市場業務中保持了強勁的客戶留存率，這抵消了低迷的影響。這兩個市場都受益於多年來客戶滿意度的持續提升。

As such, we're pleased to be raising our full year retention guidance. Our Employer Services pays per control grew 4% for the quarter and continues to decelerate at a very gradual pace. As we have seen for several quarters now, layoffs at many larger companies have been offset by the labor demand elsewhere, which in total has resulted in year-over-year employment growth. With this continued resilience, we're pleased to expect the higher end of our previous pays per control guidance range.

因此，我們很高興上調全年員工留任預期。本季度，我們雇主服務部門的每位員工薪資成長了4%，並且成長持續緩慢放緩。正如我們過去幾季所看到的，許多大型公司的裁員已被其他領域的勞動力需求所抵消，總體而言，這促成了就業人數的同比增長。鑑於這種持續的韌性，我們預計每位員工薪酬將達到先前預期範圍的上限。

Last, on our PEO, while growth in revenue and average worksite employees continued to decelerate this quarter. We were pleased to see PEO bookings growth reaccelerate nicely in Q3, especially in March. This represented a much better performance than we experienced in Q2 and resulted in our largest quarter for PEO bookings ever.

最後，關於我們的專業雇主組織（PEO）業務，雖然本季營收和平均工作場所員工人數的成長持續放緩，但我們很高興地看到，第三季PEO訂單量成長強勁回升，尤其是在3月份。這比第二季的表現要好得多，並創下了我們PEO訂單量有史以來最高的季度紀錄。

Despite the current inflationary environment and broad-based macroeconomic uncertainty, we are focused on our PEO sales execution and on delivering continued strong client satisfaction, and we remain confident in the long-term secular growth opportunity.

儘管當前通膨環境和宏觀經濟普遍存在不確定性，但我們仍專注於 PEO 銷售執行和持續提升客戶滿意度，並且我們對長期的持續成長機會充滿信心。

Stepping back, while we are pleased to be on track to deliver very strong full year financial results. We are even more excited about how we are leveraging our unmatched scale and decades of innovation experience to drive continued progress on our important modernization journey. We are making our solutions more powerful and easier to use, and we are making our unparalleled insight and expertise more accessible than ever. In doing all this, we're delivering an experience that's better for our clients, better for their employees and better for ADP.

回顧過去，我們很高興能夠按計劃實現非常強勁的全年財務業績。更令我們興奮的是，我們將如何利用我們無可比擬的規模和數十年的創新經驗，推動我們重要的現代化轉型之旅持續推進。我們正在使我們的解決方案更強大、更易用，並讓更多人能夠獲得我們獨特的見解和專業知識。透過所有這些努力，我們正在為客戶、客戶員工以及ADP本身帶來更佳的體驗。

I mentioned the tens of thousands of new clients we onboarded in our down market, over 1/3 of those clients utilize our digital onboarding experience, yielding a faster time to start, happier clients and greater productivity for our implementation team.

我提到，在市場低迷時期，我們新增了數萬名客戶，其中超過三分之一的客戶利用了我們的數位入駐體驗，從而加快了啟動速度，提高了客戶滿意度，並提高了我們實施團隊的生產力。

We just completed our busy year-end period during which we helped our clients with over 75 million U.S. tax forms and to further enhance the client experience, we proactively service critical year-end data to our clients before they had to search for it. This not only reduced friction for them but also reduced the number of calls and interactions with our service teams.

我們剛結束了繁忙的年終工作，期間我們協助客戶處理了超過7500萬份美國稅務表格。為了進一步提升客戶體驗，我們會在客戶尋找之前主動提供關鍵的年終數據。這不僅減少了客戶的麻煩，也減少了他們與我們服務團隊的電話溝通次數。

For years, we have directly engaged and served our clients' employees through channels like wisely. As we focus on the overall employee experience we can offer, we continue to add valuable functionality like a savings envelope that employees have used to move more than $1 billion into savings over the last 12 months and a new financial wellness hub with its tools and education to drive better financial outcomes.

多年來，我們一直透過諸如Wisely之類的管道直接與客戶的員工互動並為其提供服務。隨著我們不斷提升員工的整體體驗，我們持續增加實用功能，例如員工儲蓄帳戶（過去12個月裡，員工已透過該帳戶累計儲蓄超過10億美元）以及全新的財務健康中心（提供各種工具和教育資源，幫助員工實現更好的財務狀況）。

With our new intelligent self-service solution, we are already interacting with over 3 million client employees per month through our Action Card feature. And our Voice of Employee solution is helping thousands of clients attain better insights from their employee population, which can drive higher engagement and satisfaction for those employees.

透過我們全新的智慧自助服務解決方案，我們每月已透過「行動卡」功能與超過300萬名客戶員工互動。此外，我們的「員工之聲」解決方案正在幫助數千家客戶更深入地了解其員工群體，從而提升員工的敬業度和滿意度。

The opportunity to continue creating value and efficiency in the world of work is meaningful, and we believe these modern approaches that reduce friction and exceed client expectations will help us deliver on that in the coming years.

在工作領域繼續創造價值和提高效率的機會意義非凡，我們相信，這些減少摩擦、超越客戶期望的現代化方法將幫助我們在未來幾年實現這一目標。

With that in mind, I want to provide some perspective on how we are strategically positioning ourselves to invest over the near term given the economic backdrop. As we shared earlier this year, in fiscal 2023, we were impacted by higher wage inflation. We also added to our service and implementation capacity to meet the expectations of our growing client base, and we invested throughout the year in sales and products.

有鑑於此，我想就我們如何根據當前的經濟狀況進行策略性佈局，以期在短期內進行投資，提供一些見解。正如我們今年稍早所分享的，在2023財年，我們受到了薪資通膨加劇的影響。為了滿足不斷成長的客戶群的需求，我們也提升了服務和實施能力，並在全年持續投資於銷售和產品。

As we position for potential economic slowdown beyond this fiscal year, we are being thoughtful about how we prioritize our investments. At the same time, we are very much committed to our ongoing modernization journey, which is critical to our sustainable growth and that will require continued steady reinvestment into the business. In the coming quarters, I look forward to updating you on near-term growth priorities for ADP. Before turning it over to Don, I want to take a moment to recognize our associates for their continued focus on helping our clients through the many challenges they face each day, especially amid these uncertain times. Resiliency and partnerships represent core components of the ADP brand promise and are among the many reasons businesses around the world choose to partner with a leader in the industry. Our unrelenting support through years of growth, years of challenge and the years in between is something they've grown to count on, and we are honored to support them.

鑑於本財年後可能出現經濟放緩，我們正在認真考慮如何優先安排投資。同時，我們始終致力於推動現代化進程，這對我們的永續成長至關重要，而這需要持續穩定的再投資。在接下來的幾個季度裡，我期待向大家報告ADP近期成長重點。在將發言權交給Don之前，我想藉此機會感謝我們的同事們，感謝他們始終專注於幫助客戶應對每天面臨的諸多挑戰，尤其是在當前充滿不確定性的時期。韌性和夥伴關係是ADP品牌承諾的核心組成部分，也是全球企業選擇與產業領導者合作的眾多原因之一。多年來，無論客戶是經歷了成長、挑戰或其他任何階段，我們都始終如一地提供支持，客戶對此深感信賴，我們很榮幸能夠為他們提供支援。

With that, I'll turn it over to Don.

接下來，我將把麥克風交給唐。

Thank you, Maria, and good morning, everyone. I'll provide some more details on our Q3 results and update you on our fiscal '23 outlook before briefly touching on fiscal '24.

謝謝瑪麗亞，大家早安。我將詳細介紹我們第三季的業績，並更新我們2023財年的展望，最後簡單談談2024財年。

Let me jump straight into the segments starting with Employer Services. ES segment revenue increased 11% on a reported basis and 12% on an organic constant currency basis, which is the strongest ES revenue growth we've experienced in quite some time. As Maria shared, ES new business bookings were solid and kept us on track with our full year outlook. We believe the full range of bookings outcomes is still on the table given the relative importance of Q4 bookings to our full year results. So we're not making any change to our guidance, but we do believe the middle of our guidance range feels most likely at this point.

讓我直接切入正題，首先是雇主服務（ES）業務。 ES業務收入按報告基準成長11%，以有機成長（以固定匯率計算）成長12%，這是我們近期以來ES業務收入成長最強勁的一次。正如Maria所說，ES業務的新業務預訂情況穩健，使我們得以實現全年業績預期。考慮到第四季度預訂量對全年業績的重要性，我們認為所有可能的預訂結果都存在變數。因此，我們不會調整績效指引，但我們認為目前來看，業績指引區間的中間值最為可能。

On ES retention, following another quarter of better-than-expected results, we're again revising our outlook, and we now expect retention to be down only 10 to 20 basis points for the full year compared to our prior outlook of down 20 to 30 basis points. This again will be driven by retention decline in our down market from normalized out-of-business losses and is mostly offset by improved overall retention elsewhere.

關於員工留存率，繼又一個季度業績好於預期之後，我們再次調整了預期，目前預計全年留存率僅下降10至20個基點，低於此前預期的下降20至30個基點。這項變化主要受市場低迷時期正常化停業損失導致的留存率下降的影響，但大部分被其他地區整體留存率的提高所抵消。

Pays per control remained strong in Q3 and we are raising our outlook to now assume about 4% pays per control growth for the year compared to our prior outlook for 3% to 4% growth. Client funds interest revenue increased in Q3, in line with our expectations, and we're updating our full year outlook utilizing the latest forward yield curve, which, in this case, resulted in no major change. And on FX, we had about 1 percentage point of ES revenue headwinds in Q3, and there is no change to our outlook for a full year headwind of between 1% and 2%.

第三季每單位收益依然強勁，我們將全年每單位收益成長預期上調至約4%，高於先前3%至4%的預期。客戶資金利息收入在第三季有所成長，符合預期，我們正根據最新的遠期殖利率曲線更新全年預期，此次更新並未導致重大變化。外匯方面，第三季標普500指數期貨（ES）收入面臨約1個百分點的不利因素，我們維持全年不利因素在1%至2%之間的預期不變。

Following our strong Q3 ES revenue growth, we're pleased to be raising our outlook once again to now expect about 9% growth, up from 8% to 9% before. Our ES margin increased 80 basis points in Q3, which was in line with our expectations. We are narrowing our full year outlook to now expect about 200 basis points of margin expansion and we still see significant opportunity to invest in sales, product and elsewhere throughout the organization to capitalize on the growth opportunity in front of us, which we are choosing to do at this juncture.

繼第三季ES業務收入強勁成長之後，我們很高興再次調高成長預期，目前預期成長率約為9%，高於先前預測的8%至9%。第三季ES業務利潤率成長了80個基點，符合預期。我們將全年利潤率預期下調至約200個基點，並且我們仍然看到在銷售、產品以及其他方面進行投資的巨大機會，以把握眼前的成長機遇，這也是我們目前選擇採取的策略。

Moving on to the PEO. We had 5% revenue growth driven by 3% growth in average worksite employees. As a reminder, this deceleration is driven by a few factors, including slow pays per control growth, difficult comparisons versus record retention levels and softer recent bookings growth that we experienced in the last 2 years.

接下來談談PEO業務。我們的收入成長了5%，主要得益於平均工作場所員工人數增加了3%。需要指出的是，這一增長放緩是由多種因素造成的，包括每位員工的薪酬增長緩慢、與創紀錄的員工留存率相比存在較大差異，以及過去兩年訂單增長放緩。

For this fiscal year, we now expect PEO revenue growth of about 8% and with growth in average worksite employees of about 6%, both at the lower end of our prior ranges. Maria mentioned the bookings reacceleration in Q3 and we are feeling upbeat about reaccelerating the revenue growth in the coming several quarters. This guidance update is mainly due to a tweak to our pays per control assumption within the PEO, as it decelerated a bit more than we previously assumed, somewhat different from what we experienced in the ES segment. We are separately lowering our outlook for revenue, excluding zero margin pass-throughs to a range of 7% to 8% due mainly to lower SUI rates in Q3, than we previously anticipated.

本財年，我們預期PEO業務營收成長約8%，平均職場員工人數成長約6%，均處於先前預期範圍的下限。 Maria提到第三季訂單量回升，我們對未來幾季營收成長的回升持樂觀態度。此次業績指引調整主要是由於我們對PEO業務中按控制人付費的假設進行了微調，因為其增速放緩幅度略高於預期，這與我們在ES業務板塊遇到的情況有所不同。此外，由於第三季SUI費率低於預期，我們將不計入零利潤轉嫁的營收預期下調至7%至8%。

PEO margin increased 140 basis points in Q3, which was better than expected due primarily to continued favorable workers' compensation reserve adjustments, which we had not assumed as well as the lower SUI costs I just mentioned. And we are raising our outlook for PEO margin to now expect it to be up 50 to 75 basis points for fiscal '23.

第三季PEO利潤率成長140個基點，超出預期，主要得益於持續有利的工傷賠償準備金調整（我們此前未預料到這一點）以及我剛才提到的較低的SUI成本。因此，我們將2023財年PEO利潤率的預期上調至成長50至75個基點。

Putting it all together, we still expect consolidated revenue growth of 8% to 9% in fiscal '23, but now believe it will be towards the higher end of that range. We are maintaining our outlook for adjusted EBIT margin expansion of 125 to 150 basis points and for a fiscal '23 effective tax rate of about 23%. And we now expect adjusted EPS growth of 16% to 17% compared to our prior outlook of 15% to 17%.

綜合所有因素，我們仍預期2023財年合併營收成長8%至9%，但現在認為實際成長率將接近該區間的上限。我們維持對調整後息稅前利潤率提升125至150個基點以及2023財年實際稅率約為23%的預期。此外，我們現在預期調整後每股盈餘將成長16%至17%，高於先前15%至17%的預期。

I also want to provide some early high-level color on what to expect for next year. We are still going through our annual planning process but there are a few things to consider at this point. First, assuming a slowing economic backdrop, pays per control could be at a below normal growth rate next year, among other potential macro considerations.

我還想提前透露一些關於明年預期情況的概況。我們仍在進行年度規劃，但目前有幾點需要考慮。首先，假設經濟成長放緩，除其他潛在的宏觀因素外，明年每位控制人員的薪酬成長率可能會低於正常水準。

I would also point out that while client funds interest appears positioned to give us some contribution to growth, based on the latest forward yield curve, it will likely be very modest. At the same time, we have good momentum in our ES bookings performance and ES retention, and we are feeling upbeat about the continued opportunity to build on our decades of success. Thank you.

我還想指出，雖然客戶資金似乎有望為我們的成長做出一定貢獻，但根據最新的遠期殖利率曲線來看，貢獻可能非常有限。同時，我們的ES預訂量和ES續訂率均保持良好勢頭，我們對未來繼續鞏固和發展數十年來的成功充滿信心。謝謝。

And I'll now turn it back to Michelle for Q&A.

現在我將把問題交還給米歇爾，讓她回答大家的問題。

(Operator Instructions) We will take our first question from Bryan Bergin with Cowen.

（操作說明）我們先來回答來自 Cowen 公司的 Bryan Bergin 提出的問題。

So Don, maybe just building on those last comments you had there, I'm curious, just any indications or call-outs worth mentioning as it relates to fiscal '24? Really in the context of the medium-term outlook that you've given in the past, just how should the Street consider the magnitude of potential impacts across some of these KPIs from a potentially slower macro environment?

唐，或許可以接著你剛才的評論繼續說下去，我很好奇，關於2024財年，有沒有什麼值得一提的跡像或要點？尤其是在你過去給出的中期展望背景下，如果宏觀經濟環境放緩，市場該如何看待這些關鍵績效指標可能受到的影響程度？

Yes, Bryan, thank you for the question. It's still early. We're still in the middle of our planning process. I think we have a lot of things going in our favor sales. We're -- we still have relatively high client fund interest. Pays per control have been good and strong. Bookings continue to be strong as we said earlier. So as we get into '24, I think we're going to be in a pretty healthy spot with what we know today. I guess the challenge we all have is trying to guess what's coming in terms of the broader macro situation. We continue to see strong demand, retention to think is pretty good, although it's normalizing a little bit in the down market, as we did expect. But I think things feel pretty good at this juncture. So I'm going to have to ask you to bear with us a little bit as we make our way through our plan, and we stay tuned to what's going on in the macro environment even closer as we get forward or closer to our July 1, beginning of the year.

是的，布萊恩，謝謝你的提問。現在還為時過早，我們仍在規劃過程中。我認為銷售方面有很多利多因素。我們－我們仍然保持著相對較高的客戶資金需求。按次付費模式表現良好且強勁。正如我們之前提到的，預訂量也持續走強。因此，展望2024年，我認為根據我們目前掌握的信息，我們將處於相當健康的境地。我想我們面臨的挑戰在於如何預測宏觀經濟情勢的發展。我們持續看到強勁的需求，客戶留存率也相當不錯，儘管正如我們預期的那樣，在市場低迷時期，情況有所改善。但我認為目前情況相當樂觀。因此，請大家耐心等待，我們將逐步推進計劃，並密切關注宏觀環境的變化，尤其是在7月1日新年臨近之際。

Okay. That's fair. And just on the PEO. So worksite employee view downtick, and I think you were down sequentially in average worksite employees. Can you just talk about what you're seeing in kind of the pays per control versus the retention aspect in the PEO? And with bookings reaccelerating, how long does the reconnection to improve growth take?

好的，這很合理。就PEO（專業雇主組織）而言，工作場所員工人數有所下降，而且我認為你們的平均工作場所員工人數也較上季下降。您能否談談PEO中按績效付費與員工留存率之間的關係？隨著預訂量重新加速成長，重新建立聯繫以促進成長需要多長時間？

So the -- we did have, as you as you mentioned, we had a particularly strong PEO bookings month in March, which we're optimistic is going to continue and help us as we go forward. Certainly, we're going to have to see how those bookings continue through the balance of the year, trying to anticipate how those are going to actually result in revenue. Things do start relatively quickly in the PEO business, but it's going to take some time once again to see how that stuff rolls from bookings into revenue. But we're pretty optimistic about how things went in the third quarter, especially with the finish, and we do expect to see that reacceleration as quickly as we want to. And by the way, back to your earlier question a little bit, we talked about high single-digit growth in our midterm view, and we won't be happy if we don't get something like that.

正如您所提到的，我們在三月的PEO預訂量確實非常強勁，我們樂觀地認為這種勢頭將會持續，並對我們未來的發展有所幫助。當然，我們還需要觀察這些預訂量在今年剩餘時間的趨勢，並預測它們最終會如何轉化為收入。 PEO業務的啟動速度通常相對較快，但從預訂量到最終收入的轉換過程仍需要一些時間。不過，我們對第三季的表現，尤其是收尾階段，感到非常樂觀，我們預期成長速度會如我們所願地加快。順便說一下，回到您之前的問題，我們在中期展望中提到了接近兩位數的增長，如果我們達不到這個目標，我們會感到失望。

Yes. I think, Bryan, if I can just comment on the quarter-over-quarter real quick as I think you mentioned the sequential growth Q2 to Q3 and worksite employees. That is something that, obviously, we noticed as well, and as Don mentioned, from a medium-term perspective, we are definitely still committed from the medium term to the works on employee growth that we have guided to for that. However, as it relates to kind of the quarter-over-quarter, we noticed the same thing that you noticed. And obviously, that's not the ideal situation, and we're hopeful that won't be the case if you look sequentially quarter-to-quarter, Q3 to Q4, but also year-on-year. And I think that's really a byproduct of timing, and that timing is really about retention, right? So it's really about, call it, third quarter retention results, which we've cited before were a bit softer than we expected. And as a result of that, you see the sequential piece to the quarter-on-quarter.

是的。布萊恩，我想就季度環比快速談一下，就像你剛才提到的第二季度到第三季度的環比增長以及工作場所員工人數。顯然，我們也注意到了這一點。正如唐所說，從中長期來看，我們仍然致力於實現我們先前製定的員工成長目標。然而，就季度環比而言，我們也注意到了你注意到的情況。顯然，這不是理想的情況，我們希望如果你從季度環比（第三季度到第四季度）以及同比來看，情況會有所改善。我認為這實際上是時機問題造成的，而時機問題實際上與員工留存率有關，對吧？所以，這其實與第三季的員工留存率有關，我們之前提到過，第三季的員工留存率略低於預期。因此，你會看到季度環比的環比下降。

Okay. Is that just a function of the type of client within PEO?

好的。這是否僅取決於PEO客戶的類型？

In terms of the typing.

就打字而言。

Like more white collar?

喜歡白領工作嗎？

I don't know that it's a function of more white collar. I think it's really a function of some of the feelings that we have post pandemic as the renewals have really been kind of, call it, rippling through the business of the PEO. So it's really a byproduct of some of the post-pandemic impact that we saw in the PEO so it's really byproduct of the retention softness that we saw in the first quarter and the second quarter and then quarter-on-quarter this past quarter. So I don't think it's necessarily a byproduct of -- because retention continues, albeit it's normalizing a bit in the down market. We do have very strong retention in the mid-market. We also have strong retention, albeit tiny bit less than last year in the down market. So I don't really think it's a byproduct of the client base or white collar, I think it's really a byproduct of kind of a post-pandemic environment in the PEO.

我不認為這是白領人數增加的結果。我認為這實際上與疫情後的一些感受有關，因為續約情況確實對PEO業務產生了連鎖反應。所以，這其實是疫情後PEO業務受到的一些影響的副產品，也是我們在第一季和第二季以及上個季度環比觀察到的客戶留存率疲軟的副產品。因此，我不認為這一定是白領人數增加的副產品——因為客戶留存率仍在持續，儘管在低迷的市場中有所回落。我們在中端市場的留存率非常高。在低迷的市場中，我們的留存率也很高，儘管比去年略低。所以我並不認為這是客戶群或白領人數增加的副產品，我認為這實際上是疫情後PEO業務環境的副產品。

Our next question comes from Bryan Keane with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的布萊恩·基恩。

I guess just trying to look at Employer Services, really strong growth in the quarter, 12% organic. If you back into the guidance for fourth quarter, it looks like a little bit of a deceleration. I think you get to something around 8% growth. So just trying to understand the puts and takes there for the fourth quarter guide versus the strong results in the third quarter?

我想專注於雇主服務業務，本季成長強勁，有機成長率達到12%。如果推算到第四季的業績指引，成長率似乎會略有放緩，預期成長率約8%。所以，我想了解一下，鑑於第三季強勁的業績，第四季的業績指引有哪些利弊分析？

Yes, thanks for the question. The biggest impact, I guess, in terms of growth would be we are going to continue to see strong growth from client fund interest in the fourth quarter. But certainly, Q3 is by far the strongest quarter just given the seasonality of tax receipts, et cetera, for us. So I think that would be one of the key drivers. And of course, we did mention as well that we expect to see pays per control growth coming down and softening a little bit, even though a bit higher than we expected to see. Last quarter, it is coming down. It's certainly starting to moderate.

是的，謝謝你的提問。我認為，就成長而言，最大的影響因素是客戶資金興趣將在第四季度繼續保持強勁成長。但當然，考慮到稅收收入等因素的季節性影響，第三季無疑是迄今為止表現最強勁的季度。所以我認為這是關鍵驅動因素之一。當然，我們也提到過，我們預計每單位收益的成長將會放緩，儘管略高於預期。上個季度，成長已經開始放緩，明顯趨於平緩。

Got it. Got it. And then on the bookings side, although bookings were strong. I think you commented maybe towards the lower end of the range of 6% to 9% and -- and just can you help us maybe think about how bookings will translate into future revenue growth for the Employer Services? If you can just remind us, just as we get our models set or start thinking about fiscal year '24.

明白了。明白了。至於預訂方面，雖然預訂情況強勁，但我記得您之前提到過，預訂量可能在 6% 到 9% 的區間下限——您能否幫我們思考一下，預訂量將如何轉化為雇主服務未來的收入增長？如果您能提醒我們一下，那就太好了，因為我們正在建立模型或開始考慮 2024 財年。

Yes. So I'll let Don comment on the -- how the bookings kind of relate to the models on the revenue side. But from an overall bookings perspective, what we cited in the prepared remarks is that we do anticipate the middle of the range. So we did keep the range constant. So it's constant with the outset of the year, it's also constant with last quarter's guidance. So we are keeping that 6% to 9% range. We do anticipate at this point, the middle of that range.

是的。我會讓唐來談談預訂量與收入模型之間的關係。但從整體預訂量來看，我們在事先準備好的發言稿中提到，我們預期最終預訂量會達到預期範圍的中位數。所以我們保持了預期範圍不變。這與年初的預期一致，也與上個季度的預期一致。因此，我們維持在6%到9%的區間。目前，我們預期最終預訂量會達到該區間的中位數。

And we feel pretty confident heading into the fourth quarter when we take a look at how we exited March, but also taking a look at the number of sellers we have, the investments we've made into the ecosystem and as those sellers ultimately gain tenure because we're actually lapping a lot of new hires that we had, if you will, a year ago. So pretty excited as we step in the other part of that.

展望第四季度，我們信心十足。這不僅體現在我們三月的業績上，也體現在我們擁有的賣家數量、對生態系統的投資，以及這些賣家最終累積的資歷上——因為我們實際上已經超越了一年前新招的許多員工。所以，我們對接下來的發展感到非常興奮。

Confidence is really about what we're seeing as it relates to the overall pipeline. So pipelines are strong. That's more of a, call it, enterprise and international or large deal type of comment. We're seeing tremendous activity in the top of the funnel still upmarket. So the down market continues to shine for us, and that's really supported by what we're seeing in continued increases in new business formations. We're also seeing those new business formations generate inbound leads. So we're seeing good activity on the digital side. So feel confident as we step into the fourth quarter, and then I'll let Don comment on how the -- ultimately where we land in the fourth quarter and how that translates into revenue for us next year.

信心主要來自我們對整體銷售管道的觀察。銷售通路目前非常強勁，尤其體現在企業級、國際化或大型交易方面。我們看到，在銷售漏斗頂端的高端市場依然非常活躍。低端市場也持續表現亮眼，新成立企業數量的持續成長印證了這一點。同時，這些新成立的企業也帶來了大量的潛在客戶。因此，我們在數位化方面也取得了良好的業績。所以，我們對進入第四季充滿信心。接下來，我會請Don來談談我們最終在第四季的業績表現，以及這將如何轉化為我們明年的收入。

Yes. So on the modeling side, roughly a 1% change in ES bookings growth impacts us in the $17 million to $20 million annually on revenue growth. So that's kind of how we think about your models. I think that's been pretty consistent.

是的。從模型角度來看，ES預訂量成長約1%的變化，每年將對我們的營收成長產生1700萬至2000萬美元的影響。這就是我們對你們模型的解讀。我認為這一點一直都相當穩定。

Yes. And Bryan, the timing is -- it depends on the business. Obviously, strong performance in the down market will impact revenue much more quickly. And if you have strong global view sales at the other end of the extreme, that can take several months to even more than a year, in some cases, to roll in. So typical rule of thumb for us is a couple of quarters to see the full impact. But of course, the bookings throughout the year have been pretty consistent for us. And so I wouldn't expect any real callouts from the revenue timing standpoint.

是的。布萊恩，具體時間取決於業務狀況。顯然，在市場低迷時期，強勁的業績會對收入產生更快的影響。而如果全球銷售業績強勁，可能需要幾個月甚至一年以上的時間才能完全體現。因此，我們通常的經驗法則是，需要幾個季度才能看到全部影響。當然，我們全年的預訂量一直相當穩定。所以，從收入時間來看，我預計不會有特別明顯的跡象。

Our next question comes from Eugene Simuni with MoffettNathanson.

我們的下一個問題來自 MoffettNathanson 公司的 Eugene Simuni。

Maria, I wanted to pick back up on your comments about the break down market. Maybe elaborate on that a little bit, what are the macro factors, your competitive positioning that's still supporting that? And if you could contrast that for us a little bit with what's going on in the mid-market. I know it's still doing well. But if the question is, is there a path for mid-market to get to as strong of a point with down market? And what are the levers that maybe you're able to pull to get you there?

瑪麗亞，我想繼續探討你之前關於市場低迷的評論。能否詳細說明一下，有哪些宏觀因素和競爭優勢支撐著目前的市場？能否將這種情況與中端市場的情況做一些對比？我知道中端市場目前表現依然良好。但問題是，在市場低迷的情況下，中階市場是否有可能達到與貴公司一樣強勁的勢頭？為了實現這個目標，你們可以採取哪些措施？

Absolutely. So I'll start with the down market, just to kind of reiterate the strength we're seeing there top of funnel. So we are very pleased with what we saw in the performance of the down market. That's also inclusive of the down market ecosystem. So I think this is our RUN platform. I talked about the third quarter onboarding 60,000 clients. It's pretty incredible. Those clients also, many of them have attach rates of our retirement services offering, our insurance services offering.

當然。那我先從低迷的市場說起，重申我們在銷售漏斗頂端看到的強勁表現。我們對低迷市場的表現非常滿意，這也包括整個低迷市場生態系統。我認為這就是我們的RUN平台。我之前提到第三季新增了6萬名客戶，這非常了不起。這些客戶中，許多也同時購買了我們的退休服務和保險服務。

So the entire down market portfolio, it's definitely performing well for us and has for quite some time. It is driven by what we're seeing macro. And so you just kind of reiterate what we've seen as new business formations are up year-on-year, 8%, by the way, they're still up year on pandemic, as I call it. So they're actually if you look at current new business formations versus the year of 2019, right? So pre-pandemic, it's actually 8,000 or so a week. This is all from the U.S. Census Bureau. So from the standpoint of what we're seeing that kind of emanate into the pipelines and into the top of the funnel. We do have double-digit growth in our digital inbound leads, right? So I think these are SEO/SEM ads where ultimately, clients are coming to us, and we're meeting those clients with our inside sellers and the demand is there and demand is strong.

所以，我們整個下行市場投資組合的表現都非常出色，而且已經持續了相當長一段時間。這主要得益於我們所看到的宏觀經濟情勢。正如我們所看到的，新成立的公司數量年增了8%，而且即便是在疫情期間，這個數字仍然高於去年同期水準。如果你把目前的新成立公司數量和2019年的數據比較一下，你會發現，疫情前每週的新成立公司數量大約是8,000家。這些數據都來自美國人口普查局。從我們目前觀察到的情況來看，這些成長會滲透到銷售管道和銷售漏斗的頂端。我們的數位入站線索實現了兩位數的成長，對吧？我認為這些成長主要來自搜尋引擎優化/搜尋引擎行銷廣告，最終客戶會主動聯繫我們，而我們的內部銷售人員會與這些客戶進行溝通，市場需求旺盛。

In terms of the mid-market, the mid-market was a bit softer this quarter than it was last quarter. That said, we also are very excited about the pipelines that we're seeing in the mid-market that specifically call it the, the tech only, we do have strength in our Employer Services HR Outsourcing offering, which also touches the mid-market. So combined, your question around, is there a path to see tremendous growth there between those businesses, we are seeing growth, and we are excited about our overall mid-market position from a competitive landscape. We do have our next-generation payroll engine that's attached to about 30% to 40% of our mid-market new business sales. And what I will tell you is it's resonating incredibly well in the market. It's resonating with the sellers. That's always a good sign when they like to talk about it and they like to demo it. It's also resonating in terms of the competitive landscape and more wins. And so we feel that there's definitely a path. That's what we're investing in, both in product and the ecosystem to have the mid-market be as an exciting of a story as the down market is for us.

就中端市場而言，本季中端市場的表現略遜於上季。儘管如此，我們對目前在中階市場（尤其是科技領域）看到的潛在項目感到非常興奮。我們在雇主服務人力資源外包方面也擁有強大的實力，而這也觸及了中端市場。因此，關於您提出的「這些業務之間是否存在巨大的成長潛力」的問題，我們的答案是肯定的，並且我們對自身在競爭格局中的整體中端市場地位感到滿意。我們擁有新一代的薪資管理系統，該系統與我們約30%至40%的中端市場新業務銷售額相關聯。我可以告訴您的是，該系統在市場上反應極佳，尤其受到銷售人員的青睞。當他們樂於談論並樂於演示系統時，這始終是一個好兆頭。該系統在競爭格局中也表現出色，並幫助我們贏得了更多訂單。因此，我們認為成長潛力巨大。這就是我們正在投資的方向，包括產品和生態系統，目的是讓中端市場像低迷市場一樣，為我們帶來令人興奮的發展機會。

Got it. Very helpful color. And then for my follow-up, I want to quickly come back to the PEO. Can you talk a little bit about the kind of the macro headwinds for the PEO order? I think we discussed last time, specifically the insurance attach rates, insurance premiums, kind of blocking PEO growth. Is that still a factor or not any longer?

明白了。這個顏色很有幫助。接下來，我想快速回到PEO（專業雇主組織）的話題。您能談談PEO業務面臨的宏觀不利因素嗎？我想我們上次討論過，特別是保險附加費率和保險費，這些因素在某種程度上阻礙了PEO的成長。現在這仍然是一個影響因素嗎？還是已經不再是了？

Yes. What I would say is that the PEO demand remains strong. And so we're bullish about the secular tailwinds of the PEO. We're bullish about the value proposition. As it relates to benefits and benefits attached. I know there's a lot of discussions, there are a lot of surveys out there from the likes of Kaiser, et cetera, as it relates to our clients making different choices. I think what we see within our base is perhaps some asks of that. And on the peripheral kind of on the margin, perhaps there's price sensitivity as it relates to benefits. What that really allows for our sellers just need to be, call it, more surgical as they go to market.

是的。我想說的是，PEO（專業雇主組織）的需求依然強勁。因此，我們對PEO的長期發展趨勢持樂觀態度，也看好其價值主張，尤其是在福利和附加福利方面。我知道目前有很多討論，也有很多調查報告，例如凱撒醫療集團（Kaiser）等機構發布的，都與客戶的不同選擇有關。我認為，在我們現有的客戶群中，確實存在一些這樣的需求。此外，還有一些客戶可能對福利的價格比較敏感。這意味著我們的銷售人員在市場推廣時需要更精準地掌握市場動態。

But in terms of the value proposition of the PEO and benefits still being a big component of that, that is the case. We skew definitely a bit more white collar in our PEO. In addition to that, our model with a fully insured model is a little bit different. And so the companies that we attract our PEO are still companies that want to be employers of choice, and employers of choice especially in a macro environment, such as this one, where talent is still the name of the game. They want to offer benefits and benefits are a piece of that.

但就PEO的價值主張而言，福利仍然是其中的重要組成部分，情況確實如此。我們的PEO客戶群明顯更偏向白領。此外，我們採用的全額保險模式也略有不同。因此，我們吸引的PEO客戶仍然是那些希望成為首選雇主的公司，尤其是在像現在這樣人才依然至關重要的宏觀環境下。他們希望提供福利，而福利正是其中不可或缺的一部分。

So what I would say is we're not seeing huge signs. I think even if you take a look at the revenue [ex VNPT], you'd be able to see kind of what's happening with benefit revenue. So there's not huge signs that there's a shift in benefits attractiveness. I think the shift that we see is just the sharpness that our sellers need to have as they position the value proposition and, call it, the right plans and the right rates to the right clients.

所以我想說的是，我們並沒有看到明顯的跡象。我認為，即使你只看收入（不包括VNPT），你也能大致了解福利收入的狀況。因此，並沒有明顯的跡象表明福利的吸引力發生了變化。我認為我們看到的變化只是銷售人員在定位價值主張時需要更加敏銳，也就是說，他們需要為合適的客戶提供合適的計劃和合適的費率。

Our next question comes from Kevin McVeigh with Credit Suisse.

下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的凱文麥克維。

Maria, I think you talked about 60,000 new RUN clients in the quarter. Can you help us dimensionalize that? Where would that typically be? And how should we kind of expect that to evolve going forward?

瑪麗亞，我記得你曾提到本季新增了 6 萬名 RUN 客戶。你能幫我們分析一下這個數字嗎？這通常意味著什麼？未來我們該如何預期這個數字會如何改變？

So the 60,000 clients that I mentioned are specific to our down market, specifically the RUN platform. So that's actually 60,000 clients that we started. So where would they be? They would be all over the United States, if you will, from a -- and I'm not trying to be funny about it, but it's really pretty amazing effort if you think about the volume of clients, the throughput, if you will. They come to us through some of the things that we talked about today, new business formation, they also come to us through our channel ecosystem. So we've made a lot of investments into the relationships we have with our CPAs, with our banks.

我提到的6萬客戶都來自我們的下行市場，特別是RUN平台。實際上，這6萬客戶是我們最初建立起來的。那麼他們分佈在哪裡呢？可以說，他們遍布美國各地——我可不是在開玩笑，但如果你考慮到客戶數量和吞吐量，這確實是一項了不起的成就。他們透過我們今天討論的一些管道找到我們，例如新公司成立，也透過我們的通路生態系統找到我們。因此，我們在與註冊會計師和銀行的關係方面投入了大量資源。

In terms of what does it look like quarter-on-quarter, stating the obvious the third quarter for us is obviously the highest volume quarter. So that's why it's kind of fun to give that shout out this quarter because, arguably, I would say that's not a typical quarter for ADP as it relates to a number of units and the throughput because many of the starts do happen in January in that business. But they're kind of all over the place, and they come to us through the strength of our distribution model and the strength of our overall ecosystem. Does that answer the question, Kevin?

就季度環比而言，顯而易見，第三季是我們銷量最高的季度。因此，本季特別值得一提，因為就銷量和吞吐量而言，第三季對ADP來說並非典型季度，因為該業務的許多新訂單都集中在1月份。但這些訂單分佈在各地，這得益於我們強大的分銷模式和整體生態系統。凱文，這樣回答你的問題了嗎？

It did. I guess I was just -- I know Q3 is a high watermark. How should we think about 60,000 maybe relative to Q3 of last year? Was it 40? I mean, just trying to understand like how the momentum is accelerating there? And then just what's the profitability? Because it sounds like a third word digital onboarded, like the ones that are digitally onboarded, how much more profitable are those than a traditional client that's onboarded? Just trying to get a sense of if we're at an inflection point in terms of the growth there.

確實如此。我猜我只是——我知道第三季是個高峰。我們該如何看待6萬這個數字，相對於去年第三季呢？去年是4萬嗎？我的意思是，我只是想了解這個成長勢頭是如何加速的？還有，獲利能力如何？因為「數位化入職」聽起來像是第三詞，例如那些透過數位化方式入職的客戶，他們的獲利能力比傳統入職的客戶高多少？我只是想了解一下，我們是否正處於成長的轉折點。

Yes. Listen, I -- fair enough. I don't know that I meant to trip myself into giving a quarter-on-quarter number. What I would tell you is it's higher than last quarter. It's higher both in revenue, obviously and the performance. It's also higher in share unit volume.

是的。聽著，我——好吧。我不知道我是否故意透露了季度環比數據。但我可以告訴你的是，這個季度比上個季度要高。顯然，營收和業績都更高了。股票成交量也更高了。

So I suppose I'll kind of leave it at that. In terms of the third that comes through the digital onboarding, what that yields is a few things. Kevin, one of which is better experience for the client, right? So our digital onboarded clients have very high, what we call, new business client NPS results, right? So -- and when a client starts with us happier, it yields to a happier client long term, which yields to a happier and more retentive clients. So I think in terms of what the, call it, margin profile or lifetime value of those clients look like over time, we're still learning a bit about that, but it's very optimistic for us as we're seeing the results.

所以我想我就先說到這裡吧。關於透過數位化入職流程所獲得的第三個方面，它能帶來幾點好處。凱文，其中之一就是能為客戶帶來更好的體驗，對吧？我們透過數位入職流程獲得的客戶，其新業務客戶淨推薦值（NPS）都非常高，對吧？所以——當客戶一開始就對我們感到滿意時，他們就會長期保持較高的滿意度，從而帶來更高的客戶滿意度和留存率。至於這些客戶的長期利潤率或終身價值，我們仍在不斷了解，但就目前看到的結果而言，我們對此非常樂觀。

I think the other is, it also yields efficiency for our implementation organization, right? So if you think about having the ability to have these clients digitally onboarded allows the more complex onboardings, if you will, perhaps clients are coming to us with more complications around their taxes or maybe from a competitor or something that's actually demands an implementation, the person to be involved at a much higher level, it allows their focus to remain there, which also should yield a better experience for those clients. So we're also seeing that.

我認為另一個好處是，它還能提高我們實施團隊的效率，對吧？想想看，如果能夠讓這些客戶透過數位化方式完成入職流程，就能處理更複雜的入職問題。例如，有些客戶可能在稅務方面比較複雜，或者他們來自競爭對手，需要更高層級的實施團隊參與，而數位入職流程可以讓他們專注於此，從而為這些客戶帶來更好的體驗。我們也看到了這一點。

So overall, we are seeing, and I cited it in the prepared remarks, we're seeing new clients come on board happier. The digital ones are happier than the non-digital, but they're all happier than they were last year, which is a good thing for us as it relates to the retentive nature of those clients over time and what they will bring to us in terms of lifetime value.

總的來說，正如我在準備的演講稿中提到的，我們看到新客戶的滿意度更高了。數位化客戶比非數位化客戶更滿意，但他們的滿意度都比去年高，這對我們來說是件好事，因為它關係到客戶的長期留存率以及他們能為我們帶來的終身價值。

And our next question comes from James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的詹姆斯·福塞特。

Great. I wanted to quickly, Maria, ask a clarifying question. On the mid-market, you kind of talked about some of the things that you're doing there. But just to be clear, it sounds like from your perspective that it's more issues or things that ADP can do to address versus macro? I just want to make sure I'm understanding kind of your list of objectives and things to do in that segment.

好的。瑪麗亞，我想快速問一個澄清問題。關於中端市場，你剛才提到了一些你們正在做的事情。但我想確認一下，從你的​​角度來看，這似乎更多的是ADP可以解決的問題或事項，而不是宏觀層面的舉措？我只是想確認一下，我是否理解了你們在這個細分市場的目標和計劃。

Absolutely. The mid-market for us still has -- and we're still experiencing solid mid-market sales, right? And so I don't -- from my vantage point, I don't think it's necessarily the softness that we saw in Q3 versus Q2 with a byproduct of a macro type of environment. We're paying close attention to demand cycles. We're paying close attention to pipelines. In terms of -- there are some cycles that are perhaps a tiny bit elongated, maybe, there might be some more approvals or approval layers involved, and there may be a little bit of cycle elongation. I would tell you, we're not seeing that much of that in the mid-market, and it really looks more like '19, it looks more like pre-pandemic than it does necessarily something that would give us a belief that there's a macro concern in the mid-market.

當然。我們的中階市場依然強勁，銷售依然穩健，對吧？所以，從我的角度來看，我不認為第三季相對於第二季的疲軟是宏觀環境因素造成的。我們密切關注需求週期，也密切關注產品線。有些週期可能略微延長，或許是因為審核環節較多，審核層級也較多，導致週期略為延長。但我可以肯定地說，我們在中端市場並沒有看到太多這種情況，它更像是2019年疫情前的狀態，而不是某種讓我們認為中端市場存在宏觀經濟隱患的跡象。

What I would say is on the macro side, it's not getting any easier in the mid-market to be a client, right? And so if you think about the complex environment for the mid-market customers and clients, it does continue to increase. And so they're solving for hybrid work, they're solving for talent, they're solving for compliance, regulation. And they're turning to HCM providers such as us, to help with all of that. So I think the macro supports a very strong environment for the mid-market and we do continue to expect to have mid-market growth, including our HRO.

我想說的是，從宏觀層面來看，中階市場客戶的處境越來越艱難，對吧？考慮到中端市場客戶所處的複雜環境，這種複雜性仍在不斷加劇。他們需要解決混合辦公模式、人才需求、合規性和監管等問題。因此，他們轉向像我們這樣的人力資本管理 (HCM) 供應商，尋求幫助。所以我認為，宏觀環境為中階市場提供了強勁的發展動力，我們也將繼續維持中階市場的成長，包括我們的人力資源外包 (HRO) 業務。

Got it. Got it. And then I guess maybe dovetailing with that, can you speak a little bit about the competitive environment? And any changes you're seeing there? Or what are you seeing from customers? Is there a flight to quality versus maybe some of the regional players and what is the impact of newer entrants? Just can you give us kind of a state of the competitive landscape?

明白了，明白了。那麼，我想就此展開一下，您能否談談競爭環境？您觀察到哪些變化？或者您從客戶那裡了解到什麼？消費者是否更注重產品品質，而不是像一些區域性企業？新進入者又會帶來哪些影響？您能否為我們介紹一下當前的競爭格局？

Sure. I would say the competitive landscape, one way to think about it is it actually hasn't changed that much. So is there a flight to quality, sure. We've seen some of that, but it's not material at this time as it relates to clients calling us and asking about the macro and what's happening in the world. We've had a few of those calls just recently based on some things that have happened in the environment. But what I would say -- when I think about the competitive environment, we look at this very closely. We just completed our strategic plan process, and we've been looking at our competitive position against all the major players, mid-market and others over the last handful of years in a surgical way. What I would offer is a few items, one of which is we have strong retention, specifically in the mid-market. We also have very strong retention in international. We have a near-record highs in NPS.

當然。我認為，從某個角度來看，競爭格局其實並沒有太大變化。所以，是否有「避險」現象？當然存在。我們確實看到了一些這樣的趨勢，但就目前而言，它對客戶諮詢宏觀經濟狀況和全球動態的影響並不大。最近，我們確實接到了一些類似的諮詢電話，主要是基於一些環境變化。但我想說的是——當我們思考競爭環境時，我們會非常密切地關注。我們剛剛完成了策略規劃流程，並且在過去幾年中，我們一直在精準地分析自身與所有主要競爭對手（包括中階市場和其他市場）的競爭地位。我想分享幾點，其中之一是我們擁有很高的客戶留存率，尤其是在中端市場。我們在國際市場的客戶留存率也非常高。我們的淨推薦值（NPS）接近歷史最高水準。

And so I would say that our value proposition and our competitive positioning -- it's proof, if you will, if you look at the retention, from a balance of trade, we are also winning more away from our competitors than we have in years past. And so again, I think our position is about the same when I look at it year-on-year, but it's getting perhaps a little bit better on the wind side. And I think that a lot of that does have to do with the quality that we're providing, so inside kind of the NPS results. Certainly, the investments we've made, the investments into our organization to serve our clients better. Some of the things I talked about, new products that we're leveraging. The likes of AI to actually drive self-service, to drive better experience for our clients, their employees and drive friction out. So I would say, investments into product. And then lastly, again, investments into new products that is creating better wins for us.

因此，我認為我們的價值主張和競爭定位——如果你看一下客戶留存率，從貿易平衡的角度來看，這就能證明，我們比往年從競爭對手那裡贏得更多客戶。所以，我認為從年度數據來看，我們的處境基本上保持不變，但優勢可能略有提升。我認為這很大程度歸功於我們提供的優質服務，也就是淨推薦價值（NPS）結果所反映的。當然，我們也進行了投資，投資我們的組織，以便更好地服務客戶。我之前提到的一些舉措，例如我們正在利用的新產品，例如人工智慧，來推動自助服務，從而為我們的客戶及其員工創造更好的體驗，並減少摩擦。所以，我認為，投資於產品，以及對新產品的投資，都為我們帶來了更大的成功。

Our next question comes from Kartik Mehta with Northcoast Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Kartik Mehta。

Don, I know you gave preliminary FY '24 guidance. And one of the things you talked about is obviously pays for control moderating. But do you think -- could there be an offset because inflation is still running high and there is a pricing opportunity for the company, especially on the payroll side?

唐，我知道你給了2024財年的初步業績指引。你提到的其中一點顯然是控製成本的調整。但你認為——由於通貨膨脹仍然居高不下，公司，尤其是在薪資方面，是否存在定價機會，從而抵消控製成本的調整嗎？

Yes, Kartik, it's a good question. So certainly, talked about pays per control growth decelerating. We called that out. And we've also -- I mentioned earlier, for '24, I think there's a risk that it decelerates further. So we'll have to watch and see what happens there.

是的，Kartik，問得好。我們確實討論過每項收益成長放緩的問題，也指出了這一點。而且，正如我之前提到的，我認為2024年成長速度可能會進一步放緩。所以我們需要密切關注事態發展。

On the inflation side and pricing, we're still in the early days of our FY '24 plan. So we're watching it carefully. I think we can say that we are happy with the impact of the results of the price -- pricing decisions we took in '23. We had those readily accepted, I guess, with -- reflected by our higher NPS scores by our continued strong retention. So we have an ability to take price. But as we always come back to, we're in this for the long haul with our clients, their long-term retention is the most important thing to us. So we need to make sure that we continue to have that good value proposition between what the absolute prices, how much price we can take, et cetera. But once again, Kartik, it's definitely something we're looking at and trying to evaluate as we get closer to putting the plan to bed.

關於通膨和定價方面，我們2024財年的計畫還處於初期階段，所以我們正在密切關注。我認為我們可以說，我們對2023年制定的價格決策所帶來的結果感到滿意。這些決策得到了客戶的認可，我想，這體現在我們更高的淨推薦值（NPS）得分和持續強勁的客戶留存率上。因此，我們有能力接受更高的價格。但我們始終堅持，我們與客戶的合作是長期的，客戶的長期留存對我們至關重要。因此，我們需要確保在絕對價格、我們能夠接受的價格水平等等方面，繼續保持良好的價值主張。但卡爾蒂克，這絕對是我們正在關注和評估的問題，我們會在計劃最終定稿時進行評估。

And then, Maria, just on the PEO side, could -- is any of the attrition related to maybe customers deciding that they had a PEO and it just got too expensive for them. So they've decided to move out of the PEO for a while until they can get a better understanding of what's happening in the economy. Any changes like that?

然後，瑪麗亞，就PEO（專業雇主組織）方面而言，客戶流失是否與客戶覺得PEO費用太高有關？所以他們決定暫時終止PEO服務，以便更了解當前的經濟狀況。是否存在類似的變動？

I would say that's always the case. I think every year, as we go through renewals, as we go through the year-end cycle, you have clients that are choosing to buy into the PEO and you have clients that are choosing to exit the PEO. When I look at where we get our clients from, obviously, I think we've cited multiple times that about 50% of the new business that comes into the PEO comes from our existing ADP base that would suggest that at least 50% come from a non-PEO environment, and we somewhat tend to return them the same way. So that's not to say that clients don't, at times, we don't trade customers between us and the other PEOs. But generally speaking, I think that's always the case. I don't believe there's a larger trend toward that this time than there has been in the past. I think, really, in the end, it's really a byproduct again of kind of what we saw with the renewal post pandemic and what the impact of that as we headed into this selling cycle, if you will.

我認為情況一直如此。每年，隨著續約的進行，隨著年度結算週期的推進，總會有客戶選擇加入PEO，也會有客戶選擇退出PEO。當我們審視客戶來源時，顯然，正如我們多次提到的，大約50%的新業務來自我們現有的ADP客戶群，這意味著至少有50%的客戶來自非PEO環境，而且我們傾向於以同樣的方式將他們轉回PEO。當然，這並不是說客戶之間不會進行交易，有時我們也會與其他PEO進行客戶交換。但總的來說，我認為情況一直如此。我不認為今年的趨勢比以往更明顯。我認為，歸根結底，這實際上是疫情後續約以及疫情對我們進入當前銷售週期的影響的副產品。

Our next question comes from Ramsey El-Assal with Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的拉姆齊·埃爾-阿薩爾。

I also wanted to follow up on the PEO and particularly on the bookings reacceleration. I'm just curious how much of that reacceleration is sort of from a better kind of external demand environment versus changes in your sales strategy? I'm just trying to figure out how much is sort of push versus pull when it comes to that recovery. And I guess the underlying question is your confidence level that this reacceleration is a sustainable trend?

我還想跟進PEO的情況，特別是關於預訂量回升的情況。我很好奇，這種回升有多少是源自於外部需求環境的改善，又有多少是銷售策略調整的結果？我只是想弄清楚，在復甦過程中，究竟是哪些因素在推動，哪些因素在拉扯。我想，最根本的問題是，您對這種回升趨勢的可持續性有多大信心？

Fair. Thank you, Ramsey. We are excited about the PEO reacceleration, specifically what we saw in March and obviously, how we feel stepping into this final stretch. I think it is too early to comment on the finish, but the pipelines are strong. What I would tell you is that I'm bullish about the demand in the market for the PEO and the overall value proposition. So all things being equal, I think we're positioned well as well as anybody else as it relates to the overall PEO. I guess, demand, if you will, right?

好的。謝謝你，拉姆齊。我們對PEO業務的重新加速感到興奮，特別是三月的業績，以及我們進入最後衝刺階段的感受。現在評論最終結果還為時過早，但目前的項目儲備充足。我想說的是，我對PEO的市場需求和整體價值主張樂觀。因此，在其他條件相同的情況下，我認為我們在PEO領域擁有與其他公司相同的優勢。我想，關鍵在於市場需求，對吧？

So I don't think it's a -- the reacceleration was really, in my mind, more a byproduct of top of funnel filling the pipelines. We made a lot of investments into our seller ecosystem and the PEO. We have incentives that we can pull. In addition to that, we've invested into -- and I think I've talked about it a couple of times on these calls. We've invested into artificial intelligence that actually looks across our base to a project where we're actually looking at the ADP base to try to serve up the right, call it, PEO seller at the right time to the right ADP clients. So we're getting smarter. I'm not doing a good job saying it outside of we're getting smarter in terms of who we are actually targeting on the PEO using technology today that didn't exist. So I think all of that has kind of yielded to what I would say is a strong execution by the PEO sales team to drive the reacceleration that we would expect and that we are excited to see and optimistic that it will continue.

所以，我認為這次加速成長與其說是“重新加速”，不如說是銷售漏斗頂端客戶通路暢通的副產品。我們對銷售生態系統和PEO（專業雇主組織）進行了大量投資，也擁有相應的激勵措施。除此之外，我們還投資了人工智慧——我想我在之前的幾次電話會議上也提到過——它能夠分析我們現有的客戶群，並針對ADP的客戶群，在合適的時間為合適的ADP客戶推薦合適的PEO銷售人員。所以，我們正在變得更加聰明。我可能沒有很好地表達清楚，只是說我們在PEO目標客戶定位方面變得更加智能，這得益於我們今天使用的技術，而這些技術以前並不存在。我認為所有這些努力最終促成了PEO銷售團隊的強力執行，從而推動了我們預期的、令人振奮的、並樂觀地認為會持續下去的重新加速成長。

Okay. Great. And a quick follow-up. When you look across the business, are you seeing any vertical-specific areas of softness, maybe tech or commercial real estate or financial services? Are there any worrisome kind of verticals that you're keeping an eye on?

好的，太好了。還有一個後續問題。縱觀整個業務，您是否發現某些垂直領域有疲軟跡象，例如科技、商業房地產或金融服務？您是否特別關注某些令人擔憂的垂直領域？

Are you referring to the PEO specifically or the overall macro?

您指的是具體的PEO（專業雇主組織）還是整個宏觀層面？

I know. I should have been more clear. Just more broadly across the business, are there any -- you guys have a pretty broad macro view. And I'm just curious if there's any specific areas that are causing any concern in terms of recent trends?

我知道，我應該說得更清楚。就整個業務而言，你們的宏觀視角相當全面，我只是想了解一下，最近有哪些具體領域引起了大家的擔憂？

Yes, maybe I'll jump in. I think in terms of verticals, certainly seeing all the reports and reading all the things about commercial real estate that everyone else is. That's -- we look at the breadth and the distribution of our client base, it's pretty broad. So I'm not so sure that we're seeing any particular verticals that are causing us any undue concern at this time. I would say, it has been reported, Maria mentioned it in the prepared remarks, certainly, the enterprise space, the upmarket space is where there's been a lot more layoffs announced, et cetera particularly in tech. So we are looking at that. We've said in the past though that's not the biggest part of our business. So even though there's some more softness in that end of the market, it's being more than offset by the success we're having in the down -- in the mid-market. So from a particular vertical, nothing in particular.

是的，也許我可以插一句。就垂直領域而言，我們當然也看到了所有關於商業房地產的報告和文章，就像其他人一樣。我們關注的是客戶群的廣度和分佈，相當廣泛。所以我不確定目前是否有任何特定的垂直領域讓我們格外擔憂。如同報導所述，瑪莉亞在準備好的發言稿中也提到了，企業級市場，尤其是高端市場，裁員消息比較多，科技業尤其如此。所以我們正在關注這方面。不過我們之前也說過，這並非我們業務的最大部分。因此，儘管高端市場略顯疲軟，但我們在低迷的中階市場的成功足以彌補這一影響。所以，就某個特定的垂直領域而言，沒有什麼特別值得關注的。

Our next question comes from Samad Samana with Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的薩馬德·薩馬納。

Maybe first one, Maria. Just I wanted to maybe get a better understanding when you're talking about a change in maybe the investment -- investing philosophy of the company just as you're adjusting to the macro environment evolving as well. Is that more around maybe pulling back on hiring? Is that more about maybe redirecting where resources are? Can you maybe just help us better understand what that translates into? And maybe how we should think about that impacting both the top and bottom line?

瑪麗亞，或許可以先問一個問題。我只是想更好地理解一下，您剛才提到的公司投資理念的調整，以及您為了適應不斷變化的宏觀環境而做出的調整，是指減少招聘嗎？還是重新分配資源？您能否幫我們更能理解一下這些調整的具體意義？而這些調整會對公司的營收和利潤產生怎樣的影響？

Yes. Thanks, Samad, I'm happy to talk about modernization. It's one of my favorite topics as all of you are probably learning from my prepared remarks. And I think it's important to think about the modernization journey we've been on and how it really can set us up for kind of future growth and future margin, if you will, as a company. And that's really what it's all about for us. I think we've been undergoing transformation. We've been undergoing modernization for years. I would actually suggest that ADP has been modernizing for the last 73 years as we've invested in technology to make things better for us as a business to become more efficient, and we've been investing in our clients and in product to make it easier for them. And so I think that's not a new cycle. The way I think about modernization is really a client first lens, right? So it's really about all the things that I cited. It's about taking out friction.

是的，謝謝薩馬德，我很樂意談論現代化。正如大家從我準備的發言稿中可能已經了解到的，這是我最喜歡的話題之一。我認為，思考我們一直在進行的現代化轉型之旅，以及它如何真正為我們公司未來的成長和利潤奠定基礎，這一點非常重要。這才是我們真正關注的重點。我認為我們一直在經歷轉型，多年來一直在進行現代化。事實上，我認為ADP在過去的73年裡一直在進行現代化，因為我們投資於技術，以改善我們自身的業務，提高效率；我們也投資於我們的客戶和產品，以方便他們使用。所以我認為這並非一個新的周期。我對現代化的理解是，客戶至上，對吧？所以它實際上涵蓋了我提到的所有方面。它旨在消除摩擦。

The way I think about the investment, which is your question, Samad, is, it's an imperative for us to continue to invest in modernization because it's the modernization that over time has really allowed us to reinvest in growth and reinvest in the business. And we are committed to a continued journey of growth and margin. And as a result of really the way we've been able to do this. So for us, it's really about both. It's really about the (inaudible), right? So it's about growth and margin expansion. And I think this virtuous cycle that we've been on really as a company for a very long time, which is we make things easier, we make them better. We become more efficient. We make things better for our clients, and that allows us to invest in growth and it allows us to invest in -- back into our shareholders, if you will, in margins. So it's really (inaudible) an and story and it's key to who ADP is and it will be a key for us as we go forward.

薩馬德，關於你提到的投資問題，我的理解是，我們必須繼續投資現代化，因為正是現代化讓我們能夠隨著時間的推移，將資金重新投入成長和業務發展。我們致力於持續成長和提升利潤率。而這正是我們能夠做到這一點的原因。所以對我們來說，這實際上關乎兩者。這關乎（聽不清楚），對吧？所以，這關乎成長和利潤率的提升。我認為，我們公司長期以來一直遵循著一個良性循環：我們讓事情變得更簡單、更有效率，讓客戶受益，這使我們能夠投資於成長，也使我們能夠投資於——如果你願意的話——回饋給股東，提升利潤率。所以，這確實是一個（聽不清楚）的故事，它是ADP的核心，也將是我們未來發展的關鍵。

In terms of the commentary that I made around how we're thinking about it in the macroeconomic backdrop, it is an important time to make sure we're making the right choices and the right trade-offs I mentioned earlier, we've been in the middle of our strategic planning process the last quarter. And as we've gone through the business, if you will, end-to-end, rest assured that we are trying as a company to make the very best decisions to have the very best outcomes as it relates to growth and margin.

關於我之前提到的我們在宏觀經濟背景下的思考方式，現在正是確保我們做出正確選擇和權衡取捨的關鍵時刻。正如我之前提到的，上個季度我們一直處於策略規劃流程的核心階段。隨著我們對業務進行全面梳理，請放心，我們公司正在努力做出最佳決策，以期在成長和利潤率方面取得最佳成果。

Great. I appreciate that. And then just one quick follow-up for Don. I was just looking at the guidance by segment and the margin for ES, it looks like you settled it out at the -- within the range at the lower end. I'm just curious maybe what drove that? Is that -- is it purely float contribution driven? Or is that more the result of just bookings being better, so expenses being pulled forward? Just help me understand why that was narrowed to the lower end of the range, please?

太好了，非常感謝。還有一點想問唐。我剛剛看了各業務板塊的業績指引和ES的利潤率，看起來你們把預期定在了區間下限。我很好奇是什麼原因導致的？是純粹受浮動資金貢獻的影響嗎？還是因為預訂情況好轉，導致費用提早支出？請幫我解釋為什麼預期會定在區間下限？

Yes. I think there's a couple of things going on. One, certainly, we're continuing to benefit from bookings growth, retention, price pays per control, and all are a little bit stronger. And we certainly are getting lots of tailwinds -- we have lots of tailwinds in Q3, in particular, from client fund interest. So that's been very helpful for us.

是的。我認為有兩個因素在起作用。首先，我們當然繼續受惠於預訂量成長、顧客留存率提高、單次控制價格上漲，這些指標都略為走強。而且，我們確實獲得了許多利好因素——尤其是在第三季度，客戶資金的增加帶來了許多利好。這對我們來說非常有幫助。

The things slow a little bit from a client fund interest perspective in Q4. So that certainly is not as helpful as it was. And we are, of course, as Maria just mentioned, we are taking advantage of some of those extra flow funds that we have to invest -- reinvest in the business or continue to invest in the business on modernization. So it's all about, I think, trying to find the right balance and still delivering the -- as we mentioned, higher end of the earnings per share prediction or guidance. So it's all to find the right balance, and we will continue to invest in modernization and deliver improvements as we go forward.

從客戶資金利息的角度來看，第四季的成長速度有所放緩。因此，這方面的幫助肯定不如之前那麼大了。當然，正如瑪麗亞剛才所提到的，我們正在利用一些額外的資金進行投資——無論是再投資於業務，還是繼續投資於業務現代化。所以，我認為關鍵在於找到合適的平衡點，同時也要實現我們之前提到的每股盈餘預測或指引的較高水準。因此，一切都是為了找到合適的平衡點，我們將繼續投資現代化，並在未來不斷改進。

And our next question comes from David Togut with Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Togut。

Could you walk through the 140 basis points of PEO margin expansion in Q3? It seems pretty notable given the deceleration in PEO revenue growth. And in particular, could you unpack the size of the workers' compensation reserve release in Q3?

能否詳細解釋一下第三季PEO利潤率140個基點的成長？考慮到PEO收入成長放緩，這一增長相當顯著。尤其能否詳細解讀第三季工傷賠償準備金釋放的規模？

It was $17 million. You'll see it in the[Q] compared to $7 million last year. So it wasn't a huge amount.

是1700萬美元。你會看到季度財報，而去年是700萬美元。所以這並不是一大筆錢。

But those are the 2 impacts. So the biggest impact was the reserve adjustment on workers' comp. And the other big item there is the lower SUI costs. So there's virtually no margins on SUI. So SUI comes down at the top, it certainly improves the margins. So those would be the 2 major impacts on the margin improvement in PEO.

但這就是兩大影響。其中最大的影響是工傷賠償準備的調整。另一個重要因素是州失業保險 (SUI) 成本的降低。 SUI 的利潤空間幾乎為零。因此，SUI 成本的降低無疑會提高利潤率。以上就是 PEO 利潤率提升的兩大主要影響因素。

Got it. And then just as a follow-up, Don, could you walk through your strategy on managing the tax filing float going forward? We've got a pretty steeply inverted yield curve right now, which means it's actually more expensive for you to borrow in the commercial paper market and invest flow medium-term duration bonds. Are you thinking of shifting the investment portfolio at all in the year ahead?

明白了。唐，還有一個後續問題，能否詳細介紹您未來管理報稅資金週轉的策略？目前殖利率曲線倒掛幅度相當大，這意味著您在商業票據市場借款和投資中期債券的成本實際上更高。您是否考慮在未來一年調整投資組合？

We had that strategy in place for some 20 years or so. And we've realized about $2.8 billion of incremental benefit from that strategy. And so we have a strategy in place. We always revisit these strategies and look at them. It's true that the yield curve is inverted for the seventh time in 50 years. How long that continues, I'm not sure. But we'll continue to look at that strategy and see what we need to do, if anything, to change it as we go forward. But it is something we've been committed to and we follow closely. Near term, certainly, we have benefited this quarter because of the inflow of funds in calendar Q1. There's a big balance -- a big benefit there to us. So as we go forward, we'll continue to look at the opportunities and decide if we need to make any material changes to the investment strategy.

我們實施這項策略已有大約20年了。我們從中獲得了約28億美元的額外收益。因此，我們一直堅持這項策略。我們會定期審視這些策略並進行評估。的確，殖利率曲線在過去50年中第七次出現倒掛。這種情況會持續多久，我並不確定。但我們會繼續關注這項策略，並根據實際情況決定是否需要做出任何調整。這是我們一直堅持並密切關注的策略。短期來看，由於第一季資金的流入，我們本季確實受益匪淺。這對我們來說是一筆巨大的收益。因此，展望未來，我們將繼續關注各種機遇，並決定是否需要對投資策略進行任何實質調整。

David, one point worth clarifying because this has come up before. If you look at the last slide of our earnings presentation, you'll see a disaggregation of client short extended and long. And one thing I think is worth emphasizing is that, we are net long exposed to the client short. In other words, if short-term interest rates went up and up and up, that would actually be beneficial to our earnings and our margins. It just shows up in 2 different places, which can often cause confusion. But it's actually not hurtful to us to have these higher borrowing costs because we have more dollars invested long in the client short portfolio.

大衛，有一點需要澄清，因為之前也提到過。如果你看一下我們財報簡報的最後一頁，你會看到客戶空頭部位和多頭部位的細分。我認為需要強調的一點是，我們實際上持有客戶空頭部位的淨多頭部位。換句話說，如果短期利率持續上漲，實際上會對我們的收益和利潤率有利。只是這一點在兩個不同的地方體現出來，這常常會造成混淆。但實際上，更高的借貸成本對我們並無害處，因為我們在客戶空頭部位組合中投入了更多資金做多。

Our next question comes from Mark Marcon with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Baird 公司的 Mark Marcon。

Maria, you talked about modernization. Can you talk about the areas of emphasis? And one area that I'm particularly interested in is international and what you're seeing there in terms of opportunities?

瑪麗亞，你談到了現代化。能談談重點領域嗎？我特別感興趣的一個領域是國際化，以及你認為這方面有哪些機會？

Sure. So overall, I think modernization is really about end-to-end. So think of it as product and continuing to make investments in ensuring our products are next generation, if you will. And that's certainly the case across many pieces of our portfolio, and you're well aware of the investments we're making in next-generation technology. I think product is a big piece of it. I think other is the internal modernization. So that would be everything from go-to-market to call it, the seller ecosystem modernization. I think I've spoken to that quite a bit in the past as well as how we actually serve our clients.

當然。總的來說，我認為現代化真正關乎端到端。你可以把它理解為產品，以及持續投資以確保我們的產品達到下一代水準。這在我們產品組合的許多方面都得到了體現，你也很清楚我們在下一代技術方面的投資。我認為產品是其中的重要組成部分。另一個重要面向是內部現代化。這涵蓋了從市場推廣到銷售生態系統現代化的方方面面。我過去也曾多次談到這一點，以及我們如何更好地服務客戶。

And again, we reference that today. So kind of going back to modernization specifically in our opportunity in international. We're very excited about our position in international. Very excited about the opportunity that we have. And this is definitely an area that we have been modernizing. So if you think about each and every country that we serve over 140 countries today that we have offers over time. We have been modernizing the platforms, and we've been consolidating platforms. But to your point, Mark, that work is not done.

今天我們再次提到這一點。所以，回到現代化這個主題，特別是我們在國際業務上的機會。我們對在國際市場的地位感到非常興奮，也對我們所擁有的機會感到非常興奮。這無疑是我們一直在進行現代化改造的領域。想想我們目前服務於140多個國家，隨著時間的推移，我們一直在對平台進行現代化改造和整合。但正如你所說，馬克，這項工作還沒有完成。

And so we still have that journey that we've been on is the journey that we're going to continue. But as we do that, we're also focused on ensuring that we continue to make the investments to the platforms, and we continue to make the investments into the overall ecosystem of how we serve our clients international to really drive further, call it, opportunity.

因此，我們仍在繼續我們一直在走的這條路。但同時，我們也專注於確保繼續投資於平台，並繼續投資於我們服務國際客戶的整體生態系統，從而真正推動更多機會。

And so there's still places in international, and I'll probably leave it with -- we'll be back next quarter to talk more about things such as our growth strategy. But I think as it relates to international all of that modernization should also yield a growth opportunity for us because it's still a big world and there are places that we -- even though we're in more countries than anybody else, there are countries that we don't exist there, segments within certain countries where our offer still has opportunity. And so we were incredibly excited about the overall international space where we are, the work that we're doing and where we're going.

所以，國際市場仍有發展空間，我可能就此打住──我們下個季度會回來詳細討論成長策略等議題。但我認為，就國際市場而言，所有這些現代化舉措也應該會為我們帶來成長機會，因為世界依然很大，儘管我們進入的國家比任何人都多，但仍有一些國家我們尚未涉足，在某些國家的特定細分市場，我們的產品和服務仍然有發展空間。因此，我們對目前的整體國際市場狀況、我們正在進行的工作以及未來的發展方向都感到無比興奮。

That's great. And Maria, can you talk a little bit about just what the appetite is? And obviously, it's diverse across the globe. But broadly speaking, are you seeing a greater level of interest in terms of modernization of HR and HCM systems across the globe? Certainly it's been an ongoing trend in the U.S. for quite some time. But just I'm hearing from others that there is a pickup in terms of RFPs that are occurring things of that nature and that we could be at the early stages of higher levels of growth, international, macro notwithstanding?

太好了。瑪麗亞，你能談談目前市場對人力資源和人力資本管理系統現代化的需求嗎？顯然，全球各地的需求各不相同。但總體而言，你是否看到全球範圍內對人力資源和人力資本管理系統現代化的興趣日益濃厚？當然，這在美國已經是一個持續發展的趨勢。但我從其他人那裡了解到，相關招標的數量有所增加，我們可能正處於更高成長水準的早期階段，即使不考慮國際和宏觀經濟因素？

What I would suggest, Mark, is that over the last few years, the conversation in the international space has definitely shifted a bit, and I could suggest the same thing, which is that it's picked up. And so that conversation today tends to lead with more of a global offer, global system of record kind of conversation. So we walk in today and we have a conversation with a client more often than not about how many countries are you in and where can we help serve you and how can we tie it all together to make an ability for that client to really see across multiple countries and have more of a unified experience versus, I would say, perhaps 5, 10 years ago, it was more of a country-by-country conversation. Today, it's more -- it starts with a multi-country conversation. And so I think all of that suggests what -- it appears you've heard from others, which is the narrative in the international is shifting. I think there is greater demand for HCM offerings in international as it relates to companies now that are more global than they've ever been.

馬克，我想說的是，在過去幾年裡，國際領域的討論確實發生了一些變化，而且這種變化更加明顯。如今，討論的重點往往是全球化產品和服務，以及全球統一的記錄系統。所以，我們現在與客戶溝通時，通常會先詢問他們業務遍及多少個國家，我們可以在哪些方面為他們提供服務，以及如何將所有業務整合起來，使客戶能夠真正地跨多個國家/地區查看信息，並獲得更加統一的體驗。而五到十年前，我們更多的是逐個國家/地區地進行討論。現在，討論更多是從多國層級展開。我認為，所有這些都表明——正如你從其他人那裡聽到的那樣——國際領域的討論正在轉變。我認為，隨著企業全球化程度的加深，國際市場對人力資本管理（HCM）產品的需求也越來越大。

And certainly, the hybrid environment has accelerated that a bit. And the ability for companies to be able to see their workforces and make talent decisions, headcount decisions across multiple countries. That's a very different conversation today than it was just a few years ago. And we see that when we have, we just recently, actually, this quarter, we had all of our international clients together at an event. And the topic is about their transformation. It's about their HCM transformation and the partnership that we have with them to solve for them. And I think the beauty of ADP is that we have the ability to solve the MNC, the multi-country piece. And we also have the ability to solve the in-country. And a lot of times, for clients, it's a mix of both. And so it's really about the flexibility we have in our partnership options to serve these clients in a very unique way.

當然，混合辦公環境加速了這個趨勢。企業現在能夠跨多個國家/地區查看員工狀況並做出人才決策和人員配置決策。這與幾年前的情況截然不同。就在不久前的這個季度，我們舉辦了一場活動，邀請了所有國際客戶參加。活動的主題是他們的轉型，特別是他們的人力資本管理 (HCM) 轉型，以及我們與他們合作，共同為他們解決問題。我認為 ADP 的優勢在於，我們既能夠解決跨國公司在多個國家面臨的挑戰，也能解決本地企業面臨的挑戰。很多時候，客戶需要兼顧兩者。因此，我們靈活的合作模式能夠以​​獨特的方式服務這些客戶，這正是我們服務的關鍵所在。

We have time for one more question. And that question comes from Tien-Tsin Huang with JPMorgan.

我們還有時間回答最後一個問題。這個問題來自摩根大通的黃天進。

You covered a lot already. I just wanted on the down market side, given the success in the bookings here. Just curious if that's changing your thinking and investing more or even less, maybe in ASO versus PSO then the digital sales versus the seller ecosystem? I'm curious as we're going into fiscal '24 here, if there's any -- maybe change in thinking in prioritization there?

您已經談了很多。我只是想了解下行市場的情況，因為這裡的預訂量很可觀。我只是好奇這是否會影響您的思路，讓您增加或減少投資，例如在應用程式商店優化 (ASO) 和產品優化 (PSO) 之間，以及在數位銷售和賣家生態系統之間？我們即將進入 2024 財年，我很想知道這方面是否有任何變化——例如優先排序方面的變化？

So we have leaned into the down market in terms of the investments we've made. So when I -- I think I referenced earlier the seller headcount as we head into the final stretch here and how pleased we are with the investments we've made in headcount and the ecosystem around them, so investments into the channels, things of that nature. And as all of that turns into more productivity because the headcount is actually gaining tenure. It is primarily setting those investments have been in the down market. So again, think our SBS platform, the retirement services, the insurance services, most of that also comes into our digital sales organization, also known as the inside sales. So we are making investments into inside sales to really serve the down market. And what I would suggest is that -- from our viewpoint at this point, the demand is there. We've leaned into that demand, and we will continue to lean into the demand to drive the growth that we're driving out of the down market as long as it exists, if you will.

因此，我們在投資方面順應了低迷的市場。我之前提到過，隨著我們進入最後階段，銷售人員數量增加，我們對在人員配備和相關生態系統方面的投資非常滿意，包括對通路等方面的投資。所有這些投資都轉化為更高的生產力，因為員工的任期實際上有所延長。這些投資主要集中在低迷的市場。例如，我們的SBS平台、退休服務、保險服務，其中大部分也屬於我們的數位銷售部門，也就是內部銷售部門。因此，我們正在投資內部銷售，以更好地服務低迷的市場。我認為，就我們目前的情況來看，需求依然存在。我們已經順應了這種需求，並且只要這種需求持續存在，我們就會繼續順應這種需求，以推動我們在低迷市場中實現的成長。

Yes. No, I'm glad to hear it. If you don't mind one more question. Just I have to ask you since you mentioned, Maria, with AI. We've been getting a lot of questions on generative AI and ChatGPT. You mentioned being smarter around serving up PEO when necessary at the right time. But just broadly speaking, how are you thinking about generative AI and how that might help you run your business better, both from a sales perspective, but also from a delivery perspective, support standpoint?

是的。很高興聽到這個消息。如果您不介意的話，我想再問一個問題。瑪麗亞，既然您提到了人工智慧，我就想問您。我們最近收到了很多關於生成式人工智慧和 ChatGPT 的問題。您曾提過，在需要的時候，如何更聰明地提供 PEO 服務。但總的來說，您是如何看待生成式人工智慧的？它能如何幫助您更好地經營業務？包括銷售、交付和支援等方面。

Yes. Thank you, Tien-Tsin. I'm actually -- I'm thrilled you asked this question because I was counting on it during this call because it definitely seems like it's the topic du jour. But the real answer is, just like everybody else, we're incredibly excited about generative AI. We have been very excited about AI for quite some time. You mentioned what we've been doing for our sellers in the PEO, that's broad-based work that we've been doing for a long time and continue to invest in AI into making us more efficient. That example is about our sellers. We are making similar investments even with the new technologies that are out there to really look at how we can make our service associates as well as our sellers more productive.

是的，謝謝你，田進。其實我很高興你問了這個問題，因為我一直在期待你在這次通話中問到它，這顯然是今天的熱門話題。但真正的答案是，和大家一樣，我們對生成式人工智慧感到無比興奮。我們對人工智慧的熱情由來已久。你提到了我們為PEO（專業雇主組織）的銷售人員所做的工作，這是我們長期以來一直在做的廣泛工作，並且我們會持續投資人工智慧來提高效率。你舉的例子是關於我們的銷售人員的。即使面對現有的新技術，我們也在進行類似的投資，努力研究如何提高我們服務人員和銷售人員的工作效率。

So you think about all the things that an agent, if you will, does today to support a client and some of the generative AI tools that can drive a different level of efficiency. And we're very excited. We have I think it's something around like 44 different work streams that are underway currently to take a look at different ways that we can leverage these tools internally. That's also notwithstanding the opportunity that it creates for our industry, right?

所以，想想如今經紀人（或代理人）為了支持客戶所做的一切，以及一些能顯著提升效率的生成式人工智慧工具。我們對此感到非常興奮。目前，我們正在進行大約44個不同的項目，探索如何在內部利用這些工具。當然，這還不包括它為我們整個產業帶來的機遇，對吧？

So if you think about the HCM industry, there are still very many things inside of HCM that are administrative in nature in terms of whether it's job descriptions, performance reviews, things that are maybe handbook, things that are very tactical that really at times pull back the practitioner from doing what they want to do, which is be a strategic partner. And so we're really excited to put these tools also into our product for our clients and our practitioners to be able to lean into.

所以，如果你仔細想想人力資本管理（HCM）行業，你會發現其中仍然有很多行政性質的內容，比如職位描述、績效考核、手冊之類的東西，以及一些非常具體的操作性事項，這些有時會阻礙從業人員發揮他們真正的才能，成為戰略合作夥伴。因此，我們非常高興能將這些工具也整合到我們的產品中，供我們的客戶和從業人員使用。

So all that said, we're very excited about the opportunity. One thing I would point out because it's important, and it's also very topical right now, which is that the good news is we've been doing a lot of this work. And as such, we have standards. We have a way to think about the ethical nature and that kind of comes at parity with who we are, given that we have the big data, if you will, behind ADP and the 40 million wage earners that we pay. And so when we think about all of this, with also with the lens of doing it the right way and making sure that it's applicable, it's secure, it's compliance, all the things that you would expect from ADP. But no doubt, Tien-Tsin, that we are excited about the opportunity it creates for us internally and the opportunity that it creates for us in our product to really serve the industry, right, and make this entire industry that much more strategic and that much more exciting. So great question.

綜上所述，我們對這個機會感到非常興奮。我想強調一點，因為它很重要，而且目前也很有話題性，那就是好消息是我們一直在做這方面的工作。因此，我們有自己的標準。我們有一套思考倫理問題的方法，這與我們自身的價值觀相符，因為我們擁有ADP背後的大數據，以及我們支付工資的4000萬員工。所以，當我們考慮所有這些事情時，我們也會從正確的角度出發，確保其適用性、安全性、合規性，以及您對ADP的所有期望。毫無疑問，Tien-Tsin，我們對它為我們內部以及我們的產品帶來的機會感到興奮，它讓我們能夠真正服務於整個行業，使整個行業更具戰略意義，也更令人振奮。所以，問得好。

This concludes our question-and-answer portion for today. I am pleased to hand the program over to Maria Black for closing remarks.

今天的問答環節到此結束。我很高興將節目交給瑪麗亞·布萊克女士，請她致閉幕詞。

Yes. Thank you. So first and foremost, thank you, everybody, for joining today. Really appreciate the questions and the interest. As you can imagine, I sit here 1 quarter into my new role as CEO and I get a lot of questions. Just last night, I got another text that said "how were the first 100 days?", "How is the first quarter?", "What have you been up to?" And here's what I would offer. The third quarter for ADP, and you heard it in my tone today, you've heard it in my excitement about some of the volumes and throughput but the third quarter is really where you see ADP shine. And it is our finest quarter. You have year-end, you have busy season, you have selling season that all kind of come together.

是的，謝謝。首先，非常感謝各位今天參加。非常感謝大家的提問和關注。正如你們所想，我擔任CEO才一個季度，就收到了許多問題。就在昨晚，我又收到一條短信，問我「上任100天感覺如何？」、「第一季怎麼樣？」、「你最近在忙些什麼？」。我想說的是，ADP的第三季度，正如你們今天從我的語氣中聽出來的，也從我對一些業務量和吞吐量的興奮之情中感受到的，第三季度才是ADP真正大放異彩的季度。這是我們業績最好的一個季度。因為第三季度包含了年末、業務繁忙期和銷售旺季，所有這些因素都匯聚在一起。

In this quarter, what I would say is adding some economic strangeness and questions about what's happening in the world, and I would say that sitting here 1 quarter in, I couldn't be more excited. I couldn't be more pleased. I couldn't be more grateful for the share execution of our associates. So I felt the breadth and depth of ADP this quarter at its finest.

本季，我想說的是，經濟情勢出現了一些異常波動，人們對世界局勢也產生了許多疑問。但就目前而言，第一季過後，我感到無比興奮，無比欣慰，也無比感激同事們出色的表現。因此，我本季充分感受到了ADP業務的廣度和深度。

And with that, I just want to take another minute to thank our associates for everything that they do to power this great company. I'd also like to thank all of our partners and stakeholders and everyone on the call listening today. I couldn't be more proud and more excited about this company.

最後，我想再花一分鐘時間感謝我們的同事們，感謝他們為這家偉大的公司所做的一切。我也要感謝我們所有的合作夥伴、利害關係人以及今天收聽電話會議的各位。我對這家公司感到無比自豪和興奮。

And with that, we will wrap up the call.

通話到此結束。

This concludes the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

節目到此結束。您可以斷開連線了。祝大家今天過得愉快。