自動資料處理 (ADP) 2025 Q4 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 fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings call. I would like to inform you that this conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions).

早安.我叫米歇爾，我將擔任您的會議接線生。現在，我歡迎大家參加 ADP 2025 財年第四季財報電話會議。我想通知您，這次會議正在錄製。（操作員指令）。

I will now turn the conference over to Matt Keating, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我將會議交給投資者關係副總裁 Matt Keating。請繼續。

Thank you, Michelle, and welcome everyone to ADP's fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings call. Participating today are Maria Black, our President and CEO; and Peter Hadley, our CFO. 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 also find the investor presentation that accompanies today's call.

謝謝你，米歇爾，歡迎大家參加 ADP 2025 財年第四季財報電話會議。今天參加會議的有我們的總裁兼執行長瑪麗亞·布萊克 (Maria Black) 和我們的財務長彼得·哈德利 (Peter Hadley)。今天早些時候，我們公佈了本季的業績。我們的收益資料可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，您也可以在該網站上找到今天電話會議附帶的投資者簡報。

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.

在電話會議中，我們將參考非公認會計準則財務指標，我們認為這些指標對投資者有用，並且排除了某些項目的影響。您可以在我們的收益報告中找到這些項目的描述以及非 GAAP 指標與最具可比性的 GAAP 指標的對帳。

Today's call will also contain forward-looking statements that are 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前瞻性陳述，這些陳述是未來事件，涉及一定風險。我們鼓勵您查看我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以獲取有關可能導致實際結果與我們當前預期存在重大差異的因素的更多資訊。

I'll now turn it over to Maria.

現在我將把發言權交給瑪麗亞。

Thank you, Matt, and thank you, everyone, for joining us. We closed out fiscal '25 with a strong fourth quarter that included 8% revenue growth, 40 basis points of adjusted EBIT margin expansion and 8% adjusted EPS growth. For the full year, we delivered 7% revenue growth, 50 basis points of adjusted EBIT margin expansion, and 9% adjusted EPS growth.

謝謝你，馬特，也謝謝大家加入我們。我們以強勁的第四季度結束了 25 財年，其中包括 8% 的營收成長、40 個基點的調整後息稅前利潤率成長和 8% 的調整後每股盈餘成長。全年，我們的營收成長了 7%，調整後的息稅前利潤率擴大了 50 個基點，調整後的每股盈餘成長了 9%。

We achieved these financial results while also making significant strides across our strategic priorities. I will briefly review some additional highlights from our results before discussing this strategic progress.

我們取得了這些財務業績，同時在策略重點方面也取得了重大進展。在討論這項策略進展之前，我將簡要回顧我們成果中的一些其他亮點。

We delivered approximately $21 billion in Employer Services, new business bookings in fiscal '25, representing 3% growth. While this was below our expectations, we were able to produce another year of growth, notwithstanding the uncertainty and the macro backdrop in the second half of fiscal '25.

我們在 25 財年提供了約 210 億美元的雇主服務新業務訂單，成長了 3%。雖然這低於我們的預期，但儘管 25 財年下半年存在不確定性和宏觀背景，我們仍然能夠實現另一年的成長。

Taking a closer look, our small business suite in our domestic enterprise offerings saw solid bookings growth in fiscal '25. We did experience a softer finish in our Employer Services HR Outsourcing business, where the uncertain macro backdrop appeared to impact client decision-making. And while our international bookings improved during the fourth quarter, it was not enough to offset the softness from earlier in the fiscal year.

仔細觀察，我們國內企業產品中的小型企業套件在 25 財年實現了穩健的預訂量成長。我們的雇主服務人力資源外包業務確實經歷了較為疲軟的時期，不確定的宏觀背景似乎影響了客戶的決策。儘管我們的國際預訂量在第四季度有所改善，但這不足以抵消本財年早些時候的疲軟。

Importantly, our pipelines remain healthy, and we are laser-focused on accelerating Employer Services, new business bookings growth in fiscal '26. We were very pleased that our Employer Services retention exceeded our expectations once again, increasing 10 basis points to 92.1% for the year and approaching a record high of 92.2%.

重要的是，我們的管道依然健康，我們專注於加速雇主服務和 26 財年新業務預訂的成長。我們非常高興，我們的雇主服務保留率再次超出了我們的預期，全年增加了 10 個基點，達到 92.1%，接近 92.2% 的歷史新高。

Our strong retention stands apart from our company-wide client satisfaction scores reaching new record high for the year. These impressive results were broad-based and are a testament to the product investments we are making to improve the client experience. Employer Services pays per control increased 1%, in both Q4 and fiscal '25. Our clients continue to hire, albeit at a slightly slower pace as we move through the year.

我們強大的保留率與全公司客戶滿意度分數創下年度新高截然不同。這些令人印象深刻的成果具有廣泛的基礎，證明了我們為改善客戶體驗所做的產品投資。在第四季和 25 財年，雇主服務部門的每項控制支出均增加了 1%。我們的客戶繼續招聘，儘管隨著時間的推移速度略有放緩。

Finally, our PEO new business bookings growth accelerated in the fourth quarter and for the full year, contributing to fiscal 2025 PEO revenue growth of 7% at the high end of our expectations. And our fiscal '25 accomplishments extends far beyond our strong financial results. We drove meaningful momentum across all three of our strategic priorities. Leading with best-in-class HCM technology, providing unmatched expertise and outsourcing, and benefiting our clients with our global scale.

最後，我們的 PEO 新業務訂單成長在第四季度和全年加速，推動 2025 財年 PEO 營收成長 7%，達到我們預期的高點。我們 25 財年的成就遠不止於強勁的財務表現。我們在所有三個戰略重點上都取得了有意義的進展。憑藉一流的 HCM 技術，提供無與倫比的專業知識和外包服務，並利用我們的全球規模使客戶受益。

First, it's been a great year for innovation at ADP. Since its launch, ADP Lyric HCM has continued to gain momentum in the market. Our number of clients sold increased by more than 50% in fiscal '25 with new logos representing the majority of our new Lyric sales and we secure these clients from a diverse set of competitors.

首先，這是 ADP 創新豐碩的一年。自推出以來，ADP Lyric HCM 在市場上持續獲得發展動能。2025 財年，我們的客戶銷售數量增加了 50% 以上，其中新標誌佔據了我們新 Lyric 銷售的大部分，我們從眾多競爭對手中搶佔了這些客戶。

Our number of live clients also doubled compared to the prior year and our pipeline has continued to grow. On the AI front, we continued the rollout of ADP Assist which provides the latest AI driven capabilities into our products, and we're seeing fantastic engagement from our clients with millions of interactions in fiscal '25.

與前一年相比，我們的現有客戶數量也翻了一番，並且我們的管道也持續成長。在人工智慧方面，我們繼續推出 ADP Assist，為我們的產品提供最新的人工智慧驅動功能，並且我們看到客戶的參與度很高，在 25 財年進行了數百萬次互動。

To further build on our unmatched expertise, we have also deployed these tools across ADP to thousands of our associates, driving efficiencies in our sales, service, and technology functions. By coupling our decades of experience with our significant data insights and AI investments, we are simplifying work for our associates and elevating the end-to-end client experience.

為了進一步鞏固我們無與倫比的專業知識，我們也在 ADP 中向數千名員工部署了這些工具，從而提高了我們的銷售、服務和技術職能的效率。透過將我們數十年的經驗與我們重要的數據洞察力和人工智慧投資相結合，我們正在簡化員工的工作並提升端到端的客戶體驗。

Finally, we continue to benefit our clients with our global scale. In fiscal '25, we enhanced our unmatched global payroll capabilities by expanding our offer in markets with exciting growth opportunities like Japan and Saudi Arabia, and by acquiring payroll business like PEI in Mexico.

最後，我們繼續利用我們的全球規模為客戶帶來利益。在 2025 財年，我們透過擴大在日本和沙烏地阿拉伯等具有令人興奮的成長機會的市場中的服務，以及收購墨西哥 PEI 等薪資業務，增強了我們無與倫比的全球薪資能力。

In addition, we expanded our embedded payroll offering to enhance our small business distribution ecosystem. We also acquired Workforce Software in fiscal '25, which meaningfully enhanced our capabilities in the time and attendance space, allowing us to serve the broader workforce management needs of our clients.

此外，我們還擴大了嵌入式薪資服務，以增強我們的小型企業分銷生態系統。我們也在 25 財年收購了 Workforce Software，這大大增強了我們在考勤領域的能力，使我們能夠滿足客戶更廣泛的勞動力管理需求。

Now as we look to fiscal '26, we are excited to make even more progress across our strategic priorities as we advance several company-wide initiatives. The AI landscape is evolving fast, and we are making sure that we stay ahead. Our vast data set is key to this. We benefit from the largest HCM data set with over 1.1 million clients and 42 million workers paid.

現在，當我們展望26財年時，我們很高興在推動多項全公司範圍的措施的同時，在策略重點方面取得了更大的進展。人工智慧領域正在快速發展，我們正在確保保持領先地位。我們的龐大資料集是實現這一目標的關鍵。我們受惠於最大的 HCM 資料集，其中有超過 110 萬名客戶和 4,200 萬名員工。

This data allows us to expand our offering from simple agents to autonomous agents, and our broad and granular data set puts us in a strong position to deliver smarter and more tailored HCM agents that will be truly differentiated in the market.

這些數據使我們能夠將服務範圍從簡單代理擴展到自主代理，而我們廣泛而細緻的數據集使我們能夠提供更聰明、更客製化的 HCM 代理，從而真正在市場上脫穎而出。

To accomplish this, we have invested in establishing our own proprietary rules to help scale our agent development in a compliant, explainable, observable, and secure manner. We have already rolled out a few role-based agents and client adoption and sentiment have been strong.

為了實現這一目標，我們投資建立了自己的專有規則，以幫助以合規、可解釋、可觀察和安全的方式擴展我們的代理開發。我們已經推出了一些基於角色的代理，客戶的採用率和情緒都很強烈。

We will also continue to harness AI advances to drive operational efficiency, reduce service friction, and deliver even greater value for our clients as we expand ADP Assist into our products and throughout our organization. By extending the reach of our next-gen solutions, we build on the momentum, Lyric and next-gen payroll are experiencing.

隨著我們將 ADP Assist 擴展到我們的產品和整個組織中，我們也將繼續利用人工智慧的進步來提高營運效率，減少服務摩擦，並為我們的客戶提供更大的價值。透過擴展我們的下一代解決方案的覆蓋範圍，我們充分利用了 Lyric 和下一代薪資所經歷的勢頭。

Finally, our acquisition of WorkForce Software and the maturity of Lyric are serving as catalyst for the evolution of our global offering. We believe we have an opportunity to deliver a differentiated product and client experience that wins in the global multinational market.

最後，我們對 WorkForce Software 的收購以及 Lyric 的成熟將成為我們全球產品發展的催化劑。我們相信，我們有機會提供差異化的產品和客戶體驗，從而在全球跨國市場上獲勝。

The success we achieved in our fiscal '25 financial results and across our strategic priorities is a testament to the extraordinary efforts of our 67,000 dedicated associates around the world, and I want to take a moment to thank our associates for their commitment to our clients, to each other, and to the world of work.

我們在 25 財年財務表現和策略重點方面取得的成功證明了我們全球 67,000 名敬業員工的非凡努力，我想藉此機會感謝我們的員工對我們的客戶、對彼此以及對工作世界的承諾。

As I look ahead, I am energized by the opportunities in front of us. We operate in a dynamic market. It's large. It's growing. It is always evolving, and we are ready for what's next. We have decades of HCM experience and a track record of leading innovation.

展望未來，我為眼前的機會感到振奮。我們在一個充滿活力的市場中運作。它很大。它正在成長。它總是在不斷發展，我們已經為下一步做好了準備。我們擁有數十年的 HCM 經驗和引領創新的記錄。

We have a leading go-to-market and distribution strategy and the ability to support clients of all sizes, be it a one employee small business on Main Street or the largest enterprise with more than 1 million employees. And we have an established reputation for dependability. We understand the mission-critical importance of helping our clients meet the HCM needs of their employees.

我們擁有領先的市場進入和分銷策略，能夠支援各種規模的客戶，無論是大街上只有一名員工的小型企業，還是擁有 100 多萬名員工的最大企業。我們以可靠性而享有盛譽。我們了解幫助客戶滿足員工的 HCM 需求的關鍵意義。

At ADP, we are always designing for people. They are at the center of every decision we make, and as we move forward, we will continue to focus on people to leverage our unparalleled data insights and innovative technology and to build a world of work that is smarter, easier, and more human. We are very excited about that future.

在 ADP，我們始終以人為本進行設計。他們是我們所做的每個決定的核心，隨著我們前進，我們將繼續關注人，利用我們無與倫比的數據洞察力和創新技術，建立一個更聰明、更輕鬆、更人性化的工作世界。我們對未來感到非常興奮。

And now I'll turn the call over to Peter.

現在我將把電話轉給彼得。

Thank you, Maria, and good morning, everyone. I will start by expanding on Maria's comments on our Q4 and fiscal 2025 results before covering our fiscal 2026 financial outlook. Our Q4 performance was strong, and this helped to drive both fiscal 2025 revenue and earnings growth to the high end of our expectations. The strength was broad-based, with revenue growth in both Employer Services and the PEO coming in at the top end of our full-year guidance ranges.

謝謝你，瑪麗亞，大家早安。我將首先詳細闡述瑪麗亞對我們第四季和 2025 財年業績的評論，然後再介紹我們 2026 財年的財務展望。我們的第四季業績表現強勁，這有助於推動 2025 財年營收和獲利成長達到我們預期的高端。強勁成長具有廣泛性，雇主服務和 PEO 的收入成長均達到了我們全年指導範圍的最高水準。

The end result was full-year revenue growth of 7%, bringing fiscal 2025 revenue to $20.6 billion. For Employer Services, revenue in the quarter increased 8% on a reported basis and 6% on an organic constant currency basis. ES margins expanded 50 basis points in Q4, exceeding our expectations. For the full year, ES revenue grew 7% on a reported basis and 6% on an organic constant currency basis, while ES margins expanded 100 basis points.

最終結果是全年營收成長 7%，使 2025 財年營收達到 206 億美元。對於雇主服務而言，本季營收按報告基礎計算成長了 8%，以有機固定匯率計算成長了 6%。ES利潤率在第四季擴大了50個基點，超出了我們的預期。全年來看，ES 營收以報告基礎計算成長 7%，以有機固定匯率計算成長 6%，而 ES 利潤率擴大了 100 個基點。

For the PEO, revenue grew 7% in the fourth quarter. During the quarter, average worksite employee growth increased 3% to 760,000, driven by strong new business bookings and stable pays per control growth. PEO margins contracted 20 basis points in the quarter, mainly as a result of higher zero-margin pass-through benefits revenues, as well as an increase in state unemployment insurance costs.

對於 PEO 而言，第四季度的營收成長了 7%。本季度，受強勁的新業務訂單和穩定的每項控制薪酬增長的推動，平均工作現場員工人數增長了 3%，達到 760,000 人。本季 PEO 利潤率收縮了 20 個基點，主要原因是零利潤轉嫁福利收入增加，以及州失業保險成本增加。

For full year fiscal '25, PEO revenues grew 7%. Average worksite employees increased 3%, and PEO margins contracted by 60 basis points.

25財年全年，PEO營收成長了7%。平均工作現場員工人數增加了 3%，PEO 利潤率收縮了 60 個基點。

I will now share our outlook for fiscal 2026. While the macro backdrop remains uncertain, we believe that we are well positioned to deliver solid financial results while continuing to invest for future growth and make additional meaningful progress on our strategic priorities. Our fiscal 2026 outlook assumes a continued slight moderation in the macroeconomic environment.

現在我將分享我們對 2026 財年的展望。儘管宏觀背景仍不確定，但我們相信，我們有能力實現穩健的財務業績，同時繼續為未來成長進行投資，並在我們的策略重點上取得更多有意義的進展。我們對 2026 財年的展望假設宏觀經濟環境將繼續略微放緩。

Please note that we will no longer be providing point margin forecast for our ES and PEO segments as we do not manage our business to drive a particular segment margin results. We will continue to share our actual margin results by segment each quarter, and we will also look to provide directional segment margin commentary as a project.

請注意，我們將不再為 ES 和 PEO 部門提供點利潤預測，因為我們不管理我們的業務來推動特定部門的利潤結果。我們將繼續每季按部門分享我們的實際利潤率結果，並且我們還將尋求提供定向部門利潤率評論作為一個項目。

Beginning with the ES segment. We expect revenue growth of 5% to 6%, driven by the following key assumptions. We expect ES new business bookings to grow by 4% to 7% as we expect growth to accelerate from our fiscal 2025 result based on continued investments that we are making in both sales force head count and tools as well as the continuing maturity of several key strategic offerings, such as Lyric, WorkForce Software and Embedded Payroll.

從 ES 段開始。我們預計營收將成長 5% 至 6%，這得益於以下關鍵假設。我們預計 ES 新業務訂單將成長 4% 至 7%，因為我們預計從 2025 財年業績開始成長將會加速，這得益於我們在銷售隊伍數量和工具方面的持續投資，以及幾項關鍵策略產品（如 Lyric、WorkForce Software 和 Embedded Payroll）的持續成熟。

For ES retention, we forecast a 10 to 30 basis point decline from the 92.1% result for fiscal 2025. We are encouraged by our continued retention achievements and our record client satisfaction scores. However, we think it is prudent to expect some retention pressure from a continued moderate slowing in the macroeconomic environment and the potential for some increase in small business out of business levels.

對於 ES 保留率，我們預測 2025 財年的 92.1% 結果將下降 10 至 30 個基點。我們持續的保留成就和創紀錄的客戶滿意度得分令我們感到鼓舞。然而，我們認為，謹慎起見，宏觀經濟環境持續適度放緩以及小型企業倒閉率可能上升，將帶來一定的留存壓力。

As we mentioned on our prior earnings call, we see the potential for below normal US pays per control growth in fiscal 2026 and our outlook assumes 0% to 1% growth for the year. This view is consistent with the trends that we are seeing of a continued gradual moderation in US private sector payroll growth. We also expect FX to transition from a slight headwind to ES revenue growth in fiscal 2025 to a modest tailwind in fiscal 2026.

正如我們在先前的收益電話會議上提到的那樣，我們認為 2026 財年美國每項控制支出的增長可能低於正常水平，並且我們預計今年的增長率為 0% 至 1%。這種觀點與我們觀察到的美國私部門薪資成長持續逐步放緩的趨勢一致。我們也預計，外匯對 ES 收入成長的影響將從 2025 財年的輕微逆風轉變為 2026 財年的溫和順風。

And for client funds interest revenue, the interest rate backdrop remains dynamic, and it is important to remember that our client funds interest revenue forecast reflects the current forward yield curve, which is likely to evolve as we move through fiscal 2026.

對於客戶資金利息收入而言，利率背景仍然是動態的，重要的是要記住，我們的客戶資金利息收入預測反映了當前的遠期殖利率曲線，該曲線可能會隨著我們進入 2026 財年而改變。

At this moment, we expect that our average yield will increase from 3.2% in fiscal '25 to 3.4% in fiscal 2026, which contemplates the market's expectations for short-term interest rates to decrease by around 100 basis points during the fiscal year. We also expect that our average client funds balances will grow 2% to 3% in fiscal 2026.

目前，我們預計平均殖利率將從 2025 財年的 3.2% 上升至 2026 財年的 3.4%，這考慮到了市場對短期利率在本財年下降約 100 個基點的預期。我們也預計，到 2026 財年，我們的平均客戶資金餘額將增加 2% 至 3%。

Putting all this together, we expect that our client funds interest revenue will increase $1.19 billion in fiscal 2025 to a range of $1.29 billion to $1.31 billion in fiscal 2026. Meanwhile, we expect that the net impact from our client fund strategy will increase from $1.07 billion in fiscal 2025 to a range of $1.25 billion to $1.27 billion in fiscal 2026. We expect ES margins to expand in fiscal 2026 driven by the continued growth of client funds interest revenues, partially offset by the growth investments we are making in support of our strategic priorities.

綜合以上所有因素，我們預期我們的客戶資金利息收入將在 2025 財年增加 11.9 億美元，到 2026 財年將達到 12.9 億美元至 13.1 億美元之間。同時，我們預期客戶基金策略的淨影響將從 2025 財年的 10.7 億美元增加到 2026 財年的 12.5 億美元至 12.7 億美元。我們預計，在客戶資金利息收入持續成長的推動下，ES 利潤率將在 2026 財年擴大，但部分抵消了我們為支持策略重點而進行的成長投資。

Moving on now to the PEO segment. We expect PEO revenues to grow 5% to 7%, and PEO revenues, excluding zero-margin pass-throughs to grow 3% to 5% in fiscal 2026. Our growth outlook also assumes average worksite employee growth of 2% to 3%.

現在轉到 PEO 部分。我們預期 PEO 營收將成長 5% 至 7%，不包括零利潤轉嫁的 PEO 營收將在 2026 財年成長 3% 至 5%。我們的成長前景也假設平均工作現場員工成長率為 2% 至 3%。

We are anticipating continued healthy PEO new business bookings growth and higher retention to be partially offset by a modest decline in PEO pays per control growth. We expect PEO margins to decrease in fiscal 2026 and with zero margin pass-through growing faster than overall PEO revenues.

我們預計，PEO 新業務預訂量將持續健康成長，且保留率將有所提高，但 PEO 每次控制付費成長的適度下降將部分抵消這一成長。我們預計 PEO 利潤率將在 2026 財年下降，且零利潤轉嫁的成長速度將快於整體 PEO 收入。

Adding it all up, our consolidated revenue outlook is for 5% to 6% growth in fiscal 2026, and we expect adjusted EBIT margin expansion of 50 to 70 basis points. We expect that our effective tax rate will be around 23%, and we expect fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings per share growth of 8% to 10% supported by continued share repurchases.

綜合起來，我們預計 2026 財年的綜合收入將成長 5% 至 6%，調整後的 EBIT 利潤率將擴大 50 至 70 個基點。我們預計有效稅率將在 23% 左右，我們預計在持續股票回購的支持下，2026 財年調整後每股盈餘將成長 8% 至 10%。

A quick note on our margin cadence. Due to the impact of the WorkForce Software acquisition and the timing of some other investments, we are expecting some contraction in our adjusted EBIT margin on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter before margins ramp over the remainder of fiscal 2026.

簡單說明一下我們的保證金節奏。由於 WorkForce Software 收購的影響以及其他一些投資的時機，我們預計第一季調整後的 EBIT 利潤率將同比有所收縮，然後在 2026 財年剩餘時間內利潤率將上升。

Thank you, and I'll now turn it back to the operator for Q&A.

謝謝，現在我將把時間交還給接線員進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Bryan Bergin, TD Cowen.

（操作員指示） Bryan Bergin，TD Cowen。

I want to start with demand here and maybe just dig into the areas of the ES signings underperformance versus the plan. It sounded like HRO and international. Can you share more thoughts on the HRO softness just despite the efficiency proposition there. I'm curious on that. And is that mid-market softness specifically?

我想從這裡的需求開始，也許只是深入研究 ES 簽約表現與計劃不符的領域。聽起來像是 HRO 和國際化的。儘管有效率主張，您能否分享更多關於 HRO 軟性的想法？我對此很好奇。這是否具體體現在中階市場疲軟的情況？

Happy to help kind of unpack the $2.1 billion in bookings that we had on the 3% growth and the attribution. So as mentioned, we have relative growth in the small business suite, that's inclusive by the way, of our insurance offering, our retirement services offering. We saw strength in the domestic enterprise suite.

很高興能夠幫助我們了解 3% 的成長和歸因所帶來的 21 億美元預訂量。如同所提到的，我們在小型企業套件方面有相對的成長，順便說一下，這包括我們的保險產品和退休服務產品。我們看到了國內企業套件的實力。

When you think about that, that's the strength we've seen in Lyric, that's WorkForce Software, that's the strength that we see in our compliance solutions offerings, employment packs, things of that nature. The softness that we spoke to was in international.

當你想到這一點時，這就是我們在 Lyric 中看到的優勢，這就是 WorkForce Software 的優勢，這就是我們在合規解決方案產品、就業包等類似產品中看到的優勢。我們所說的柔軟是國際性的。

But specifically, to your question since you were asking about HRO, just kind of double-click on that. The domestic HRO business is a combination of the upper end of the mid-market, if you will, as well as, call it, the lower end of the enterprise space. Product-wise, those are two offerings, named comprehensive services and a comprehensive outsourcing solutions. And those are oftentimes very, very large opportunities for us.

但具體來說，由於您詢問的是 HRO，所以請雙擊該問題。國內的 HRO 業務是中端市場高端與企業領域低端的結合。從產品角度來看，有兩種產品，即綜合服務和綜合外包解決方案。而這些對我們來說往往是非常非常大的機會。

They're complex. They have long sales cycles. They often involve lots of departments, lots of decision-makers, think HR transformations, if you will. And we did see some strength in that area in the first half of last year. We saw it moderate in the third quarter, but we had a significant pipeline heading into the fourth quarter, but we just didn't see the decisions being made in the fourth quarter.

它們很複雜。他們的銷售週期很長。它們通常涉及許多部門、許多決策者，如果你願意的話，可以考慮人力資源轉型。去年上半年我們確實看到了該領域的一些實力。我們看到第三季的成長動能較為溫和，但我們在進入第四季時仍擁有大量產能，只是我們沒有看到第四季做出的決定。

Now the good news is because you asked about activities and how that pipeline is faring. These are still active deals. These aren't deals that said no and said a different answer such as a competitor. These are just delayed decisions that didn't happen in the fourth quarter. So the pipeline remains strong.

現在的好消息是，因為您詢問了活動以及該管道的進展。這些仍是有效交易。這些交易並不是說“不”，而是給出不同的答案，例如競爭對手。這些只是第四季未做出的延遲決定。因此管道依然強勁。

It is up year on year, and ultimately, the activity and the healthiness of that pipeline remains as we head into fiscal '26.

它逐年上升，最終，當我們進入26財年時，該管道的活躍度和健康狀況仍然保持不變。

Okay. That's helpful. And I guess just a follow up on broader bookings. Just -- can we double-click on the confidence in reaccelerating off that 3%? I heard product maturity as part of it. Are there also some specific kind of go-to-market or pricing initiatives that you're implementing? And can you just comment on how July performed? Just curious if it was any better than the June exit?

好的。這很有幫助。我想這只是對更廣泛的預訂的後續。只是——我們能否雙擊重新加速 3% 的信心？我聽說產品成熟度是其中的一部分。您是否也正在實施一些特定的市場進入或定價措施？您能評論一下七月份的表現嗎？只是好奇這是否比六月退出時更好？

Yeah, fair enough. So product maturity is absolutely part of it. We're really pleased and optimistic and confident in the decisions that we've made as it relates to the investments we made into product that's organic builds. That's all the Next-gen offerings that you would have seen at Investor Day.

是的，很公平。因此產品成熟度絕對是其中的一部分。我們對於我們所做的與我們對有機建構產品的投資有關的決定感到非常高興和樂觀和自信。這就是您在投資者日上看到的所有下一代產品。

In addition to that, it's things like the acquisition. So we feel confident in the Next-gen offerings as they gain momentum combined with things like the Workforce Software acquisition heading into '26. So that's definitely a piece of our confidence as it relates to the booking guides heading into the year.

除此之外，還有收購之類的事情。因此，我們對下一代產品充滿信心，因為它們將獲得發展勢頭，再加上 26 年對 Workforce Software 的收購。因此，這絕對是我們對今年的預訂指南充滿信心的一部分。

In addition to that, as you know, Brian, we've made tremendous investments into our sellers. That's everything from head count to the ecosystem around them, that's banks, CPAs, that's broadening the distribution ecosystem with partnerships. As an example, in Embedded Payroll, so those investments, we also feel very confident heading into the year.

除此之外，正如你所知，布萊恩，我們對我們的賣家進行了巨大的投資。這包括從員工人數到周圍的生態系統的一切，包括銀行、註冊會計師，以及透過合作夥伴關係擴大分銷生態系統。舉例來說，在嵌入式薪資單方面，我們對這些投資在今年也充滿信心。

In addition to that, we also make a lot of investments into our seller technology and the modern stack that our sellers use to be efficient in gaining productivity each and every year. We've been on that journey for quite some time.

除此之外，我們還對賣家技術和現代堆疊進行了大量投資，以便賣家每年有效地提高生產力。我們已經踏上這段旅程很長一段時間了。

We showcased a lot of that, specifically at Investor Day, things like the Zone, which is our proprietary, if you will, portal for our sellers to engage with things like generative AI to serve up the right lead at the right time to the right seller. So I think the combination of all our investments, coupled with, by the way, incredible service, setting out record NPS results. I think all of that makes for a solid seller environment heading into the year.

我們展示了很多這樣的產品，特別是在投資者日，例如 Zone，這是我們的專有門戶，如果你願意的話，它可以讓我們的賣家參與生成 AI 之類的活動，以便在正確的時間為正確的賣家提供正確的線索。因此，我認為，我們所有的投資加上令人難以置信的服務，創造了創紀錄的 NPS 結果。我認為所有這些都為今年的銷售環境創造了良好的基礎。

I think in terms of pricing, there's always pricing activity that happens. I wouldn't say that there's anything different happening across the ecosystems, we run promos, the others run promos. That's kind of on par. I think pricing and the demand holds there? And then I think you asked me one more thing.

我認為就定價而言，總是會發生定價活動。我不會說整個生態系統中發生了任何不同的事情，我們進行促銷，其他人也進行促銷。這差不多。我認為定價和需求保持不變？然後我想你還問了我一件事。

Just July.

就在七月。

July, yes, July, it is July 30th. I think it's too early to comment on July. I think the biggest comment I would say is the one I said earlier, which is that pipeline and activity remains strong. It's healthy, it's engaged, it's up year on year, and that gives us confidence heading into the quarter as well [as] the year.

七月，對，七月，今天是七月三十號。我認為現在對七月份發表評論還為時過早。我認為最重要的評論是我之前說過的，那就是管道和活動仍然強勁。它表現健康、積極活躍、同比增長，這讓我們對本季以及全年充滿信心。

Okay. Thank you for the detail.

好的。謝謝你的詳細說明。

Ramsey El-Assal, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的拉姆齊‧埃爾-阿薩勒 (Ramsey El-Assal)。

I wanted to ask about the pricing contribution in fiscal '26 whether it's more analogous to what we've seen maybe historically or whether it remains a little bit elevated just given inflation is also a little bit elevated?

我想問一下 26 財年的定價貢獻，它是否與我們歷史上看到的情況更類似，或者是否在通貨膨脹率也略有上升的情況下仍然略有上升？

And I had a second question, I'll just throw it in here. It was just on the better-than-anticipated retention result this quarter, whether there was any particular call-outs or drivers or reasons why you saw the outperformance?

我還有第二個問題，就在這裡提出來。本季的留存率結果優於預期，是否有任何特別的提示、驅動因素或原因讓您看到如此優異的表現？

Thanks, Ramsey. Thank you for the question. Just with respect to pricing, if you're talking about the historical norm sort of the 50 basis points we used to talk about, I guess, sort of pre-pandemic and the post-pandemic inflation period. Our pricing assumptions for '26 are more consistent with the near term.

謝謝，拉姆齊。謝謝你的提問。就定價而言，如果您談論的是歷史常態，即我們過去談論的 50 個基點，我想，這大概就是疫情前和疫情後通膨時期的情況。我們對 26 年的定價假設與近期更加一致。

So in that 100 or so basis point range, that's our expectation. It's -- we have a slight moderation factored into our plan into '26 versus '25. But we're more in the camp, if you like, of recent pricing trends versus sort of the pre-pandemic pre-inflationary environment increase in terms of our pricing.

因此，在 100 個基點左右的範圍內，這就是我們的預期。我們在 26 年計劃中對 25 年計劃進行了輕微的調整。但是，如果您願意的話，我們更傾向於最近的定價趨勢，而不是大流行前通膨前環境中的定價成長。

And in terms of the retention performance, we were really pleased with retention and the way that came in, in the fourth quarter. There's no real specific call-outs. We were certainly pleased on the small business side that we did not see some of the potential small business out of business lift that we have been sort of cautioning, I guess, our guide around.

就留存率表現而言，我們對第四季的留存率和表現方式感到非常滿意。沒有真正具體的呼喚。從小型企業角度來看，我們當然很高興看到，我們並沒有看到一些潛在的小企業倒閉，而我們之前一直警告過，我想，這也是我們的指導方針。

But really, the performance was very much broad-based across the company, and we saw some great retention results across all of the segments as well as in our international space.

但實際上，整個公司的表現非常普遍，我們在所有部門以及國際領域都看到了出色的保留結果。

Got it. Thank you very much.

知道了。非常感謝。

Mark Marcon, Robert W. Baird.

馬克馬孔、羅伯特W貝爾德。

With regards to WorkForce Software getting integrated more fully. What are you seeing in terms of just the early results from WorkForce Software? I know that they're still selling independently. And to what extent do you think you will end up getting a lift on the upper enterprise side once it's fully integrated with Lyric?

關於 WorkForce Software 更加全面地整合。就 WorkForce Software 的早期成果而言，您看到了什麼？我知道他們仍在獨立銷售。一旦它與 Lyric 完全整合，您認為最終將在多大程度上提升上層企業？

Sure. We are incredibly excited about WorkForce Software and the journey that we've been on with respect to integration. We did see WorkForce Software to contribute to bookings. We did see the contribution of the overall environment as it related to going through kind of the pipelines on both sides and the overlap and seeing how the narrative started to evolve for us internationally, specific in these large, complex, multinational opportunities.

當然。我們對 WorkForce Software 以及我們在整合方面所經歷的歷程感到無比興奮。我們確實看到 WorkForce Software 對預訂量有所貢獻。我們確實看到了整體環境的貢獻，因為它與雙方的管道和重疊有關，並看到了敘事如何在國際上開始演變，特別是在這些大型、複雜、跨國的機會中。

And I will tell you that the receptivity amongst both client base as well as our independent opportunities as well as the shared ones has been above our expectations. And so we remain incredibly bullish on the acquisition we made as we continue that journey of integration. We do expect that it will contribute significantly to our growth narrative specifically in our MNC international space this year as well as the coming years.

我可以告訴你們，客戶群以及我們的獨立機會和共享機會的接受度都超出了我們的預期。因此，在我們繼續整合的過程中，我們對此次收購仍然非常樂觀。我們確實希望它將為我們今年以及未來幾年的跨國公司國際領域的成長做出重大貢獻。

Yeah. And I'd just to add on to that, I would say, Mark, you're correct. The team is continuing to sell WorkForce Software on a stand-alone basis, and that was always part of the plan, and we expect that will continue. But in terms of selling with ADP products like Lyric, like GlobalView, for example, that's already happening. That's not a future event.

是的。我還要補充一點，我想說，馬克，你是對的。團隊將繼續獨立銷售 WorkForce 軟體，這一直是計劃的一部分，我們預計這將繼續下去。但就銷售 Lyric、GlobalView 等 ADP 產品而言，這種情況已經發生了。那不是未來事件。

Obviously, we have to continues this in the future, but it's not something that has not yet arrived yet. We've already seen traction in FY25 with respect to sort of -- call it, co-selling with ADP products. So we're already well and truly off to the races, I think, with respect to WorkForce Software being part of the integrated suite from a selling perspective.

顯然，我們將來必須繼續這樣做，但這並不是尚未實現的事情。我們已經看到了 25 財年與 ADP 產品聯合銷售方面的成長動能。因此，我認為，從銷售角度來看，我們已經在 WorkForce Software 成為整合套件的一部分方面做好了充分的準備。

Great. And then I demoed Workforce Now Next Gen at SHRM. And I thought it was pretty impressive. And I'm wondering to what extent are you selling the Next Gen product now relative to the old Workforce Now? And what sort of lift would you expect to see there from some of those improvements?

偉大的。然後我在 SHRM 演示了 Workforce Now Next Gen。我認為這確實令人印象深刻。我想知道，相對於舊版 Workforce Now，您現在銷售的 Next Gen 產品有多少？您期望這些改進能帶來什麼樣的提升？

Yeah. First and foremost, thank you. I'm glad you were at SHRM. I'm glad you have the opportunity to take a look at the Workforce Now Next Gen, as we showcase it there for the exact design, which is continuing to expand the reach of that offer. So I think we've been loosely talking about it being deployed across the core market throughout fiscal '25, we continue to expand beyond the core market, and that is the plan for '26.

是的。首先，謝謝你。我很高興你在SHRM。我很高興您有機會看看 Workforce Now Next Gen，因為我們在那裡展示了它的精確設計，這將繼續擴大該產品的覆蓋範圍。所以我認為我們一直在大致談論它在整個 25 財年部署到核心市場，我們將繼續向核心市場之外擴張，這就是 26 年的計劃。

And that was the purpose, if you will, of the -- somewhat of an unveil at the SHRM conference. So that's the intent. It is part of the confidence that we have in the 4% to 7% bookings acceleration, if you will, as you think about heading into the year and being able to deploy the Next Gen Workforce Now to a broader set of the mid-market clients.

如果你願意的話，這就是 SHRM 會議上某種程度上揭曉真相的目的。這就是目的。如果您願意的話，這是我們對 4% 至 7% 的預訂量加速的信心的一部分，因為您考慮進入新的一年並能夠將下一代勞動力部署到更廣泛的中端市場客戶。

We're really excited to see that product mature. We're seeing great wins. We're seeing great takeaways. We are definitely seeing it make an impact in the market, and happy to hear that it shows well.

我們非常高興看到該產品日趨成熟。我們看到了偉大的勝利。我們看到了很棒的收穫。我們確實看到它對市場產生了影響，並且很高興聽到它表現良好。

Yeah. And also just from a downstream perspective, the client satisfaction scores with respect to Next Gen payroll with Workforce Now are really, really robust and continuing to improve. And I was talking out operations leader the other day, the implementation experience is getting better and better.

是的。而且僅從下游角度來看，Workforce Now 的 Next Gen 薪資客戶滿意度得分確實非常強勁，而且還在持續提升中。前幾天我和營運主管討論時說，實施體驗越來越好。

And also from a client user perspective, the number of contacts that clients on Next Gen have to make to ADP in order to solve their needs significantly reduced versus sort of the current gen model.

而且從客戶用戶的角度來看，與目前的一代模型相比，下一代客戶為了解決其需求而必須聯繫 ADP 的次數顯著減少。

So in terms of what it will bring us in terms of bookings, as Maria outlined, but downstream, also really excited about the potential impacts of expanding that offering more widely across the client base.

因此，就它將為我們帶來什麼預訂量而言，正如瑪麗亞所概述的那樣，但下游，我們也對將該產品更廣泛地擴展到整個客戶群的潛在影響感到非常興奮。

Perfect. Thank you.

完美的。謝謝。

Samad Samana, Jefferies.

薩瑪德·薩馬納（Samad Samana），傑富瑞集團。

Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe first, just curious, if you think about where the quarter stick out, how does that maybe compare to what you were thinking at the time of the Analyst Day? And did it surprise you relative to what you were expecting at that time? And then I have a follow-up question as well.

感謝您回答我的問題。首先，只是好奇，如果您考慮本季的突出之處，那麼這與您在分析師日時的想法相比如何？與您當時的預期相比，這是否讓您感到驚訝？然後我還有一個後續問題。

Yeah, Samad, thanks for the question. Are you referring to bookings or just more generally. I think we were very happy with how the quarter --

是的，薩馬德，謝謝你的提問。您指的是預訂還是更籠統的說法。我認為我們對本季的表現非常滿意--

Yeah, I was thinking about bookings, right, just in terms of like how you were thinking about bookings at the time and maybe I'm just trying to figure out if there is a trend line change. And I know that, again, the pipeline tends to be very good. But I'm just kind of curious, basically, if there's some change that happened in the last couple of weeks of the quarter? Just as -- I know you guys aren't really commenting on July, but just as we think about the trend line from there, just what did you experience over that kind of a couple of week period?

是的，我正在考慮預訂量，對，就像您當時考慮預訂量一樣，也許我只是想弄清楚趨勢線是否有變化。而且我知道，管道往往非常好。但我只是有點好奇，本季的最後幾週是否發生了一些變化？正如——我知道你們實際上並沒有對 7 月發表評論，但正如我們思考那時的趨勢線一樣，在那幾週的時間裡你們經歷了什麼？

Yeah. So I would say in terms of Investor Day, we were very much focused on the medium term. So what are we going to do over the three- to four-year period, it wasn't driven by particular quarters or even in particularly individual fiscal years. What I would say with respect to bookings, and I think -- it's been said on this call before. Our fourth quarter is our largest quarter of the year for bookings.

是的。因此我想說，就投資者日而言，我們非常關注中期。那麼，我們在三到四年內要做什麼呢？這並不是由特定季度甚至特定財政年度決定的。關於預訂我想說的是，我想——之前在電話會議上已經說過了。我們的第四季是全年預訂量最大的一個季度。

Within the fourth quarter, the June month, is the largest month of the quarter and literally within the month of June, the last week or two is the biggest period of the year. So to be candid with you, we weren't necessarily thinking of what the result would or wouldn't be with respect to the numbers we framed for our medium-term guidance.

在第四季中，六月是該季度中最大的月份，而六月的最後一周或兩週則是一年中最大的時期。因此坦白說，我們不一定會考慮我們為中期指導制定的數字會產生什麼結果或不會產生什麼結果。

Certainly, we were anticipating a little stronger finish than what we ended up with. I think Maria has outlined the reasons for that. But I wouldn't really draw a trend line or certainly a linkage between the medium-term guide that we put forward this quarter. And certainly, I would not take from this quarter result, extrapolate any trend in terms of where we think our medium-term objective is. We're still very much committed to the numbers that we spoke to in -- at Investor Day.

當然，我們期望的結果會比最終的結果更出色。我認為瑪麗亞已經概述了原因。但我不會真正畫出趨勢線，也不會在我們本季提出的中期指導之間建立聯繫。當然，我不會根據本季的結果來推斷我們的中期目標趨勢。我們仍然非常重視我們在投資者日談到的數字。

Obviously, within a full year, we have to give guidance. The macro backdrop still remains uncertain. I think there's potentially a little bit more volatility, either positive or negative that could happen during the year versus what we're anticipating to be the case over the longer period. So that's how I would think about it. But no real discernible linkage, I would say, between how we finished FY25 and sort of the medium-term objectives that we shared six or eight weeks ago.

顯然，在整整一年的時間裡，我們必須給予指導。宏觀背景仍不明朗。我認為，與我們預期的長期情況相比，今年可能會出現更多波動，無論是正面的還是負面的。這就是我的想法。但我想說，我們完成 25 財年的方式與我們六到八週前分享的中期目標之間並沒有真正明顯的關聯。

Great. And then Maria, Lyric has done really, really well over the last year and you guys have increasingly talked about it. I'm just curious, the product itself, I think, has been a big part of that. Help us think about distribution, though? And how much better is the sales organization and selling and then how are you thinking about indirect distribution there? And maybe, I guess, sorry to make it a multipart question, but just should it be a bigger component of bookings in fiscal '26?

偉大的。然後瑪麗亞，Lyric 在過去的一年裡表現非常非常好，你們也越來越多地談論它。我只是好奇，我認為產品本身就是其中很重要的一部分。能幫我們思考一下分佈嗎？銷售組織和銷售狀況有多好？您如何考慮那裡的間接分銷？也許，我想，很抱歉把這個問題分成多個部分，但它是否應該成為 26 財年預訂量中更重要的組成部分？

Yeah, it's a great question. And you are absolutely correct. We are incredibly excited about Lyric. It's strong reception in the market, the contribution to bookings -- by the way, in '24, also the contribution of bookings in '25, as I cited. Lyric did enjoy a robust sales growth, if you will, in '25, and we certainly anticipate that only grow into '26 and beyond.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。你完全正確。我們對 Lyric 感到無比興奮。它在市場上受到熱烈歡迎，對預訂量的貢獻——順便說一下，在 24 年，以及在 25 年，預訂量的貢獻，正如我所提到的。如果你願意的話，Lyric 在 25 年確實實現了強勁的銷售成長，我們當然預計這種成長只會持續到 26 年及以後。

In terms of the direct distribution, today, it is because in that enterprise space in the domestic space. We are expanding that into the global footprint, as we think about the offer of Lyric kind of in the [MNC] space going forward. That is through our sellers and our seller ecosystem.

就直接分銷而言，今天是因為在國內空間中的那個企業空間。我們正在將其擴展到全球範圍，因為我們考慮未來在 [MNC] 領域提供 Lyric 服務。這是透過我們的賣家和賣家生態系統實現的。

But even in our upper end of the market. I know we talked a lot about channels in the down market. We talk about CPAs and banks in the mid-market, we talk about brokers. But even in the upper end of the market, we do already distribute and partner with whether it's big, large organizations that are driving other types of transformation.

但即使在我們的高端市場也是如此。我知道我們討論了很多有關低迷市場中的管道。我們談論中端市場的註冊會計師和銀行，我們談論經紀人。但即使在高端市場，我們也已經與推動其他類型轉型的大型組織建立了分銷和合作夥伴關係。

So we have partnerships with some of the big ERP players. In addition to that, we have partnerships with a lot of the system integrators. And is there an opportunity as we continue to build and scale the offering to continue to evolve our distribution mechanism? I think the answer to that is absolutely. Too early, I think, at this juncture to say what the impact of that would be in '26. But certainly, our goal is to continue to evolve the distribution and uptake of Lyric and it is definitely resonating.

因此我們與一些大型 ERP 公司建立了合作夥伴關係。除此之外，我們也與許多系統整合商建立了合作夥伴關係。隨著我們繼續建立和擴大產品範圍，是否有機會繼續改進我們的分銷機制？我認為答案是肯定的。我認為，現在就談論這件事對 26 年會產生什麼影響還為時過早。但可以肯定的是，我們的目標是繼續改進 Lyric 的分發和吸收，而且它肯定會引起共鳴。

I will tell you, we've been ourselves just somewhat blown away by the receptivity in the market. It is the most modern HCM tech platform that's out there. It's flexible, it's adaptable. I think you had an opportunity many of you to see it at Investor Day, and it's definitely something that is being talked about, and we're happy to see the wins.

我可以告訴你，我們自己也對市場的接受度感到有些震驚。它是目前最現代化的 HCM 技術平台。它靈活，適應力強。我想你們中的許多人都有機會在投資者日看到它，而且它肯定是人們談論的事情，我們很高興看到勝利。

We see them against some of the most formidable competition. I see, again, the receptivity in the market exceeding our expectations. So excited to continue to lean into it.

我們看到他們面臨一些最強大的競爭對手。我再次看到市場接受度超出了我們的預期。我很高興能夠繼續堅持下去。

Great. Thank you, [fellas], for taking my questions. Have a great day.

偉大的。謝謝你們回答我的問題。祝你有美好的一天。

Tien-Tsin Huang, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的黃天津。

Just building on that last answer. Just the confidence in overall bookings accelerating in fiscal '26. Just how much is driven by head count investments that you put into place versus higher sell-through attached new products, that kind of thing, versus '25?

只是基於最後一個答案。只是對 26 財年整體預訂量加速成長的信心。與 25 年相比，您在多大程度上受到員工人數投資的推動，以及更高銷售量的附加新產品等因素的推動？

Yeah. Fair enough, Tien-Tsin. First and foremost, I would say our sales from new opportunities versus the beyond payroll, if you will, remains at 50-50. That is our plan. That's kind of held steady as long as I can remember.

是的。很公平，Tien-Tsin。首先，我想說的是，來自新機會的銷售額與來自薪資單以外的銷售額的比例仍然是 50-50。這就是我們的計劃。從我記事起，這種情況就一直保持穩定。

So I would say that is our expectation for next year. So we're not over-rotating away from kind of that. In addition, we're not over-rotating on sales head count. I think several years ago on the heels of the great resignation, we leaned into head count quite a bit, and we needed to because we had, just like every other company is seeing an uptick in attrition.

所以我想說這是我們對明年的期望。所以我們不會過度迴避這種情況。此外，我們不會對銷售人員進行過度輪調。我想，幾年前，在大規模辭職之後，我們相當傾向於裁員，我們必須這樣做，因為我們確實如此，就像其他所有公司一樣，員工流動率也在上升。

But as attrition has a beta, the big strength in the seller productivity is really the lift we're getting from tenure. But we are still making head count investments. They will look largely in line with what we did in '25 and what we did in '24, which is kind of that mid-single digit, if you will. So it's an investment in head count, it's an investment in everything I talked about earlier around the sellers in terms of their ecosystem. And then it's also this bit of a natural uplift that we get from increasing the tenure of all of our sellers, which is fantastic.

但由於人員流失率存在一個 beta 值，賣方生產力的巨大優勢其實來自於任期帶來的提升。但我們仍在進行人員投資。它們看起來與我們在 25 年和 24 年所做的基本一致，如果你願意的話，這是一個中等個位數。所以這是對員工數量的投資，也是對我之前談到的有關賣家生態系統的一切的投資。而且，透過延長所有賣家的任期，我們也獲得了一些自然的提升，這真是太棒了。

Terrific. Just -- and then quickly on retention, still very high, impressive. Just I know it's reasonable to assume some decline from that high this year. But is the 10 to 30 assuming more on the voluntary versus involuntary attrition? I'm just trying to understand if there's anything more specific that you're paying attention to as you go into the new fiscal year?

了不起。只是——然後很快就保留了下來，仍然很高，令人印象深刻。我只是知道，假設今年的價格會從高點下降是合理的。但是，10 到 30 是否更多地考慮自願減員而非非自願減員？我只是想知道，在進入新的財政年度時，您是否還有什麼更具體的事情需要關注？

Yeah. I mean, I'd say nothing particularly specific, Tien-Tsin. I think it's probably a little more on the involuntary. But again, the macro environment, we have to see how it plays out. We were positively surprised, so to speak, I guess, in '25 and '24.

是的。我的意思是，我不會說任何特別具體的事情，Tien-Tsin。我認為這可能更多的是非自願的。但同樣，我們必須觀察宏觀環境如何發展。我想，可以說，我們在 1925 年和 1924 年確實感到很驚喜。

We're hoping that will be the case also in '26, but we feel sort of the prudent responsible position at the moment, just given the trends we do observe in most of those trends that we're observing, obviously, we listen to what the economists and what the external sources are saying, but we see a lot and draw a lot of our conclusions from our own data.

我們希望 26 年的情況也是如此，但目前我們感到採取的是謹慎負責的立場，只是考慮到我們觀察到的大多數趨勢，顯然，我們會聽取經濟學家和外部消息來源的意見，但我們看到了很多，並從我們自己的數據中得出了很多結論。

Now again, our data on retention is strong, but there are signs that we feel we should be prudent, but I would certainly not point to upticks in voluntary client attrition is -- again, all the indicators on that, be it client satisfaction and just the trends we've been observing are very favorable. So I would point that more to being a macro assumption that we hope does not materialize.

現在，我們的保留數據再次表現強勁，但有跡象表明我們認為應該謹慎，但我肯定不會指出自願客戶流失率的上升——再次強調，所有指標，無論是客戶滿意度還是我們觀察到的趨勢，都是非常有利的。因此，我認為這更像是一個宏觀假設，我們希望它不會實現。

Perfect. Makes great sense. Thanks, Peter. Thanks, Maria.

完美的。非常有道理。謝謝，彼得。謝謝，瑪麗亞。

Kartik Mehta, Northcoast Research.

Kartik Mehta，Northcoast Research。

Maria just thoughts on bookings. Right now, they're in a delay. At what point does delay become cancellation? Or what signs have you seen that give you any concern at all. It seems like you don't have any concerns, but it seems like things progress and delays can become cancellations?

瑪麗亞只是對預訂有想法。目前，他們正處於延誤狀態。延遲在什麼情況下會變成取消？或是您看到了哪些讓您感到擔憂的跡象。看起來您沒有任何擔憂，但事情似乎在進展，延遲可能會變成取消？

Sure. Certainly, we're looking at all of that. So maybe a way for me to answer the question, Kartik, is to just kind of unpack how we think about pipelines and activity in general. So if you think about the various segments, and I'll start at the small end, in the small business, it's really not about pipelines. Many of those opportunities we're able to literally onboard in hours, if you will.

當然。當然，我們正在關注這一切。因此，卡蒂克，也許我回答這個問題的一種方法是解開我們對管道和活動整體的看法。因此，如果你考慮各個部分，我將從小處開始，在小型企業中，它實際上與管道無關。如果你願意的話，我們可以在幾個小時內實現許多這樣的機會。

And so we're looking more at activity measures, right? And that's everything from leads coming in, call it, how many appointments sellers are on opportunities that are being generated. And so we're looking at the activities. Specifically, what I would say across the small business portfolio across even the core end of the mid-market. That's a very active, healthy activity that's happening out there, and we don't see any moderation in kind of the -- activity out there, right?

所以我們更關注活動措施，對嗎？這就是從潛在客戶進來的一切，可以稱之為，有多少預約賣家正在產生的機會。因此我們正在關注這些活動。具體來說，我想說的是，這涉及整個小型企業投資組合，甚至是中型市場的核心端。這是正在發生的非常活躍、健康的活動，我們沒有看到任何活動出現任何緩和，對嗎？

And so in the PEO space, specifically, we're looking at things like RFPs, requests for proposals, that is. We're looking at -- asks for benefit underwriting, lots of different measures that we look at to, again, assess whether or not the activity levels have changed. And the answers there is they continue to remain healthy.

因此，在 PEO 領域，具體來說，我們正在研究諸如 RFP（提案請求）之類的內容。我們正在研究—要求福利承保，我們研究了許多不同的措施，再次評估活動水準是否發生了變化。答案是他們繼續保持健康。

The upper end of the mid-market heading into the enterprise and international, that's really where we're looking at pipeline. Oftentimes, these sales cycles are months, sometimes, if not years. So you can really see kind of the pipeline activity. There is some pipeline aging that's happening. That's not necessarily new news.

中階市場的高端正走向企業和國際市場，這才是我們真正關注的管道。通常，這些銷售週期是幾個月，有時甚至是幾年。因此您可以真正看到管道活動。一些管道正在老化。這不一定是新消息。

I think we've talked about on previous calls that were kind of back to the new normal or the old normal pre-pandemic where you have a lot of decision-makers and the deals are moving through the motions more in line with how they used to move through the motions, and that's definitely what we see. We do see the pipeline has aged a bit, but it's still active.

我想我們在之前的電話會議上討論過，情況有點回到新常態或疫情前的舊常態，即有很多決策者，交易的進展更符合他們過去的運作方式，這正是我們所看到的。我們確實看到管道有點老化，但它仍然活躍。

The opportunities are healthy and there's -- when I say active, there's side logs back and forth, and so -- and year on year, it is up. So what I would say is all across, whether it's new appointments that are being done out in the field in the down market, RFPs that are being requested in the PEO or in the enterprise base and international space, the pipelines are continuing to grow, and new opportunities are entering and the ones that are in there are healthy.

機會是健康的，而且 — — 當我說活躍的時候，就有來回的側日誌，所以 — — 而且年復一年，它都在上升。所以我想說的是，無論是在低迷市場中現場進行的新任命，還是在 PEO 或企業基礎和國際空間中請求的 RFP，渠道都在不斷增長，新的機會不斷湧現，而且其中的機會是健康的。

All signs point to a broad-based healthy pipeline and activity backdrop heading into the year.

所有跡像都表明，今年的管道和活動背景將廣泛健康。

And then just, Peter, on the PPC, the difference between ES and PEO. If you're seeing any difference or if it's still kind of holding steady, both about the same?

然後，Peter，關於 PPC，ES 和 PEO 之間的區別。如果您看到任何差異或它仍然保持穩定，那麼兩者是否大致相同？

Yeah. It's -- they're both holding relatively steady. Again, we've seen this gradual moderation through FY25 and also over the last couple of years. What I would say is the two numbers are quite similar, I would say. What we have seen in recent couple of quarters, I think it is the PEO is actually gone a little above, if you like, the ES segment, which has been traditionally where a PEO is (inaudible) traditionally had higher PPC in the PEO than what we have had in the ES.

是的。它們都保持相對穩定。再次，我們看到這種趨勢在 2025 財年以及過去幾年逐漸緩和。我想說的是，這兩個數字非常相似。從最近幾季的情況來看，我認為 PEO 實際上已經略高於 ES 部分，傳統上，PEO 的 PPC 高於 ES。

As you'll remember, that flipped for a number of quarters, not in a meaningful way, but it had flipped. It was something we noticed because it's not typically the case. So I would say that dynamic between the two is returned to normal. There is a little bit higher PPC growth in the PEO, we're experiencing what we're seeing in the ES. But the numbers are really quite similar and the trends are also pretty similar.

你會記得，這種情況在幾個季度內發生了逆轉，雖然不是以一種有意義的方式，但情況已經逆轉了。我們注意到了這一點，因為這種情況並不常見。所以我想說兩者之間的關係已經恢復正常。PEO 中的 PPC 增長略高，我們正在經歷 ES 中看到的情況。但數字確實非常相似，趨勢也非常相似。

So I would say in terms of our guide next year on ES, PEO is not too far away from that, let's put it like that.

因此我想說，就我們明年的 ES 指南而言，PEO 離這個目標並不太遠，我們就這樣說吧。

Perfect. Thank you, both, very much. I appreciate it.

完美的。非常感謝你們兩位。我很感激。

Scott Wurtzel, Wolfe Research.

沃澤爾（Scott Wurtzel），沃爾夫研究公司。

Thank you for taking my questions. Just wanted to ask on the PEO guidance and sort of the widening gap between reported revenue growth and revenue growth ex pass-throughs, I'm just wondering if you can talk about what's driving those higher expected contribution from zero margin pass-through revenue for fiscal '26 versus '25?

感謝您回答我的問題。我只是想問一下關於 PEO 指導以及報告的收入增長和扣除轉嫁部分的收入增長之間的差距不斷擴大的問題，我只是想知道您是否可以談談是什麼推動了 26 財年與 25 財年相比零利潤轉嫁收入的預期貢獻更高？

Yeah, Scott. So probably two things. In terms of the zero-margin pass-throughs, we're expecting those to continue strongly health insurance inflation, really, the cost of health insurance is sort of driving the benefits pass-through revenue, obviously.

是的，斯科特。所以可能是兩件事。就零利潤轉嫁而言，我們預計這些將繼續強勁推動醫療保險通膨，實際上，醫療保險成本顯然正在推動福利轉嫁收入。

In terms of the non zero-margin pass-through, what we are assuming in our outlook is -- and we saw a little bit of this in the fourth quarter. We'll see whether that actually materializes. It is some moderation in wage growth. So we've -- we've had experience in both the PEO and as well also in our client fund balances through '25. We've experienced really strong and benefited from strong wage growth levels.

就非零利潤轉嫁而言，我們在展望中假設的是──我們在第四季看到了一點這樣的情況。我們將看看這是否真的會實現。這是工資成長的某種放緩。因此，我們在 PEO 以及 25 年的客戶基金餘額方面都有經驗。我們經歷了真正強勁的薪資成長水平，並從中受益。

Like I said, we saw that come off a little bit in the fourth quarter. And again, really based on a macro assumption primarily, we're assuming some that that will continue, but not at the same rate that it was in '25. So that has a little bit of an, call it, a dampening effect on the non-pass-through revenues.

就像我說的，我們在第四季看到了一些好轉。再次強調，實際上主要基於宏觀假設，我們假設這種情況將會持續下去，但速度不會像 25 年那樣。所以這對非轉嫁收入有一點抑製作用。

The other piece on the PEO that we also saw -- now this is low-margin revenue, but in '25, we saw elevated state unemployment insurance rates that came out in the January period. We're not expecting the same thing again. So again, that doesn't have much of an effect on our margin. But from a revenue perspective, that we're expecting that to be a little lower in '26 than what we saw in '25.

我們在 PEO 上還看到的另一件事是——現在這是低利潤收入，但在 25 年，我們看到 1 月的州失業保險費率上升。我們不會再期待同樣的事情發生。所以，這對我們的利潤沒有太大影響。但從收入角度來看，我們預計 26 年的收入將比 25 年略低。

That's helpful. And then just as a follow up on the Embedded Payroll side and particularly around the Clover partnership. Just wondering if you can kind of update us where you are sort of on the integration and getting that into market as well as sort of what you're expecting from the Clover partnership and other Embedded Payroll offerings for fiscal '26 in terms of contribution to bookings?

這很有幫助。然後作為對嵌入式工資單方面的跟進，特別是圍繞 Clover 合作夥伴關係。只是想知道您是否可以向我們介紹一下您在整合和將其推向市場方面的最新進展，以及您對 Clover 合作夥伴關係和其他嵌入式工資單產品在 26 財年對預訂量的貢獻有何期望？

We are very pleased with things and how they are progressing with specifically the Fiserv partnership or Clover, as you mentioned. I would tell you, we are partnered across every aspect of our business and each of our groups. So our respective sales, product, executive teams. We've been working incredibly hard together and also incredibly well together.

正如您所說，我們對目前的情況以及與 Fiserv 或 Clover 的合作進展感到非常滿意。我想告訴你們，我們在業務的各個方面以及每個團隊都有合作夥伴。因此，我們各自的銷售、產品、執行團隊。我們一直非常努力地合作，而且合作得非常好。

As you are aware, back in May was when we put -- we put the run offer inside of Clover, but it's only deployed to a subset of Fiserv or Clover's, what they call their back book or their client base. And so we're really excited as we head into this quarter and specifically '26 to have a further broader deployment across the back book there.

如您所知，早在五月份，我們就將運行服務放入了 Clover 中，但它僅部署到 Fiserv 或 Clover 的子集，即他們所謂的後台帳簿或客戶群。因此，我們非常高興進入本季度，特別是 26 季度，能夠在後台進行更廣泛的部署。

In addition to that, we are also working this year to put the cash flow central inside of the RUN offer, which also will put the small business ecosystem together for our mutual clients. So what I would tell you is we would expect bookings contribution based on this relationship. I think it's all in front of us still.

除此之外，我們今年也致力於將現金流作為 RUN 產品的核心，這也將為我們的共同客戶整合小型企業生態系統。所以我想告訴你的是，我們期望基於這種關係的預訂貢獻。我認為這一切仍在我們眼前。

So I think this is a big year for us as we head into this opportunity. But that said, they're also -- from a $2.1 billion in bookings, it is in that down market, and it will contribute significantly to the down-market ecosystem. But in terms of a discernible uptick based on this relationship, I think that's probably too early to see that at this juncture.

因此我認為，對我們來說，今年是重要的一年，因為我們正面臨這個機會。但話雖如此，他們也——從 21 億美元的預訂量來看，它處於低端市場，並且將對低端市場生態系統做出重大貢獻。但就基於這種關係的明顯上升而言，我認為現在就看到這一點可能還為時過早。

But really excited about the partnership really excited about how it's progressing and the opportunity is largely in front of us.

但我對這次合作感到非常興奮，對它的進展感到非常興奮，而且機會就在我們面前。

Great. Thanks, guys.

偉大的。謝謝大家。

James Faucette, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的詹姆斯·福塞特。

Appreciate all the details here. Wanted to ask Maria, you just emphasized your range of partnerships, et cetera, and I think it creates a lot of opportunity. Just wondering how that's impacting your kind of sales channel management and forecasting.

感謝這裡的所有細節。想問瑪麗亞，您剛才強調了您的合作範圍等等，我認為這創造了很多機會。只是想知道這對您的銷售管道管理和預測有何影響。

Just -- are you seeing improvement? Does it become more reliable? Or does it become more difficult? Just trying to think through how expanded use of partnerships can impact your visibility?

只是──你看到進步了嗎？它是否變得更可靠？還是變得更困難了？只是想思考一下擴大合作關係會如何影響您的知名度？

So thank you for the question, James. I think you know, I'm very bullish on partnerships as a way to accelerate, whether it's candidly, all three of our strategic priorities, which is to have the best technology the most robust offering and the most and biggest largest global scale.

謝謝你的提問，詹姆斯。我想你知道，我非常看好合作關係，因為它可以加速實現我們的三個策略重點，即擁有最好的技術、最強大的產品和最大的全球規模。

So I think we have partnerships that sits squarely into each one of our segments, to advance the strategic priorities. And all of this is, in my mind, what it means to be a modern company to ensure that you're really good at what you're good at and leveraging others to extend your reach, whether it's through distribution or it's just to solve client opportunities. And that's exactly what we do, and that's exactly what we've been doing.

因此，我認為我們與各部門都建立了合作夥伴關係，以推進策略重點。在我看來，所有這些都是一家現代公司的意義所在，確保你真正擅長你所擅長的領域，並利用他人來擴大你的影響力，無論是透過分銷還是只是為了解決客戶機會。這正是我們所做的，也是我們一直在做的。

What I will tell you is we are also very thoughtful about how we partner. And so when I say we partnered as an example on the Embedded Payroll at all of the levels of the organization, whether it's the executive levels or it's the seller level. A lot of this is about perfecting the model so that we do not change, call it, fundamentally visibility into our business or at some level like how we actually go to market.

我想告訴你們的是，我們對合作方式也非常謹慎。因此，當我說我們在組織的所有層級上以嵌入式薪資作為合作夥伴時，無論是執行層級還是賣方層級。這在很大程度上是為了完善模型，以便我們不會從根本上改變我們業務的可見性，或在某種程度上改變我們實際進入市場的方式。

So what I would tell you is we have not seen an inability for us to have a view on results or pipelines or activity levels by virtue of our partnership. I think if anything, it's extending and expanding our visibility because we have more eyes and set opportunities.

因此，我想告訴你們的是，我們並沒有發現我們無法透過合作來了解結果、管道或活動水平。我認為如果有的話，它正在擴大和擴展我們的知名度，因為我們有更多的眼睛和機會。

So if you imagine in the upper end of the enterprise or MNC space as we're partnering with [SIs]. We have more visibility into all of the things a client is trying to actually accomplish, which at times is all about HCM, but sometimes and HCM transformation might just be a subset of a larger project.

因此，如果你想像一下，在高端企業或跨國公司領域，我們正在與[SI]。我們可以更清楚地了解客戶實際上想要完成的所有事情，有時這一切都與 HCM 有關，但有時 HCM 轉型可能只是一個更大專案的子集。

I think in the down market, CPAs and banks, they have full visibility to those clients. and certainly, these partnerships and how we're structuring them as we expand the reach of our ecosystem, such as Embedded Payroll, we're very thoughtful to make sure that we're not dis-intermediating anything that is the way that we do business as ADP.

我認為在低迷的市場中，註冊會計師和銀行可以完全了解這些客戶。當然，這些合作夥伴關係以及我們在擴大生態系統覆蓋範圍（例如嵌入式工資單）時如何構建它們，我們非常謹慎，以確保我們不會取消中介機構，這是我們作為 ADP 開展業務的方式。

Yeah, I can confirm that. There's no adverse effect on our ability to forecast really the partners really enhance our opportunity and help us to deliver -- in no way does that sort of impede or make it more difficult or more easy for that matter to get our forecasting on point.

是的，我可以確認這一點。這對我們的預測能力沒有任何不利影響，合作夥伴確實增強了我們的機會並幫助我們實現目標——這絕不會妨礙或使我們的預測變得更難或更容易。

Great. That's really useful color and insight into how that's developing. I wanted to touch on one of those partnerships, and that's Wisely and (inaudible) access. I don't think we've gotten much of an update on that product in quite some time. How is that attached trending?

偉大的。這確實對了解其發展很有幫助。我想談談其中一個合作關係，那就是 Wisely 和（聽不清楚）Access。我認為我們已經很長時間沒有得到有關該產品的太多更新了。附加趨勢如何？

And I think more specifically, you introduced a fee-free earn wage access program with Daily Pay a few years ago. And I know it's a small product in totality, but just curious to hear how [PWA] attach among RUN clients has evolved over the last 12, 18 months?

我認為更具體地說，幾年前，你們透過 Daily Pay 推出了一項免費的賺取工資獲取計劃。我知道它總體來說只是一個小產品，但我還是好奇想聽聽在過去的 12 到 18 個月裡，RUN 用戶端之間的 [PWA] 連接是如何發展的？

Yeah. What I would say is, you're right, it is a small part. We are pleased with the Wisely member count that we have. I don't know that we're in a position to provide any more specifics around that offer than I think what we've talked about it is attaching. It is attaching, I guess, for specific use cases for certain clients.

是的。我想說的是，你說得對，這只是一小部分。我們對 Wisely 的會員數量感到非常滿意。我不知道我們是否能夠提供有關該提議的更多細節，我認為我們已經討論過了。我猜，它是針對特定客戶的特定用例而附加的。

And some of those are on the smaller side at the member count standpoint, i.e., an employee actually making choices for some of these things and some of it is at the aggregate in certain types of industries, it seems to be a significant interest in this way.

從會員數量的角度來看，其中一些規模較小，即員工實際上會對其中一些事情做出選擇，而有些則是在某些類型的行業中總體上如此，這似乎是一種重大的興趣。

I think actually, we produced in our ADP Research Institute, Today At Work report that came out just this past few weeks. And in that report, it talks about the frequency by which everything from generations to segmented clients, i.e., by size, once it gets paid. And so it is kind of interesting to track these trends, and I encourage you to take a look at it, James, in terms of what type of employee it is that wants to be paid, whether it's biweekly, which by the way, is the bulk of the United States as an example, is paid biweekly or twice a month.

我認為實際上，我們在 ADP 研究所製作的《今日工作》報告是過去幾週剛發布的。在該報告中，它討論了從世代到細分客戶（即按規模）的所有事物的付款頻率。因此，追蹤這些趨勢很有趣，詹姆斯，我鼓勵你看一下什麼類型的員工希望獲得報酬，無論是每兩週支付一次，順便說一下，以美國大部分地區為例，每兩週或每月支付兩次。

But in terms of this daily element or this ability to get paid, call it, on-demand or early wage access, you can kind of see some of those trend lines in there. And so I think, again, clients that have workers that categorically fall in there. This offer is a fantastic solution. We're very pleased with what we have, and I think that's probably the best color I can give you.

但就這種日常要素或獲得報酬的能力而言，我們稱之為按需或提前獲得工資，你可以看到其中的一些趨勢線。因此，我認為，客戶中的員工絕對屬於這一類。這個提議是一個絕佳的解決方案。我們對我們所擁有的感到非常滿意，我認為這可能是我能給你的最好的顏色。

Great. Appreciate that, Maria.

偉大的。非常感謝，瑪麗亞。

Ashish Sabadra, RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場 (RBC Capital Markets) 的 Ashish Sabadra。

This is David Paige on for Ashish. Maria, Peter, I was wondering if you could just detail what the AI contribution is to margins, either on the upside or is investing that still needs to go on to get the AI products through and up and running? Any color there would be helpful.

這是 David Paige 為 Ashish 主持的節目。瑪麗亞、彼得，我想知道你們能否詳細說明一下人工智慧對利潤的貢獻，無論是從正面來看，還是仍需要繼續投資才能讓人工智慧產品順利運作？任何顏色都會有幫助。

Yeah, sure, David. So we are -- and we've sort of said this relatively consistently, I think, the last few quarters also at Investor Day. So the situation has not changed. We are seeing meaningful productivity improvements and opportunities. We have businesses, for example, in our down-market and also our mid-market, you'll see next week when we release our 10-K.

是的，當然，大衛。所以，我認為，過去幾季我們在投資者日也相對一致地表達了這一點。所以情況並沒有改變。我們看到了有意義的生產力提高和機會。例如，我們在低端市場和中端市場都有業務，下週我們發布 10-K 時您就會看到。

Our unit -- client unit counts continue to grow at a very healthy and consistent clip with what they have been growing in previous years, yet we are able to actually see some operational head count reduction in those businesses as a result of generative AI and some of the other like-minded tools and things that we're deploying in those spaces.

我們的單位——客戶單位數量繼續以非常健康和穩定的速度增長，與前幾年相比，然而，由於生成人工智慧和我們在這些領域部署的一些其他志同道合的工具和事物，我們實際上能夠看到這些業務中的一些營運員工數量的減少。

So it is real. We're not quantifying the amount of that, but it is certainly real and we are enjoying those benefits. But again, as we've said in the past, we are deploying AI in a very thoughtful, governed way. So we are reaping benefits from where we have deployed, but we're also investing in further deployment of additional types of tools and additional other parts of the company.

所以它是真實的。我們沒有量化其數量，但它確實是真實的，而且我們正在享受這些好處。但正如我們過去所說的那樣，我們正在以非常周到、有管理的方式部署人工智慧。因此，我們從部署中獲益，但我們也在投資進一步部署其他類型的工具和公司的其他部分。

So we still remain in a net investment position. It's not a big, meaningful number. I think of it in the tens of millions of dollars, not hundreds of millions of dollars between the investment that we're making in deploying and bringing new generative AI capabilities to the organization versus call it, the productivity opportunities for one of a better word that they're already reaping from deployments that have been made over the last couple of years.

因此我們仍然處於淨投資狀態。這不是一個很大的、有意義的數字。我認為我們在部署和為組織帶來新的生成式人工智慧功能方面的投資是數千萬美元，而不是數億美元，而不是稱之為生產力機會，用更好的詞來說，他們已經從過去幾年的部署中獲益。

So likely that will continue certainly through this fiscal year and that investment position. But overall, we're very happy with the traction that we have seen from the deployments we've made, and we continue to be very focused and committed to continuing to deploy generative AI, both for efficiency and productivity reasons, but also for client user experience in our platforms, in our technology organizations and various places across the enterprise, either on the front end or on the back end.

因此，這種狀況很可能會持續整個財政年度以及整個投資狀況。但總體而言，我們對所部署的進展感到非常滿意，我們將繼續非常專注並致力於繼續部署生成性人工智慧，這不僅是為了提高效率和生產力，也是為了我們平台、技術組織和企業各個地方（無論是前端還是後端）的客戶用戶體驗。

And just a quick follow up. I'm assuming the answer is no, but any pushback in the international markets from working with an American company or the evolving tariff situation that's going out there any puts and takes to share?

並進行快速跟進。我認為答案是否定的，但是與美國公司合作在國際市場上會遇到什麼阻力，或者關稅情況會如何變化，有什麼利弊可以分享嗎？

Yeah. Your assumption is correct. The answer is no. What I would tell you in terms of our global clients, many of them are in that mid-market and upmarket. Many of these clients have been with us for years and new opportunities take several years.

是的。你的假設是正確的。答案是否定的。我想告訴你的是，就我們的全球客戶而言，他們中的許多人都處於中端市場和高端市場。許多客戶已經與我們合作多年，而新的機會則需要幾年的時間才能實現。

As you know, we have -- while we're a US-based company, we serve our clients very much on the ground across many of these 140 countries. And so I think we have this mix of a global company but also incredibly local in terms of how we execute. So no, we have not seen any pushback with respect to decisions as a result of that.

如您所知，雖然我們是一家美國公司，但我們為 140 個國家中的許多國家的客戶提供服務。所以我認為我們既是一家全球性公司，而且在執行方式上也具有極強的在地化特質。所以，我們並沒有看到任何與該決定相關的阻力。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Dan Dolev, Mizuho Group.

瑞穗集團的 Dan Dolev。

I have two quick questions. So going back to mid-market software bookings, can you maybe elaborate a little bit how it did this year versus your initial expectations? And then I have a quick follow up.

我有兩個簡單的問題。那麼回到中階市場軟體預訂情況，您能否詳細說明今年的表現與您最初的預期相比如何？然後我有一個快速的跟進。

Yeah. So in terms of mid-market software, as you know, the mid-market software that we have Workforce Now is deployed across the mid-market opportunities, call it tuck only. It's also deployed across our PEO. We haven't talked to PEO bookings yet, saw the quick plug because that team was very busy all of '25 and laser focused on reaccelerating bookings, and that's exactly what we did inclusive of Q4. So it's my shout-out to the all hands on deck execution there.

是的。因此，就中階市場軟體而言，如您所知，我們擁有的 Workforce Now 中階市場軟體已部署在中階市場機會中，我們稱之為 tuck only。它也部署在我們的 PEO 中。我們還沒有與 PEO 預訂部門進行溝通，看到快速插件是因為團隊在整個 25 年都非常忙碌，並且專注於重新加速預訂，而這正是我們在第四季度所做的事情。因此，我向全體人員大聲呼喊，讓他們全力以赴。

But that Workforce Now also serves the mid-market there. The mid-market is also inclusive of our employer services, the comprehensive services HRO offer there. And so from a mid-market standpoint, maybe the easiest way to think about how that product is faring as you'll see it when we look at -- Peter has mentioned that.

但 Workforce Now 也服務於那裡的中端市場。中端市場還包括我們的雇主服務，即 HRO 在那裡提供的綜合服務。因此，從中端市場的角度來看，也許最簡單的方法是思考該產品的表現如何，正如我們所看到的那樣——彼得已經提到了這一點。

But when you look at the 10-K and you look at the client count there, you will see kind of an in-line healthy contribution as it related to the client count growth, specifically on Workforce Now. And so I think that's probably the best bellwether to take a look at the mid-market.

但是，當您查看 10-K 並查看那裡的客戶數量時，您會看到與客戶數量成長相關的健康貢獻，特別是在 Workforce Now 上。因此我認為這可能是觀察中端市場的最佳風向標。

Yeah. I mean just to add. So again, Maria just mentioned, we had strong PEO bookings. We were pleased with that she mentioned earlier in the prepared remarks. We had a strong first half but a softer finish on the ES HRO.

是的。我只是想補充一下。正如瑪麗亞剛才提到的，我們的 PEO 預訂量很大。我們很高興她在先前準備好的演講中提到了這一點。我們在上半場表現強勁，但在 ES HRO 的最後階段表現較弱。

I would say the tech offer for one of the description of our HCM sort of service offering, we call it for our mid-market was at more or less somewhere between the two relatively evenly between the two. So we were satisfied with how that performed in fiscal '25.

我想說的是，我們為中端市場提供的 HCM 類服務之一的技術報價或多或少處於兩者之間，相對均衡。因此，我們對 25 財年的表現感到滿意。

And certainly, as we were talking earlier to one of the earlier questions, we are -- we see a lot of positivity in front of us particularly as we're able to expand the reach of the next-gen payroll capabilities with Workforce Now in the mid-market going into '26.

當然，正如我們之前討論的一個問題一樣，我們看到了很大的積極因素，特別是我們能夠利用 Workforce Now 在 26 年中端市場擴大下一代薪資功能的覆蓋範圍。

Got it. And then just as a quick follow up. You've had a big merger, your competitor acquired, took a page out of your book and acquired [pay corp]. Can you maybe talk a little bit about the competitive landscape that you're seeing right now following that merger?

知道了。然後只是快速跟進。你經歷了一次大合併，你的競爭對手收購了你，並藉鑒了你的經驗[支付公司]。能否談談合併後目前的競爭格局？

Yeah. So following the merger, I -- what I would offer is I don't think a whole lot has changed. I think we've talked about in the past, we compete very well against both of those competitors on a, call it, stand-alone basis. I would say in a combined set, we haven't seen anything change in the competitive landscape. As I always say, it's always been a very competitive environment, specifically kind of in that mid-market.

是的。因此，合併之後，我想說的是，我認為並沒有太大的變化。我想我們過去曾討論過，我們在獨立的基礎上與這兩個競爭對手進行了非常良好的競爭。我想說，在組合賽中，我們沒有看到競爭格局有任何變化。正如我常說的，市場競爭一直非常激烈，特別是在中端市場。

And we fare incredibly well. We see that in our retention rates. We see that in our service offering. We see that in client count growth. We are really confident in the evolution and maturing of our Workforce Now Next Gen that serves that space. So I think you got a good story in that space, and we haven't seen anything changed specifically on the heels of that acquisition or merger, if you will.

我們的表現非常好。我們從我們的保留率中看到了這一點。我們在我們提供的服務中看到了這一點。我們從客戶數量的成長中看到了這一點。我們對服務於該領域的 Workforce Now Next Gen 的發展和成熟充滿信心。所以我認為你在這個領域有一個好故事，如果你願意的話，我們還沒有看到在那次收購或合併之後發生任何具體的變化。

Great. Thank you. Great results here.

偉大的。謝謝。這裡取得了很好的成果。

Daniel Jester, BMO Capital Markets.

丹尼爾‧傑斯特 (Daniel Jester)，BMO 資本市場。

Thank you for taking my question. I just wanted to follow up with Peter on a question earlier on the margin front. I appreciate kind of AI is still in the net investment position. If you think about maybe some of the other puts and takes on margin, it looks like maybe you're maybe lapping some of the investments and integration of WorkForce Software in the forward year. You have a little bit of FX volatility. \

感謝您回答我的問題。我只是想跟進 Peter 之前關於保證金方面的一個問題。我欣賞人工智慧仍處於淨投資地位。如果您考慮其他一些保證金的投入和產出，那麼看起來也許您可能會在未來一年內完成 WorkForce Software 的一些投資和整合。您面臨一點外匯波動。\

So any sort of other things you'd call out with regards to the margin guidance that we should be considering? And just with regards to the seasonality, you talked about how margin is going to ramp throughout the year. Maybe what are the drivers of that?

那麼，關於保證金指導，您還想提些什麼我們應該考慮的事情嗎？關於季節性，您談到了利潤率將如何在全年上升。造成這種情況的因素可能是什麼？

Yeah, sure, Dan. So in terms of the lapping of the WorkForce Software acquisition, I would say our investing in the product and the integration of that product with Lyric with Workforce Now with our Global Payroll offerings, we'll continue right through the fiscal year and we're not giving any comments beyond that, but I would probably be to beyond that.

是的，當然，丹。因此，就 WorkForce Software 收購的重疊而言，我想說，我們對該產品的投資以及該產品與 Lyric、Workforce Now 和我們的 Global Payroll 產品的整合，我們將在整個財政年度持續下去，除此之外我們不會發表任何評論，但我可能會發表更多評論。

There's a huge opportunity, we think, there, and that's something that we're committed to, and we intend to see right through to delivering best-in-class integrated offerings across that upper mid-market enterprise and global space.

我們認為，這是一個巨大的機遇，而這正是我們所致力於的，我們打算一直努力為中高端市場企業和全球市場提供一流的整合產品。

What we're lapping is the amortization and the interest expense and so on that we took out with the bond that we used to pay for that. And that as you know, that's in the October period. In terms of other drivers, we have a bit of a tailwind from a revenue perspective with FX. That's actually a bit of a margin contraction item because the margin that, that FX comes on at is lower than the line average. Certainly you have Employer Services and also of the company as a whole.

我們正在重疊的是攤銷和利息費用等，這些是我們用債券支付的。如您所知，那是在十月期間。就其他驅動因素而言，從收入角度來看，我們在 FX 方面有一定的順風。這實際上是一個利潤收縮項目，因為外匯的利潤低於平均水平。當然，您有雇主服務，也有整個公司的服務。

So that's a little bit more of a negative factor, if you like, from a margin percentage perspective, but it delivers us some more revenue and some really, the margin story, I think, is we -- and I called it out in our prepared remarks, we have strong balances, client fund balances that are delivering through our laddering strategy, increasing client fund interest.

因此，從保證金百分比的角度來看，這可以說是一個負面因素，但它確實為我們帶來了更多的收入，而且我認為，保證金的故事是我們——我在準備好的評論中提到過，我們擁有強大的餘額，客戶基金餘額通過我們的階梯式策略實現，增加了客戶基金的興趣。

We have productivity improvements, like I was talking about in terms of some of the initiatives in AI initiatives we've put through parts of the company. But we continue to invest meaningfully just in WorkForce Software, but also in our other strategic -- key strategic offers. Like Lyric, Maria said, we had a great sales year. We were very happy with that. It means now we have a lot of backlog, and we have operational resources that we're on-boarding in order to get that backlog implemented and get those clients to revenue generating.

我們的生產力有所提高，就像我之前談到的我們在公司部分部門實施的一些人工智慧計畫一樣。但我們不僅會繼續對 WorkForce Software 進行有意義的投資，還會繼續對我們的其他策略——關鍵策略產品進行有意義的投資。就像 Lyric 所說，瑪麗亞說，我們今年的銷售表現非常好。我們對此感到非常高興。這意味著我們現在有很多積壓訂單，並且我們擁有正在整合的營運資源，以便實現這些積壓訂單並讓這些客戶創造收入。

So we're investing in Lyric. We're investing in WorkForce Software, as I said before, generative AI. And we're also cognizant, as we said at Investor Day, to balance that with margin expansion and also healthy returns for our shareholders. So that's really the margin mix unpacked.

因此，我們正在投資 Lyric。正如我之前所說，我們正在投資 WorkForce Software，即生成式人工智慧。正如我們在投資者日所說的那樣，我們也意識到要平衡利潤率的擴大和股東的健康回報。這就是真正意義上的利潤組合。

Great. Thank you very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

This concludes our question-and-answer portion for today. I'm 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做閉幕發言。

Thank you, Michelle, and thank you again, everyone, for joining this morning and for your interest. I have the opportunity earlier to thank our associates. I'd like to do that once again and also to all of our stakeholders out there that support us and our journey. We had a solid 2025, and it couldn't be done without our associates, our clients, our analysts, our investors. I'm incredibly grateful for the support, and I'm also incredibly optimistic for our future as we head into '26 and beyond. Thank you very much.

謝謝你，米歇爾，再次感謝大家今天上午的參與和關注。我早些時候有機會感謝我們的同事。我想再次這樣做，也向所有支持我們和我們旅程的利害關係人這樣做。我們擁有堅實的 2025 年，如果沒有我們的同事、客戶、分析師和投資者，這一切都不可能實現。我非常感謝大家的支持，並且對我們邁向 26 年及以後的未來充滿信心。非常感謝。

Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。祝大家有個愉快的一天。