Quick answer
- Watch now, no form: the recorded HR software demo below follows one complete payroll run in Keka HR, our Editor's Choice Spotlight, from the first checklist step to released pay stubs. It runs about 52 minutes, and every chapter is one click away.
- Book a live demo: tell us your headcount, states, and must-haves and we'll line up free live demos with platforms that fit, usually three. Nothing goes to a vendor until you approve it.
- Make it count: send every vendor the same US scenarios before the call, score each demo on one weighted scorecard within 24 hours, and confirm payroll with a parallel run before you sign.
Watch the full HR software demo
An HR software demo is a live or recorded walkthrough of real HR and payroll workflows, so you can judge whether a system fits the way your team works before you buy. This one skips the slides. A payroll specialist runs a full pay cycle in Keka HR: attendance, new hires and exits, bonuses, overrides, the pay register, the bank file, and pay stubs.
Video published by Keka HR on YouTube; HRTally didn't produce or edit it. Keka HR is our Editor's Choice Spotlight. The walkthrough uses a sample company, so US tax setup, including federal, state, and local withholding, state unemployment (SUI), and Forms 941 and W-2, isn't shown in detail. Ask to see it in your live demo.
What the demo covers, chapter by chapter
Each timestamp opens the video at that point. The right-hand column is our editors' note on what to look for, and what to ask other vendors to show you, at each step.
| Time | Chapter | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| 5:40 | Welcome and agenda | Sets up the whole session: one payroll specialist runs one complete pay cycle. Count the screens it takes; that number is a fair guide to your weekly effort. |
| 8:08 | Payroll overview: the steps in a pay run | A step-by-step checklist that has to be closed before the run can be finalized. Ask every other vendor whether their pay run enforces an order like this or lets steps be skipped. |
| 10:45 | Leave and attendance check | Time-off requests still waiting for approval show up inside payroll and get approved right there, so pay matches real attendance. Compare the clicks with your current system. |
| 12:15 | Unpaid leave days | Unpaid days worked out by the system, adjusted for one person or loaded from a spreadsheet, plus fixes for earlier months. Worth a close look if you have hourly or leave-heavy teams. |
| 15:40 | New hires and exits | Prorated first pay for new starters, holding a late joiner's pay until the next cycle, and final pay for leavers. Check the timing against your state's final paycheck deadline. |
| 19:41 | Bonuses and one-time payments | Bonuses paid in this run or pushed to a later one, and one-off payments added by hand or import. In a US live demo, ask how supplemental wages are withheld. |
| 22:44 | Salary revisions and overtime | Approved raises, cuts, and overtime arrive in the run without retyping. Ask to see overtime calculated on the regular rate, including nondiscretionary bonuses, as the FLSA requires. |
| 24:05 | Reimbursements and imports | Approved expense claims land in the run, and anything else loads from last month's template or a spreadsheet. Ask how non-taxable reimbursements are kept out of taxable wages. |
| 26:55 | One-time deductions | A deduction that applies to this pay run only, such as an advance repayment. Before you use one, check your state's rules on what can be deducted from wages. |
| 28:07 | Process or hold salaries | Pick whose pay goes out and whose waits, and held pay stays out of the bank file. Useful when one person's paperwork is missing and nobody else should be delayed. |
| 33:27 | Overrides with mandatory comments | Any calculated number, tax included, can be changed, but only with a written reason. That trail is exactly what an auditor or a new payroll lead will ask for. |
| 35:59 | Preview and pay register | A full preview and pay register before anything is locked. Ask your finance lead to sit in for this part of your live demo. |
| 38:04 | Finalize payroll and fix warnings | Finalizing flags problems such as missing bank details, and you fix them from the employee profile. Anything caught here never turns into a payday phone call. |
| 41:25 | Bank transfer statement | A payment batch and a bank file in Excel or PDF. For US accounts, ask how direct deposit is funded and how many days before payday the money moves. |
| 44:20 | Release payslips | Pay stubs released and emailed, with a delivery status for each person. Check what your state requires on a pay stub before you go live. |
| 45:41 | Post-payroll steps and Q&A | Questions on final settlements and what comes after the run: tax filings, reports, and setting up the next cycle. |
Six handoffs this demo shows that most demos skip
Most HR software demos show screens one at a time. Payroll goes wrong in the handoffs between them. These six moments are the ones to rewatch, and to ask every other vendor to show live.
Leave and attendance feeding the pay run at 10:45
Approving pending time off from the payroll screen means pay is right the first time, not fixed with a retro adjustment next cycle.
New hires and exits handled inside payroll at 15:40
Joiners and leavers are where most payroll errors start. Watch how proration and final pay are calculated, not just entered.
Bonuses, raises, and reimbursements flowing in at 19:41
Three separate approval streams arriving in one run, with no spreadsheet in between.
Holding one salary without stopping the run at 28:07
Every payroll team needs this eventually. Most demos never show it.
Overrides that leave an audit trail at 33:27
Changing a calculated figure is normal. Changing it without a recorded reason is how audits go badly.
Warnings before you finalize, not after payday at 38:04
Missing bank details caught at finalization cost minutes. Caught on payday, they cost trust.
Why most HR software demos don't prove fit
It's Thursday afternoon, payroll closes Friday, and someone is reconciling overtime by hand because the new system's demo never showed a California daily overtime case. That's how most HR software regret starts: the demo looked great because the vendor chose the data.
Buyers increasingly want to see products without a salesperson in the room. Gartner found 67% of B2B buyers prefer a buying experience without a sales rep (Gartner, March 2026), yet 69% still turn to sales reps to check what AI research told them (Gartner, May 2026). Recorded demos and self-guided tours answer the first need. A live demo built on your scenarios answers the second.
of B2B buyers prefer a buying experience without a sales rep (646 buyers surveyed).
Gartner survey of 646 B2B buyers, press release March 9, 2026of B2B buyers turn to sales reps to validate AI-generated insights.
Gartner survey of 645 B2B buyers, press release May 20, 2026of B2B tech buyers say product demos influence their decision; 77% say free trials do.
TrustRadius survey of 1,862 B2B technology buyers, January 2026 (via MarketingProfs)Run this US demo script with every vendor
Send these six scenarios at least two business days before each live demo and ask the vendor to run them in the edition you'd buy. Same script, same order, every vendor.
| Scenario | Ask them to show | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Reciprocity | A New Jersey resident who works at your Pennsylvania office. | The two states have a reciprocal agreement, so the system should withhold New Jersey income tax only, once the employee files the exemption form. |
| Daily overtime | A California employee who works 10 hours Monday and 6 hours Tuesday. | Two hours of overtime for Monday, even though the week totals only 16 hours. California counts overtime by the day, not just the week. |
| Mid-year move | An employee who moves from Texas to Colorado in July. | State income tax withholding starting with the first Colorado paycheck, Colorado unemployment registration, and a clean split on the W-2. |
| Garnishment | A child support withholding order arrives for one employee. | The order set up once, the federal limit on how much can be withheld respected, and payments sent to the state disbursement unit. |
| New state, new hire | Your first hire in a state where you have no one today. | Prompts to register for state withholding and unemployment accounts, and the new hire report filed within 20 days, or sooner where the state requires it. |
| Offer to payroll | A candidate accepts on Friday and starts on Monday. | Offer data becomes the employee record, with I-9 and W-4 collected and the first paycheck ready, without anyone retyping it. |
Rules behind the script: California's daily overtime rule comes from the California Labor Commissioner, federal overtime from the Fair Labor Standards Act, garnishment limits from Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and the 20-day new hire report from the HHS Office of Child Support Services. Check your own states in our state labor law library.
Demo, tour, or free trial: which format when
| Format | Best for | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded walkthrough (this page) | Shortlisting and seeing a full workflow | About 52 minutes, any time |
| Self-guided product tour | Early research and a feel for the screens | 5 to 15 minutes |
| Live one-to-one demo | Comparing two to four finalists on your scenarios | 30 to 60 minutes |
| Free trial or sandbox | Hands-on testing by your own team | 1 to 4 weeks |
| Parallel payroll run | Final proof before you switch | 1 to 2 pay cycles |
Use the recording and tours to build a shortlist, live demos to compare two to four finalists, and a trial or parallel payroll run to confirm the winner.
What to see in each type of HR software demo
HRIS demo
Employee records, org charts, role-based access, employee self-service, documents and e-signatures, and a change history on one record. In the video, the finalize step at 38:04 shows a missing bank detail fixed from the employee profile. New to the term? See what an HRIS is.
Payroll software demo
W-2 and 1099 payroll, federal, state, and local withholding, SUI, Forms 941, 940, W-2, and W-3, garnishments, pre-payroll checks, and off-cycle runs. Watch the full pay run from 8:08, then ask for the US tax pieces live.
Applicant tracking (ATS) demo
Requisition approval, job posting, the candidate pipeline, interview scheduling, scorecards, offer letters, and the handoff from hired candidate to employee record. Compare tools in our ATS buyer guide.
Time and attendance demo
Clock-in options, state overtime rules, scheduling, PTO accruals, and project timesheets. See leave and attendance feed payroll at 10:45, and use our overtime calculator to check the vendor's math.
The 45-minute HR software demo agenda
Send this agenda with your scenarios. It keeps the vendor on your workflows instead of their highlight reel.
| Time | Topic | What should happen |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 minutes | Context check | Confirm your headcount, states, pay schedules, and the scenarios you sent. |
| 5 to 15 minutes | Employee lifecycle | Offer, onboarding, a job change, and an exit on one employee record. |
| 15 to 30 minutes | Payroll run | Your scenarios run live, through preview, finalize, and pay stubs. |
| 30 to 38 minutes | Time, PTO, and reporting | A timesheet approval, a PTO balance, and one report you use every month. |
| 38 to 45 minutes | Implementation, support, and price | Who sets you up, how long it takes, how support works, and a written three-year number. |
Tip: ask for control of the mouse for five minutes near the end. How quickly you can approve a timesheet or find a pay stub on your own tells you more than any slide.
Questions to ask in every HR software demo
Data and implementation
- How do we move our data in, and who checks it?
- How many parallel payroll runs are included before go-live?
- What is the week-by-week timeline for a company our size?
- Will we have a named implementation lead?
Payroll and compliance
- Who files federal, state, and local payroll taxes, and who pays penalties if a filing is late because of your error?
- How fast do tax rate and law changes reach customers?
- Do you register us in new states, or do we?
- How do you handle state tax notices?
Security and integrations
- Can you share your SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate?
- Do you support single sign-on with our identity provider?
- Which accounting, benefits, and time systems connect out of the box, and is there an API?
Price and contract
- What will we pay in years one, two, and three for everything we saw today?
- Which fees are one-time?
- Is the renewal increase capped?
- Can we export all of our data, free, when we leave?
Red flags during a demo
They avoid running payroll live.
If every payroll question turns into a slide, the workflow probably needs workarounds.
The edition doesn't match.
Ask whether you're seeing the same edition and release you'd buy. Some demos show higher-tier features.
Roadmap answers for today's needs.
If a must-have is "coming next quarter," score it as missing.
Setup by support ticket.
If basic configuration means filing tickets, expect the same pace after go-live.
No written price before procurement.
A vendor that can't give a three-year number now is planning a surprise at renewal.
Getting the most from a payroll software free trial
- Load an anonymized test set, not live employee data.
- Re-run last month's payroll, one you already know is correct.
- Compare the result line by line with your current pay register.
- Ask the vendor to explain any difference over one cent.
- Time the tasks you do every week, such as approvals and corrections, and compare with today.
Score every demo on one weighted scorecard
Score within 24 hours, each evaluator alone, then compare. This weighting suits a US company buying HR and payroll together.
| Category | Weight |
|---|---|
| Payroll accuracy and US compliance | 25% |
| Ease of use for employees and managers | 20% |
| Time and attendance | 15% |
| Hiring and onboarding | 10% |
| Reporting and analytics | 10% |
| Integrations and security | 10% |
| Implementation and support | 10% |
Get it as a spreadsheet with our free RFP and demo scorecard templates.
Who should join the demo
| Role | Why they're there | What they should watch |
|---|---|---|
| HR lead | Owns the decision and the employee experience | Lifecycle, self-service, reporting |
| Payroll administrator | Runs payroll every cycle | The full pay run, corrections, tax filings |
| Finance or CFO | Owns budget and the general ledger | Pay register, GL export, three-year cost |
| Hiring manager | Approves time, hires, and changes | Mobile approvals, recruiting, onboarding |
| IT or security | Owns access, integrations, and data | SSO, SOC 2 report, API, data export |
Signs it's time to book an HR software demo
- Payroll takes days, not hours, and corrections are routine.
- You've hired your first employee in a new state and aren't sure what to register.
- Hiring lives in email threads and spreadsheets.
- Employees ask HR the same questions about pay stubs and PTO every week.
- A simple headcount or turnover report takes a day to build.
Which platforms to demo, by company size
| Company size | What the demo process looks like | Platforms worth a demo |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50 employees | 30 minutes, often self-serve signup | Gusto, OnPay, Patriot Software, Justworks, Rippling, Keka HR, Homebase for hourly teams |
| 50 to 249 | 45 to 60 minutes, plus a follow-up | Keka HR, Rippling, BambooHR, Paylocity, Paycor, Justworks, HiBob |
| 250 to 999 | 60 minutes, then a scenario follow-up | Keka HR, Paylocity, Paycom, ADP Workforce Now, UKG Ready, isolved, Rippling |
| 1,000 to 4,999 | Discovery call, tailored demo, two or three working sessions | UKG Pro, Dayforce, Workday HCM, Paycom, ADP Workforce Now |
| 5,000+ | Formal RFP, scripted demos, and a sandbox | Workday HCM, Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM, SAP SuccessFactors, UKG Pro, Dayforce |
| What you need | Common shortlist | Go deeper |
|---|---|---|
| All-in-one HR and payroll | Rippling, Keka HR, BambooHR, Paylocity, Paycom | Buyer guide or alternatives |
| Small business payroll | Gusto, OnPay, Patriot Software, ADP RUN | Buyer guide or alternatives |
| PEO | Justworks, TriNet, Insperity, ADP TotalSource | Buyer guide or alternatives |
| Global hiring (EOR) | Deel, Remote, Oyster, G-P | Buyer guide or alternatives |
| Recruiting (ATS) | Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, Workable | Buyer guide or alternatives |
| Performance and engagement | Lattice, Culture Amp, 15Five, Leapsome | Buyer guide or alternatives |
| Enterprise HCM | Workday HCM, Oracle, SAP SuccessFactors, UKG Pro, Dayforce | Buyer guide or alternatives |
See every option with features, pricing, and G2 ratings in our best HR software for 2027 table, and check costs before the call with our HR software pricing guide.
What happens after you book a demo with HRTally
- You share your details. Headcount, states, pay schedules, and the scenarios that matter most.
- An HRTally editor confirms your shortlist. Usually three platforms, within one business day. You approve which vendors see your details.
- Vendors run your scenarios live. Each demo follows your script, and you ask each vendor for a written three-year quote.
- You confirm with a trial or parallel run. Then sign, with a named implementation lead and a go-live date.
HR software demo FAQ
Can I watch an HR software demo without talking to sales?
Is an HR software demo free?
How long does an HR software demo take?
What's the difference between an HR software demo and a free trial?
Can I see a demo set up for my state?
What does an HRIS demo show?
What does an ATS demo include?
Which vendor runs the demo I book through HRTally?
How we put this page together
HRTally's research team, people who have run US payroll, HR operations, and software selections, watched the full recording, wrote the chapter notes and handoff analysis, and built the US scenario script from federal and state rules linked above. A payroll practitioner reviewed it before publishing. The video belongs to Keka HR. Vendors can't edit or pay for our notes; see how we make money and our editorial standards.
Sources
- Gartner survey of 646 B2B buyers, press release March 9, 2026
- Gartner survey of 645 B2B buyers, press release May 20, 2026
- TrustRadius survey of 1,862 B2B technology buyers, January 2026 (via MarketingProfs)
- Capterra survey of 3,500+ businesses, November 2024
- California Labor Commissioner, overtime FAQ
- US Department of Labor, Fair Labor Standards Act
- US Department of Labor, wage garnishment
- HHS Office of Child Support Services, new hire reporting
- IRS Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide
- Keka HR demo video on YouTube
Written by the HRTally Research Team
Our guides are written and reviewed by people with hands-on US HR, payroll, and HR technology experience. Legal and tax facts are checked against primary sources, such as the Department of Labor, IRS, EEOC, and USCIS, and linked at the end of each guide. Vendors never review or pay for our editorial content.