# SD Worx — HR Management

SD Worx by SD Worx Group holds a panel rating of 1.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2/5), as of 2026-10-15. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: SD Worx Group (https://www.sdworx.com)
- Category: [HR Management](https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/sd-worx
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/sd-worx/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/sd-worx/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-10-21 · evaluated 2026-10-15 · oldest source captured 2026-09-22

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: SD Worx Group
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026

## The panel's verdict

SD Worx Group sells HR and payroll services to large enterprises across Europe, and the bench reads it as a payroll house first: payroll readiness is the strongest criterion at 5-7, resting on a local ECP framework with add-ons on SAP technology, named payroll products for Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, and integration services for banks and authorities. The weakest ground is recruiting and onboarding at 0-1, where judges found no public information on applicant tracking or onboarding; core HR records follows at 1-2, the personnel file itself — document storage, org structure, custom fields, dated history — undocumented. Time and absence scores 2-4 on a named Time product whose stated purpose is absence and vacation management. Employee data governance drew identical 4s: the published record of processing states per-service retention, but keeps the customer ultimately responsible and disclaims liability if retention is lowered. Sovereignty scores 0-2, with residency, ownership and subprocessors all unknown. No criterion drew a meaningful judge split; the 5-7 payroll spread reflects the weight given to the undocumented handoff mechanics. No public prices appear.

**Speaks for it:**
- Payroll readiness scores 5-7, the strongest criterion, on named payroll products for Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark plus a local ECP framework on SAP technology
- Integration services for banks and authorities — AIS, Bank Service, Authority Connect — are documented with the payroll offer
- A product-specific record of processing publishes per-service retention periods, such as 18 months for file transfer and 7 years for the bank service
- Deletion timing is stated concretely: backups are affected one month after the routine runs, and log deletion must be ordered separately
- An on-premise delivery option sits alongside cloud and business process outsourcing

**Held against it:**
- Recruiting and onboarding scores 0-1, with no public information on applicant tracking or onboarding in any captured page
- Core HR records scores 1-2; the personnel file's document storage, org structure, custom fields and dated history are undocumented
- Sovereignty scores 0-2, and the published attributes — contracting-entity jurisdiction, ownership, data residency, subprocessor exposure — read unknown
- The payroll handoff mechanics are unpublished: no public information on pre-payroll checks, mid-month joiners and leavers, retro-accounting or a named German system such as DATEV
- The customer remains ultimately responsible for retention, with no liability assumed if retention times are lowered

**Best for:**
- You run payroll for Nordic entities in Norway, Sweden, Finland or Denmark, where the vendor's named country payroll engines and bank and authority integration services are the centre of the offer
- You are a large enterprise in Europe buying tailored HR and payroll services, which matches the vendor's stated market focus and its offer of custom tailoring on request
- Your payroll landscape is SAP-based and you want a local ECP framework with add-ons on SAP technology
- You need a published, per-service retention schedule as a starting point for a data-protection or works-council review

**Avoid if:**
- You must evidence German working-time recording compliance; time and absence scores 2-4 with no public information on working-time capture of the kind the recording duty requires
- You must document hosting region, contracting entity, ownership and the subprocessor chain for a regulator or works council; sovereignty scores 0-2 with the published attributes reading unknown
- You need to inspect the personnel record itself — documents, org structure, dated contract and salary history — before signing; core HR records scores 1-2 with the file undocumented

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price.

| Criterion | The People Lead | The Payroll Officer | The Works Council Advocate | The Data Protection Officer | The IT Integrator | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Digital personnel file & data model | 1/5 | 1/5 | 0.5/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 |
| Payroll handoff | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Absence & working-time | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Recruiting & onboarding | 0/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 | 0.5/5 |
| Employee data protection & co-determination | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 0.5/5 | 0/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 1/5 | 0.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **1.5/5** | **1.5/5** | **1/5** | **1.5/5** | **1.5/5** | **1.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The People Lead** (v1.0): Runs HR for 400 people with two colleagues and is replacing a shared drive and eleven spreadsheets. Optimizes for the record being true and the month closing without chasing anyone. Buys breadth that actually connects, and is unmoved by a beautiful org chart sitting next to a manual vacation calculation.
- **The Payroll Officer** (v1.0): Closes payroll every month and answers to the tax adviser when it is wrong. Cares about one thing above all: whether the month leaves this system clean, with backdated changes, mid-month leavers and variable pay handled. Treats "CSV export" as a confession, not a feature.
- **The Works Council Advocate** (v1.0): Sits on the Betriebsrat and has to approve this rollout under BetrVG §87. Reads every feature for whether it can monitor behaviour, and asks what is logged, who can read it and what can be switched off. A tool that cannot answer those questions does not get installed, however good it is.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Answers for the most sensitive personal data the company holds, about people who cannot decline the processing. Wants retention that executes rather than promises, a published subprocessor list, and applicant data that deletes itself on the stated date. Treats an unpublished DPA as a finding.
- **The IT Integrator** (v1.0): Owns identity and has to make the HR system the source of truth for accounts. Wants SCIM provisioning, SSO that is not an enterprise upsell, and an API with documentation rather than a partner form. Judges onboarding by whether it can create the account, not by whether it has a checklist.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has watched three HR suites promise one system and deliver five modules with a shared logo. Reads every claim for what it does not say: which module the feature lives in, what it costs on top, and whether "integration" means a maintained connector or a documented endpoint someone could build against.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Ownership | Not determined | — | — |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | — |
| Subprocessors | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Isae3402: ISAE 3402 Type II · Business Process Outsourcing Service in Sweden and Finland · yes [S4]
- ISO 27001: SD Worx Cloud Operations · ISO 27001 · yes [S4]
- Iso27701: Privacy · ISO 27701 · yes [S4]

**Data**
- Ais retention: Transfer of files · 18 Months · 1 · 2 · 3 [S3]
- Backup deletion timing: one month after routine execution · yes [S3]
- Bank service retention: Integration with Bank environment · 7 Years · 1 · 2 · 3 [S3]
- Connect retention: Integration with other parties · Selectable · 1 · 2 · 3 [S3]
- Customer retention responsibility: yes [S3]
- Legal obligation storage stated in master agreement: Legal-obligation storage arrangement stated in master agreement [S3]
- Retention liability disclaimer: No liability if requested to lower retention times; payroll and reporting processes may be affected [S3]
- Sftp external retention: Transfer of files (external) · Customer responsibility · 1 · 2 · 3 [S3]
- Sftp internal retention: Transfer of files (internal) · 1 Year · 1 · 2 · 3 [S3]
- Third party sharing condition: Shared only when legal obligation exists and responsibility delegated by contract to SD Worx [S3]
- Verkkopalkka retention: Payslip in employee’s internet bank environment · 8 Years · 1 · 2 · 3 [S3]

**Legal**
- Absence retention: 10 · 10 · 5 [S3]
- Accounting retention: 5 · 7 · 5 [S3]
- Collective agreement retention: 10 · 2-10 [S3]
- Company history: Belgium · 80 [S2]
- Distraint retention: 5 · 5 [S3]
- Finland pension retention: 2 [S3]
- Norway pension retention: 10 [S3]
- Norway tax retention: 10 · 7 · 5 [S3]
- Parental leave retention: Barselsloven/Bogføringsloven · 10 · 2 [S3]
- Re employment retention: 5 · 5 [S3]
- Social security retention: 10 · 2 · 5 · 5 [S3]
- Statistics retention: 10 · 3 · 5 · 3 [S3]
- Working hours retention: 3 · 10 · 5 [S3]

**Product**
- Compliance integration: Full compliance and seamless integration of HR processes [S2]
- Configurability: yes [S3]
- Consultant count: yes · 850 [S2]
- Ecp framework: Local ECP framework with Add Ons for payroll processing on SAP technology [S2]
- Environments: on-premise · cloud · business process outsourcing [S3]
- Hrm suite products: HR 4.2 and later · E&O · Time · People · Trip · T&A · Trip and Expense · SHR · Salary Review · Competence · SD Worx Perform · Personec Time · Personec HR [S3]
- Integration services: AIS · Bank Service · Authority Connect · yes [S3]
- Market focus: Specialises in large enterprises across Europe [S2]
- Payroll countries: SD Worx Lønn · Lønn G7 · SD Worx Lönn · SD Worx Pay · Pension · Lessor · SD Worx W · SD Worx W KPI [S3]
- Purpose analytics: Statistical information [S3]
- Purpose expense: Travel and expense management [S3]
- Purpose payslip: Information resource for employee [S3]
- Purpose people: Employee administration [S3]
- Purpose talent: Performance appraisal and evaluations [S3]
- Purpose time: Absence and vacation management [S3]
- Reporting product: Verkkopalkka (Finnish market payslip product) [S3]
- Sap focus: HR and payroll services built on SAP [S2]
- Support scope: Expert support from implementation to ongoing maintenance [S2]
- Tailored services: Tailored HR & Payroll Services, including custom tailoring on request [S2]

## Questions

### Is SD Worx European?

Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where SD Worx is based.

### Where does SD Worx store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### Does SD Worx have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to SD Worx?

As of 21 Oct 2026, the panel rates [rexx systems (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/rexx-systems), [HRworks (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/hrworks) and [Kenjo (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/kenjo) highest among the other 30 HR Management products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [rexx systems](https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/rexx-systems) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [SD Worx alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/sd-worx/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- We found no public information on pricing on the pages we read (sdworx.com, sdworx.com/en-en/flawless-payroll-every-single-month, sdworx.com/en-en/gdpr-rop-product-specific-information, sdworx.com/en-en/gdpr-rop-technical-and-organisational-measures). If the vendor publishes it somewhere else, send us the page.
- 22 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 hosting facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 support fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor page: https://www.sdworx.com (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S2] Payroll handoff — found from sitemap: https://www.sdworx.com/en-en/flawless-payroll-every-single-month (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S3] Employee data protection & co-determination — found from sitemap: https://www.sdworx.com/en-en/gdpr-rop-product-specific-information (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S4] Employee data protection & co-determination — found from sitemap: https://www.sdworx.com/en-en/gdpr-rop-technical-and-organisational-measures (checked 2026-10-13)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "SD Worx — HR Management", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-21. https://whats-best.ai/software/hr-management/sd-worx

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/308?target=page