Paycom Software Inc

NYSE:PAYC

Earnings Call Analysis

Solid Gains and Positive Outlook for Paycom

Paycom finished 2023 with a robust performance, achieving a 23% year-over-year revenue increase to $1.694 billion, driven by new business amid slowed cross-selling to existing clients. GAAP net income reached $341 million, while non-GAAP net income rose to $449 million due to 26% per share growth. The company rewarded shareholders, repurchasing shares and declaring dividends, leading to an admirable client growth with a slight dip in retention rate to 90%. Looking ahead, 2024 revenue is expected to grow by about 11% to between $1.860 and $1.885 billion, with an EBITDA margin around 39%. The first quarter of 2024 anticipates revenue growth of roughly 10% and an EBITDA margin of about 44%.

Closing 2023 on a Strong Note with Executive Promotions to Set the Future Pace

The company rounded out 2023 exceeding expectations, driven by a team-wide effort heralding coordination and execution. In leadership news, Chris Thomas rose to the rank of Co-CEO after a tenure involving leadership across diverse departments, positioning him to steer the company adeptly into its future. This change points towards continued innovation and strategic progress with experienced hands at the wheel.

Sustained Growth Trajectory with Client-Centered Focus

Amid such leadership dynamism, the company doesn't lose sight of its core – delivering value to clients. Enhanced collaboration between service and client relations groups has magnified the client return on investment (ROI), a trend they intend to maintain. Growth initiatives have primarily propelled the robust 11% annual revenue growth anticipated for fiscal 2024, with expectations of revenues between $1.860 billion and $1.885 billion. In parallel, they predict an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 39% for the full year, underscoring solid profitability.

Financial Resilience with Prudent Expansion

The organization's financial health appears resilient, with a 23% leap in yearly revenue to $1.694 billion for 2023 and a 17% increase for Q4 alone. Noteworthy as well is the retention of a 90% annual revenue, albeit a slight decline from the previous year, chiefly attributable to attrition at the market's lower end. Adjusted EBITDA stood at $719 million, marking a margin increase to 42.5%. Share buybacks and dividends have also rewarded investors, with nearly $1 billion returned in 2023 and a strong authorization remaining for future buybacks.

Investing in Tomorrow: R&D and Tax Strategies

The commitment to innovation isn't without financial weight; R&D expenses made up 11.6% of total revenues in Q4 2023. This investment fosters advancements in automation and AI, key areas recognized for spurring long-term growth. Regarding taxes, a tactical approach leads the company to anticipate around a 29% effective tax rate on a GAAP basis for 2024, planning the utilization of resources carefully for sustained fiscal health.

Strategic Client Retention Amidst Macro Pressures

Focus areas for mitigating attrition include the adoption of solutions like Beti, offering value and presumably better retention. Additionally, client marking procedures have been tweaked to speed up the re-engagement with those struggling, a tactical push to retain and regrow its base, particularly where macroeconomic conditions weigh more heavily on client stability.

Well-Positioned Sales Force Poised for Opportune Growth

Sales effectiveness surface as a beacon of hope, especially in the mid to larger client segments, which have shown growth upwards of 11% in the over 500 employee segment and 18% for those above 2000 employees. The sales team enters 2024 well-staffed, empowered to seize strategic opportunities and driven to elevate sales efficiency, ultimately aiming to leverage internal capacity for opening new offices as and when feasible.

Steady Client Headcount Bolsters Stable Outlook

Continuity in client employee headcount contributes to a stable forecast for 2024. This element boosts confidence in the guidance provided, suggesting reliability in the expected revenues and eschewing potential volatility that could come from fluctuating client employee numbers.

Embracing Change with a Co-CEO Model After 25 Years

The narrative culminates in a vibrant leadership evolution; after 25 years at the helm, the founder embraces a co-CEO modality signifying an era where deep-seated experience and a relentless pursuit of innovation are poised to script the company's next chapter of progress.

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Operator]

Good afternoon. My name is Sierra, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Paycom's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I will now turn the call over to James Samford, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

[James Samford, executive]

Thank you, and welcome to Paycom's earnings conference call for the fourth quarter and full year 2023. Certain statements made on this call that are not historical facts including those related to our future plans, objectives and expected performance are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

These forward-looking statements represent our outlook only as of the date of this conference call. While we believe any forward-looking statements made on this call are reasonable, actual results may differ materially because the statements are based on our current expectations and subject to risks and uncertainties.

These risks and uncertainties are discussed in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q. You should refer to and consider these factors when relying on such forward-looking information.

Any forward-looking statement made speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake and expressly disclaim any obligation to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Also during today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income, adjusted gross profit, adjusted gross margin and certain adjusted expenses. We use these non-GAAP financial measures to review and assess our performance and for planning purposes. A reconciliation schedule showing GAAP versus non-GAAP results is included in the press release that we issued after the close of the market today and is available on our website at investors.paycom.com.

I will now turn the call over to Chad Richison, Paycom's President and Co-CEO. Chad?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Thanks, James, and thank you to everyone joining our call today. We ended 2023 with better-than-expected results, thanks to the considerable coordinated efforts of our team across the organization.

Before digging into the quarterly results and achievements in 2023, I'd like to discuss today's announcements about the promotion of Chris Thomas to Co-CEO. Following that, I will briefly introduce Chris, who previously served as our COO. Craig will then review our financials and our guidance before taking questions. With that, let's get started.

As Founder and CEO of Paycom, my position has provided me the opportunity to work with great leaders who have built Paycom into a world-class HR and payroll software company. One such leader is Chris Thomas. He is someone I have extreme confidence in and a leader I can share responsibilities with at Paycom. I've been preparing this opportunity for Chris and myself to work even more closely together for some time now. Today's announcement further illustrates the trust I have in our leadership.

Personally, this is very exciting because it allows me to invest further in the areas that I'm passionate about, which are the ones where I can have the largest impact for our clients. In this new role for Chris, Paycom will be even stronger than ever before. A key area of my continued focus will be product innovation and strategy, and Chris will continue to focus on operating other aspects of the business. Our collaboration has strengthened Paycom, and I'm excited for what we will do going forward.

In the last several months, we continue to strengthen our leadership team with the addition of Jason Clark as Chief Administrative Officer; and Steve Sturges as Chief Marketing Officer. Jason was the CEO of one of the region's largest workers' comp insurance companies. Having worked with Jason in various capacities for about 12 years, I officially brought him into the organization last year knowing this was an ideal fit for him and for Paycom.

Steve formerly owned and operated a very successful marketing agency, and I've had the privilege of working with him for about 15 years. I'm excited to see him continue to elevate our brand, engage our clients and drive further demand generation for our sales force. This evolution of our organization is exciting, and I believe it will bring significant value to our clients, employees and investors.

Now I want to discuss our vision for 2024 and then look back on some highlights of 2023. Following a better-than-expected end to 2023, in 2024, we are primarily focused on 3 key areas: world-class service, solution automation and client ROI achievement. Our continued focus is being the leading provider of comprehensive payroll and human capital management solutions in every market we serve. We are bringing the power of Paycom to more employers and employees and showing more organizations the ROI they experience by using our single database software.

On the product front, Beti has been one of the products at the leading edge of our AI and automation strategy, delivering tremendous ROI to our clients. A recently commissioned third-party study on Beti highlighted 3 benefit areas. On average, a greater than 80% reduction in errors, a 90% reduction in time spent processing payroll and improved employee engagement. A leader within the restaurant industry noted that the automation from Beti took days off payroll processing time and that as employee checkers went down, employee engagement went up. Additionally, certain organizations using Beti experienced up to 100% of their end users regularly engaging with our easy-to-use system.

Solutions like Paycom's GONE tool are expanding automation to other areas of our product suite, namely our time-off application. The rollout of GONE towards the end of 2023 has been going very well. This new product uses AI and decisioning logic to automate all decisions for time-off requests, which further enhances both the employee and the manager experience by eliminating conflicts and resolving time-sensitive decisions. Today, clients may make between 20 and 30 decisions or more per year per employee concerning PTO, vacation requests and the denials or approvals that go into staffing decisions.

GONE eliminates those unnecessary interaction points by providing a consistent and fully automated experience for employees, managers, HR administrators and the business as a whole. With GONE, an employee in any industry can request time-off at midnight on a Friday and know immediately if it is approved or denied since GONE has automated all time-off request decisions. It's another example of a product that's a win for our clients and a win for their employees.

We delivered a lot of innovation on the international front in 2023. We launched our global HCM product, and now companies of all sizes use this product across 180 countries and in 15 languages and dialects.

We developed and launched native payroll in Canada and Mexico. Now we've developed and are launching our native payroll solution in the United Kingdom. Our international strategy complements our product strategy and adds to the momentum we are seeing with U.S.-based companies that have an international presence. While still early, we are very excited about the potential impact of this initiative will have on our expanded TAM.

While I'm proud of our product developments and international expansion in 2023, I'm even more excited about where we are headed with the product department. As a company, we all know and feel the excitement that is happening within our walls. Since 1998, Paycom has changed the way businesses operate through innovation and automation. Our revolutionary product road map will continue to bring new levels of value to our clients.

I'm glad to see both growth in our product and in the people we are elevating and bringing back into the organization. The buzz about the future of product innovation across the organization is exciting and encouraging. The client experience is everything to us, and that all starts with our product. We are excited to release more product enhancements and innovations than ever before.

To sum up, in 2024, we will continue to be hyper focused on world-class service, solution automation and the client ROI achievement strategies. This means we will continue our emphasis on client ROI and the user experience. I'm confident that the size of our opportunity and our track record for execution will bolster our growth trajectory.

I'd like to thank our employees for their important contributions in 2023 and commitment to Paycom. In fact, because of them, Paycom earned many top workplace accolades in 2023, most notably Gallup's Exceptional Workplace Award. Additionally, Newsweek recognized us as one of the most trustworthy organizations and is a top workplace for diversity for parents and families. These accolades mean a lot because it's a reflection of our leadership and the culture we have built.

Before turning the call over to Craig, I'd like Chris to briefly introduce himself and discuss his vision for the role. Chris?

[Chris Thomas, executive]

Thanks, Chad. I'm honored to help lead such an incredible organization. I want to personally thank you for the guidance, tools and insights you've provided me through the years. Having had the opportunity to lead approximately 10 departments over my tenure, like product, service, learning, HCM, implementation and tax, to name a few, I feel even more prepared to help lead Paycom into the future.

I'm proud of our leadership group who has strategized and built the client value achievement strategy. We spent a lot of quality time throughout the year, especially last quarter, having meaningful engagements with our clients, and the feedback has been very encouraging. We are strengthening our relationships and relentlessly pursuing solutions that deliver high ROI for our clients. The innovations in automation and user experience are resonating across our client base, delivering immediate and measurable value to our clients, will deliver long-term value to Paycom. As a result, our service and client relations groups are working together more closely than ever before, which is driving further ROI for our clients. We're going to continue to generate even more momentum as we engage clients to help them maximize their value when using our system.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Craig for a review of our financials and guidance. Craig?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Thanks, Chris.

Before I review our fourth quarter and full year results for 2023 and our outlook for the first quarter and full year 2024, I would like to remind everyone that my comments related to certain financial measures will be on a non-GAAP basis. We ended the year with solid results with full year 2023 revenue of $1.694 billion, up 23% compared to 2022. Fourth quarter results were better than expected with total revenues of $435 million, representing growth of 17% over the comparable prior year period. Our revenue growth was driven by new business wins, partially offset by lower cross-selling to existing clients.

Within total revenues, recurring revenue was $427 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, representing 98% of total revenues for the quarter and growing 17% from the comparable prior year period. We delivered strong net income and adjusted EBITDA in 2023. Full year GAAP net income was $341 million or $5.88 per diluted share based on approximately 58 million shares. Non-GAAP net income for 2023 was $449 million or $7.75 per diluted share, up 26% from the prior year on a per share basis.

In the fourth quarter, GAAP net income of $82 million and non-GAAP net income of $110 million represented $1.43 and $1.93 per diluted share, respectively, based on approximately 57 million shares.

Full year adjusted EBITDA was $719 million, representing full year margin of 42.5%, up over 30 basis points year-over-year. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA was $177 million, representing a quarterly margin of 40.6% for the quarter.

During the fourth quarter, we repurchased approximately 1.2 million shares of common stock or approximately 2% of our shares outstanding for a total of $213 million, and we paid over $21 million in cash dividends.

As of December 31, 2023, we have repurchased over 6.1 million shares. And when combined with dividends, we have returned nearly $1 billion to stockholders. We still have approximately $800 million remaining under our buyback authorization as of December 31, 2023, and the Board has approved our next quarterly dividend of $0.375 per share payable in mid-March.

We ended 2023 with approximately 36,800 clients, representing a growth rate of 1% compared to 2022. On a parent company grouping basis, we ended the year with roughly 19,500 clients, up 2% compared to 2022. Digging in the client mix details and using client figures based on parent company groupings, client count for companies with greater than 500 employees was up 11% year-over-year, and client count for companies with greater than 2,000 employees was up nearly 18% year-over-year. Total number of employee records stored in our system in 2023 was $6.8 million.

Paycom's annual revenue retention rate in 2023 was 90% compared to 91% in 2022 with attrition concentrated primarily at the low end of our market. Note that our earnings press release issued earlier this afternoon included additional information about a recent modification in our annual revenue retention rate calculation.

Adjusted R&D expense was $51 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 or 11.6% of total revenues. Adjusted total R&D costs, including the capitalized portion, were $73 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $52 million in the prior year period. We continue to invest in the long-term future growth opportunity, including in areas of automation, AI and innovation.

Our tax rate for the year ended 2023 was 28% on a GAAP basis. For the full year 2024, we anticipate our effective income tax rate to be approximately 29% on a GAAP basis and approximately 25% on a non-GAAP basis. In fiscal year 2024, we expect stock-based compensation expense as a percent of revenue to be approximately 8.5%. This does not reflect any potential onetime adjustment related to the forfeiture of the 2020 CEO performance award. We will provide details on this onetime adjustment, if any, when we report first quarter earnings.

Turning to the balance sheet. Even after the substantial buybacks and dividends paid in the quarter, we ended the year with a very strong balance sheet, including cash and cash equivalents of $294 million and zero debt. Cash from operations was $485 million in 2023, representing an increase of 33%. The average daily balance of funds held on behalf of clients was approximately $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.

On the capital expenditure front, our fifth building in Oklahoma City is substantially complete. We estimate total CapEx as a percent of revenues to be approximately 12% in 2024.

Now let me turn to guidance. Our approach to guidance remains consistent with our historical approach and that we guide to what we can see and factor in relevant trends, opportunities and potential constraints. For 2024, we are also factoring in a wider range of sensitivities such as fluctuations of interest rates and the outcomes of several near-term strategic initiatives. For fiscal 2024, we expect revenues in the range of $1.860 billion to $1.885 billion or approximately 11% year-over-year growth at the midpoint of the range, which is consistent with the target growth range we provided on our Q3 earnings call. We expect adjusted EBITDA in the range of $720 million to $730 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 39% at the midpoint of the range.

For the first quarter of 2024, we expect total revenues in the range of $494 million to $497 million, representing a growth rate over the comparable prior year period of approximately 10% at the midpoint of the range. We expect adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter in the range of $218 million to $222 million representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 44% at the midpoint of the range.

2023 delivered solid results for Paycom. The strength of our product and the client initiatives we have in place give me confidence that 2024 will be a solid year of execution. We will continue to invest in talent, marketing, innovation, customer service and geographic expansion to strengthen our competitive position and meet the demand of our expanding TAM.

With that, we will open the line for questions. Operator?

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Raimo Lenschow with Barclays.

[Raimo Lenschow, analyst]

All the best to the new management structure from me.

Two questions. One, Chad, can you speak a little bit to retention in 2023 and customer growth in 2023? Because if I do the math right, it was like a 1% growth, which seems unusual for you guys. Can you talk a little bit about like factors we saw there and that probably kind of linked in with that 90% retention number? And then on EBITDA guide, Craig, for you. If I look at this year, we're kind of guiding down a little bit on EBITDA margin. Can you talk a little bit maybe about some of the projects or some of the work that you're doing there that kind of drives it?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Sure, Raimo. I'll take -- I may take both of those actually. As it relates to retention, this year we reported 90% versus 91% from last year. Kind of looking at retention, we typically don't discuss it based on client size, but the main part of the attrition was really in that down market side.

If you remember, we added a lot of smaller clients during COVID where we used to have 5 individuals -- 5 salespeople in that group, and we increased that actually to 10 teams of 8. So we added a lot of smaller clients during that time. And that was really what we saw as it related to the retention and that put the pressure on that downmarket group. And they're the ones that are most impacted by the macro, the higher interest rates, the higher inflation.

As it relates to the margins -- what I would say is we've really started at that 39% to 41% for the last 4 or 5 years, and that's really where we wanted to start this year. And it really gives us the room to invest where we need to invest -- in the areas of innovation and sales to continue to drive revenue growth.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Samad Samana with Jefferies.

[Samad Samana, analyst]

Welcome to the new members of management. Maybe my question follows up a little bit on Raimo's. I'd like to dig deeper into the retention change. It's gone from 94% down to 90%. That's about 4 points. Is that all due to the surge in clients that you added during the COVID period? And I guess the question is, maybe what is causing the attrition beyond that being -- is it business failure ticking up? Is it noncontrollable churn? Maybe help us think through what is causing that at the low end.

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes. I mean at the low end, it's typically more going out of business, but that group of clients are more impacted by the macro. We also changed the way we marked our clients' loss where we're pulling that forward a little bit, Samad, where we're marking them quicker than we have in the past. And that way we can get back out and really retry to sell some of those as they're still in implementation, so.

[Samad Samana, analyst]

Great. And then maybe just -- as I think through the fourth quarter, it was well ahead of what the guidance was. Just trying to unpack that. With rates maybe looking like they're ticking down, have you seen any change in either -- in the employment market staying strong? Have you seen any change in either preemployment services doing better than expected bonus runs? Maybe help us think through the strength that you saw in the fourth quarter versus the guidance that you gave after the third quarter.

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes. I mean I would say we probably went in the fourth quarter a little more conservative than what we had in the past after kind of our Q3 results. We're really looking at where the downside could be or the -- what could happen in the fourth quarter. And I would say things came in better than what we expected.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Mark Marcon with Baird.

[Mark Marcon, analyst]

Hello, can you hear me?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Mark, we can hear you. Mark, we can hear you.

[Mark Marcon, analyst]

Great. Can you talk a little bit about the traction with the sales force and what you're seeing just in terms of new client growth? Because I'm looking at the implied ex float revenue growth for the first quarter. And you did mention the retention is lower. So I understand part of that. But I'm wondering, can you just talk a little bit about sales effectiveness and what you're seeing there?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Yes. I mean we've had a lot of success with sales effectiveness. Obviously, we're selling a differentiated solution that brings differentiated value. We did mention on the call that we've had more success in the 500 and above. I think we called out 11% growth in that group, 18% growth from the group that has 2,000 or more. And so we have been pressured more at the lower end of our market. And also, there's a resource aspect as we look to onboard clients and what we're going through there, how we use our resources to best impact client value. So we're having a lot of success there in the mid-market. Oftentimes, you are trading off on a unit basis, oftentimes small units for a little bit larger type units. And I'm talking about employee size.

[Mark Marcon, analyst]

Great. And then can you talk a little bit about the specific areas of investment that you would be making, you're starting the year out with a slightly more conservative EBITDA target. What are the specific areas where you can invest a little bit more? I imagine part of that is product, which you ended up referencing, but I'm wondering if there's any other areas that we should look to?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Growth has always been first price for us. So I mean that's really what we're focused on. When we're talking about an impact on the -- from an adjusted EBITDA perspective, I mean, we're focused on the 3 areas that we talked about with the solution automation, world-class service and then client ROI achievement.

Those don't necessarily -- we've got the staff to do those things. Those are things we're working through and continue to impact the client positively. From an additional expense perspective, that's going to be growth initiatives related.

[Operator]

Our next question now comes from Brian Schwartz with Oppenheimer.

[Brian Schwartz, analyst]

Chad, I wanted to ask you along the line of sales effectiveness, what you're seeing in terms of cycles and as well as the top of the funnel momentum. Are you seeing any changes in that aspect of the sales?

[Chad Richison, executive]

I mean, that's a good question. We've continued to go further at market. I've mentioned it on the call, and there is a little bit different motion as we work through that process and as we've gotten better at it. And so as you go further up market, you're going to have -- it might take you a little bit longer than what it would than if you're in the mid-market.

For us, it's still about the work of the sales individual. I mean it really does determine how strong a sales individual is in regards to the process that's being worked and how quickly a client can see that value and then onboard onto the system. So I would say it's more specific to an individual salesperson. And then I would add to that, that as you go upmarket, you have more people that you talk to, more stakeholders within any company, and you want to make sure you cover all those spaces as you move forward.

[Brian Schwartz, analyst]

And the follow-up question I had on the project investments. Just thinking about that on the sales and the distribution side -- is there anything you can share with us how you're thinking about the pace of either new offices or new sales reps hiring this year maybe versus what you did last year in 2023.

[Chad Richison, executive]

We're heading into 2024, really well staffed in sales. So I think that it will have to play itself out, but as everyone knows, I mean, our sales office openings are based on the capacity that we have internally to be able to do that.

And all I would say is that we're better staffed going into 2024 than what we have been in a while for managers all the way up. And so those opportunities as they make sense for us to do it, we'll be looking at that throughout the year.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Josh O'Reilly with Needham.

[Joshua Reilly, analyst]

Maybe just some more color on the customers you're seeing attrition with in the cohort of those who have adopted Beti versus the remaining customer yet to adopt Beti. Are you seeing higher attrition with those that are yet to adopt Beti?

[Chad Richison, executive]

I mean look, we want to begin talking about our retention as one number whether someone's on Beti or not they're a client of ours. We want them to be a client of ours. Obviously, I've called this out in the past, it continues to hold true. Those companies that use our system fully get the most value out of it. And obviously, we have a lower -- much lower attrition with businesses that use Beti versus those that don't.

[Joshua Reilly, analyst]

Got it. That's helpful. And then what are you seeing in average headcount per customer? And what assumptions are you making in guidance in terms of average headcount per customer? If you -- and then just following up on that, if you expect it's going to be flat year-over-year in '24. Is that somewhat of a headwind to growth versus a normal year for you guys?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

I mean we've seen -- the head count per customer has been very stable. And so as we're looking at 2024 guidance, we're expecting the same, very stable as it relates to headcount per customer.

[Operator]

Our next question today comes from Steve Enders of Citi.

[Steven Enders, analyst]

Okay. Great. Maybe for Chad, just I want to get a bit of sense for, I guess, why now is the right time to shift to a co-CEO structure. And when is the time for you to be focusing more on the product and strategic side of the business today?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Yes. Well, I mean it's been 25 years, and I have the right person to do it with. This wasn't -- this is something that we've been going through, as Chris mentioned on his prepared remarks. I mean Chris has taken a tour through the company and has operated 10 of our significant departments already in the company. And so it's something that I've been excited about. But I mean, the long and the short is, I mean, innovation's where I oftentimes apply my greatest gifts and that's where I'm best at it.

And there are new technologies and toys to build with now. It's an exciting time. I've had a lot of fun running special projects, but in September of last year, our product department, which I mentioned this at the Barclays Conference, began reporting to me again -- so I've really enjoyed working with them.

I've been focused on that as well as our sales strategy. And look, I'm not retiring. I mean I don't even know what that would look like. I like to compete, be part of the team and -- the long and the short is Chris and I can accomplish more together than I could alone.

[Steven Enders, analyst]

Okay. That's helpful. And then, maybe we can get an update on how the Beti adoption is going, pushing that back into the base and maybe how things have -- and how like what the expectations are for this year for where that could potentially go?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Yes. I mean I'm not going to say we're pushing Beti back into the base. I think that to the extent a client sees the value and they're ready to use Beti within their organization, we're there to provide that. We're meeting clients where they live and usage right now and helping them achieve value regardless whether they use Beti or not.

I will say, though, as I continue to say, Beti drives a lot of efficiencies for businesses. It makes a giant impact for both them and their employees. Our go-to-market strategy has been 100% Beti since July of 2021. And in regards to current clients, we're meeting them where they live. And we're helping them achieve value because our system is very robust even without Beti. And it keeps getting missed, but GONE is a very significant product. I mean it automated quite a lot for a business. And so a lot of our clients are achieving a lot of value through using that product as well right now.

[Operator]

Our next question today comes from [ Kevin McVeigh ] with UBS.

[Unknown Analyst]

Congratulations on the better-than-expected results. Just wanted to talk to the buyback for a minute. I mean it seems like maybe the first time it's been scale, just any thoughts around that? As we think about the buyback into '24, again, it looks like the average share repurchase price is about [ 1 78 ]. [indiscernible] short there. Any thoughts on that?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes. So for the quarter, we bought back a little over 2% of the company. And for the full year, I think we bought back 1.5 million shares. So we've been active buying back stock of the company. We still have a significant amount left on our buyback program. So we'll look to be -- and we've always been very opportunistic as we're looking to buy shares back.

[Unknown Analyst]

Then as you think about kind of the Beti adoption across existing clients and the implementation -- has that kind of run its course at this point? Or is there any way to think about how that flexes over the course of 2024?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Well, I believe there'll continue to be clients that see and want to utilize the value of Beti. And so yes, we will have more clients. And as they see the value and choose to come on to Beti to actually achieve that value, we're going to be there to help them.

I will say we're meeting clients where they live with our product right now. And that's a good place for us. That's a good place for clients. So we're meeting where they live, and we're helping them achieve the value available to them in the software, whether they use Beti or not. It's a single database system. It's very easy to use and there's all kinds of areas where our clients are receiving value, especially right now, as we've even introduced GONE, that's giving us more and more conversations because everybody wants to automate time-off requests, I mean, there's nobody who didn't want to automate time-off requests. So we're having a lot of success with that as well right now.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Siti Panigrahi with Mizuho.

[Sitikantha Panigrahi, analyst]

I wanted to ask about CRR strategy. I know last few quarters, you talked about how CRR are going to focus on cross-selling Beti, but what I understand it's [ nowhere ] focused. So what's the CRR strategy right now? Are they cross-selling any other module? And how should we think about that cannibalization opportunity that earlier you talked about CRR by spending more time pushing Beti, how is that going to change and impact for 2024?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Sure. So what I would say is, even as we looked into this year, it wasn't as much that the CRRs were out pushing Beti as much as they were out converting to Betis that had already told us they're wanting to go. And that does take some time with the CRRs to do that. And that time they spent doing that, making sure we get appropriate usage, prevented them from being able to do certain other task. I mean I would say that right now, and I've been saying this -- even probably mentioned this on last quarter, we're not preventing a CRR from going out and selling.

There's just a certain criteria of usage that we look for, both before you sell a client a product as well as after you sold a client a product to make sure that the value is being achieved. So I would just say that there's a little bit different process that they go through now in regards to selling, as you've heard me say before, it's easier to sell a client a product and to get them to actually use it the correct way to achieve value. And we've been very focused on both of those pieces, both in last year, and that will continue into 2024.

[Sitikantha Panigrahi, analyst]

And then last quarter, you talked about some of the impact from macro, mainly like preemployment checks, those kind of services. How has that been trending since then?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes, I would say, we talked a little bit about it last quarter that it was still positive, but not growing at the rate that we had been experiencing in the past. I would say it's still similar. I mean the market is tight. You're not seeing people change jobs as much as what you may have in the past. But it's still up. It's just -- it's still a little soft in that area on the preemployment services.

[Operator]

Our next question today comes from Jared Levine with TD Cowen.

[Jared Levine, analyst]

In terms of the competitive environment, have you noticed any change in 1Q or in 4Q? And if so, is it broad-based or limited to certain competitors?

[Chad Richison, executive]

No. I mean, it's always been a very highly competitive environment. I've -- without naming them, I've talked about our competitors. I still think we're primarily the new company, and we celebrated 25 years last year. So all that's to say, I think we've all known each other for a long time. We've all been highly competitive and -- that's always been the case.

[Jared Levine, analyst]

Got it. And then looking at the...

[Chad Richison, executive]

And that's a positive thing.

[Jared Levine, analyst]

Yes. And then looking at the 1Q guidance here, how does the absolute dollar form filings revenue embedded within that 1Q guide compared to the 1Q '23 form filings revenue just in terms of how much of a headwind year-on-year to growth that represents?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes. I mean the forms filing is somewhat of a headwind in Q1. We've seen that for several years. There's really not any new forms after the ACA forms came out. So I mean, it's kind of been the same type of forms that we typically file. We talked about the number of people that we have on our system, and that typically -- that growth rate typically follows kind of the forms filing growth for the quarter.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Jason Celino with KeyBanc.

[Jason Celino, analyst]

Maybe, Craig, you talked about a wider range to guidance this year based on different scenarios for, I think, you said interest rates and other strategic initiatives. Can you just talk about what's baked into the low end versus what you're baking in at the high end?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

I mean there's different things that we're factoring in on the full year guide. This is much larger than what we've done in the past. I mean the main driver is going to be the Fed funds rate and what they do with that. You've heard anywhere from 3 to 7 decreases in rates. So we wanted to make sure we gave a range that we could fit that in if any of those scenarios happen.

[Jason Celino, analyst]

Okay. Perfect. And then on the customer growth for -- and going forward maybe for 2024, internally, what types of initiatives like marketing, targeting do you plan to implement or do to try to reaccelerate that?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Yes. So we're very focused on our go-to-market strategy. We focus on the revenue opportunities available to us. I wouldn't say it's just a unit game. But you're playing both sides of that, obviously, because each unit does help with the revenue. And so we're not changing a whole lot when it comes to our strategy. I think our message is getting cleaner. And like I said in the call, I mean, we just put out another report in regards to Beti's value. We do continue to have a lot of interest about businesses using Beti, and then again, just a single database system.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Arvind Ramnani with Piper Sandler.

[Arvind Ramnani, analyst]

I had a couple of questions on Beti. I guess like have you seen any sort of client attrition whether it's like attrition from existing clients or some clients in -- prospective clients who are choosing to kind of go different direction because they don't like Beti. I mean, has there been any kind of negative -- or some pushback on Beti from customers? Or has it largely been quite positive?

[Chad Richison, executive]

We're having a lot of success with Beti. I think you're talking about head-to-head where someone might choose not to use Beti and continue to do it the way it's been done traditionally. That really comes down to the salesperson and having somebody that understands the value and then also spending the time with the client. And all the stakeholders and working through that, that they can actually see the ROI available for them.

[Arvind Ramnani, analyst]

Great. And I guess, as someone who kind of wants to kind of use the latest version of Paycom, do they have the ability to use Beti, but say like, hey, in terms of like self certifying the payroll, if that's something they want to give the employees, is that -- are you able to turn on and off that option, where you say like, you can use all of Beti except this turn on, turn off option? [indiscernible] turn off that one feature.

[Chad Richison, executive]

We have 31 modules, and those are chosen by the client, how they use those. Now many of our modules are tied together. And so it's through one module that you get the value of the other.

But that wouldn't be the case with all 31. I would say there's some -- 34, sorry, 34 modules. I would say there's some core modules that are going to be critical for a client to be able to actually process a payroll for tax depositing and everything else. And then there's some other modules that that's more driven at the client choice of whether or they want to provide that solution to their organization or whether or not they have that covered in another area.

[Arvind Ramnani, analyst]

Okay. Just last question over here is like if someone has payroll, but they are basically not -- they have the ability to kind of run payroll to you all, but seeing like employees are not required to certify their paycheck every 2 weeks, is that a possibility or no?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Yes, that's client dependent on exactly what they require in that. That's up to them.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Bhavin Shah with Deutsche Bank.

[Bhavin Shah, analyst]

Chad, I think you spoke about some of your strategic initiatives kind of impacting 2024 top line. Can you maybe just provide a little bit more further insight into which ones are having the greatest impact on revenue? And how long do you think these kind of headwinds from the strategic initiatives last? Is it a 1-year thing? Or do you think it'll take multiple years to play out?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes. I mean, in terms of our strategic initiatives for '24, I mean, obviously, that could have an impact on the top line as well as some of the expenses as well. And I would say that a lot of those are going to impact '24 and maybe have a small tail on that.

[Bhavin Shah, analyst]

Got it. And then I guess maybe one clarification from what -- at least I understand and please correct me if I'm wrong, it appears like through your messaging today that you're perhaps a little bit less aggressive in terms of pushing Beti into the customer base versus maybe prior commentary. If that's true, why wouldn't this decrease some of the kind of revenue headwinds that you talked about last quarter that Beti might be creating in fiscal '24?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

I mean, we talked about some of the headwinds that Beti may be creating. We talked about that last quarter. And I mean, Beti has great benefit to the customer. I mean, it eliminates errors and those accrue as value to the customer. And we've looked at that and what that as a headwind that might be to us. And really, that's from eliminating some of those services that we charge for. And we've estimated that to be approximately 5% of revenue. But we wouldn't expect all of that to go away. So that's kind of -- as we've gone through and really looked at those areas of our business that could be impacted, that's kind of what we looked at.

[Operator]

Our next question today comes from Daniel Jester with BMO.

[Daniel Jester, analyst]

Just on the gross margin trajectory. I know it's less of a focus than EBITDA, but 3 straight years of compression exiting 2023. As we think about 2024 and some of the investments you're making, should we think that gross margin compresses again? Or I guess, how should we be thinking about that for the year ahead?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes. I mean, we don't guide to gross margin. I mean there are several things that go into that. One of the largest impacts to gross margin is really headcount on our service side. And so we're well staffed going -- as we're exiting 2023, and those costs continue to carry on into 2024.

[Daniel Jester, analyst]

Okay. Great. And then on the global HCM, great to hear about native payroll in Canada and Mexico out there. Are you actually paying people in both of those countries today? And when -- and if that's the case, can you just give us a flavor for kind of who you're displacing? Is it some of your maybe U.S.-based peers? Or is it maybe local providers? Just a little more color on kind of the international trajectory.

[Chad Richison, executive]

Sure. The global HCM side, again, we're talking about for Canada and Mexico. Well, Global HCM you can use for many of the -- for all the countries. But our global HCM side, you're going to displace more of our typical vendors that we may see. And then I would say on the payroll side, it's a mixed bag, but it's oftentimes where we're replacing an in-country partner or an in-country vendor on the payroll side for both Canada and Mexico, which we are up and running in now. We did announce today that we've added the U.K. to that. But as far as Canada and Mexico, we're running in those countries right now.

[Operator]

Our final question today comes from Adam Bergere with Bank of America.

[Adam Bergere, analyst]

Can you talk about sales productivity and the retention rate assumptions embedded into the 2024 guide and how that compares to what you saw in 2023?

[Chad Richison, executive]

Yes. I'll take the sales productivity. I mean we've got a great sales organization. We always have. We've had a great sales strategy. We're continuing to get a lot of people involved with our sales organization. We've done a great job training them, and we're set up to go through this year. We did a great job last year throughout the year selling. We had a lot of things working with us on that. As we move throughout the year, we kind of talked about the Beti cannibalization or the displacement of certain fees.

Craig talked about that being a 5% still total out there. We've seen portions of that 5% already down 20%. So again, that's a successful win for the client. I do think that it takes a certain skill set to be able to go in and work with the client within our industry, and we're having a lot of success there. So we do expect that we're going to sell more this year than what we saw last year. And last year was good sales year.

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes. And in terms of the retention, as we mentioned, the part that impacted retention the most this year was really at the low end of the market. And we're exposed to the low end of the market, very small. I mean, we're less than 5% that has under 50 employees. So -- and it's actually, I think, closer to 3.5%. So as we're moving into the current year, we've already mentioned that the initial looks are positive. So that's kind of the way we would look at that.

[Adam Bergere, analyst]

All right. And then just a follow-up to that last point. Are you investing a little less incrementally in that lower end of the market than would you say?

[Craig Boelte, executive]

Yes, I would say we are investing a little less.

[Operator]

Thank you for your questions. This concludes the Q&A portion of today's call. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Chad Richison for closing remarks.

[Chad Richison, executive]

Well, thanks, everyone, for joining the call today. I want to congratulate the 2023 Paycom Jim Thorpe Award winner, Trey Taylor from the U.S. Air Force Academy. This award recognizes the most outstanding defensive back in college football and memorializes Jim Thorpe, who is one of the greatest all around athletes in history. Jim Thorpe also happened to be in Oklahoma. We plan on participating in the KeyBanc and Morgan Stanley conferences in March and seeing many of you in person throughout the coming months. I'd like to congratulate Chris and thank all our employees for their contribution to Paycom's success.

Operator, you may end the call.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.