Frequently asked questions

We’re an independent workforce advisory firm. We help mid-market companies make PEO / ASO and HCM | workforce-management decisions deliberately — evaluating the model, the market, and the fit before anything is signed.

Companies in the 50 to 2,500 employee range, single- and multi-state, across professional services, government contracting, nonprofits, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing.

On PEO and ASO, yes — we are a broker for those services, and we would rather say so than dress it up. The part worth knowing is who pays and when: you are never charged for our guidance, our research or the RFP process, and we are compensated by the vendor that wins your business at a fee your own decision-making team sets. On HCM and workforce management there is no placement to broker — we represent one vetted platform partner and hold a considered recommendation.

The firm was founded in 2013 and took its present name in 2017. The people in it have been advising on benefits and HR outsourcing since the 1990s — Kenneth since before the PEO market was a category anyone shopped, and Tom from inside PEOs rather than outside them. That history is why we can bring conviction to the platform question rather than starting every engagement from a blank page.

By the vendor that wins the business, after the RFP process — the same way a PEO pays its own sales team. You are never invoiced for our guidance, our research or the RFP itself. If we do not put a proposal in front of you that meets your objectives, we are not compensated in any manner. The fee is determined by your decision-making team rather than agreed privately between us and the provider.

It is a fair question, and the honest answer is that we are paid by that partner when they win. What we would say is that the recommendation came first and the reasoning is published — we set out why the multi-vendor bake-off is the wrong instrument for this segment, at length, and we will happily tell you to run your own comparison and come back if it still fits. Judge it on whether the argument holds, not on our assurance that it does.

Then that is our advice, and we are paid nothing for it. That is the plainest thing we can tell you about how this works: the recommendation to stay put costs us the engagement, we reach it regularly, and it has cost you nothing to get there.

Every case produces its own number, and that is the one we give you. What you pay depends on industry, state mix, claims history, wage distribution and headcount — so we review the financials on your case and let them guide the decision, rather than quoting an average built from companies that look nothing like you. A headline figure also anchors every quote you then receive. And a meaningful share of our evaluations end in a recommendation to change nothing, which produces no savings figure at all — so any average we published would flatter us by omitting them. What we do publish is the record: nine engagements with the figures each one produced, on the engagements page. The reasoning is set out on the about page.

You should ask that of anyone advising you, including us. Two things constrain it here. The fee is set by your decision-making team, not negotiated privately between us and the provider. And on PEO and ASO we run a competitive RFP, so the comparison you are shown is the market’s answer rather than ours. Neither of those makes us disinterested, and we would not claim to be.

With a live discussion — usually thirty minutes, no proposal, no pitch. We learn the situation first and decide together whether there’s a fit.

Most run in weeks, not months, because we’ve already done the market work. The time goes into your specifics rather than parallel vendor demos.

Senior advisors, throughout. We don’t hand you to a junior team after the first meeting.

Yes. Implementation readiness, transition support, and post-go-live optimization are part of the work — with the same people who ran the evaluation.

Upstream of price, with the employer-of-record question — whether co-employment fits your risk tolerance, compliance exposure, and growth plans. We settle that before anyone quotes you. The four questions we work through are set out on the PEO / ASO advisory page.

A PEO becomes a co-employer and employer of record, pooling employees for benefits and absorbing defined liabilities. An ASO administers the same functions while you remain the sole employer of record. It’s a difference in who holds the risk and control.

Yes — renewal reviews, benchmarking, and exit strategy are core to this practice, especially when an arrangement no longer matches your size or footprint.

That’s a common trigger for this work. Multi-state compliance, workers’ comp structure, and consistent onboarding are exactly what we help you get ahead of.

Because after years of evaluation, the mid-market platform question is — in our view — answered. Holding one vetted partner frees the engagement to go deep on fit and implementation instead of running procurement theater. The reasoning is set out in full on the HCM | WFM advisory page.

Please do. Talk to whichever vendors you like, then come back if our recommendation still fits. If it helps, we’ll tell you what actually separates these platforms — the pay rules engine, multi-state tax handling, the GL interface, and who is really on the implementation team.

The shape of your workforce — single- vs. multi-site, salaried vs. hourly, the complexity of scheduling and compliance. Those factors, not a feature list, predict whether an implementation succeeds.

Yes. Implementation readiness — scoping, sequencing, and internal preparation before contracts are signed — is often the highest-leverage part of the engagement.

Yes. We combine specialized knowledge with aggregate purchasing leverage to press premium and renewal rates down, and we review on a rhythm that catches problems before renewal, not after.

We map where risk actually sits — wage-and-hour, multi-state exposure, shared liability under co-employment — and help you ensure compliance across every state you operate in.

That’s usually a core outcome. Integrating and streamlining HR operations returns time to leadership and lets you scale without adding headcount just to keep up.

Yes — that’s much of the point. The right structure lets a mid-market company offer coverage and capability closer to a much larger organization.

A direct, no-pressure discussion about your situation. No proposal and no pitch — we’re both deciding whether there’s a fit worth pursuing.

Nothing formal. A rough sense of your headcount, footprint, current systems, and what’s straining is more than enough to have a useful conversation.

No. The first discussion is simply to understand the problem and see whether we’re the right people to help.

Book a live discussion online, use the contact form, or call our office. Details are on the contact page.