“I try to find things that are going to make my shop run as smooth as possible—to be more efficient and grow the business,” says Phil Leone, owner of the two-location Clayton Lube & Tune and Garner Lube & Tune in North Carolina.
One of the services that helps Leone save time and streamline shop processes is outsourcing his payroll and HR. He uses a system that assists with time tracking, onboarding/offboarding, payroll, and benefits administration.
Deciding to invest in outside technology—especially for something that may have been integrated within the role of an owner since the beginning—can be intimidating and nerve-wracking. But systems like these can take away small, sometimes time-consuming tasks out of the hands of the owner, and can help free up time to allow them to focus on other, larger responsibilities—all while avoiding an extra HR hire.
Below, are the top four benefits outside HR services can provide shop owners.
Benefit No. 1: More than Just Payroll
Originally, Leone used his HR service, Gusto, solely for payroll, and has since grown to use the service for benefits administration and time tracking, as well as other HR tasks like onboarding, offboarding, and storing internal paperwork. The shop’s Clover Mini—a payment terminal and POS system—connects directly with his account to integrate the timing information from the employees that clock in and out at his shop.
In the past, Leone has used other, similar payroll-specific services, as well as hired a local individual to help facilitate with pay, but he wasn’t fully happy with either. He found his current payroll and HR service while doing some searching online.
“I’m always doing research to try to find different things that I can use to help my business run more efficiently,” Leone says.
It has now been roughly two years since he switched to using his current service. Throughout his time with the program, he has added on features to his account to increase payroll and HR ease. Currently, Leone pays a little over $100 per store per month for the service—with almost all of the available extra features included. A more barebones version of the service, with less capabilities, is available for $45 per month. Other HR programs, like Zenefits and Ease, offer similar packages.
Benefit No. 2: The Convenience of an App
Leone says setting up the program was quick. He went on the website, put in his email address, bank account information, and other details before confirming.
When Leone first started offering his employees benefits, he went through an agent, but has found that his new system of benefits administration works better for him and his shop.
“I found that getting it (benefits administration) integrated through payroll has made it a thousand times easier,” Leone says.
With Leone’s current 22 employees divided between his two locations, remembering when each of them reaches benefits eligibility can be a pain, he says. His current service will send an email directly to his employees to alert them when they are able to choose their benefits. Employees can either accept the benefit offer and fill out the paperwork directly, or they can easily decline.
Benefit No. 3: More Time for Other Responsibilities
Since Leone is able to do payroll quickly through his phone, he can finish the task while going from one of his shop locations to the other. He says the process is so quick that, one time, he remembered he had forgotten to run payroll for the day before going out to eat with his family. The restaurant was five minutes from his house, and through his phone, he was able to complete payroll for both locations before arriving.
“It’s made things so much smoother, where payroll is not a headache anymore,” Leone explains.
Extra HR tasks have also been eliminated from Leone’s routine. He says he never has anyone on his team ask for pay stubs anymore, because they can just log in to their accounts and look at their most recent pay stubs and W2s.
“When owning your own business, the only way you can successfully do it without wanting to pull your hair out—I’ve had many of those times—is by having as many things as possible like that, whether it’s a system in the shop, or a system in the office,” Leone says. “You want to have things [at your business] that make your job easier.”
Benefit No. 4: Access to outside assistance
Anytime Leone needs some help or assistance with the service, he says he can call and get someone on the phone in a span of five minutes or less. The app also has a live chat feature. He has run into issues in the past that got fully resolved with the service in a matter of minutes.
“I’ve dealt with accountants, bookkeepers, and the other payroll companies where we’ve had issues, and I’ve never had anything taken care of so quickly,” says Leone.
He highly recommends other shop owners have systems in place at their businesses to save them time and added stress.
“Try to find an online service that’s going to make running a business easy for you, because there are so many things that somebody that owns a shop has to do in a day, and this is something that should be easy,” Leone says.
More Extensive HR Services
—
While systems like Leone’s offer quick and easy payroll, benefits administration, and further HR simplification, more extensive options are also available. For shops looking to invest in a higher tier of assistance, while still not hiring an in-house HR representative, more intensive HR outsourcing services and professional employment organizations (PEOs) can be options.
These services are at a higher investment and offer more human capital and assistance.
Liz Grussing, business performance advisor at Insperity—HR outsourcing service and PEO—explains that this higher tier of HR assistance offers more hands-on services like interview and selection training, offer letter and job description writing assistance, organizational development, and safety services.
“A lot of times, repair shop owners have no idea what questions they can or cannot ask to potential candidates, or what to include in job descriptions. They are starting from scratch and taking the time to go through that process,” explains Grussing.
A further addition from tech-based HR services are PEOs’ benefits selection, PEOs have access to a larger buying pool and can offer benefits at lower costs to the small businesses that use their services.
