Headshot of Key Person: 

Rick Bartholomew serves as the CEO of A Plus Benefits. Established in 1990, A Plus Benefits offers the Intermountain West progressive payroll, employee benefits, risk management and human resource services. We recently sat down with Rick to discuss his companies services and how they are leveraging technology to benefit their clients.

What is A Plus Benefits, what types of services do you provide and what separates you from other competitors in this industry?

A Plus Benefits is the Rocky Mountain Region’s premier provider of outsourced business support services. A Plus Benefits is a co-employment Professional Employer Organization (PEO), offering the most progressive payroll, employee benefits, risk management and human resource services that help businesses not only survive but find new ways to thrive in the business world’s complex new economy. A Plus is the region’s longest established and most successful PEO, and is the region’s leading source of up-to-the-minute expertise for businesses as they navigate the newest employment regulations. A Plus gives clients a cost-effective means to eliminate risk and administrative functions so they can get back to doing what they do best—running and growing their business.

How long have you been with the company and what are your current responsibilities?

I’ve been with the company since 1994 and in my current position as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since 1997. My responsibilities focus primarily on developing and implementing the corporate strategy as well as managing the employee benefits side of the business.

I’ve also been involved in a number of functions with the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO). I’ve served as the NAPEO Leadership Council Chair for Utah where I was involved in several legislative efforts aimed at promoting best practices and improving the licensing and oversight of the PEO industry.   

What are the benefits to a small business using an outsourced service provider for these types of services?

The biggest benefits we provide our clients is stability, expertise and peace of mind in the critical operational functions of payroll, HR, risk management and employee benefits.  Our services  relieve much of the stress companies feel when they have untrained, non-experts trying to fill these rolls.

Technology is playing a greater role in all aspects of business, how have technological advances affected this industry and your business?

Technology has played a significant role in the way we handle and do business. For us, the greatest technological impact has been the ability to provide our clients real-time information in the areas of human resources, payroll, risk management and employee benefits. Take for example employee benefits. If an employee has a question about the status of a bill or a claim they don’t want to wait a day or a half a day or even 10 minutes to resolve the issue. They expect immediate answers and the technology we employ today allows us to provide that level of service to our clients.

What technologies have you developed or do you use to provide these services to your clients?

We represent over 15,000 employees in Utah and the Intermountain West. These employees are constantly checking the status of their accounts at all hours of the day and expect to be able to have immediate access to these records 24X7, seven days a week. About 10 years ago we made the decision to allow our clients access to this information from any location at any time of day. We invested a significant amount of resources into providing this service and into software that would enable us to provide this level of service. To this day, providing our clients with real time information is still our biggest area of emphasis.

Do your clients expect certain types of technology to facilitate the services you offer?

Yes, our clients and their employees want immediate, real- time access to their information.  They want this access from home, work, vacation, on the weekend or late at night. We take our clients’ expectations very seriously and have developed technologies that enable us to provide these services at a level we believe exceeds their expectations.

What are the best practices for evaluating and choosing a PEO or outsourced service provider?

I would always begin by conducting a thorough assessment of your workplace needs. A quality service provider will be willing and able to help you through this process. Meet the people who will be serving your business. Technology is important, but don’t underestimate the “people” factor. The people should bring both expert competency and the people skills to deliver a high level of service. Have them demonstrate fiduciary responsibility. This can be accomplished with independent verification of sound business practices regarding the remittance of taxes and benefit contributions. Ask for client and professional references. Are they a member of NAPEO.  Review the service agreement. Verify that the company complies with all State licensing and registration requirements?

In this industry, particularly with the HR, payroll, risk management and employee benefit services you provide, security is a huge concern as people’s personal information is required to provide these services. There are also constant changes to policy, rules, regulations and compliance that need to be factored in. How do you keep up with all of the changes, rules, regulations and government compliance issues associated with this industry?

We’ve set up our business so that each service we provide has an expert overseeing that function. Each of these experts is responsible for following the trends and changes in rules and regulations and in ensuring that these changes are immediately implemented and communicated to our clients. 

For example, I’m responsible for our employee benefits department and I spend a significant amount of my time reading and researching the latest changes and training my team so they can then go out and implement and manage these changes with our clients.

What are the most common mistakes small businesses make in these areas, HR, payroll, risk management and employee benefits?

Under-estimating and under-valuing the importance of providing accurate and timely payroll, human resources, employee benefits and risk management services.  Theses areas may seem easy but when they are not handled correctly can create tremendous problems for a business. 

Often, these functions are taken on by a partner or owner in the business to save money and I’ll tell you, it only takes one mistake to understand and appreciate the importance of handling these issues correctly. Often, one minor mistake can cost thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash losses and loss of productivity.

You’re celebrating your 20th anniversary this year, what’s been the key to your longevity?

I believe our keys to success include our ability to develop trust with our clients and becoming a true partner that is accountable for the services we provide. We’ve had a number of our longest tenured clients tell us that through our performance and commitment to their success that they trust us enough to know that unless we bring up an issue they know they don’t need to know about it and that the quality of service we provide makes them they feel like they’re our only customer.