Leveraging Gusto to Boost Employee Retention

Welcome everybody to this webinar. I'm super excited to be speaking with you all and be going over how you can today start utilizing Gusto to improve the employee experience, get an objective sense of morale, and boost retention. As most of you may or may not know, I am the co-host of the Club Capital Leadership Podcast, which if you're not subscribed to yet, you definitely should be. Uh, and in any given episode, we interview business professionals across, uh, many industries, but mainly in the insurance world. And we talk about essentially best practices, like how can you improve the experience of being a business owner. And 9 times out of 10, people say that the biggest issue that they face in business is hiring good people and keeping them. So today I'm super excited to be introducing Madeline James, our VIP support partner at Gusto and also our Customer Success Champion, so that she can essentially guide us on how to leverage Gusto to improve the employee experience and boost retention. Of course, as many of you know, I'm Chris Ferretti and I'm the Customer Success Manager here at Club Capital. Most likely I have spoken to each and every one of you so far, but here's my contact information in the event that you have any questions for me. And without further ado, here's Madeline.

Thanks, Chris. Um, my name again is Madeline, and I work with the Club Capital team to provide support with onboarding new agents. You may have seen my email come through here and there, and then also providing webinars like these. So I'm really excited to chat through how Gusto can continue to help your processes for your agency and streamline everything for you. So today's agenda, we'll be starting out with Gusto's value values and missions, talking about some of our new employee retention tools, and low-cost and no-cost benefits. So please make sure to jot down any questions that come up, as we'll have time to discuss at the end of the presentation. So let's get into it. So here at Gusto, everything we do and build is surrounding our values and mission. I can say this for a fact. I've been at Gusto for 2.5 years, and it's cool to see You know, everything that we roll out is based on really, really some cool things. So our mission is to create a world where work empowers a better life. It's based on 3 pillars, which are peace of mind, great place to work, and personal prosperity. So peace of mind means making it easy for you as business owners to build great teams and stay compliant at the same time. And by building a great place to work, you can transform your workplace into a place of community in which employees feel valued and energized. So Personal Prosperity is about helping people grow and plan for a future beyond work. Sound familiar? I bet it does, because through the virtue of what you do, we're working on the same mission. So we put people first because people matter, and that old moniker, business is built on relationships, has been around for a long time because it rings true, whether that's your relationship to your team or to your customers. So really, Gusto makes it easy to onboard, to pay, to insure, and support your hardworking teams just like you.

Yeah, so just to kind of talk about these 4 things so far that you just mentioned— onboard, pay, insure, and support— right now when people think of Gusto, they really only think of it as a payroll platform. So it's really only one, one of the 4 things that Gusto can do. So today we're going to be talking about the onboarding that pay, of course, insuring, and support. So essentially that way you know that there is— that Gusto truly is an HR platform as opposed to only a payroll tool. And to talk about employee retention tools. So employee retention really starts when you're first onboarding the employee. And you want to make sure that you have a standard onboarding procedure for every person that comes on board. Every person should have the same experience. That way you can ensure that essentially people are all being trained in the proper way and that everybody is given access to the, to the tools such as eCRM in the exact same fashion. So here to elaborate on onboarding is Madeline.

Thanks, Chris. So think of the first day of work for a new employee and all of the tasks that need to be completed to ensure they're set up for success. Adding them to payroll, making an employee email, setting up their software, or maybe even an office tour. On our Complete and Concierge plans, you have the option to make this extremely customized and save it for future hires as well, so you don't have to take that time to reinvent the wheel. With work-from-home orders in many states, this keeps your task list all in one place for each employee.

Creating the customized onboarding tool, I would say, is also really straightforward. For any of the tools that we show you today that you are currently not using and you want to know how to use, definitely feel free to reach out to me. I'm pretty much the Gusto champion here at Club Capital, as well as your account managers. So I'll be more than happy to show you how to set up a customized onboarding checklist. Custom document is also super important. And Madeline is here to elaborate on that as well.

Yeah. Um, one thing to note, all of the things that we're going to be going through to check out in the top right corner, and this will tell you which plan, uh, these features are on. So you can look back at that and see if this is something you already have, um, or if you want to upgrade to have that. Um, so now on all three of our plans, you can actually upload custom offer letters to send out to prospective agents. Club Capital actually has customized offer letters to upload to your accounts too. So they can have— excuse me, they have made it extremely easy for you to send out an amazing offer letter with just a few clicks. And they say that a new offer letter is a great first impression for new agents and new employees in general.

Yep. And if you have questions as far as how to set up the offer letter, once again, I cannot stress enough, definitely reach out to me. I'll be more than happy to get you set up. It's really straightforward. Yeah.

Oh, go ahead.

No, I was going to say besides offer letters, there's also other custom documents that I'm sure you're going to talk about right now, like the employee handbook or NDAs and just different documents that you want to make sure that your employees acknowledge. Here to elaborate on that, you know, Madeline.

Yeah. So once an employee accepts their offer letter, you're able to upload other custom documents within Gusto. So think of this as a DocuSign within your payroll system. If you have an employee handbook, confidentiality agreement, or other types of documents like NDAs that you have your employees sign on their first day or even midway through the year, we can make it easier for you to distribute these to your team. And the employees have access to these documents in their employee profiles, so they can self-serve when it comes to questions on these documents, such as employee handbooks.

Yep, so gone are, gone are the days of you having to actually keep like an actual file cabinet where you keep things like an I-9, a W-4, NDA, etc. Everything can actually be managed within the Gusto document section. Now, expense reporting and reimbursements is huge. This is something that I deal with almost every time that I run payroll with a client, especially around reimbursement for licensing and whatnot. And you want to really make sure that you are properly reimbursing people. And make sure that they're not being taxed on things that they shouldn't be taxed on. Gusto makes it incredibly easy for you to handle expense reimbursement.

Yeah. So within the last month, this is actually a brand new feature. We unleashed the opportunity for reimbursement reporting in Complete InConcierge. So before you could reimburse employees, but they weren't able to see what those reimbursements were for on their pay stub. It was just one lump sum. So if employee pays their own post-tax money on something for the office or for the client, such as mileage, office supplies, or maybe they bought donuts for the team meeting, they can upload their receipts into their employee profile for you to review and approve. You'll also be able to have these itemized so employees know exactly what they are getting reimbursed for on their next pay stub.

Now, one quick question, um, that I do want to put out there: is this any different from health reimbursements?

Yeah, it is. So health reimbursement— reimbursements is actually something we're going to go over. That's a brand new feature in Gusto as well. This is more so on your one-off expenses. Health reimbursements are specific to health insurance. So this would be, again, like mileage, office supplies, maybe the licensing if you as a company pays for that for your employees. You can have that reimbursed through Gusto and tax-free.

Awesome, thank you for clarifying that. There you go. What about employee insight surveys? So this is something that we actually currently employ at Club Capital, and I would say when I have worked at larger companies, it's something that was pretty much like standard operating procedure where every single month, every single month, companies want to get a sense of how their employees are feeling. So if you want to get an anonymous but at the same time objective view of how your employees are feeling at your company, whether it is how they feel about management, how they feel about the work environment, whatever the case may be, that can be managed within Gusto. And here, Madeline is going to tell us exactly, you know, how to get that going, as well as more into employee insight surveys.

Yeah. So a lot of the time, employees are too nervous to ask for feedback. Or they just don't even think about it. So they'll fly blindly and assume everything is okay. So on Complete InConcierge, you have the opportunity to send out these surveys. This is an extremely valuable tool to ensure you know how your employees are feeling about different themes at work. So these surveys are anonymous, as Chris mentioned, and they provide that objective feedback for the employees. As you get results back, you'll be able to decide if you should, A, keep doing what you're doing. Maybe you're doing a fabulous job and everyone everyone's happy. Or maybe it's B, pivot and ensure that employees are satisfied and want to stay with you for the long term. This is huge for employee retention.

Definitely, definitely huge. Something else that definitely is not the most fun part is basically employee handbooks. And every day I speak to agents that are about to open up, as well as agents that have been open for almost a decade, if not more. And handbooks, it's kind of like an ugly, annoying family member that you pay attention to just because of the fact that they're family. And prime example is, I literally hear agents say things like, "I went to Google, looked up some regulations on my state, and then I looked up the template for an employee handbook and created it." And that's a big no-no. And thankfully, Gustus is actually able to help you with employee handbook creation and review to make sure that you are always compliant.

Yeah, agreed. That is a big no-no. We love Google, but for HR compliance, I don't recommend that. So on ComSeer, you have the option to build a new employee handbook with the help of HR-certified professionals. Employee handbook should be updated annually as states update and roll out new labor laws often. I'm speaking specifically about California. They are the most employee-friendly state. So once you've built an employee handbook through the Concierge Plan, you have that opportunity to review this annually with an HR Pro to ensure you're not missing any key policies. And then also on the Concierge Plan, you're getting proactive law alerts. So no need to wait for an annual review. You're getting those ahead of time instead of finding out later down the road that you should have had a policy in place.

So if, uh, let's say that a client does want to take advantage of this, uh, option right here, if they already have a handbook, uh, how would they go about actually either A, creating a new handbook with Gusto, or B, having Gusto take a look at their policies to see if they're compliant?

Yeah, so when it comes to the full employee handbook, if you already have one created, the concierge plan doesn't allow you to review an existing one, but they make it extremely easy to build again. So essentially, you can kind of take what you already have and build it out. But once you have it built through their plan, then you'll be able to review those separately. When it comes to policies, they can review your individual policies one by one. It's just the actual full employee handbook, since it would go through a lot of redlining and back and forth. Likely better just to go with the brand new one.

Perfect, perfect. Okay, and I'm getting some questions coming through right now on the cost of the handbook and how to go about that. At the end, we're actually going to show you exactly how to go about creating it and whatnot, and it's literally pennies on the dollar compared to how much it would cost to go through a lawyer or something like that. And yeah, it's very hands-on and Yeah, we'll elaborate on that later on as well. Now, the very next thing that we're going to be talking about is benefits. And for a lot of these benefits, we completely understand that you as insurance agents are able to offer these for your employees. Like, for example, the workers' comp, of course, health insurance, as well as life insurance. The only reason why we're bringing this up is to let you know that you do have the capability to have Gusto actually completely manage these benefits for you. And when it comes to things like the workers' comp, annual audit that you all have to do, those are things that are going to be completely taken out of your plate. And essentially Gusto is going to be taking care of them so that you can just focus only on running your business. So once again, we fully know that you can offer these, but if you want Gusto to just take it off your plate completely, then I would definitely recommend having Gusto manage them. I can tell you that even Club Capital has been fined for being late on the workers' comp audit, and it's literally our job. I can only imagine you being an agent where this is the last thing on your plate, how many times you may or may not be fined because of the fact that you complete forget to complete that. But once again, to elaborate on benefits, here's Madeline.

Cool. So we're really excited. We've rolled out some new benefits recently, and now really there's finally employee benefits for every business. So we've introduced no-cost and low-cost options that join our lineup of premium options. So this helps small businesses take care of their teams regardless of size, stage, or budget. So really, from a lineup perspective, you can see how the new benefits and our existing benefits line up. We do know that you're trying to balance cost and coverage. So this structure helps you find what you need and can afford quickly. All of these are available on any of the Gusto plans. So just something to keep in mind. But we will take time today to discuss our newest offerings, which is the health reimbursement powered by Qsara, and Gusto Wallet.

So what is QSEHRA?

Happy you asked. So QSEHRA is an affordable, flexible, and convenient health benefit option. Small employers can provide tax-free reimbursements to help their employees pay for health insurance. It's a great option for small businesses that find group health insurance unattainable. Those that simply aren't ready for that commitment and those that have remote employees and teams in multiple states that make it difficult to find the right health insurance plan. So I'm sure you're wondering, how do these work? So the employer chooses a monthly amount to contribute to their employees' health insurance. From there, employees actually self-serve. They bring their own eligible health insurance from the individual market they have the flexibility to choose the best plan that meets their needs. Employees get reimbursed tax-free. They submit their proof of insurance to Gusto. We review it, and once approved, the reimbursement is included in their next paycheck. Again, just one less thing that you're having to put on your plate, and you can in turn look to Gusto to do for you. And then lastly, at the end of the year, Gusto automatically handles all of your tax reporting and compliance.

So how do we get started?

So getting started is pretty straightforward. Um, really it does just take you to share information, learning more about the benefits in the benefits tab of your Gusto account. You'll also be able to reach out to myself or to Chris to get you aligned with a benefits advisor. From there, want to make sure you're advising on your contribution, so either club capital or the benefits advisor that you're aligned with will be able to help you choose a monthly reimbursement max to ensure that this is something that you can afford to provide to your employees. Last thing you want is to say you're going to provide a really high reimbursement and then look back and wish you didn't. So, and then lastly, really just setting up the health reimbursement. It literally takes 5 minutes to set up. So pretty straightforward and really easy to get move in if this is something for you.

Yep, so I do want to take a quick pause here and just go back to reimbursements and talk about that. Right now I'm seeing that a lot of agents are indeed trying to offer a benefit like this, but they do offer it by either increasing the employee's pay and just basically saying, hey, I'm going to give you like an extra $300 a month so that you can utilize it for, um, for health insurance. But realistically, when you do it that way, it's A, taxable, and B, it's money that, that it's money that they can utilize for anything that they want to do. With Qucera, they have to actually get an insurance plan in order for them to be eligible for it. And then on top of that, it's also the most compliant way of you doing things. So basically, you can do the exact same thing that you're doing today, but just do it properly through Qucera. Yeah, so we definitely recommend getting that set up, and I'll be more than happy to meet with you to show you how to get it set up as well. Now, my favorite part right here, it's definitely gonna be Gusto Wallet. I think it's gonna be incredibly beneficial, and this is legitimately going to be a benefit that you can add to your job postings, and it's not gonna cost you a single dollar. But after, after Matt After Madeline is done talking about this, you'll see why I specifically talked about it in the email blast that I sent you guys. So I'm pumped. So without further ado, let's get into it.

Yeah, I can definitely say I'm really excited about this too, Chris. Something that when they rolled it out internally, I got goosebumps listening to it because this is amazing. So we took a survey of employees on Gusto, not Gusto employees, but people that use Gusto, to find that financial insecurity is really affecting many people. So you'll see that 40% of employees don't have sufficient emergency funds. 41% say COVID has negatively impacted their financial situations, and 42% are stressed about their current financial sit— situation. Pretty scary times we're living in. So our country is suffering from a financial health crisis, and Gusto is uniquely positioned to offer better banking experiences to your employees. Having better underwriting models and recovery methods means that we can eliminate the need for payday loans and their predatory fees. Leveraging the new employee onboarding flow and encouraging employees to save for a rainy day can really make a difference. And supporting employees with better bank accounts that remove outrageous account fees, minimum fees, overdraft fees, and hidden fees can help them stretch their dollar further.

Yep. Before we go on any further, I will say that I have started using Gusto Wallet as well as Gusto Cash Out. And I'm not proud to say, but in the past I have taken payday loans before just because I've been in a pinch, and their interest rates are outrageous. I mean, I remember taking out a $2,000 loan and it ended up costing me more than $500 in interest, and I had it for like maybe 3 months. So the fact that this is actually now available is definitely super useful, and it will literally make employees more money than by keeping their money in a regular bank.

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm really excited to introduce Gusto Wallet. It's a simple app that helps you earn, save, spend, and borrow right within your Gusto account. So employees can create up to 5 automated savings goals. They get a free spending account and debit card that has their back. They can access up to $500 between paydays to cover unexpected expenses instantly, whereas cash out is next day, as well as view their pay stubs and split their paycheck. So pretty cool stuff. And now more than ever, it's really critical that employees have access to safe and simple financial solutions.

So what do the cash accounts look like? Yeah.

So through surveying employees, we know that many of them can benefit from a better banking experience, as well as support in improving their financial well-being. Not only that, Gusto is uniquely positioned to help as we have a great opportunity to encourage smart financial choices at critical life moments like new employee onboarding or when receiving a raise. So for those reasons, we've built a best-in-class banking experience for employees. And with savings goals, one of the most important parts of establishing financial footing is to save consistently over time. And so our employees now have access to simple savings tools right in Gusto, allowing them to save automatically from every paycheck. Not only that, accounts are fee-free and earn 8 times the national average on deposits. One thing I do want to call out here is that this isn't through Gusto. Gusto isn't a bank. That means that, you know, we are partnering with a bank in Kansas City to be able to offer this. And so when— say when an employee leaves your company or they no longer utilize Gusto, they're still going to have access to these funds. So don't worry there. They will always have access to their account number and routing number as well. So this is just a visual of kind of what your app would look like. So being able to quickly, you know, click in here, pick what you're saving. Saving for, make new goals, and then break out your paycheck to go to the appropriate savings accounts. And since having easy access to earnings and savings is critical, today we're excited to be launching our spending account and debit card as well. So the Sleek Gusto branded tap-to-pay debit card can be used in person, online, or at over 32,000 fee-free ATMs nationwide. It can also allow users to instantly cash out, as mentioned, instead of waiting for funds to arrive the next business day.

Yep, so it looks a lot like Apple Pay.

Yeah, very much so. And just like savings goals, spending accounts are built right into the Gusto Wallet app and on the web so users can manage their money on the go.

So, Thank you so much, Madeline, for coming here and enlightening us on the different topics that Gusto can help. Once again, pay, insure, onboard, and support the employees, as opposed to only be a tool for paying the employees. So without further ado, we definitely want to open up the floor for questions. And it looks like we do have some questions already. Let's just start from the top. What's the cost to actually build a handbook?

Yeah, so no cost other than upgrading to Concierge. So if you're already on Complete, the difference in price per month is $110 per month. So pretty, pretty small compared to going and paying for, like Chris mentioned earlier, an attorney. They like to pay per 15 minutes. So you have that opportunity to utilize that as well as the HR Resource Center and calling in to talk with people as well. So no extra cost.

Yep, and I do want to throw it out there as well that, you know, in the past we have seen people just take advantage of— basically use the concierge benefits whenever, you know, like whenever they need it. So just because of the fact that you're upgrading for 1 month, it doesn't mean that you have to stay on it. You can always go back to Complete, but I definitely do recommend doing this at least once a year just so that once again you're staying compliant with the laws that are coming out and that you're being proactive about HR as opposed to being reactive. And 9 times out of 10, when you are being reactive, it means that it's costing you money because by that point in time the damage has been done and employees are either coming after you or coming after another employee at the agency. I think that this is related to, uh, to Qucera. And I did have a client ask, can you give different amounts to different employees?

That one I'm going to have to check with a benefits advisor on. I'm not a licensed benefits advisor, so I'm going to take that one and circle back with Chris to have him email you. Looks like that's Roger's.

So let's see, another one that comes to mind is, when will Gusto allow time tracking for time off that isn't paid for?

Oh, that's something we're looking into currently. So don't have a timeframe, but they are working through opportunities for the PTO tracking to be more robust, including different types of PTO. So whether that be like the unpaid or bereavement, volunteer time off, things of that nature. So we're working through that. I would hope to say by the end of the year, actually.

And a quick, quick question. Right now, GUSO only offers benefits in some states, right? I believe— is West Virginia one of them?

We just rolled out 11 new states. Let me confirm. That is the goal, is to be in all states. Unfortunately, we're not in West Virginia yet, but we are currently in 38 states plus D.C., so we're getting there and we hear you. But QCERA actually is available in all 50 states, just not small group health insurance yet.

Got it. And let's see really quick, what about time tracking sheets that sync with Gusto? I believe that this is available like with TSheets and a few other platforms as well. Like, yeah, there's TSheets and a few other platforms that just— that don't come to mind, but Gusto itself also has employee time tracking.

Yep. So in the Complete and Concierge plans, we do have simple time tracking that allows your employees to clock in and clock out in gusto. They can clock in and clock out with projects too, if you were wanting to say they spent a specific amount of time, whether it be on admin work or a specific client they're working on. So that is becoming more and more robust. So feel free to take a look at that. We can send you the video of the demo of our Simple Time Tracking afterwards. But then also we do integrate with 11 different time tracking solutions now.

Cool. And what about— looks like a client is asking if employees can print off the handbooks and docs that may be private to the employer.

The documents are downloadable. So similar to what most companies do is printing off those documents to provide to employees. And so this is something kind of across the board. There isn't a way to suppress that option to download, but it is something that, that is the employee's document to review.

Right. And when it comes to Clocking in and out, simple clocking in and out. Are employers able to print out the timesheets in the event that they have to go to like a labor board?

Hmm, that's a good question. I don't believe so yet, but let me double-check on that and I'll get back to you.

And also upgrading to, to Gossakan Synergy is really straightforward. You literally just have to go to Change My Plan right here. And then you'll see the current plan that you're on, and then you simply select Concierge. So it'll tell you current plan, and then you would simply select Concierge, click Select Plan, and then it'll tell you by how much your monthly bill will change, and then you agree, and that's it. Really, really straightforward.

Yes, and when you upgrade in-app, um, you actually get access to that next tier right away. Whereas if you're downgrading, you have access until the end of the month. So say like, for example, Chris mentioned you can upgrade and downgrade month to month. Let's say you're on Concierge and you decide, okay, I got everything figured out, I feel good. Um, you can downgrade, but you will have that until the end of the current calendar month.

Any other questions, team?

Looks like we answered everything. I am going to follow up on the different amounts for QSEHRA as well as the downloadable timesheets, and then I'll circle back with Chris to send those answers back to you.

Yep. And one thing that I also cannot stress enough is when it comes to Qusera, definitely speak with your account manager, aka Club Capital, to find out how much money you can actually afford to put aside. Just because of the fact that we don't want to put you in a situation where you promise employees an amount that, financially speaking, you cannot afford. So definitely speak to us so that we can help you, you know, come up with the amount that you should be offering to your employees.

And another call out from the Gusto side for benefits. Anytime you want to learn more, you have that opportunity. There's no obligation to move forward on any benefits. So even if you just wanted to talk through it and understand more, I'd be more than happy to find you that person too, so you can get a better understanding.

All right, looks like there's no more questions. We're going to be sending over a recap email as well as a recording of this. So if any questions do come along, definitely feel free to reach out, and I will be more than happy to assist you all. Thank you so much for attending, and have a great day.

Thanks, guys.