Steve with Southland Data Processing

Well, hey, it's been quite a technical challenge, but, Steve, we are live. Welcome to HR Power Hour with Steve Mc man from Southland Data Processing. Hey, Steve, how's it going?

Going. Going well, Jeff, and just kudos to you. One of your many talents is, is moving around, finding, finding a media that will allow us to conduct this show.

Well, thank goodness they didn't say, is there a pilot on the plane?

We might have all plunged to our, our deaths, but this is, this is not as critical. We're just talking about HR and payroll with Steve Mann from Southland Data Process. You can see he's a director of regional sales. Steve, you know, today, if. I know we've, we've done this over several weeks and I'm just curious. Your topic today is really kind of, you know, it's almost like you receive, you receive a gift or let's say you didn't buy something. I've had this happen. There's a client that I work with and I'll receive something from them and I'll open up, I'll take out the item I'm expecting. But then there are goodies in there that I wasn't expecting, and it always leaves a nice warm fuzz feeling for me. It makes me want to go back and do more business with them. Tell me a little bit about Southland Data Processing and how you guys put more goodies in the box when we open it up as a customer.

So. Great analogy, Jeff. And so there are some things, and for lack of a better term, let's just say it's free stuff, complimentary services that are included with our. Any basic payroll service that, that clients sign up for. And I think that just generally speaking, they all contribute to employee retention, which I think is something that should be a priority, a concern for any business, large or small. So in no particular order, I'll lead off with talking about our discount marketplace, which we call Benefit Hub. And essentially what it is is that it's, as the name implies, there's coupons, deals that are offered. And so it's something that. It's an online marketplace, employees. And again, free to the employer. They just have to ask to have it activated. And it can be activated. Employees state their preferences and then based on that, they see certain deals, coupons, things that come up. So they customize it to their preferences, their geography, things like that. So it can be anything from pet insurance, restaurant coupons.

Travel, travel discounts. And I would say that, you know, since we are here in Southern California, the most, the most popular item is Disneyland Tickets. But I think, again, that's something that it's a little bit of a perk that, hey, as far as the employees know, maybe it's something that the employee that their employer is paying for. And how nice of their employer to offer some different ways to allow them to enjoy their leisure time, you know, a little more.

So these are, so these are connected resources you have outside.

Of Southland Data Processing, as I mentioned.

That's. That's correct. All these, the benefit Hub. And then the next two services that I'm going to explain to you are just want to say our, our partners services that are provided by, by Southland Data Processing. Stp, we can say STP for short. You know, moving on, our partners. And so the second item that I'll talk about is we call it wages on demand. It allows employees to access their already earned wages before their next scheduled payroll. I think almost every employer that I talk to, I'd say, you know, large or small, you know, I asked, have any of your employees ever asked for an advance? You know, saying, hey, unexpected bill came up, you know, can I get paid a little earlier? Can I get something? And almost all of them say yes, that, that, that, you know, someone has asked. And it, I think, goes without saying, makes for a bit of an awkward conversation. And, but, but this is something that, you know, one of our financial services partners sets up. So this is between the partner and the employee. The employee never gets involved. So again, they would just ask for the service to be activated. And employees are allowed to access up to $200 a day. And then this is money that will be. It's integrated with payroll, so the appropriate taxes will be taken out when, when the next, when the next payroll runs.

So wait a minute, Steve. So what you're saying is if I were an employer, I could say, hey, this is a benefit as an employee. And now if I were the employee and I need to say, hey, you know what? Unexpectedly, I have to go to a funeral and I need to buy some, you know, airplane tickets on Thursday. I don't get paid till Friday. I can now Access this through SDP and access up to $200 a day.

And without having to go through HR or payroll. It's taken care of.

That's exactly right. So everybody's happy, because that's fantastic. Yeah. Needless to say, the employer doesn't want to get involved in something like that. They don't want to be asked. And I think employees, there's probably, for every employee that's asked, there are probably other employees that ask, but that were afraid to ask. They didn't ask, but they were afraid to. And I think the reality, just quoting some statistics, 63% of millennials live paycheck to paycheck. And I think another thing with millennials is they, they have this idea, hey, I earned my money. That money's mine. Why can't I access it now? Why do I have to wait till next Friday? So this is something that I think is very consistent with the, you know, providing something, providing something very quickly. And then I think the other thing. So again, contributing to employee retention, because this is something that could be seen as a great, as a great perk. You know, maybe a main employee working at a restaurant that's getting paid, say $15 an hour, maybe they're offered $17 an hour from the restaurant down the street. But they say, but, you know, I like the ability to access, be able to access my wages early if an emergency arises. I think the other thing is, is this also from the employer's perspective, it contributes positively to employee productivity because, let's face it, if an employee has some short term cash flow issues, something like that, that is bound to affect a person's level of concentration, their focus on their work. So just knowing that they don't have that issue, I think will allow them to. Studies have shown they will be more productive because, because they'll just be more focused on their job, free from that, you know, financial concern.

And Steve, as I understand it. So what you're saying is this is part of. If I'm a client of STPS and I have my payroll set up through you, this is part of a perk, if you will.

That's right. Again, all the employer has to ask for is for this service to be activated. And we will do that.

Okay. How could you not have that in your back pocket? Just in case? I mean, as someone who hires people from all over the world, a digital marketing company, you know, one of the nuances that I had to get used to is, you know, if I had somebody deliver something to me, they were expecting to be paid right then it wasn't two weeks, it wasn't in a week. It was like, hey, I've issued my, I've issued my, my invoice, I've delivered on my product, I expect to be paid right now. And that is a, that is a mind shift for an employer. And so now when you take that to a local basis, now it's like, no big deal. Hey, just go in there and do this and this, and you can access your funds and away you go. Yeah, yeah, I love that. What else you got going on?

Okay, so the last service I'd like to talk about is actually one that well might start out being more for the employer, but the employee is certainly bound to benefit as well. And that is short term financing that would allow a business with temporary cash flow issues to make payroll. I think this is particularly.

Helpful to businesses that well for one thing pay weekly and that's commonly home care construction. And then I say especially with home care as, as we all know, sometimes you know, they, they rely on.

Reimbursements, payments of claims for, to, to, to pay, pay their caregivers and sometimes that can be a little slow and, and then I think there's even other businesses.

You know, maybe there's a perception that oh, this is maybe a fly by night business that, that has cash flow issues and, and you know, having, having issues. This is a service that plenty of businesses that you would consider to be, you know, large, you know, 100 employees or more with, with large payrolls, thriving businesses that you know, can, can benefit from. So it's put on by one of our financial services, again a different financial service partner. And in this instance all they need to do is go to the website to, to apply. It's something that the approval, pre approval can be done probably within five minutes online and this is something that we encourage people to do and once you're approved just, it can just sit there as, as something of a.

Protection, you know, a safeguard if heaven forbid, ever approach some point where maybe you need some, a temporary.

You know, temporary cash to cover payroll. And I think the rates are very.

Reasonable and yeah, I mean I think that's, that, that's basically it. So again, you know, maybe ostensibly helps the employer, but certainly the employees benefit from payroll being paid on time.

You know, I can, I can think of a situation where let's say you're somebody who is heavily dependent on Medicare and insurance payments and you know, neither one of those, I, I think pay like right on time. Yet if you have a staff of employees, if you're a doctor, if you will, and maybe you do varicose veins, you know, and that's your ideal client, your staff that works there, you know, they expect to be paid and if there's a delay in those payments from Medicare or the insurance, I can see how that could help to step in, bridge that grab, bridge that gap without some, you know, I'm going to say really expensive carrying costs and just run that shift smoothly like there's no problem. And then just keep on going. Because I can imagine the stress of that employer who all of a sudden has to cover payroll and they're short, but let's say, have all this credit in the bank, if you will. The money that's supposed to be coming in has not been delivered yet. Steve. I think that's another great benefit that quite frankly, you know, we think of payroll companies from standpoint of giving benefits to the clients and their customers, or I should say their, their employees. We don't think beyond, hey, getting our check on time and doing taxes and payroll. We don't think of that. But just the services you mentioned today are huge.

I, I can, I, I, I can see that being something that if, if you're a small business out there in Southern California and you, with where you can reach out to Steve, you know, I, I can see where you say, hey, I need to know more about that. Besides, what else do you offer? Because you guys have been out for what, 38 years. You're, you're located out here in the Southern California, in the upland area, which is not too far down the road from where we are here in Southern California in the Coachella Valley. And you know, why not do that? It makes so much sense.

Yes, could, couldn't agree more, Jeff. And then I would say is maybe just to touch upon some other things that we have talked about. You know, these are things that we typically ask about when we're in the consultation phase. We, as mentioned before, we offer a complimentary consultation to meet with folks and we also.

Commit to answering any question from people, even if they're not our clients. So anyone has any questions about any of these services that, that I've mentioned, if I want to discuss if maybe there's any fine print that they, that they think might exist, you know, would be happy to, happy to engage in the discussion about that.

Well, you know, what I'd like to do is, I'd like to, I'd like to, let's see, I want to put in the chat over here in, on YouTube.

To contact.

Your number.

Steve is.

So I'm going to give you, My direct number is 909-239-2653.

Great. And then it's email.

Email is steve.man m a n N and I'm going to give a new email, Jeff, moving forward because that also touches upon our recent acquisition. So It's Steve, man, PayEntry P A Y E N T R-Y dot com.

Okay, so that, that brings something up New like Pay Entry. Tell us about that. I see that when I looked at your website, it says, you know, it is, it is something different. Yes.

And so I, I think what we say and I'm maybe I'm in the way of my, my little logo there, but so we're now known as Southland Data Processing and MPAY company. And MPAY is, is a holding company of sorts for a company called Pay Entry, which is also like, like sdp, a, a payroll provider. And so I, I think in a manner of speaking we've joined forces Pay Entries on the east coast based in, based in North Carolina where as, as you noted, we're here on the, on the west coast, you know, covering Southern California, Inland Empire and looking to just take kind of take care of the needs of, you know, again, I think the collective needs of smaller businesses, you know, businesses, you know, under, under 100 employees is where we really tend to shine.

Well, Steve, thank you so much for joining us today. And you know, these are, these are uncovering. You know, it's a lot of times when you do a handshake and you're meeting somebody at a, at a, let's say a networking event or you know, chamber of commerce, you don't get a chance to really kind of pull the curtains back and say, hey, what really is behind the curtains and what's going on at your company today? You've shared some things that are, I think when you say they're benefits to the employer, there are also benefits to the employee. The whole idea of, hey, all the partners. Oh, I want to ask you something. Your partners that you do benefits through, like you said, the Disneyland type of thing. Are those things that, that are ongoing, do they change? Do you find new partners? Is it a seasonal thing? Tell us about that.

Well, I think.

I think partners are always subject to change. I mean, I think we have some long standing partners and, and probably for, for certain more critical things. And as an example going back to the, the acquisition by MPay, we, we were partners with MPay since 1990, 1997. We actually licensed their, their payroll processing technology. So I think there are certain partners that it's important to stick with them and you know, be stable, not, not change around too much. But I think that said, we're always looking for, we're always looking to, to improve partners that can help us. We're very committed to serving our customers. So we look, you know, we want to have like minded folks, partners that, that share that same passion for, for serving, you know, for serving clients and communities being very responsive. You know, again, I think people that are, that are local that.

You actually have the opportunity to meet in person. That's one thing I take some pride in is I'm, I try to be very visible in the Valley. I try to meet people in person, you know, you know, whenever possible. So I think just to let folks know that, hey, we're, we're real people and, and we're here for them. So I love it.

Well, again, Steve, thank you so much for, for being here on the show today and filling in some of the gaps. And again, Steve's number is 909-239-2653 or you can email at. Steve, you might make note of this because it is a new one. Is steve.man m a n n@pay entry. That's p a Y-E-N-T-R-Y.com Steve, any last minutes, any last thoughts before we go? It's going to be 113 degrees outside, I'm noticing. Right. 110 and sunny outside. How about that?

Yeah, pretty, pretty incredible.

We'll be cool out there soon.