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Affordable Care Act Penalty Assessment: Received an IRS 226-J Notice?

Oct 2, 2019
1 min

Affordable Care Act Penalty Assessment: Received an IRS 226-J Notice?

If your business received a 226-J letter from the IRS, you’re not alone. The 226-J is the initial letter issued to Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) to notify them that they may be liable for an ACA penalty. An ALE is any company that employs, on average, 50 or more full time employees or full-time equivalent employees for the prior calendar year. Below is an example of the 226-J notice one of our clients received. We were able to build a successful strategy that eliminated

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Answering the most commonly asked ACA questions

Sep 25, 2019
3 min

Answering the most commonly asked ACA questions

With year end quickly approaching it’s time to get ready for the 2019 ACA reporting requirements NOW if you employee more than 50 full-time or full-time equivalent employees. The easiest way to do this is through your payroll company since they already store most of the needed information. Be careful, because a lot of payroll vendors have deadlines, meaning you cannot purchase or implement the software at the last minute. Some of these deadlines may be as soon as October. ADP

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Over 100 Employees? Time Is Running Out!

Sep 19, 2019
2 min

Over 100 Employees? Time Is Running Out!

With “Component 1” in the rearview mirror, it’s time to prepare for part 2 which is due September 30th (and is far more complex). With many questions and confusion surrounding “Component 2” of the EEO-1 filing I decided to head to my local EEOC office in search of answers. Unfortunately, I left the EEOC office with no further clarification than what I went in with. Instead, it became apparent that the EEO-1 filing due September 30th was going to be a bumpy ride. Some of the c

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ADP Implementation Case Study

Sep 5, 2019
2 min

ADP Implementation Case Study

Background: Private Equity backed 800 employee management services company with a portfolio of over 50 practices. Client was looking to build and implement a scalable HCM system that provided support for their rapid growth. The client was previously using Ceridian as their HCM vendor but decided moving to ADP WorkforceNow would be a better fit Situation: The client opted to implement in stages, with the first deliverable being payroll and time & attendance, but the deadline w

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Like Yelp, but for Payroll Software: a ranking of customer reviews (Part 2)

Aug 29, 2019
2 min

Like Yelp, but for Payroll Software: a ranking of customer reviews (Part 2)

In our first post we discussed the importance of reviews from other end-user as you determine the best HCM software for your business. For these rankings we’re using softwareadvice.com, a review site that has compiled customer feedback that we’ll summarize and rank below. It’s important to note that, while there are many Payroll/HR vendors to choose from, we are only focusing on the best of the best. The vendors listed below are whom we recommend to our clients as they look t

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Like Yelp, but for Payroll Software: a ranking of customer reviews

Aug 23, 2019
2 min

Like Yelp, but for Payroll Software: a ranking of customer reviews

When choosing the best HCM software for your business, much like any big purchase, it helps to see what other users think. While you won’t find any reviews on Yelp, there are other trustworthy alternatives to turn to. Softwareadvice.com has compiled customer reviews that we’ll summarize and rank below. It’s important to note that, while there are many Payroll/HR vendors to choose from, we are only focusing on the best of the best. The vendors listed below are whom we recommen

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3 Reasons Why Payroll NPS Won’t Improve Any Time Soon

Aug 15, 2019
3 min

3 Reasons Why Payroll NPS Won’t Improve Any Time Soon

The Net Promoter Score is one of the most useful tools in measuring customers’ willingness to recommend a company’s product or service. The index ranges from -100 to 100; to put this into perspective, a score below 0 is not good and anything above 50 would be considered great. Heartland recently published the NPS scores for some of the most popular payroll vendors and the results left a lot to be desired. There are three reasons why these scores probably won’t improve much: 1

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There are too many companies unnecessarily going under the knife!

Jul 31, 2019
2 min

There are too many companies unnecessarily going under the knife!

It’s late at night, dark, and you’re walking down a flight of stairs when you miss a step and land awkwardly, hurting your back. As you stand there in pain, what’s your next thought? You’re probably thinking about giving it some rest, maybe doing some light stretching in a few days, and then seeing a doctor if things don’t improve. You’re probably not thinking “let me call an orthopedic surgeon to schedule a procedure to fix this.” The commonsense approach is to start with th

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Case Study: Part 2 | 12 Common PEO Myths Debunked

Jul 17, 2019
2 min

Case Study: Part 2 | 12 Common PEO Myths Debunked

Myth 5: A PEO Replaces HR Personnel This myth applies mostly to medium-sized employers who work with PEOs, as many smaller employers don’t have a dedicated HR employee. Mid-sized employers, though, might even have an HR team. So, if the business partners with a PEO, do these team members lose their jobs? Not at all! Just because a business brings on a PEO to handle certain HR responsibilities doesn’t mean they have to replace current HR personnel. As a matter of fact, a PEO c

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Case Study: Part 1 | 12 Common PEO Myths Debunked

Jul 9, 2019
3 min

Case Study: Part 1 | 12 Common PEO Myths Debunked

As HR has grown more time-consuming and expensive for employers (especially small and medium-sized businesses), owners have increasingly turned to outsourcing. But over the last 15 years, one solution in particular has grown in popularity—professional employer organizations (PEO). In case you are unfamiliar with PEOs, they are firms that allow small and medium-sized companies to outsource most of their HR management responsibilities such as: • Payroll • Employee benefits • HR

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Affordable Care Act Penalty Assessment: Received an IRS 226-J Notice?

Jun 17, 2019
1 min

Affordable Care Act Penalty Assessment: Received an IRS 226-J Notice?

If your business received a 226-J letter from the IRS, you’re not alone. The 226-J is the initial letter issued to Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) to notify them that they may be liable for an ACA penalty. An ALE is any company that employs, on average, 50 or more full time employees or full-time equivalent employees for the prior calendar year. Below is an example of the 226-J notice one of our clients received. We were able to build a successful strategy that eliminated

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EEOC Part 2

Jun 10, 2019
2 min

EEOC Part 2

With “Component 1” in the rearview mirror, it’s time to prepare for part 2 which is due September 30th (and is far more complex). With many questions and confusion surrounding “Component 2” of the EEO-1 filing I decided to head to my local EEOC office in search of answers. Unfortunately, I left the EEOC office with no further clarification than what I went in with. Instead, it became apparent that the EEO-1 filing due September 30th was going to be a bumpy ride. Some of the c

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A Potential Ticking Time Bomb? EEO-1 Report due May 31st

May 16, 2019
2 min

A Potential Ticking Time Bomb? EEO-1 Report due May 31st

If you haven’t heard of the EEO-1 Report and you employ more than 100 employees, then get ready… because there’s about to be another compliance responsibility on your to-do list. The EEO-1 Report is a compliance survey mandated by federal statute that requires company employment data to be categorized by race/ethnicity, gender, and job category. Click here for a sample report The suggested method for collecting this demographic information is via survey, ideally as part of th

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Outdated Technology

May 13, 2019
1 min

Outdated Technology

An SMB organization’s HCM technology isn’t the problem in many situations; the deployment and buildout are. However, this is not always the case and there are certain times when a switch is needed. According to Business Forward, efficiency gains (particularly those around employee self-service) lead the way as the top reason that employers are looking to change technology vendors. With a changing demographic entering the workforce, mobile technology and self-service are becom

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Brokers That Don’t Pull Their Own Weight

Apr 23, 2019
2 min

Brokers That Don’t Pull Their Own Weight

A good health insurance broker is worth its weight in gold. Many small and mid-sized organizations lack internal resources due to budget constraints. This is where the innovative companies win: by rethinking the way they deploy external resources to supplement their teams, keeping overhead low, and running lean. These organizations turn to their brokers. There have been several factors in the last 10 years, led by the Affordable Care Act, that have changed who brokers work wi

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Retail & Wholesale Case Study

Apr 8, 2019
2 min

Retail & Wholesale Case Study

THE CHALLENGE Scaling the Operation: Scaling the operation was a mission critical priority but the leadership team was overwhelmed with administrative tasks. Their HR challenges became prohibitive to their ability to serve growing customer demand which included opening a new warehouse closer to the manufacturer. The project was delayed time and time again and the potential to reduce costs in their supply chain was never realized and ultimately this trickled into their sales r

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Incomplete Implementations

Apr 1, 2019
2 min

Incomplete Implementations

After surveying a leading HCM technology vendor, we found that almost 75% of mid-sized organizations have not completely built out the platform they are paying for. As a result, organizations are using only the most tactical modules such as the payroll processing engine. In fact, the technology that drove the purchasing decision is oftentimes not the one being used. This may lead to another unnecessary RFP process when the answer is already in place. Below is an example of wh

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WhitePaper: Why HR Technology Is Costing Your Business Way More Than You Think.

Mar 28, 2019
5 min

WhitePaper: Why HR Technology Is Costing Your Business Way More Than You Think.

Four Challenges To Be On The Lookout For INTRODUCTION Let’s start with a story that might sound familiar: After many years of running payroll manually you have a conversation with your CPA who suggests a certain HCM (Human Capital Management) vendor as a solution to automate and outsource. Understandably, you’re hesitant because you’ve tried this before only to switch back after the poor experience. You think that maybe this time is different, so you meet with the sales rep a

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ROI Calculations That Don't Add Up

Mar 14, 2019
1 min

ROI Calculations That Don't Add Up

Most HCM technology sales professionals can put together an ROI calculation using the factors listed below, but how many are following up post-implementation to validate their estimates? In the SMB market segment, there is often a gap between sales, implementation, and service that leads to projects not being completed as envisioned. An objective independent resource to help hold vendors accountable to their promises may be beneficial to ensure the ROI is in line with what is

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Welcome to HCM Unlocked!

Mar 10, 2019
1 min

Welcome to HCM Unlocked!

At HCM Unlocked, we help businesses unlock their full potential by building, fixing, or overhauling their Payroll and HR technologies. Follow us for more updates as we unlock the benefits of Human Capital Management. Follow us on LinkedIn today! #HCMunlocked #HCM #HR #Payroll #HumanCapitalManagement www.HCMunlocked.com

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