with Gusto!
*This is not sponsored content.
I remember the afternoon well, sitting in my makeshift home office, with what seemed to be a gazillion papers scattered around the floor. Overwhelming does not begin to explain what I was feeling. My business had taken off, far sooner than expected, and I had to hire and scale fast. I never thought about the administration of paying a team and how to handle the accounting. The paperwork scattered about was all the documents that needed to be completed from various government departments per employee and instructions from my accounting software on all the steps that needed to be taken to handle payroll and taxes. My head was swimming and all I could ask myself was, “where is my magic wand and why am I the admin?”
I made it through that moment and hired 6 employees by what I now call “the old fashion way.” I imagine I will tell my grandkids one day about how “it used to be done.” I did it reluctantly, swearing I would find a solution before my next hire.
I don’t recall how the magic wand for payroll, Gusto, came to my attention but when it did, I did not hesitate. Not only did it automate the process and eliminate paper, but it also offered services I didn’t think I had access to as a small business. And, it paid my payroll taxes without me having to do a thing! I’m all about automation and creating systems so that I could work ON my business, not on administrative duties, and this was the start to my “obsession” with Gusto.
In addition, I believe employee experience is part of a business’s growth strategy (and just the human thing to do). Gusto made the process fun, engaging, and everyone looked forward to their emails from Gusto with the pay stub. When it was time to file personal taxes, no one had to wait for me to get them their paperwork. They could just log into their Gusto account and get what they needed.
If you have employees or are getting ready to hire, give yourself a little self-care and implement payroll software to take care of things for you. There are several good ones on the market, and my favorite is Gusto.
Here are my and my team’s favorite things about Gusto:
New hire onboarding made easy – from offer letters, e-signs, collecting information, and even setting up access to your systems.
Auto files payroll taxes.
Deducts benefits and/or offers benefit packages (this was a game changer for me!)
Various auto saving opportunities for employees that otherwise are impossible to offer as a small business.
The fun emails in our inboxes with pay notifications.
Kept up with vacation requests and policies automatically.
Stored everyone's paperwork so no printing was necessary.
The “on the go” app to reference your pay information anywhere.
The fun prompts that reminded me what to do and when to do it.
The reporting is amazeballs with graphs and lovely visuals to make everything crystal clear.
Give it a whirl and let me know what you think. Their website also has some great calculators and tools under the Resources page. It is well worth the $6-$12 you will pay each month per employee. It saved me far more than that in time and accounting costs. For reference, I used the $6/month plan. You can thank me later for the magic wand! I’d love to hear from you if you implement Gusto or another online service.
Amanda Forrester, business owner and Director, Roanoke Regional SBDC