Qualified.com

Overcoming a trifecta of HR complexities

Qualified initially worked with a smaller administrative services organization (ASO) for payroll services and light HR functions which David described as a “solution that made sense at the time when the company first started, but everything was pieced together.” Their ASO provided limited HR expertise so much of the manual work required to administer complex HR functions like sponsoring benefits, workers’ compensation coverage and employment-related compliance fell on the Qualified leadership team. “It was a daunting task and took up a lot of our management team’s time,” said David. “For a growing company, it's a lot of research and responsibility to make sure we’re in compliance with employment regulations in every state.” Although they’re headquartered in San Francisco, their team is comprised of remote employees located across North America.

Goal #1: Get HR out of the executives’ hands

Qualified soon realized that the abundance of manual HR tasks around benefits administration, multiple state payroll tax filing requirements and managing a variety of vendors’ solutions was becoming a full-time job, yet it wasn’t a role they desired to internally fill. They needed an outsourced HR solution with a broader scope and a single, comprehensive HR platform to flex with their growing needs. “Getting HR out of the executives' hands to free them up to strategically manage the company was a really important thing that we were looking to do,” said David. By working with TriNet, David and his team no longer need to scrutinize various government websites for employment regulation requirements and correctly navigating HR-related risks. TriNet stays abreast of employment-related regulatory changes and provides timely updates so the Qualified team can have peace of mind. “TriNet does a great job handling that for us,” said David.

Goal #2: Offer access to a range of employee benefits that compete with large employers

Qualified also shares a challenge all too familiar among tech organizations that are rapidly scaling—competing for top talent who possess the skills required to push the envelope. “You want to be able to get the best employees, and when you do get them, you want to be able to offer them large company benefits. That’s something that TriNet was able to provide,” said David. Access to a variety of benefit plans from regional and national insurance carriers is an important recruiting and retention tool, especially as their employees are located in multiple states. “We're all living in a pandemic right now, and making sure that you have access to proper health benefits and other benefits that can cover you in case the need arises has been a resonating question across a lot of the candidates that we interviewed,” acknowledged David. The Qualified team can now tout that their offering includes access to an extensive range of benefits that go beyond health care plans, including access to retirement plans, pet insurance, critical accident and illness policies, commuter benefits, among many more. “Having the ability to offer a variety of benefits to our employees has given them peace of mind and has made us more competitive when we're looking for top talent at our stage,” said David.

Goal #3: Seamlessly onboard multiple employees each month

Qualified recently achieved a significant milestone by raising $12 million in Series A funding and doubled the size of their team to help them continue to deliver the leading conversational marketing platform. David is at the forefront of managing this growth by ensuring proper onboarding processes with support of TriNet technology. “The ability to quickly, seamlessly onboard our employees with TriNet has definitely been one of the more helpful things for us,” said David. The TriNet online self-service platform empowers new Qualified employees to easily manage their own HR data such as updating personal information, enrolling in benefits, electing direct deposit, reviewing company policies and completing their Form I-9, to name a few tasks. “TriNet has made our life easier with hiring one or two employees every month,” said David. “With handling both finance and operations, it's really nice to have the TriNet technology platform that has everything centralized in one place that I can access.” David can now focus on ensuring his new employees are comfortable and have access to the information they need. The ease of onboarding applies to foreign national employees as well. “With TriNet, the ability to add an international individual and seamlessly set them up factored into our design-making. We thought that was going to be a big pain point, but TriNet easily solved that,” said David. The TriNet Immigration Services team understands processes involved in hiring foreign nationals, applying for work visas and permits for newly hired Qualified employees, and renewing them for existing employees.

Expertise to give the Qualified team answers when they need them

TriNet understands that not all HR functions can be completed through an online platform and a more personalized experience is often needed. “Their HR experts, which is TriNet customer support, have been very amazing as far as onboarding goes and when it comes to critical questions for our employees. For example, we had one employee who had questions about maternity leave, others have questions on policies around returning to the office, safety and regulations as a result of COVID-19,” said David. “Having access to these experts and getting those questions answered quickly is a huge value point that we appreciate because it's a task that is quickly solved so that you can focus on other things.”

Qualified’s mission is clear. They are focused on “being the number one conversational platform for Salesforce customers,” notes David. “TriNet gives us the ability to scale fast and allows us to focus on our core business, as they help with HR compliance, reporting, onboarding, a lot of those things.”