ScalePEO Review: Pros, Cons, & Everything in Between

At a Glance

Established in 2017, ScalePEO is a forward-thinking Professional Employer Organization (PEO) dedicated to simplifying and streamlining various aspects of business operations, including payroll processing, human resources consulting, risk management, workers' compensation, and employee benefits administration.

They empower businesses to enhance their employee benefit packages, enabling them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Fortune 500 companies. Additionally, they’ve earned accreditation from the Employer Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC) thanks to their dedication to streamlining operations, alleviating administrative burdens, and boosting efficiency, empowering businesses to thrive in today's fiercely competitive landscape.

Industries & Businesses

ScalePEO extends its services to cater specifically to small and medium-sized businesses with employee counts ranging from 20 to 1000. ScalePEO is an ideal choice for any business falling within this category seeking these integrated services, making it a valuable partner for their needs. They collaborate with brokers to offer solutions to clients, providing broker-friendly support.

Additionally, ScalePEO boasts a team of professional advisors and experts with extensive industry knowledge in HR, benefits, and various related areas, ensuring you receive top-notch assistance and guidance.

Services 

ScalePEO offers a wide range of services designed to simplify HR operations and empower businesses. From streamlining HR tasks and payroll services to providing top-tier benefits and ensuring compliance, ScalePEO's state-of-the-art technology and expert team have you covered. 

HR tools: Scale is committed to lightening your workload by providing essential features, such as onboarding new hires and nurturing current employees, both of which are key to the success of every business. With a highly skilled team of certified human resource professionals at your disposal, Scale can manage all aspects of HR, from tackling repetitive administrative tasks to empowering your employees to concentrate on crucial areas like employee retention and professional development.

Payroll: ScalePEO promises "fast, efficient, and secure” payroll services to all its clients, ensuring consistent, timely, and accurate processing. Their payroll offerings include automated deposits for punctual employee payments, the flexibility for one-off payments to address changes and corrections, meticulous payroll tax filings, and precise handling of W-2 and 1099 forms. Regardless of your workforce's diversity in schedules and pay rates, whether full-time, part-time, salaried, or hourly, ScalePEO's payroll services are designed to cater to all employee types. If you decide to move your payroll, they have a team dedicated to ensuring that the process goes smoothly.

Benefits: Scale aims to provide comprehensive benefits for all your employees, regardless of your company's size. They offer world-class benefits aimed at ensuring your workforce's health, productivity, and satisfaction, including top-notch 401(k) plans.

Compliance: Navigating the complex landscape of legal requirements in your industry can be very difficult. However, ScalePEO takes the burden off your shoulders by staying up-to-date with federal and state employment regulations and handling the compliance legwork for you. Such compliance services will include alerting you to pressing matters to help you avoid fines, receiving quick answers, or guiding you through delicate matters.

Up-to-date technology: ScalePEO's technology empowers businesses to optimize their HR operations, minimize risk, and enhance productivity, enabling business owners to dedicate their attention to business growth. The platform provides easy-to-use, cloud-based solutions for payroll, benefits, HR, workers' compensation, and compliance, liberating valuable time and resources for businesses to refocus on their core priorities. Furthermore, ScalePEO's technology grants businesses access to tailored benefits and services crafted to attract and retain employees, ultimately boosting engagement and reducing employee turnover.

How Does the Company Work?

ScalePEO is an Human Capital Management (HCM) platform that simplifies various aspects of HR for businesses. To get started, you can schedule a chat with one of ScalePEO's specialists, who will assess your business needs and introduce you to the platform's features. If it seems like a good fit, you'll receive a quote based on their plans, and work with the Scale team to select benefits and finalize the proposal.

ScalePEO provides a range of tailored plans to cater to businesses of all sizes. These plans—Core, Plus, and Complete—are thoughtfully designed to meet varying business needs.

Core plan: Their Core plan encompasses essential services such as payroll processing and tax filing. Additionally, it grants access to the ScalePEO platform, offering employee self-service features that include online onboarding, benefits plan comparison and enrollment, mobile timekeeping, and electronic time-off requests.

Plus plan: Building on the Core plan, the Plus plan introduces comprehensive HR support. This includes the creation of an employee handbook, assistance with HR compliance matters, and access to HR consulting services. It's an ideal choice for businesses seeking to bolster their HR capabilities.

Complete plan: For businesses seeking comprehensive solutions, the Complete plan offers all the features of the Plus plan and goes further by providing access to a dedicated HR consultant, enhancing employee training and development opportunities, and facilitating performance management processes. This plan is tailored for businesses looking to optimize HR functions and employee development.

How Much Does It Cost?

Similar to many PEOs, Scale typically refrains from disclosing specific pricing details on their website or in their promotional materials. This practice is common within the industry because PEO services are typically adaptable, and costs can significantly vary depending on the unique needs and specifications of each client's business. 

For an accurate understanding of the expenses associated with ScalePEO's services, potential clients are encouraged to contact the company directly, where their team can provide comprehensive pricing quotes and discuss options tailored to each client's specific needs.

Advantages & Perks

ScalePEO offers a range of valuable services that streamline processes and enhance efficiency for businesses, including professional HR guidance, a user-friendly mobile app, efficient employee tracking, and expert implementation assistance.

Professional HR guidance

ScalePEO supplies its clients with a team of certified HR professionals, which offers invaluable support to businesses. They extend unlimited access to their expertise, assisting with inquiries and aiding in the creation of tailored handbooks, letters, forms, and job descriptions. This resource proves highly valuable by aiding businesses in adhering to labor laws and steering clear of potentially expensive HR oversights.

Mobile app convenience

ScalePEO presents a user-friendly mobile application, granting employees convenient access to vital HR information like benefits and pay stubs, regardless of their location. This accessibility serves to enhance employee engagement and productivity, enabling easy access to crucial HR resources.

Efficient employee tracking

The ScalePEO mobile application also boasts an employee time and attendance tracking feature. This feature simplifies time management for businesses, resulting in time savings and reducing the likelihood of errors in attendance records.

Expert implementation assistance

ScalePEO understands the significance of transferring payroll and benefits smoothly. That's why they have a dedicated implementation specialist ready to assist clients throughout the process. This support ensures a trouble-free transition, emphasizing ScalePEO's commitment to delivering excellent service and making the move hassle-free for clients.

Disadvantages & Setbacks

ScalePEO faces challenges related to pricing transparency, a lack of trial options, and inflexible plan structures, potentially hindering businesses from reaching their full potential.

Non-transparent

ScalePEO's non-transparent pricing approach can be a disadvantage for businesses. They don't publicly disclose pricing details, making it challenging for potential clients to budget or evaluate cost-effectiveness. Instead, clients must engage directly with ScalePEO to get tailored cost estimates, potentially leading to extended negotiations and a lack of upfront clarity. Furthermore, ScalePEO's services are provided through brokers without clear information on service areas, adding to the uncertainty for potential clients. This lack of transparency may make it difficult for businesses to assess whether ScalePEO fits their needs.

Demo unavailable

A notable disadvantage of ScalePEO is their lack of a demo or trial option for potential clients. Unlike many competitors in the industry, ScalePEO does not offer a hands-on experience of their platform or services before signing up.

The absence of a demo can be detrimental for businesses looking to assess the suitability of ScalePEO's services for their specific needs. Without the opportunity to explore the platform or see how their services work in practice, potential clients may find it challenging to make an informed decision. They might have questions about the user interface, functionality, or how well ScalePEO's services align with their HR and workforce management requirements, but without a demo, these questions often remain unanswered.

Inflexible plans 

One notable disadvantage of ScalePEO is its limited flexibility when it comes to its plans. Unlike some of their competitors, who offer a range of customizable options, ScalePEO offers more rigid, one-size-fits-all plans. This lack of flexibility can be limiting for businesses with unique HR and workforce management needs. Businesses may find themselves constrained by predetermined packages that may not align perfectly with their requirements. This lack of flexibility can result in clients paying for services or features they don't need while missing out on others that are crucial for their specific situation.

How Can Your Business Benefit From Them?

Small and medium businesses and their employees stand to gain significant advantages from partnering with ScalePEO. Scale offers comprehensive services, including payroll processing, human resources consulting, risk management, workers' compensation, and employee benefits administration. One standout feature is their employee benefits package, which encompasses medical, dental, vision, commuter benefits, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Health Savings Accounts (HSA), 401(k), and more. 

By teaming up with Scale, they can substantially enhance their benefit buying power. This allows them to offer their employees a benefits package that rivals those of Fortune 500 companies. In essence, ScalePEO empowers small businesses to provide top-tier benefits and HR services, helping them attract and retain talented employees while maintaining compliance and efficiency in HR-related tasks. The following are some other ways businesses can benefit from ScalePEO:

Simplifying business operations: ScalePEO provides a cloud-based HCM platform designed to assist small and medium-sized businesses in simplifying and centralizing their back-office processes. By utilizing this platform, businesses can streamline their operations, reduce administrative burdens, and enhance overall efficiency.

Maintaining core focus: Through collaboration with ScalePEO, businesses have the opportunity to outsource critical tasks such as HR, payroll, and benefits administration. As a result, businesses are able to keep their attention on core competencies and strategic goals rather than letting administrative tasks drag them down.

Facilitating growth: ScalePEO's comprehensive benefits package not only helps businesses attract top-notch employees but also keeps them engaged and committed. This is vital for their overall growth and success because it allows them to make the most of their financial resources while maintaining a supportive and rewarding work environment that retains valuable talent.

Client Feedback

ScalePEO has received varying feedback on different review platforms. On Capterra, it got a  4.6 rating based on 10 reviews. Many users highlighted their pleasant experiences with Scale’s easy-to-understand proposal packet and presentation, as well as the intuitive interface. One satisfied customer highlighted the smooth conversion process, noting that it was notably better than their previous experience with another provider.

On G2, with just one review awarding ScalePEO 1.5 stars, the user expressed frustration that ScalePEO doesn't offer a one-size-fits-all solution for all businesses, suggesting that it may require more front-end work to ensure a good fit.

Overall, while the reviews on Capterra seem generally positive, the limited number of reviews on G2 makes it challenging to get a good perspective. Nevertheless, ScalePEO appears to excel in user-friendly presentation and interface, while the need for customization and front-end effort may vary depending on individual business needs.

How Do I Contact Them?

You have several convenient options to get in touch with ScalePEO. You can reach out to them via phone by dialing (888) 393-4738 or by sending a fax to 425-358-2391. If you prefer online communication, you can initiate contact by filling out a form on their website, or you can send them an email at [email protected].

Additionally, you can stay updated and engage with ScalePEO on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Lastly, you can visit their office at either of the following addresses: 155 108th Ave NE Suite 800 Bellevue, WA 98004, or 11811 N Tatum Blvd Suite 3031 Phoenix, AZ 85028.

Concluding remarks

ScalePEO is a transformative force in the world of HR and workforce management, especially for SMEs. With a commitment to innovation, a comprehensive suite of services, and a client-centric approach, ScalePEO is poised to revolutionize the way businesses approach HR management. As the business landscape continues to evolve, ScalePEO stands as a strategic partner for SMEs looking to streamline their HR operations and offer competitive benefits packages to attract and retain top talent. However, it's important to note that ScalePEO also faces some disadvantages, such as non-transparent pricing and inflexible plans, which potential clients should consider when evaluating its services.

We highly recommend utilizing our comparison tool to explore alternative providers and ensure you make the most informed decision for your company. Additionally, you can check out our curated list of the top PEO Co-Employment companies for more information.

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