"A business owners' employees are his most important asset. A business owner will only use our service after he knows we have his best interest at heart and that we understand his needs and he can unconditionally trust the company."
This statement is posted in conspicuous places at each work station at Professional Staff Management Inc., 370 E. South Temple, an employee leasing company that has 16 employees servicing 143 clients with 2,000 employees in every industry from dentists and associations to property management.The idea for posting the statements came from William J. Miller, who started the company in 1987 and was joined in 1989 by Wayne P. Fuller.
Employee leasing is a relatively new concept in personnel management but is becoming more popular. There are enough companies doing employee leasing that a state association has been formed.
The concept also has attracted enough attention that the Legislature requires employee leasing companies to register with several state departments and adhere to certain standards of the association.
Simply put, PSMI hires employees and leases them back to a client company. The company maintains supervision and control over the employees, but the clients are allowed more time to concentrate on the income-producing aspects of their business.
Miller said most companies dislike paperwork and employer liabilities, but they still want to maintain control over the employees, including wage and employment decisions. Because PSMI brings many companies together into one group, PSMI can provide significant purchasing power that results in savings for the client and benefits for the employees, Miller said.
For a fee that is based upon a percentage of a company's gross payroll, Fuller said a client can provide benefits like a comprehensive group health insurance plan, dental insurance plan, vision care plan, prescription coverage, 401 retirement plan, education assistance, disability, intensive care accident coverage, 125 cafeteria plan, employee discounts and direct deposit of payroll.
The fee includes preparation and delivery or direct deposit of all employee payroll checks; assumption of all liabilities and respon
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sibility for payroll taxes, reporting and audits; handling of all unemployment and workers' compensation claims and inquiries; risk management assistance; policies and safety manual; administration of all employee benefit plans; and several other duties.
Any company that is growing and changing is more apt to use PSMI's services, Miller said.
Such a company is Salt Lake Stamp, a PSMI client for three years. Edwin O. Cannon, president, said in his 25 years of experience in the business, hiring an employee leasing company was one of the best things he has done.
"It frees me from the paperwork and negotiating employee benefit programs. I used to spend every September and October reviewing employee benefit programs, and now I spend only one hour reviewing them with PSMI," Cannon said.
He also was able to convert a company employee from payroll and personnel management duties to outside sales work that has resulted in bigger profits and better customer service.
A Salt Lake native who was raised in Lehi, Miller attended the University of Utah, Brigham Young University and Weber State University and graduated from the University of Phoenix in 1987 with a business management degree. While attending school he worked as a training manager for Arby's between 1980-86.
He worked for a Salem, Utah County, employee leasing company and started an office in Ogden but quit after one year and opened PSMI as a sole proprietorship. Fuller joined him in 1989. PSMI was incorporated in April 1989.
Their first office was located at 342 W. 200 South. In March 1992 they moved to 370 E. South Temple. The company also has one-person branches in Pocatello and Dallas.
Fuller is native of Palmdale, Calif., received a bachelor's degree from BYU in business management and finance in 1980, and received a certified financial planner designation in 1983.
When the Tax Equality and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 became effective in January 1983, Congress established guidelines for employee leasing and he started recommending the practice to his clients. He moved to Utah in 1986 for a job as chief financial officer for Intermountain Telephone Corp. Shortly after he met Miller, he started with PSMI.
Because employee leasing is a relatively new idea and some employee leasing companies have filed for bankruptcies, Miller urges companies considering employee leasing to check a company's references before signing any contracts. He said state law prohibits an employee leasing company from offering any of its employees a self-funded insurance program.