My BART Experience; or, EXACTLY What Does HR Options do?

A 9:30 meeting in San Francisco…common scenario in my daily work-life. BART seemed like the best option to head to San Francisco from my office in Concord. So, after only 3 BART station visits, I was able to find parking and I even scored a luxurious seat when someone unexpectedly got up in Orinda. I found myself seated next to a surprisingly chatty, professional looking gentleman, eager for conversation.  

After typical pleasantries and name exchanges, the conversation went something like this:

PLG (Professional Looking Gentlemen): So Rick, What kind of work do you do?

Me (Rick Thorpe, BART rider and HR Options employee): I’m a sales executive for an HR consulting company called HR Options that provides 3^rd party employment services. How about you?

PLG: I’m an Accounting Manager and handle payroll, receivables, and payables.

For the next minute or so, we had minor chitchat, and although I frequently encourage conversation, I kind of hoped our niceties would end there. However...

PLG: So, Rick, What exactly does HR Options do and what is 3^rd party employment? In a previous position, I was in charge of handling our HR, as well, so I know a little about contingent workers and temporary employees.

Me: Great, simply put, HR Options becomes the employer of record for our clients contingent workers.

PLG: Oh O.K., so you’re a PEO (Professional Employer Organization).

Me: Not really. PEOs have co-employment arrangements with their clients and generally co-employ the entire organization. HR Options employs just the workers that our clients don’t want to employ themselves.

PLG: Oh, so you’re a temporary staffing company.

Me: Well, not exactly that either. A staffing company usually finds workers for clients and keeps a large database of potential candidates. While our consultants can do recruiting, our clients typically know who they want to become HR Options employees.

PLG: So, do you handle the payroll for these workers?

Me: Yes, they’re HR Options employees.

PLG: Oh, so you’re pretty much a payroll company.

At this point, we’re in the BART Tube, under the bay, and I’m starting to be concerned that the PLG (Professional Looking Gentlemen) was not going to fully grasp the HR Options concept by the Embarcadero station.

Me: No, we’re not really a payroll company. Payroll companies help their clients pay their employees. We do the payroll for HR Options employees, since they truly are our employees.

PLG: Do you work on-site at client locations when employing these contingent workers?

Me: Occasionally, if there is a large enough need.

PLG: Well, you sound a lot like a MSP (Managed Service Provider) that comes on-site and handles all the vendors that supply the contingent workers at large companies. Is that your market?

Me: Although we have some very large clients, I think our best fit is working with companies that have one to about 50 workers that the company has decided not to employ directly and it would be best to 3^rd party employ them through HR Options.

PLG: OK Rick, thanks for the conversation. I’ll think of HR Options if we ever need temp employees.

Me: What?????

Is HR Options' offering difficult to understand? Did I not explain it correctly? Who knows...I don’t expect to hear from PLG!

However, if you want to find out what, EXACTLY, HR Options does....