Skipping the state mandate stress with Guideline

How a high growth homecare business saved 20 hours/month with a budget-friendly 401(k).1

Pallas Care at a glance

  • 27
    Employees
  • Homecare
    Industry
  • Starter
    Guideline plan tier
We didn’t want the business risk, or the stress, of opting for a state retirement program without a payroll integration.Client of Guideline. Views may not be representative of other clients.
  • Magnifying glass with check mark inside, simple icon.

    Challenges

    No pre-built integration with their state retirement program meant extra admin work and compliance-related stress.
  • Two hands precisely holding a person in between demonstrating care. Simple icon.

    Why Guideline

    Low fees, responsive customer support, and high quality payroll integrations to automate the bulk of 401(k) responsibility.
  • Party hat with confetti flying out of it, simple icon.

    Results

    Confidently compliant, saving 20+ hours/month on admin work1 with zero time spent on 401(k) employee enrollment or product training.
Challenge

Rich was guiding his California homecare company through a stretch of rapid growth when the notification came in.

“Our law firm alerted us to a regulatory change. A new law required businesses with 5 or more employees to offer a retirement benefit—and we didn’t have one.”2

Rich wasn’t bothered by the new requirement to offer a retirement benefit. It was the timing—and the administrative costs he feared it would require.

“My co-founder and I were already working seven days a week. We didn’t have time to hire someone to help. And the idea that we’d make a mistake manually moving data in and out of a state-run program? It kept us up at night.”

Pallas Care needed an easier, budget-friendly way to meet their state retirement mandate—and fast.

Just the idea of making mistakes manually moving data in and out of a state-run program kept us up at night.
Solution

Enter Gusto: Pallas Care’s payroll provider. “Gusto informed us of a new retirement plan option passed by Congress...a Starter 401(k). Thankfully, they also recommended a provider that went the extra mile supporting small businesses like mine: Guideline.

As it turns out, a Starter 401(k) from Guideline was exactly what Pallas Care was looking for:

  • Low cost, with plans starting at just $39/month
  • End-to-end integration with Gusto payroll, automating time-intensive administrative tasks
  • Fewer company compliance requirements than a traditional 401(k)
  • An easy, guided 401(k) experience for the whole team, powered by an award-winning mobile app3 and live support

“We didn’t want the business risk, or the stress, of opting for a state program without a payroll integration. Paying a few bucks a month for Guideline was an easy choice because my time and my peace of mind are worth a lot more.”

Paying a few bucks a month for Guideline was an easy choice because my time is worth a lot more.
Results

A year after choosing Guideline over his state retirement program, Rich shares his advice for other companies facing a similar choice.

“Make sure you consider the cost of the administrative labor added to each payroll run. When you do, you realize state retirement programs aren’t really free.”

Rich estimates that Pallas Care is saving 20 hours a month thanks to Guideline’s help automating manual data entry, auto-enrolling eligible savers, and fielding employee questions.1

But he doesn’t even consider that the biggest win.

“I deliberately did not want to think about 401(k). Now I don’t—and that’s the win for me. I sleep better at night without worrying about miscalculations, money transfer mistakes, or compliance forms. Guideline delivers exactly what I want: peace of mind, without any problems.”

Get a retirement plan your team will love
Book a demo