In today’s business world, keeping track of your HR needs can be a grind. CEO Jay Starkman’s company helps its clients focus on what they do best.

It can be difficult enough for a company to master the intricacies of its own business. But modern businesses also need to be experts in HR infrastructure. For some, it simply makes more sense to outsource those functions to a company that already has the expertise.

Enter Alphastaff, a human resources outsourcing firm based in Ft. Lauderdale. The company was founded in 1997 and specializes in providing its services to small to mid-market businesses. According to CEO Jay Starkman, the key to success is its distribution model, which is unique for the industry. It focuses on the insurance brokerage channel, and according to Starkman, many of the other HR outsourcing firms saw that channel as its competition. Instead, Alphastaff partnered with insurance brokers, which resulted in hypergrowth for the company.

Jay Starkman, CEO

Cleaning up
While that commitment has remained the same, Alphastaff took steps to ensure that the rest of its operations were as efficient as its distribution model.

“When I first joined the company, it was straining under the pressure of growth. Our technology wasn’t ready for it, and the company wasn’t equipped for it,” said Starkman, who joined Alphastaff in 2002 and became CEO in 2004. “But the distribution model worked, and since then, we’ve basically changed everything except for that model.”

As an HR outsourcing company, Alphastaff’s focus is on processes that confront every American business. This includes everything from payroll, benefit, and tax administration to risk management, HR compliance, and workers comp. But for many of today’s companies, time is better spent focusing on achieving the overall goals of the business and leaving the HR concerns to a professional.

“A company can become a quasi-expert in these areas. But it doesn’t make any sense for a 100-employee company to build that expertise,” said Starkman. “We can deliver these services and offset some costs through aggregation. We bring best practices into place; we make sure everyone is in compliance with the law. That’s why it’s such a valued service.”

And it is a service that is becoming more and more common. According to The Conference Board, a business membership and research organization, a survey of executives at more than 120 companies showed a steady increase in the number of companies outsourcing their HR functions. This trend is not expected to reverse, and the abundance of potential clients leaves Alphastaff a lot of room to grow.

“Many companies build some kind of HR infrastructure, but it’s an administrative headache. And they don’t want to become the best HR administrative company,” Starkman said. “Instead, we can give them a relatively sophisticated offering and tailor it to the needs of the client.”

Have it your way
Companies with 20 employees have much different needs than a client with 5,000 employees. So Alphastaff must not only be flexible with its service and product options, it also needs to understand the dynamics of the individual business it serves. According to Starkman, this is something that he and his team are very much aware of.

“Companies expect a great deal more flexibility in the product mix. They want technology catered to what they’re looking for, and they expect on-demand service, both in self-service reports on the Web and access to people,” he said. “The larger you are, the greater your expectations on those three prongs, and the products need to be tailored to fit that need.”

Because Alphastaff cannot completely customize its offerings for every client, instead it does what is called scaleable configuration. Starkman described it as a series of switches that can be turned on or off, with limited choices tied to each switch.

“That’s the only way to scale your offering so you’re able to bring efficiencies, best practices, and benefits of aggregation to clients,” said Starkman, adding that most of Alphastaff’s clients come from the gray or white-collar sectors.

Spare no expense
Starkman said Alphastaff focuses on two types of technology to meet customer expectations. One is internal; the other is external. The internal technology is traditional customer relationship management (CRM) tools, which Alphastaff can customize to deliver the best service to suit its client’s needs.

The external piece involves a Web-based portal that allows clients and their employees to access information and transmit data to Alphastaff. Starkman says this is something Alphastaff constantly invests in upgrading.

“That technology is frequently integrated with our clients’ back-end systems, and the needs of our clients are always changing,” he said. “It’s very important that a company has technological tools that encourage efficient processes and streamline access to information to provide the best service.” Specializing in an industry where clients look to Alphastaff to handle these responsibilities, the company’s own staff is critical to success. Starkman says Alphastaff strives to create a culture where the desire for excellence is paramount.

“Our employees know they’re going to be rewarded for good work. In some companies, you excel, and your reward is you get more work. But we celebrate great performance,” Starkman said, noting that while Alphastaff’s reputation has helped bring qualified candidates to them, it also invests in customized training programs. “It’s one of our goals to make sure we have a learning company.”

If the current increase in outsourcing of HR functions continues, the room for Alphastaff’s growth is seemingly limitless. After a little over a decade, it has offices in Georgia, Florida, New York, and Texas, and plans to expand into California in 2008. With clients spread out in 47 states, Alphastaff’s hypergrowth has taken a small company and given it a national presence. With many companies pressured to do more with less, turning to Alphastaff for support may well continue that growth for the next decade and beyond.