HR Companies & HR Consultants in Billings, MT

Associated Employers is a nonprofit, member-based organization in Billings, Montana, that helps employers handle people-management and business questions. It serves companies throughout the Rocky Mountain and Inland Northwest region. Instead of hiring an outside consultant for every issue, an employer joins and draws on a wide range of support in HR, benefits, payroll, training and workplace safety. The organization says more than 1,000 businesses depend on it.

History and Mission

The organization dates to 1916 and recently celebrated its centennial at a joint anniversary event and annual member meeting that drew over 150 guests. It calls itself the only employer group in its region that is both voluntary and nonprofit. Its stated purpose is to supply expert guidance, education and research on employee relations, management and the laws that govern the employer-employee relationship. The goal is a productive, profitable workplace that serves owners and workers alike.

A published code of ethics describes how the staff operate. They commit to never deliberately misleading a member, to researching an answer rather than guessing, and to giving candid opinions even when a member might not welcome them.

They also pledge to explain local practices, suggest alternatives and keep every consultation confidential, while leaving the business itself in the member's hands. At the centennial, President Greg Roadifer, who holds an MBA along with SPHR and SHRM-SCP credentials, described a team of 25 and said he believed technology would define the organization's next ten years.

Services

Members can reach an HR hotline and an online resource called HR AnswersNow, which is open at all hours every day of the year. The wider menu of services includes:

• HR partnering, audits and assessments, investigations, and policies and procedures
• Recruiting, reference checks, drug and alcohol testing programs, and wage and hour guidance
• Pay structures, salary advice and employee opinion surveys
• Full payroll processing, along with the SlatePayroll.com timekeeping website
• Webinars, tailored classes, safety courses, DiSC profiles and continuing education credits
• Coaching for executives and managers, meeting facilitation, strategic planning and succession planning

On the technology front, the organization runs the JobJupiter.com job board and offers GraniteHR, an HRIS it presents as nimble, accurate and compliant.

Benefits and Safety

The organization sponsors a group health program, the Associated Employers Group Benefit Plan & Trust, which brings together more than 500 businesses. Pooling often allows member employers to provide coverage at competitive rates. Available lines include health, dental, vision, disability, voluntary and life insurance, as well as premium-only and high-deductible plans.

Workplace safety is handled with an affiliate, the Montana Safety Services Council, a nonprofit educational body created in 1993 to serve employers and their workers on health and safety matters. It offers courses, advisory work, hands-on technical help and the creation of written safety programs. Members who join both organizations receive a 25 percent membership discount.

Membership Perks and Fit

Joining unlocks every service and adds lower fees for programs, seminars and workshops, a monthly newsletter, complimentary employment law posters, five hours of consulting on selected HR services, and the option to rent the training center.

The model is a natural fit for small and family-owned businesses, which make up most employers in the region and often have no in-house HR department. One member company, an automotive and wrecker business, praised the staff for reliably researching a question and calling back as promised.

Employer Flexible is a professional employer organization (PEO) that takes on HR, payroll, benefits and compliance work for small and mid-sized employers. It has offices in Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Montana. Montana clients are served from a service center in Billings, and the firm works with businesses in Billings, Bozeman, Missoula and smaller towns across the state.

Under the PEO arrangement, the firm shares some employer responsibilities with each client so it can carry more of the people-related administration. Employers who only want an outside expert to support an HR staff they already have can also use it for that.

Services and technology

The firm's offering is built around four main areas, supported by its own software:

• HR consulting and administration, handled by a dedicated consulting team
• Payroll processing, filings and related business analytics
• Employee benefits planning led by a Benefits Strategist, using carriers such as BCBS, VSP, MetLife, Guardian, Transamerica and Aflac
• Risk management and compliance, including workers' compensation and federal, state and local regulations
• Training covering DISC, sexual harassment, workplace violence and safety, plus the Skillsoft online library and custom onsite sessions
• Workforce planning, organizational chart reviews, KPI development and progressive discipline guidance

Its technology is developed in-house. The myHR platform gives employers and staff separate secure portals for managing HR records at any hour. The myMobile app, available for iOS and Android, puts HR, payroll and benefits information on a phone. Because the company owns the product roadmap, it says client feedback goes directly into new features rather than waiting on an outside vendor.

How engagements work

New clients start with a conversation about their current setup, their people and the problems they want solved. Employer Flexible then follows a four-step process: assessing risks and needs, building a plan, carrying it out, and reviewing it at set intervals.

Typical outputs include an HR roadmap, a risk management roadmap, ADA-compliant job descriptions, a SMART Start Plan and employee engagement surveys. The roadmaps are revisited when internal or external conditions change. The company calls its hands-on service style the Leather Glove model.

It stresses direct access to real people instead of call centers and ticket queues, and it offers to meet clients at their own premises or at its offices. Where a client already has coverage it wants to keep, the firm says it can work around those existing arrangements.

Clients and background

In Montana, its clients include local retailers, professional services firms, trades and construction companies, and hospitality businesses. Many are small teams that the firm helps set up sound HR, payroll and benefits practices as they grow.

The company was founded in 2003 by three partners, including CEO Michael Hopkins, who is a member of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations. Other leaders bring long PEO and HR technology experience: COO Wallace Chase spent 14 years in leadership roles at ADP, and VP of Operations Wade Vielock previously ran client services at Gevity.

For buyers comparing providers, what stands out is the combination of a full-service PEO model, proprietary software, a strategist-led approach to benefits and a staffed Montana office.

Employment Source is a staffing, recruiting and payroll company headquartered in Billings, Montana. The firm began in October 1996 as a small venture run from its founders' home, set up to match capable workers with employers who needed them.

It has stayed independently owned since then and, while rooted in Billings, it takes on placement and payroll work for clients across the country. For buyers comparing HR providers, it fits best with organizations that want outside help finding people and handling the administrative side of employing them, rather than a broad HR consulting engagement.

Staffing and recruiting services

The core of the business is workforce sourcing. Employment Source offers flexible arrangements depending on how long a client needs someone and whether the role is meant to become permanent. Its team describes itself as made up of hiring specialists and human resource professionals, and that background informs how it screens candidates before sending them to an employer. Services include:

• Temporary staffing for short-term or seasonal needs
• Temp-to-hire placements that let an employer evaluate a worker before committing
• Direct hire recruiting for permanent positions
• Executive search for key leadership roles
• Candidate recruiting, screening and pre-employment testing
• Event and project staffing
• Payroll services for employers

Event, project and payroll support

One area that distinguishes the agency from many local staffing offices is its experience crewing large or unusual assignments. The company has supplied labor for harvest work and wildland fire crews, and it has staffed major sporting events, including a national bowling tournament held over several months in Las Vegas.

That range, from day labor through professional placements, gives clients a single vendor for both general labor and skilled or salaried hires. Alongside placement, the firm runs payroll on behalf of employers, an option aimed at businesses that would rather hand off wage processing and the related paperwork so their own staff can stay focused on operations.

Who they work with

Employment Source serves employers in many sectors rather than concentrating on one niche, and it also works with job seekers looking for temporary assignments, part-time roles or a longer-term career move. Its client mix spans small businesses that need an extra pair of hands for a busy season to organizations recruiting senior talent. Some clients have relied on the agency for well over a decade, which suggests a model built on repeat relationships rather than one-off transactions.

Background and credentials

The company operates as Small Business Group Inc. doing business as Employment Source and is led by Sandra Mammenga. It is a member of the American Staffing Association and the Billings Chamber of Commerce, and it has held Better Business Bureau accreditation since 2009. Its single office is on Rosebud Drive in Billings and is open on weekdays, giving Montana employers a local point of contact while still allowing the firm to support assignments in other states.