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Key Factors RealEstateAF
Educational Podcast for Consumers, Mortgage & Real Estate Industry Professionals. We'll Talk About It All! Key Factors podcast, powered by https://ReviewMyMortgage.com . Your Host Mark Jones invites Industry Pros to help uncover & educate on the key factors of various topics. There’s something for everyone so let us be your guides and get educated. Subscribe & Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Facebook, Instagram, & all other podcasting platforms. Host : Mark A Jones Founder of ReviewMyMortgage.comProducing Branch MangerSr. Loan Officer. NMLS ID# 513437NMLS Consumer Access: http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Key Factors RealEstateAF
The Power of PEO and The Impact on the Economy
Welcome back to another episode of Key Factors Podcast, where we dive into the world of business and entrepreneurship. In this episode, we are joined by Blanca Abu, the Vice President at Engage PEO, who brings a wealth of knowledge about the PEO (Professional Employee Organization) industry and its impact on modern businesses. We discuss the critical roles of PEOs in enhancing cost efficiency, employee benefits, compliance, and technological advancements to help businesses thrive. Blanca also shares insights on the current economic landscape, workforce trends, and the strategic importance of returning to the office. Tune in to gain valuable insights that could transform the way you manage your business operations.
Key Topics Discussed:
Introduction of Blanca Abu and Engage PEO [0:07 - 1:36]
Benefits of using PEO for businesses [1:37 - 5:35]
Impact of technological advancements on businesses [5:36 - 6:45]
The significance of returning to the office post-pandemic [6:46 - 10:03]
Challenges in recruitment and maintaining company culture [10:04 - 12:59]
Overview of the current economic climate and its impact on employment [13:00 - 18:50]
Discussion on home affordability and the potential role of PEOs [18:51 - 20:00]
Get in Touch with Them:
Blanca Abbud
Vice President of Sales, Engage PEO
Email: blanca.abbud@engagepeo.com
LinkedIn: Blanca Abbud
Website: Engage PEO
Mark Jones
Host, Key Factors Podcast
Email: info@ithinkmortgage.com
Website: iThink Mortgage
Key Factors Podcast is Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Host: Mark Jones | Sr. Loan Officer | NMLS# 513437
If you would like to work with Mark on your next home purchase or as a partner visit iThink Mortgage.
Welcome back to another episode of Key Factors Podcast. And if you knew this, you wouldn't be listening otherwise.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of Key Factors Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Jones, and we are powered by ReviewMyMortgagecom, the largest index of mortgage programs in the nation, and lately we've been discussing various topics around economy, home affordability, and I wanted to dig a little deeper with somebody that understands this stuff a little bit more than I do. So I'm bringing back somebody that has been on a previous podcast that we had back in the day Millennial Market Talk and she was so impressive to me that I want to have her back. So, without any further ado, I've got Blanca Abu joining me today. Blanca, how are you? I'm doing great, Mark. So, without any further ado, I've got Blanca Abood joining me today. Blanca, how are you?
Speaker 1:I'm doing great, Mark. Thank you so much for having me on again.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so, before we dive into our topic, I want to give you some time to tell folks who you are company and then, kind of, how you got into the position that you're in, because you are still, to this day, crushing it, ma'am, Still that's good, yeah.
Speaker 1:So my name is Blanca Abood and I'm the vice president at Engage PEO. We're a PEO, a national PEO, that's headquartered in St Peterburg I can't even say that place, st Peterburg, st Pete in Florida. So we're headquartered in Florida and we're still a privately held PEO, which is a big difference from other PEOs that are publicly traded. I've been in the PEO space 12 years now and I did spend some time seven years, so a little bit more than half of my career in a publicly traded PEO, and now I'm back in private. Okay, half of my career in a publicly traded PEO and now I'm back in private. So in my role I manage mainly Texas, which is my market that I cover, but I'm really everywhere. Now I just opened up Arizona, so I've been in Arizona a couple of times a month now and just doing really well. Just thank to all my clients, to my business associates, to everybody that has been sending me referrals it's been pretty crazy lately and not to mention your hard work, ma'am, you know it is.
Speaker 2:It is tough to make it in this industry this day and age, especially when you're seeing so many shifts and changes. Shifts and changes, adaptation to the coming technology forces at hand like COVID, the things that we go through right now, economy, and in your case scenario you get to kind of take a bird's eye view to some of the topics that we're going to go over today. And I want to get your two cents, but before we do, if you could just give us kind of a brief synopsis of what PEO is, who benefits from it and how they benefit from it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so PEO is Professional Employer Organization and we help companies professionally employ their employees. So we're a co-employer employees. So we're a co-employer. What that means is that the company or the business that we partner with actually offsets the risk and all of the liability of having employees to us. We help mainly small to medium-sized businesses. Our sweet spot everybody can ask me that question is right about 50 employees to about 200, 250. That's really what we focus on, not to say that we can't do smaller companies or larger companies, but that's really our sweet spot area where we really see a lot of value that we can bring companies in that space. And we focus on four key areas.
Speaker 1:So cost efficiency is number one. Obviously, in the economy that we're in today, cost is everything Everybody's talking about. Cost Vendors are increasing cost. You know companies are having to increase their cost because their vendors are increasing cost. So what are companies doing? They're really looking for ways to save money and we deal with some of the most the highest expense areas in a company. Right, we're going to deal with the payroll which number? That's usually number one. Their payroll, their insurance products, is usually number two as far as expense areas in a company and then their compliance in HR is usually number three, right, so their employees, their turnover and things like that. So cost efficiency is number one. Number two is benefits. So we deal with employee benefits and really looking to make sure that the employees have the best benefits to make your company competitive. Why is an employee going to want to work at your company versus another company down the street where, right now, 50 cents on the dollar, a dollar more, is making a big difference? Yeah, so we deal with that. We also deal with compliance and risk mitigation. So we look at a company, really seeing where they're lacking on the compliance realm and then where we can minimize their risk in different areas so that the owner is not having to face penalties, lawsuits, litigations and they can really focus on the growth of the business. So compliance, risk mitigation and then, lastly, we just look at the overall productivity.
Speaker 1:In regards to technology, I would say technology is advancing right now.
Speaker 1:We can dive deep into all of these, but Texas, believe it or not, is still very antiquated when it comes to technology and I guess you know we're in the middle, so we're kind of centrally located.
Speaker 1:So a lot of things that are trending on East and West Coast take a while to get to us of things that are trending on East and West Coast take a while to get to us, and we don't. I would say since we're so conservative, we don't really pick up on the trends as fast as some other states do. So it's been a challenge for me and I always tell my other counterparts that work at my company that are VPs is like I have Texas market, you guys have like New York, new Jersey or California or Florida, you know. So it's a different market and business owners think differently in the state of Texas. I always try to talk about that in the videos that I do on my pages, just because it's such a different landscape here when you deal with Texas business owners, so kind of getting them to open up their minds and getting them to know that, hey, there's a better way to do it, there's a more advanced way to do it and technology has advanced quite a bit.
Speaker 2:So before I dive into that, that sparked a question. I just want to. Something popped in my head what you do reminds me of a show that I used to watch back in the day you may or may not have seen it with Don Cheadle, called House of Cards. Pretty good show, shout out. They went like five seasons and then it was done, but pretty darn good show. And they were consultants. They would essentially yeah, they would actually go into a company as consultants and look at every facet of the business and go, okay, this is where we can cut, this is where we can implement, this is where we can shift or pivot to make you guys more money, save you more money, pay your employees more, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2:And it basically sounds like a PEO in a nutshell. They were just playing with tons and tons of money, though.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, it's funny that you say that that's a good way to think about it, because we are consultants. So a lot of times when people ask me what I do, I just tell them I'm a business consultant. Because it's hard to explain the PEO concept to people because it encompasses so many areas of a business that it's kind of hard to explain. Like you know, we could say we're your back-end office, we're your back-end office, we're your outsourced HR, we're your broker, we're your everything, we're your technology partner, we're your business partner. I mean, we really are so many things. So we are general consultants and we do go into a company and really evaluate every area because it ties into every area of the business, absolutely every area of the business.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, and if you've got these business owners I'm a business owner that we tend to get caught up in our day-to-day. It almost blinds us from taking a bird's eye view to being able to see those holes or voids that need to be filled or could be, I don't know, established in a different manner. That could save us money in a grand scheme of things. And what saving us money does is it allows us to give more to the employees in way of benefits and money and 401k, et cetera.
Speaker 1:Right. So a lot of the savings that we provide companies, we're able to reallocate that savings to other key areas in the business, which investing in your employees definitely right now is key, being that it's a competitive market. It's hard to find top talent, so when you have somebody that's top talent, you want to keep them. So a lot of times our strategies include reallocating some of those funds to different areas in the company, but also not only saving money but preventing you from spending money in areas that you don't need to be spending money.
Speaker 2:Right, right, because most of the time, if you always do what you always done, you're always going to get what you always got, you know. Now you mentioned something that I want to kind of hone in on, and it was Texas is a little different than most other states, and this is something that I say quite often and I believe it to be true, one because I'm a Texan through and through, you know, uh, and that being the case, when we talk about real estate, on this show, real estate is always local, and on the media, uh, a bigger, uh, soapbox, so to speak, they're always painting a broad brush, uh, on this picture and narrative to us with home ownership and in regards to home affordability, in regards to the employment rates and things of that nature, when Texas is a little different. But I want to hear from you in your situation, because you alluded to it, that Texas is a little different, especially on the business owning side of things. Can you kind of go into that a little bit Of?
Speaker 1:course. So one of the things that I commonly see in companies that are very established, I would say there's a difference. So startup companies are not as antiquated because you have, like the millennials, you have the Gen Z's coming in that are already thinking outside the box. They're already thinking outsourcing. How can I do this faster, better, bigger? Whereas the more established, conservative business owners are going to do what's called the multi-vendor setup or have multiple different systems, multiple different partners, Because as you build the business, you're kind of adding these layers to the business and then next thing you know you have all these different systems, all these layers.
Speaker 1:None of them communicate with each other and it's hard for them to unwind that and unbundle that in their minds. But it just takes Texans longer to make decisions and a lot of the times Texas business owners don't make their decisions based on financials. They make their business decisions based on relationship, and so that's always what I've seen Not always, but majority of the cases. I see a lot of relationships that they don't want to tarnish or ruin and it doesn't matter the financial gain. Obviously there's a lot of very wealthy people in Texas, so not necessarily can you come in there and show a cost savings and you think you're going to get the deal where you would be in another state and they would jump all over it.
Speaker 2:So it's almost as if we hold value over, and I'm going to use the same word value a little bit more, and what I mean by that is the value of the relationship more than the value of the dollar, correct? Wow, that's a pretty strong observation.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. We talk about it all the time in my industry, so that's one of the things that I see commonly in Texas, but overall it's just kind of like fear of the unknown. So a lot of Texas business owners don't want to make changes because they're scared. Yeah, they don't want to make changes. They've been doing it like that for 30 years. I have companies that have been around for 50 years, 60 years, third-generation companies, family-owned businesses that are progressing into different generations. However, the business itself has not progressed internally, so they're just scared. It's, you know, status quo. It's just, this is how we've done it forever, and so it's.
Speaker 1:I do a lot of educating when I meet with business owners and also on my social media pages. I try to educate people because that way they can really understand how it's going to impact their business and I try to give them like real world examples so that they can see, you know, how it can really help versus hurt. And so if I get an owner that's a more progressive thinker or is open at least to suggestions we have, you know, we can potentially have a partnership. But if I see somebody that's just and I come into businesses that are like in distress I mean very complex cases. I deal with a lot of multi-location, multi-state deals and then it just depends on each case. But if you can get an owner to really understand the concept and really see the value along with the savings right then you have a good partner. Because not everybody's a good partner either. But I love my Texas business owners.
Speaker 2:I always say they're so challenging, but once I break through I'm like Well, it will more than likely become a longer lasting relationship versus the ones that are quick to jump. That means that they're probably quick to jump and leave you eventually as well. Correct, that makes good sense. So, going down this first rabbit hole of the idea of PEO and it's saving people, companies, business owners money. I was looking at an article earlier JC if you can throw a reference up real quick, I found this on. It looks like ADP and it basically says PEO fees can differ, but they typically charge based on the number of employees you have, which services you're using. So be sure that you get a quote comparable for services.
Speaker 2:Industry experts estimate average PEO cost at between 2% to 12% of wages. When you think about your total cost of administrating my goodness HR yourself, however, including revenue loss from the time it takes away from your business, it can be worthwhile expenditure. A PEO can save your company up to 35 percent on HR costs compared to what you would be spending if you did not use a PEO company and outsourced your payroll and everything else. So get that out of there. Outsourced your payroll and everything else, so get that out of there. That being the case, if you are working with folks from 50 to 100 employees, mas o menos, and it's allowing that business owner and AKA company to save 35%. How is it not a no-brainer in many of those cases, and you're like duh.
Speaker 1:You'd be surprised. You know it's funny because I think now business owners are getting a little bit more open-minded and I have been having a lot more meetings recently with established companies where they actually have said it's a no-brainer. Like those words exactly this is a no-brainer, so the savings is going to be in the pulling of the resources, right. So think about you know you're sharing a HR department with thousands of different companies, so you have to evaluate that cost versus hiring your own internal HR director and the salary per market, right what the going salary would be. So that's what the article is talking about in regards to the savings on the HR side.
Speaker 2:In addition and that's a great comparison is utilizing somebody that has the resources streamlined. They're working with multiple companies so they get to see multiple different situations occur, outcomes, decisions that they make and the outcomes of those decisions, as opposed to hiring one HR individual, two HR individuals having a HR department that is limited on their resources because it's just them. In addition, you've got the cost of benefits and all of that good stuff, plus their salary and everything else that comes along with it. So, that being the case, wouldn't you think that the idea behind what we're facing in the United States as a whole, if we go to that platform, cost of living, is increasing the wages that we're seeing? Those are increasing, but they're increasing due to inflation and people, companies raising their prices, so it's basically just a wash.
Speaker 2:It's us, the consumer. We're still feeling the higher costs. Definitely the the employees. Are they benefiting us? Definitely the employees are they benefiting us. I mean, if nothing changed from my hand to his hand and what I'm supposed to receive for that good or service hasn't changed, then why am I paying more? Type concept question of why do we not look at, or why do companies not look at, peo as a solution to increasing their employment expenses, reducing their employment benefit expenses, things of that nature to solve the issue of affordability, to solve the issue of having salaries raised without having to have the customer take the brunt of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think that PEOs have been commonly overlooked when it comes to these topics and issues. However, more recently, with different I would say, there's a lot more education on PEOs now, right, so people are becoming more aware.
Speaker 2:Well, you, ma'am, you're all over the place.
Speaker 1:Thanks to me, I'm just kidding Thanks to all my hard work that's right Making sure people understand what the PEO.
Speaker 2:You're welcome, PEO industry.
Speaker 1:Really, because I have spent years I spent 12 years educating the masses and thousands of people on PEO and that's really what I've done for people to understand the concept. And I think now people are seeing, or business owners are seeing, that we play a crucial role in helping the economy and we play a role that is going to be vital in moving forward. And if you think really about the concept of pulling and sharing resources, it is so, it's so important because you could do that in so many different areas of the business. Right, and other people are trying to use that concept for other things now. Yeah, you're right, even living, right, you're right, exactly so the sharing of resources is now being used in other places. It's being thought about more. People are understanding the concept more, so now, instead of being overlooked, I think people are really seeking to work with us where, you know, people are booking time on my calendar now, versus me having to go and try to book time on their calendar.
Speaker 2:It's kind of a gift, huh, definitely An awakening of the master.
Speaker 1:I knew it was going to happen at some point.
Speaker 2:That's right you just keep on trying. That's awesome's awesome.
Speaker 1:But to your point about sharing the resources, so Engage PEO. We deliver HR in a different manner, so we actually assign an employment attorney to all clients.
Speaker 1:Okay so they get a designated employment attorney that is well-versed in all areas and, yes, they have multiple clients across the state. We also try to position a company that's headquartered, obviously, on the West Coast. We're going to position them with an employment attorney that's versed in employment law in California and Washington and states like that. Same thing with the East Coast we're going to position them with an attorney that's versed in New York law and compliance. So we deliver HR very differently than other PEOs where they just assign, you know, first level, what we call level one, hr certified where we really take it a step further and not only have level one but then you have your expert, which is the employment attorney, and there's really no higher level than that. And to have an employment attorney on retainer at all times, that's very costly.
Speaker 2:I was going to say that's got to be pretty expensive.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. It's definitely, I would say, 35% or more savings that you're going to get on the HR side of things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And then we talk about the insurance side of things. An employee of a company that is doing it on their own versus an employee of a company that has partnered with a PEO company I would imagine that their cost is lower than just your normal. I've got one relationship with this company that that relationship now is with this insurance provider versus a conglomerate of them that you guys probably work with and have relationships with that that employer can then leverage and give the benefits to their employees.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. The pulling resources and how that works in regards to insurance is that we take all of the employees and all of the companies that are our partners, that we co-employee, and we have what's called a master policy. Okay, so, instead of a company going out on their own in the open market to go shop as a group of their size let's say the company is 20 employees then you're going to be able to get, you know, quotes at 20 employees where, where you come with us, you're now buying wholesale insurance, so you're getting already discounted rates, but you're also getting better benefits because, as a larger group, we're putting you in place. You know, we're putting you in front of all of these other carriers that we've already built relationships with for 15, 20 years, and we have a huge group. So we end up getting better plans and better rates, um, as well as just access to so many different insurance products. It's, it's funny because we have pet insurance products and people.
Speaker 2:People will be like so you have the pet insurance right and I'm like yes, I know that what's funny is many are complaining about I can't pay my bills, I can't eat, I can't get enough gas, et cetera. But do you happen to have pet insurance? They'll insure their pets Exactly. It's totally believable. I get it. I've got five of them, so I understand.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I guess you know costs for vets and those services are also increasing, it's true, so it's costing a lot of people money. So, being it's true, look at overall financial wellness of the employee. So we take a proactive approach, but we also take a consultative approach with the employees as well, where I think you know a lot of broker agents don't take that approach because they don't really have any skin in the game where we're a partner to them.
Speaker 1:So if something happens to them and it affects the business, it affects us as well. And so I think explaining that, also knowing that, hey, we have your best interest in mind, because now we're partnered together and we actually are employing your employees together, so we want to make sure you do good so that we do good, and so explaining that is like we have skin in the game. Your broker agent doesn't, and actually they get paid a different way versus the way that we get paid. We don't want your premiums to increase, right? We want to keep costs low for everybody, because it affects everybody on the master policy. If costs increase on one client, it could affect everybody in the pool.
Speaker 1:So we want to make sure we're mitigating claims, we're keeping everybody healthy, we're looking at all aspects of how to keep the rates low. If the rates go up which has happened recently to some PEOs it affects everybody and we call it. You know they blow up their policy because they're not keeping their costs low and then now nobody has affordable costs. So it just encompasses so many areas. But insurance is so important for retention of employees and, again, it's one of the highest expense areas in your business. So why not evaluate it? And why not evaluate it through a PEO where we can actually get you the economies of scale? We could get you the buying power that you need as a small business and get you the rates and the benefits that you wouldn't have any other way, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And speaking of cost, I know this is a strange analogy, but it almost reminds me of a Costco membership concept. You know it's. It's as if, since you're joining this group, you now get the benefits that the higher level of employees, higher level of transactions, volume, assets, all of the things at that rate, versus just coming out here and, hey, I'd like a policy. You're not going to get anywhere close to what you would have received had you been with a group or a PEO company that gets the benefits of everything.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so I used to use that analogy like when I first started. That was like my most basic analogy. Yeah, I used to say HEB versus Costco, right, Everybody can understand that concept, Like everybody can go to HEB and buy milk. But to go into Costco you're buying a membership and then you're getting everything wholesale because they're buying in quantity, they're buying in bulk, that's right.
Speaker 1:So that's the same concept, right? We're buying in bulk. They're buying in bulk, that's right. But that's the same concept, right? We're buying in bulk. We're buying for a larger quantity, a larger amount of employees where sometimes you know you wouldn't even be looked at, period, as a small group or a small business owner. They wouldn't even consider you.
Speaker 2:It's true. Matter of fact, I would imagine that there are certain insurance products that are not even allotted to individuals or groups that are not beyond a certain point. Yeah, so you get to, you don't have access to it. You don't have access, you don't even know. I mean, you only know what you know until you join a PEO company, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I love that analogy because it kind of simplifies the concept and it makes it helps people understand what it is that we do as far as the insurance aspect of it.
Speaker 2:That makes sense. Well, I think that's a great understanding of what PEO does, how folks can benefit from the services of PEO or joining a PEO group. I'd like to shift a bit into what's happening today with our economy, with our home affordability, employee unemployment rate, things of that nature, to kind of take a bird's eye view of what the heck is going on and what you're seeing, because you get to see so much of it. And the first thing on the docket is essentially the unemployment rate. We're seeing a low unemployment rate happen right now and you and I had talked about this before we started this. But what I'm seeing and I don't think it's a Texas thing, it's more of a national issue versus a Texas issue but I'm seeing more part-time gigs coming available versus your full-time, and it's simply because what we went through during the pandemic, many have streamlined their processes, many have implemented technologies.
Speaker 2:I mean, for example, you go to Walmart, you go to any of these stores, there's probably 15 employees as opposed to the 100 that used to be there. Everybody's willing to help, every register was full and ready to help you, whereas even McDonald's you're just talking to a machine. I mean, you're picking your options, you're going through the scanner, et cetera, and I'm not going to say it's the experience is any worse or anything like that, but I don't see this trend going backwards, just like buying the iPhone. We never go. Hey, give me that two-year-old model of the iPhone. It's always the next best thing that we want as consumers. So, that being the case, what are you seeing in regards to and you may not be seeing a difference because you're focused in Texas, but what are you seeing with the unemployment and how tough it is for employers to capture new employees?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you just said a lot of things here.
Speaker 1:So sorry, we can chop it up yeah we're going to have to chop that up a little bit because there's so many critical pieces in there that you said are really, really important. So, yes, after COVID, we did see an uptake in what they call the gig economy. Okay, so the gig economy is producing a lot of these little small part-time jobs like the Uber, eats, the Grubhub, the Favor, all those types that we call that the gig economy. So there was definitely an uptake in that. There was an uptake in part time employees, but I personally don't see that just because of the industries that I deal with, that's not like a big thing for me. I have seen where companies are trying to hire part time because they want to avoid paying employee benefit.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:But at the end of the day, you will get audited and if you truly don't have part-timers and you're coding them that way, there's a lot of compliance.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:And I think employers are getting scared of that. So I personally am not seeing a lot of the part-time but the unemployment rate, now that we're kind of out of the COVID, I'm seeing it lowering because employers are hiring and employers are wanting everybody to come back to the office. Most of my clients are coming back to the office. They are hiring, they are in growth mode, they're hiring, they're recruiting, actively recruiting. That's like the number one topic right now, like what are you doing to recruit? How are you recruiting? What can you help us with? How can you help us with? You know hiring and recruiting. That's probably number one topic in my meetings with existing clients.
Speaker 2:Attracting new talent.
Speaker 1:Attracting employees and attracting the right kind of employees, because they don't want the turnover Right. Nobody wants to turn over, it's expensive, so you want to hire the right person.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So having strategies around that. So that's definitely a topic. Unemployment, I feel like, has lowered, but that's also because there's a lot less employees to hire. I feel Okay, so there's more jobs and less candidates to fill those positions. But then I think, like the part-time jobs that you mentioned, people are having to work more multiple part-time jobs. So, whether they're working part-time or full-time, the part-timers are working multiple part-time jobs.
Speaker 2:You're exactly correct.
Speaker 1:So we're seeing that. But specifically, just overall, I think things are getting better as far as the employment market is, and people are hiring. Everywhere I look, all of my clients are in growth mode and they are all hiring and they're just wanting to hire the right people. And so that's the key right. How do I hire the right people? Do I have the right benefits? What is it that I'm doing wrong? And so we are fine tuning strategies on how to recruit and how to hire so we help companies all the way from hiring best practices, how to interview.
Speaker 1:We also have a fully integrated applicant tracking system which helps you post on all the job boards. So now, going to your other topic that you mentioned was with technology and how to utilize the technology. You know the best way possible. So in the HRIS platform that we offer, which is the technology platform, we have an applicant tracking software that allows the employer to post on all the job boards, instead of having to post on one and then another one, then another one and then social media. We actually allow them to post on all social media platforms, all the job boards and everything funnels on one platform.
Speaker 2:Very cool. So it's super cool. I mean that in itself saves somebody their sanity in keeping track of all the different applications that are coming through which platform they came through. Are there duplicates? Just so many different things? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So most recently the acronym is the SAS acronym.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:What is it called Software as a Solution?
Speaker 2:Okay, I like that.
Speaker 1:So more Texas business owners and overall they are using the SAS method, which is software as a solution, and obviously we can keep going into how that is helping businesses in so many different ways, but using software as a solution is really helping companies. So for those that are not tech savvy or don't explore into the tech world, more people are looking at technology solutions.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And that is so important. That's going to be key. If you're close to technology solutions, you're not going to grow, you're not going to scale your business. Technology is key. You have to have the technology to be able to grow and scale the business and you have to have something that's replicatable, that you can replicate if you're going to grow the business. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:And the idea of technology. I like that. The idea of technology is one thing, but then it's the implementation of said technology, using it the right way. So you're not just jumping on board with the newest technology and it really doesn't apply to your business, but it was cool at the time and you thought you could save money, et cetera. But I want to get back to the technology thing here in just a sec, because you mentioned something that I don't want to forget to go over, which is back to the office. Okay, and you made it kind of a strong point in that and I'd like to pick your brain on that. I watch PBD podcast. I watch other podcast business entrepreneurial shows that are heavily discussing the idea of back to work.
Speaker 2:Since the pandemic, there are plenty of opportunities for businesses to figure out a way to continue to run while or I should say, run and sustain while during that pandemic and folks working from home Did it work? Absolutely, plenty of businesses made it through. But what we're seeing is the rest of the world, not the United States. The rest of the world has already adopted getting back to the office concept, going back to work inside the office, recreating the culture that they once had, having that human interaction, et cetera, and for some odd reason, the United States is behind the curve ball on that and still struggling with the idea of getting people back to the office. Oh, they can still get their job done at home. We'll just let that continue, whereas I've got another mindset of folks that believe get them back to work because I'm done sustaining, it's time to thrive and we need human interaction in this and think tanks, and the idea of being on a screen is limiting you in what could potentially occur had you been in the office. What are you seeing?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I guess it depends what industry we're talking about. But most of my clients are really doing the back to the office concept and if they're not, they're doing the hybrid schedule. So they'll do like two days at home, three days in the office or they'll kind of mix it up Right. But I don't have many that are just doing fully remote.
Speaker 1:And the ones that are doing fully remote it's because they found some very good talent somewhere and they're not going to let them go because either they're moving out of state or because that employee is so vital to their company that they will let them. They will accommodate them and let them work remotely. But most of my clients are returning to work, returning to the office.
Speaker 2:Now, that being the case, being your observation, what are some reasons as to why maybe they have said to you that this is what they're doing, or maybe just what you believe, based on what you're seeing, as to why they're doing that?
Speaker 1:I would say the top two reasons are productivity. They're not seeing their employees being as productive as they are in the office.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And I mean I just did a video on time theft. How much time theft is going on? And working remotely, damn time thieves. It's time they are. It really is true. Nobody's as productive, as you know, certain employees working from home and some employees are not that way, right? So there's a productivity is not as high as it should be, and that's really one of the main reasons. But I would say the second reason would be culture. How are you developing the culture of your company when you're not even seeing your employees, you're not interacting with them, you're not building team, there's no teamwork, there's no, you know, team building involved? So that's a big part of helping a business thrive. Is the culture of the company right? Yeah, and really having almost like a family. I work with a lot of family-owned businesses and they consider their employees family, so they want them back at home in their little office get the employees back to the office now that they've already dispersed from the location, so to speak.
Speaker 2:Let's say, one employee now lives this far away from the office versus what they used to live because we went so long it working. I will admit, we're missing a piece of that camaraderie, that sense of culture being in the office, even though I'm in the mortgage industry. Can we do what we do from home? Absolutely, it's mostly on a computer or on a phone. The learning, the think tanks, the brainstorming sessions that we do, the cutting up, the joking, all of those things. Being able to just go to lunch together and have a good conversation, it's true, it's so different, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we used to be at the office. I mean different things would take place. Yeah, work is so different, it is true. I would say those are the top two things and if you look at the statistics, like major companies Google, amazon they are returning to work. And I have friends that work at some major companies that they have moved away and they have literally given them so much time to move back into the area.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 1:So if you have a good employment attorney to change your remote policy, you can mandate your employees to go back to work.
Speaker 2:That makes great sense, and that is something that folks probably don't know and are fearful of even crossing that line to go. Well, I don't want to lose employees. That's not what the intent of this is. It's really to make everybody better, to create that cohesive environment, to increase production and revenue and things of that nature, while also increasing the morale within the individuals, in the family, so to speak. You know.
Speaker 1:Well, and back to the time thing. Like I have a lot of requests for the time and attendance technology that we offer, because it actually GPS tracks the employee, they can actually pinpoint exactly where the employee is sitting. Or they can IP protect, like their home computer, to make sure they're only logging in how long they're logging in for if they've logged off or if they've moved from the area, it will clock them out. So there's a lot of technology that can be implemented, but again, right, using the software as a solution, if you are going to still do the remote thing, what measures are you going to put in place to make sure that your employees are being productive?
Speaker 2:I like that, I really like that, and it is something that can be parlayed into the idea of this increase in inflation, increase in pay for employees, and, more times than not, we're talking about the minimum wage. When we talk about that, I know that you manage some or you work with some restaurants. I know that you manage some or you work with some restaurants. That being the case, we're seeing tons and tons of corporate profits, record profits, that are taking place, and it's being blamed on inflation.
Speaker 2:Well, if there's so much inflation and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I just look at the data If we're having so much inflation, how is it that you're still turning record profits? And it kind of begs the question of is this all a facade of the real thing that's going on? Because, based on what you're telling me, unemployment it's low. We've got plenty of people out there. Are they the right people for the right jobs, et cetera. We don't know that. We leave that to the individuals, but on a mass scale, there's plenty of opportunity out there, right? Yes, that being the case, why are we seeing so much and I can't ask that broad of a question so much greed at the top?
Speaker 2:Gosh, that's harsh, it's a tough one. I won't even go down that road. Yeah, no, no, no, I wouldn't even go down that road. More so, the idea of PEO and what we are seeing from an inflationary standpoint, do you see that as a wise solution? Obviously it can't fix the masses. And even if it was deployed throughout all companies that way, it turns into the even bigger conglomerate and wholesale effect that you have going on. Would it even trickle down?
Speaker 1:To the employee, to the consumer, to Both, I think. So let's call it both. Absolutely it also depends. I mean, there's a lot of factors that play into that. It depends on what type of business owner you have.
Speaker 1:I have business owners that feel very, you know, they feel like they want to help the employee. They're very employee friendly. They think of ways to help them. I mean I have some that even take them to seminars, leadership courses. They really invest in their employees. Where I have some owners that are like I could care less, I really am about profit, right. So it just depends how you want to run your business. But ultimately, yeah, it would go down to the consumer and it would go down to the employee, should you want to run your business. But ultimately, yeah, it would go down to the consumer and it would go down to the employee, should you want to share in those funds with them.
Speaker 1:You know, when we present savings to a company, some of the savings is employee savings and we tell them your employees are also saving money on their check because now they're paying less for their benefits or paying less for certain things, and so they also see an increase in wages, paying less for certain things, and so they also see an increase in wages, and some love that. Some are like no, I want the profit for myself. We work for our clients, so it's really up to them. We give them a flexible solution and a flexible option, which is one of the reasons I love Engage, because we cater to the owner, we put together a custom solution and we give them options. It's still really up to them, right? We don't take control of their business. We give them options and solutions and then we let them pick and choose what they think is going to work best. Should they want to pass down the savings, they absolutely can Do. All of them do that. No, you know.
Speaker 2:It's true, they don't.
Speaker 1:But you know, we presented in a way where, eventually, if they don't do that, it's going to end up hurting them, because the employees are really the heart of your company and they're the people that drive your business. That's right. So if you're doing the right thing and you're passing those savings down, then you're going to do the right thing. You know, I always believe in karma and you know doing the right thing. So, but not everybody does that, mark.
Speaker 2:And I think that's what you're basically saying is it is their choice to be able to pass that down 100 percent, but that choice can have negative effects simply because if you don't, someone else is going to pass it down, and that employee is not dumb.
Speaker 1:They're going to figure it out and maybe jump ship to somebody that is passing it down, and I always live by the motto like givers gain, gain you know. So it's better to be more competitive. Help your employees, treat your employees right, because at the end of the day, your employees will be loyal by you and they'll stay with you and they'll help the company grow.
Speaker 1:Therefore it's going to lower the turnover in your company. Therefore it's going to lower cost overall in your company. You'll have a stronger company. You'll have a better culture. I mean it just then transcends into, like every, all the other topics that we've talked about. So I mean do right by your employees, people.
Speaker 2:I like that, I like that and, as a matter of fact, I like the word that you just used, which is transcend. I'd like to transcend, transcend and transition into the concept of home affordability and the idea of PEO companies having so many resources, so much access to help folks save, and from the top down, employer owner, all the way down, all the way down. Have you guys considered?
Speaker 2:or are you already considering or employ utilizing some type of affinity group for home buying in what you guys do as a group? No, I'm buying classes, education pieces, getting with a preferred lender that can look and give maybe potential discounts for your group in particular, because I know that a hot topic right now for the past I don't know two years has been affordability in home owning and I don't see values going backwards.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good point. So we have relationships with homeowner insurance carriers, right. So we have like a program where the employee can have a discount on their homeowner's insurance and personal auto and personal lines, things like that. But I've never seen a partnership with a mortgage or educational piece on the mortgage side. The only time I see that is if, like, they're helping an employee relocate for a job, and, yes, they'll put a lot of resources and involve a realtor, a mortgage company and get the employee relocated for the job. But other than that, no, that's interesting, mark. So do you guys have Interesting? We have a new concept here PEO pooling resources with mortgage companies.
Speaker 2:You never know. I mean the idea behind what you guys' whole premise is and the value that you provide is we've got it all. We're a one-stop shop for everything that you're going to need. I mean, there's no doubt that you're going to need HR, you're going to need payroll, you're going to need insurance and, if you use us, you're going to need I mean, there's no doubt that you're going to need HR, you're going to need payroll, you're going to need insurance and if you use us, you're going to save money. Why? Because it's not just me, it's my army of people that, because we have an army, get discounts in bulk. How Kind of like Costco, yes, so when I saw that Costco was offering mortgages, I believe so, I think so. I'm not certain on that Matter of fact, jc, let's go reference real quick. Fact. Check that please. Let's just fact check that before I Wow, you can get everything at Costco.
Speaker 2:Offer mortgage loans. Let's see Better mortgage. Costco Mortgage Program Review. Oh, this Costco's good the uh. Did you do better mortgage computer? Costco mortgage program review uh, oh, it's no longer available. See womp, womp, womp. So they failed because they probably didn't partner with a solid mortgage company.
Speaker 1:You can throw that out there um, absolutely, they didn't have the right partner right but the idea of savings all the way around.
Speaker 2:Everything within your conglomerate revolves around the end user of the employee and saving them money, helping their lives get better, giving those discounts or the opportunity to provide discounts to the owner or company, just one of those things. I wonder if any PEO company is offering that as a service.
Speaker 1:In general, I've never heard of it. But the beauty of working at Engage is, you know our owner is, you know, just do what's right for the client. So I'm an overall consultant. So when clients work with me they're not only going to get obviously all the PEO resources and things that I help with, but I mean I have a lot of good relationships that I've established and built. So they come to me really for everything. So they told me like hey, like I really want to educate my employees on this. I mean I would put it together for them. Makes sense Very simple. But I have the ability to do that, I have the autonomy to do that right when a lot of companies that are publicly traded would not. Because once you're publicly traded, then at that point they would probably assign who the mortgage company would be that they work with, and I'm sure there's probably some big relationships like that. But I mean clients come to me for banking references or they need references for certain things that I'm like, oh yeah, I know somebody that does that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know. So that's, I just connected one of my clients to my corporate attorney. That's amazing, that's here in San Antonio and they just thanked me this morning. They're like he's so good. I'm like, shout himas, he's so awesome, he's the best corporate attorney. I just because I used I'm biased, I used him, but a lot of my clients using him right now and he's just so good, right. So it's like, and they're thanking me, like thank you, because we had consulted with other attorneys that wanted to charge us much and they weren't. They didn't give us the advice that he gave us, and so you know, it's really again being an overall general consultant to your client. I think that's a reason why my clients stay with me so long, because they're kind of like you know well, if I don't know, I could call Blanca, she probably knows.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you're right, and actually I find myself in that situation as well, and actually I find myself in that situation as well, not from an insurer, just as a resource or a plug for other businesses, other trades, and it is a good feeling to be able to provide somebody that you know is going to do a good job, that being, the case.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's important Because they know that I wouldn't refer anybody that wouldn't do a good job by that, and anybody in my network is going to make sure that they're going to do a good job or they're not going to be in my network. That's right. So I think that also has to do with, like, the trust factor, and that they know that we're only going to work with reputable partners.
Speaker 2:And that feeling that you get I'm sure same feeling that I get when I refer someone to someone else is a great feeling because you know that the person you referred them to is going to benefit from it and get to showcase their talents, and the person that was referred is going to get a great deal, is going to get great service, et cetera, et cetera. And it kind of goes to the point of why do people not ask for more referrals from customers in any business? It's like this weird thing that people think is it's an intrusion to say, hey, is there anybody else that I can help, just like you, that I've the way that I've helped you. I can imagine that you do that quite often.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so every year when I do my business plan I look at the sources of my clients, or my new clients, at least for the past 12 months, and right now I'm kind of like 50-50, 50% is referrals and the other part is social media. So my social media platforms have done really well and that has helped. But I also I'm with my clients a lot Like I spend a lot of time with my clients. So during those interactions it just kind of like comes out Like they're like oh, I had this conversation, or this person told me they needed help with HR, and then it kind of comes out it's not like me, like hey, like do you know anybody that I can help?
Speaker 2:Like but that's something that is not innate, naturally. It's something that you, going through your levels, so to speak, have gained as a trait that you will always continue moving forward, to go. You know what? I am the plug for that resource and I'm not going to not ask for referrals, because I know what I do is beneficial to whoever it is that I'm ending up being referred to or being referred from.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I recently got published in Bernie magazine and that was kind of like hey, that was kind of like the um, the whole point of the article was the expertise factor. Like I work so hard to be the expert at PEO, I work so hard to make sure, like, I know what I'm doing, I'm very methodical, I'm detailed, I'm the follow-up queen. I don't let you know, I don't drop the ball. They know that I'm going to really be there for them, be their partner and by having that title and being that expert, then, yes, people feel comfortable referring somebody to you. Or even if I were to ask for an introduction to somebody, they'd be like absolutely I'll introduce you.
Speaker 1:It's not like, oh, I don't know, let me think about it, you know. So it just it takes years of being in an industry. There's a lot of people that are like industry jumpers or they're always constantly switching jobs or careers. So you're just kind of like, oh, I'm not really going to refer somebody to this person. I don't even know they're going to last there more than a year, right? So it's consistency. You know everybody talks about consistency. I think if you're consistently, work really hard at one thing and you become that expert and you have more than 10 years experience, then, yeah, people want to refer people to you because you're the source of knowledge, like somebody commented on one of my videos yesterday and they're like you're always putting out that knowledge or something like that, dropping them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like you're always dropping that knowledge.
Speaker 1:I'm like yes, yes, I am.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Well, blanca, I mean it's been, I think, a little over two years since I've had you in the studio. The studio has changed tremendously, upgraded everything, and I know that you're not in the mortgage space or real estate space, but there's always a lot of real estate that we talk about on this show. So for this last little segment, I just want to get your take, from an outsider's perspective, on what you're seeing in the market. You're not in the business, so it's totally an outsider's perspective. I know you're a homeowner perspective. I know you're a homeowner. What are you seeing when it comes to home affordability and the importance of someone to own a home versus not? Because I know you've not owned a home and owned a home you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I try to never to not own a home. I'm not an apartment, I don't like apartments but so there's a lot of things going on. So, obviously, because I work with businesses and companies, I always get asked about commercial space, right? So I happen to have a couple clients that deal with commercial development and commercial real estate. So, again, givers gain. So I'm always trying to connect my clients with each other. If they're looking for a new leasing space or wanting to move into a new market, which happens oftenly, like El Paso, people want to move here. So, hey, I want to get an office space somewhere. Or I have a lot of people right now moving to Austin, wanting to grow into Austin. So I kind of connect people that way.
Speaker 1:As far as the home ownership part of it, obviously we all talk about it, right, because we're homeowners and it affects everybody, and I have seen that people that have considered selling or buying have decided to kind of wait. So, even though it's like was in the talks or they thought about it like, oh no, I decided to wait just to see. You know what's going to happen to rates. Hopefully. I really hope there's going to be a decrease in rates and you know we have an election coming up, so I think a lot's going to happen during or after the election. It's really going to be able to tell us what's going to happen?
Speaker 1:I don't think anybody knows what's going to happen. I agree with you. But, goodness, I think we're all wanting the rates to go down because that really would help the economy, would help the inflation, would help everybody overall. But I have seen a lot of momentum kind of hold steady on the residential side. On the commercial side, I'm still seeing a lot of movement, whether they're downsizing and leasing space or growing. There's still a lot of movement there right, and if you look around, commercial development is booming.
Speaker 2:It is, it really is San.
Speaker 1:Antonio Austin area. All the way from San Antonio to Austin on 35,. Commercial development is everywhere. It is not stopping, so maybe you need to switch.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean when I think commercial. No way, that's another world over there. As a matter of fact, I would eventually love to own commercial space and pay myself rent, et cetera. There you go. Now we're thinking but what commercial space to me is a leading indicator of what is to come. If you've got companies that are moving here, if you've got companies that are building and maybe they are pushing their employees to work from home and converting their space to more warehouse space or converting their space to something else, they're still, like you said, moving. They're still making stuff happen. There's still deals going on, oh yeah, which tells me that there's more people coming here that aren't here yet.
Speaker 1:So I mean, if you think about it again, we're in the great state of Texas.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:The Texas economy is doing well in general. Overall right Texas economy is doing well. General overall right Texas economy is doing well. People are moving to Texas. That's right. I just did a video on the Texas landscape and why it's easier to own and operate a business in Texas. We also don't have the state tax. I mean there's a lot of benefits to moving to Texas. Cost of living is lower, affordability of real estate is lower, the residential properties. When people see the houses and what their cost is versus somewhere else and they're like, wow, this is a no-brainer here we go again with the no-brainer.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I think right now we're in a cycle is really what I think. I had a conversation with a client yesterday and I said you know what I think right now we're in a cycle. Honestly, summertime is slow for me too. It's a cycle, but I think mortgage is right.
Speaker 2:The cycle is reversed. It's the opposite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the opposite you guys are actually busy during this time and then slower during the holidays, where mine flips. But I think we're in a cycle, we're in kind of the valley and there's going to be an upturn. I really do, because, look at all, like you said, the commercial development is happening, so people are going to have to move. There's going to be jobs that are going to be created. That job creation is going to create people moving into the area residential mortgages. So I think right now we are in a cycle and I think we're going to see a change. I will I pray we see a change. Amen, amen, yeah, amen to that. But let's just all be positive. Yes.
Speaker 2:Make sure to vote.
Speaker 1:Right, everybody be positive, and that's kind of. Again, the conversation I had with my client was like hey look, we're in a cycle. Right now it's the downturn. We got to stay positive.
Speaker 2:It's true, it is true Optimism. It will win for 2024, 2025 and 2026, moving forward.
Speaker 1:Stay positive and it's going to the upturn. If you do the work and you're consistent, you're going to see the return.
Speaker 2:That's a great message right there, blanca. Is there anything that we missed within this discussion? I've gone through all of what I wanted to get out of you today and that was actually a pretty enlightening discussion. We parlayed the PEO concept and how you save companies money, how you essentially got into the business, built relationships and are now shifting more towards a social media slash, relationship-based business and overall. Peo can help plenty of companies matter of fact, at least 35% in their HR department, at least individually. You know that could trickle down to potential savings for the actual consumers, which, in my world consumers are homebuyers, and I don't care when it's a matter of how you get into the homes on my side of the tracks. Is there anything that we missed there?
Speaker 1:No, I mean, I think that if we continue to have these type of conversations and really start brainstorming together, being more open-minded, being more progressively thinking forward, I think that we're headed in the right path. I think that if we can really start using software as a solution and technology, and just being more innovative and having these conversations with your friends, family, I think we're headed in the right direction. But everybody has to come together, right? Instead of being so divided, we really should come together and use our resources that we have, it's true.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, blanca, I mean, like I said, I don't have anything else. Is there anything else that you want to add? We're good to go. Thank you, mark. So much for having me. It's always a pleasure. Thank you, yes, ma'am. Guys, gals, you guys out there listening. I'm hoping that you got something out of today's discussion. It was a little change of pace from what we normally do, and that's good, especially seeing it from different perspectives. If we constantly have realtors or lenders on this podcast, it's going to feel a little monotonous and I do not want to get stuck in that. I want to continue to provide you guys with content from different perspectives, different angles, and all from experts. Blanca Abood, the expert PEO lady, thank you, absolutely. Thank you for joining us, blanca. Yes, guys, we will catch you on the next one. Thank you, thank you.
