In prior posts, we have explained a PEO and an ASO.  So, you may be wondering how Achilles Group differs from a Professional Employer Organization And an Administrative Services Only approach.  There are really three major differences: - Our Level of Expertise, - Our Proactive Engagement Model, - You Get a Designated HR Professional Who Will Guide the Relationship.Because we are not providing payroll and insurance products, we are able to focus solely on your people and conduct a deep and thorou...

As each new year begins, so does a new resolution – a new commitment of change to reach a goal. These aspirations involve a desire to part from the status quo and commonly involve personal health, financial, or lifestyle goals. But why do we make these resolutions? What is the history behind them? And how many people actually keep them?New Year’s resolutions aren’t anything new. The tradition of New Year’s resolutions actually dates back to 153 B.C. The word January comes from the mythical god o...

There are many HR options available to the marketplace these days, and while that creates great competition and choice, it also creates a great deal of confusion.  What is an HRO? So, we have explained a PEO and an ASO. And finally, we’d like to help you understand the definition of an HRO. It stands for Human Resources Outsourcing, and Achilles Group falls into this category.However, with our Professionally Human approach, we are unlike any other HRO. Most HROs available on the market today bas...

There are many HR options available to the marketplace these days, and while that creates great competition and choice, it also creates a great deal of confusion.  What is a PEO?A PEO is a Professional Employer Organization.  Employers are able to bundle payroll, employee benefits, basic HR administration, and Worker’s Compensation together with one provider.  Your employees become employees of the PEO, and thus the PEO assumes limited liability for employment and compliance risks.  Your company...

There are many HR options available to the marketplace these days, and while that creates great competition and choice, it also creates a great deal of confusion. What is an ASO?ASO stands for Administrative Services Only. This arrangement describes an employer who has “carved out” certain aspects of an ASO bundle - opting to get either benefits or payroll services through an alternate provider, while still getting the ASO provider to handle basic employee administration.The limitations of an AS...

Summertime is vacation time, and our Employee of the Month, Monica Scott, recently took a trip to visit Walt Disney World in Florida, where her daughter is currently interning. Monica is a dedicated HR Generalist who loves partnering with her clients and helping them grow. But, like any hard working professional, she feels like it’s important to take time off to refuel and recharge. We agree!Research shows that the benefits of taking time off include higher productivity and performance, and a mo...

"When we first began working with Achilles Group in 2009, we had 38 employees.  We reached over 120 before spinning off a small group to create a new company. Achilles has helped us navigate this exciting time by reducing some growing pains via thoughtful counsel, offering timely guidance as we hit different periods in our growth, and providing much needed insight into organizing our larger team.Our ‘small company feel’ culture is very important to us.  We strive to ensure that our employees fee...

“Achilles Group was recommended to us when our HR functions started to become bigger than our skill set and a major HR issue arose that nobody could have foreseen. We were looking for a partner, not just a vendor, and that was something we have found with the Achilles Group.Since then, Achilles Group helped us in a variety of situations. At one point, we wanted to provide different FMLA options to our employees who were going out for long periods of time and Achilles was able to help us understa...

Bob Gajeske, Sr. founded Gajeske, Inc. with a single Houston location in 1986. Over the past 30 years, the family business has expanded to Austin, San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth. That kind of successful growth is bound to come with a few personnel challenges along the way.“We had issues making decisions regarding our employees,” Gajeske explained. One of those issues was implementing a process for employee separation - a daunting task for many small and startup business owners. Achilles Group...

Achilles Group proactively delivers human resources expertise in a cost effective way. We take a professionally human approach by placing people, yours and ours, at the center of everything that we do.But you don’t have to take our word for it! We recently surveyed our clients about their experience working with us. Here’s what they had to say: Nine out of 10 clients say they would be likely to recommend Achilles Group to a colleague.95% of clients say they are likely to continue doing busi...

Our website received a fresh, new look this week. It’s mobile-friendly, easier to navigate and you might even see yourself on the home page!Other key features include: Fractional HR page. The results of our most recent client survey indicated that nearly half of clients thought it was hard to understand what we do just from visiting our website. We had to fix that! This page explains our customized approach to HR services. Success Stories. See what current and past clients have to say about us. ...

Vista Host, Inc. is a hotel development and management company with more than 25 hotels in 10 different states - that’s a lot of employees in many different locations!“We feel that Achilles Group accomplishes our ‘Human Resources Heavy Lifting,’” says Cindy Matulich, chief financial officer for Vista Host, Inc. “We no longer worry about making the tough decisions that surface in HR (such as a termination), because we have the ethical and knowledgeable experts from Achilles Group who will walk us...

Some models give you fractional A or B or C. At Achilles Group, we give you Fractional A and B and C! Here are a few benefits of using our Fractional HR approach:1. Reduce stress. Let’s face it: human resources sometimes means dealing with uncomfortable situations. And many of those situations are accompanied by strict compliance regulations. This can add up to a lot of stress, especially if you’re a small or mid-size business owner trying to handle HR issues on your own. Fractional HR can allev...

No one likes to have difficult conversations. But if you’re a manager, chances are it’s part of your job. When it comes to talking to an employee about poor performance or behavioral issues, there are a few things you can do to help the conversation go as smoothly as possible.Here are seven tips for difficult conversations: Talk specifics. Prior to the conversation, gather specific examples of the behavior or issue you’re preparing to address and the applicable expectation or policy. Stick to th...

Global Healthcare Alliance, Inc. has delivered direct billing support for physician groups since it was founded more than 30 years ago by world-renown heart surgeon Dr. Denton A. Cooley.Global turned to Achilles Group for strategic human resources support when they experienced an internal HR split between their office and payroll departments. While Achilles Group does not handle payroll, Strategy Alignment is a key component of Achilles’ Fractional HR model.Achilles Group started by getting to k...

In chemistry, “fractional” is defined as “relating to or denoting the separation of components of a mixture by making use of their differing physical properties.” The discipline of human resources involves many different components, including HR Infrastructure, Recruiting Effectiveness, People Performance and Strategy Alignment.Here are a few examples of real-world business challenges that can benefit from Fractional HR: A brand-new start-up needs help establishing core values, policies and proc...

When Mustang Gas Compression first reached out to Achilles Group, they knew they need some HR support, but not enough to require a full-time, in-house HR department.“We needed a stable, consistent HR department and having our own HR department didn’t work for us,” says Mustang Chief Financial Officer, Jay McKeown. “We loved Achilles Group’s business model and it turned out to be quite cost-effective for us.”Achilles’ Fractional HR model gave Mustang the proactive HR support they needed, without ...

When Proximity Systems reached out to us, they were looking for support in different HR functions. We were excited to be able to provide them with all of the support they were looking for.“We are happy that we chose Achilles to help fill key positions for us. Our legal compliance and employee relations are stronger because of the relationship we have with them. Along with helping create our Employee Handbook and completing an I-9 Audit for us, the Achilles Group HR experts continue to help us wi...

Precision Task Group is a mid-size IT solutions firm based in Houston that came to Achilles Group in 2007, at a time when human resources was their “achilles heel,” according to PTG Human Resources Director Vanessa Villarreal. “Human resources tends to be something that companies forget about while they chase things around in the whirlwind of business,” Villarreal said. Achilles Group worked closely with Villarreal to customize and implement handbooks, policies and procedures, an affirmative act...

Over the years, we have realized that many of the business leaders we have met and worked with want the very best HR management structure for their organizations.However, most situations we have encountered warrant the need for multiple levels of HR skill sets that are not commonly found in one person. And, finding that ideal mix of expertise or making the investment in multiple HR people can be daunting for most companies. So, we have developed a "Fractional HR" concept that provides our client...