Winner 2024 Torch Awards for Ethics
BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming
Journey Payroll & HR was founded in 2010 by Kevin Welch and Sue Shirley to provide better service and up-to-date technology in the payroll industry. Since that time, Journey has expanded from just payroll to offer customized human resource services and grown to 52 employees across six offices serving over 2,000 clients in all 50 US states.
Character
Journey’s core values define both how the company does business, how it treats employees, and even the atmosphere in its offices.
Heart
Innovation
Honesty
Believing Everyone is the Favorite, and
Taking the Extra Step.
Journey’s leadership team makes it a point to get to know clients personally, learning not just about their businesses but also their families and celebrating milestones with them.
Working in an industry with strict regulations and compliance requirements, Journey holds itself and its clients to the highest ethical standards. Journey has parted ways with clients who do not seem willing to meet legal compliance requirements. At the same time, Journey also makes sure its clients stay up to date on payroll and HR changes which happen every year given Journey has clients in every state, and when a client has a challenge meeting a requirement, Journey first looks at how they can ease the client’s burden.
Culture
Journey Payroll & HR’s culture revolves around the concept of the Journey Family. For example, Journey offers unlimited paid time off (PTO). However, unlike some companies that offer unlimited PTO but discourage employees from taking advantage of such a generous policy, Journey’s leadership team will identify employees who haven’t taken time off recently and encourage them to use this benefit to recharge and come back refreshed.
Journey’s hiring process starts with looking for individuals who exhibit heart. In interviews, the hiring team looks for interactions with collaborative answers demonstrating a positive attitude, open-mindedness, and kindness. After someone is hired, Journey offers opportunities for continued training and growth. In some cases, Journey has identified an employee’s strength and created new roles for them, like the Current Client Success role that was created based on having an employee particularly suited for the job that focuses on getting to know clients outside of the business and keeping them up to date on Journey’s available services and products.
Journey’s office environment also shows off their commitment to employee wellbeing and celebrating each employee as an individual. The Zen Den is a quiet room with hammock and massage chairs, aromatherapy, and white noise where Journey also hosts weekly massages for employees. Each employee also has a personalized mailbox where thank you’s and other shout outs can be delivered, along with a caricature showcasing their unique personality and hobbies.
Customers
One of the clearest ways Journey Payroll & HR shows its commitment to dealing with clients ethically is in how it handles confidential client information. Journey is privy not just to sensitive business information about its clients, but also the personally identifying information (PII) of its clients' employees like names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and home addresses. Journey stays on top of cybersecurity best practices and extends that to clients with policies like requiring strong passwords, two-step verification, and confidentiality agreements with clients. Prompt customer service and a commitment to transparency means customers are educated and communicated with on these requirements extensively, rather than having them being imposed without explanation.
Journey also tries to extensively support its clients’ businesses where possible. During the height of the COVID pandemic, Journey offered reduced price payroll services and free HR services to businesses affected by restrictions, ultimately making the change to its HR business permanent by offering those services free to all payroll clients rather than as an additional service. Journey also purchased gift cards from clients’ businesses and provided them to employees to provide some additional business to clients. Where possible, Journey seeks to do business with clients; the massage therapist that comes in weekly for employees is a Journey client, as are many of the vendors Journey uses to provide food, treats, or gifts to employees.
Community
In addition to patronizing their businesses, Journey also looks to build a community of the businesses that support it. Journey offers free community educational events, which include both client and non-client businesses and partners. One such event in 2023 involved partnering with employment law partners to update businesses on the Colorado FAMLI program. Clients were able to meet with their payroll specialist face to face to build a stronger relationship.
Journey also extensively supports nonprofits, providing a substantial discount on payroll and HR services to nonprofit organizations, easing a major burden on nonprofits administrative cost, helping them staff up to focus on their mission. Journey also sponsors a wide range of nonprofit organizations through sponsorships, buying tables at galas and events, and financial donations.
Journey Payroll & HR shows how the payroll industry does not need to be all about the numbers. Each of those numbers represents a person that could be someone who is getting a new job that gives them a fresh start, getting a raise that lets them afford a house, or retiring after a long career to enjoy their golden years. Collectively for a business, all those numbers represent change and hopefully growth in one of the most important areas of almost any business, its employees. Not only does Journey make sure to treat its own employees as unique individuals with their own needs, dreams, and goals, it takes the time and effort to learn the stories behind a client's numbers to welcome them into the Journey Family.