Pugert.com to serve variety of HR needs

Human resources for human beings. A simple concept, but one that may be an epiphany to companies looking to the Internet for human resources support that goes beyond traditional HR to serve employers and employees alike.

This is the concept behind pugert.com, a brand-new, Internet-based company that will make its official debut in July. It is the progeny of Penny Wise, a payroll service bureau, and Axiom Partners Payroll Network, a payroll and human resources information systems company.

Penny Wise, Axiom Partners and pugert.com were started by John Penny, whose mother, Patti Penny, owns Penmac Personnel Services and Pen-Industrial. Penny Wise evolved to become Axiom Partners, which is now evolving into pugert.com, Penny said. The name pugert is Penny's childhood nickname.

Pugert.com offers payroll processing, human resources administration, insurance, benefit solutions, travel services, Internet services and employee support and assistance.

The company does this through a nationwide network of approximately 100 professional consultants and companies, using software systems designed specifically for pugert.com by its own programmers and by leaders in the software industry.

Penny said pugert.com will allow companies of all sizes to reduce employee turnover by providing solutions for work-related and personal human resource problems.

"We have an employee assistance program, which small companies typically don't have access to. If you (as an employee) want to know the best day cares in your area, or if you need legal or tax advice, we can provide the access to that advice," Penny said.

The employee services side of pugert.com also allows employees to change factual information online without having to contact multiple human resource representatives within their company.

Employees can view and change their tax withholding information, direct deposit allocation and also view a detailed history of their paychecks or direct deposits, including earnings, deductions and benefits. An online employee benefit enrollment option also is offered.

"They can do what if' scenarios with their paychecks: they can look at their paycheck and find out how another dependent would affect the amount of their check. They can look at their 401(k) in real time and make money movement decisions online," Penny said. "We'll also have discounted shopping for employees online through employers," he said.

On the employer side, pugert.com offers online payroll services including applications, payroll tax service administration, direct deposit, report writing, new hire reporting, check signing and logo imprinting.

Human resource services include equal employment and government compliance reporting, eligibility management and benefits billing management.

Employers can also purchase employee health and workers' compensation insurance, and they can use pugert.com to make travel arrangements for employees through pugert's partnership with TravelNow.com, another local Internet-based company.

"Pugert is a one-stop source for employers and employees ... we offer anything from health insurance to 401(k) to payroll to assisting with unemployment benefits claims to full accounting systems on our applications," Penny said.

While pugert.com is an Internet-based company, it can also arrange for the consultants and representatives of the companies it is partnered with to visit companies using pugert to purchase group health plans and 401(k) plans, and explain the benefits and plans to the employees in person.

Penny said pugert.com's target accounts are companies with 50 to 1,000 employees, such as Great Southern Bank, which is now an Axiom Partners Payroll Network client. Penny said he plans to triple his staff of approximately 45 employees within the next year, and he is looking for a larger space than the two floors pugert now occupies in the Hammons Tower.

"Our first phase is to take a core group of 15 people in the next couple of weeks to begin training ... We'll probably hire five to 10 each month, starting in August. We're getting to the point to where we can use our own service," Penny said.