Bruce Leon founded Tandem Professional
Employer Services in 1997 after seeing the
difficulty small businesses had in securing
competitive benefit programs to compete
for talent with larger companies.
Starting a professional employer organization (PEO) proved a difficult task. Aside from
the typical business start-up costs and
headaches, Leon needed significant funds
to secure a payroll system. The only way he
could entice insurers to underwrite
Tandem’s cases was to make significant
financial risks in the contracts. At the time,
Tandem had no history or even current
employee base to underwrite.
Another obstacle Leon faced was the slow
pace at which the Midwest market
embraced the idea of “co-employment.”
Business owners were afraid of this term,
thinking a PEO would be able to control
their employees and their direction. It took
awhile for Leon and his team to educate
business owners and their advisers about
the intentions of the term “co-employment.”
Tandem would be responsible for the
administrative tasks, and the business
owner would maintain the day-to-day functions of the employees.
Tandem differentiated itself in the market
by offering a high-touch business model. Its
human resource experts are regularly found
on client sites and provide strategic initiatives to assist in productivity and performance management.
Tandem’s vision for the future includes a
plan to increase the use of technology to
make its services even more efficient and
affordable.
HOW TO REACH: Tandem Professional Employer Services,
www.tandempes.com
