What co-employment actually means
It sounds like a technicality. It's the whole mechanism — and it's why a small firm can offer benefits a small firm can't normally offer.
You hire, exactly as you would have
You pick the person. You set the pay. You direct the work, run the reviews, and decide the culture. None of that moves.
They're employed under the JustWorks EIN
Not yours. That single fact is what pools your one hire in with thousands of others — which is how a three-person firm reaches enterprise benefit pricing.
We carry everything behind it
Payroll, tax filings, workers' comp, I-9s, handbook, onboarding, multi-state compliance — plus an HR Business Partner you can actually call.
A payroll provider does step three's first item and hands you the other eleven. That's the entire difference, and it's the one most advisors don't see until they've lived it.
Everything included through co-employment
Payroll & Tax Administration
End-to-end processing, federal/state/local filings, W-2 and 1099 generation, unemployment tax management.
Comprehensive Benefits Access
Medical, dental, and vision through Capital Blue Cross. Life, AD&D, and LTD through The Standard. 401(k) with immediate vesting.
Workers' Comp & Compliance
Coverage, labor law posters, I-9 verification, multi-state law tracking, and employment eligibility — all handled.
HR & People Strategy
Offer letters, job descriptions, onboarding, background checks, performance and compensation strategy, dedicated HRBP.
HRIS Technology Platform
Employee self-service for payroll and benefits, time tracking, digital onboarding, documentation management.
Policy & Handbook Support
Policy development, employee handbooks, and required workplace training coordination — customized to your firm.
Fortune 500-level benefits. Fully transparent.
Your employees get the same quality of coverage a large corporation offers — through carriers your staff will recognize and trust.
Match 100% of the first 3% of salary plus 50% of the next 2% — up to a 4% total employer match. Vesting is immediate from day one. Both Roth and Traditional available. Eligible after 90 days.
Medical, Dental & Vision
- ✓POS and EPO medical plans — HSA-eligible options available
- ✓Up to $500 HSA employer match annually
- ✓Separate dental elections — DMO and PPO options
- ✓Vision through Aetna Vision+ or MetLife Vision
Employer-Paid Protection
- ✓Basic Life & AD&D up to $50,000 — employer paid
- ✓Long-term disability — employer paid
- ✓Optional additional Life & AD&D for family
- ✓Ancillary benefits eligible after 90 days
You Set the Schedule
- ✓You set your own PTO and holiday schedule
- ✓Customizable to your culture and client demands
- ✓We handle policy documentation and compliance
- ✓No one-size-fits-all mandates
Built for advisors. By an advisor.
A generalist PEO can run your payroll. These are the things they structurally cannot do — because knowing why they matter requires being in your industry.
Series 6, 65, and 26 — still held
tHRive was built by Bryan Rocks, a former advisor who still holds his licenses. Your regulatory environment, your client relationships, and your growth ceiling are understood from the inside, not from a briefing document.
One flat fee. No surprises.
At $200 per employee per month, you know your exact cost before any hire. No percentage of payroll, no annual renegotiations, no adjustments based on who you custody with. The number does not move.
M&A and transition HR, handled fast
Acquiring a book? Moving broker-dealers? Onboarding inherited staff, harmonizing two benefit plans, and keeping the people who matter is its own discipline — and it's usually urgent.
An HRBP who speaks your language
Revenue-share comp structures, the paraplanner-versus-admin decision, how your people needs shift as AUM grows — your HR Business Partner has worked inside advisory firms, not just alongside them.
What a hire actually costs you
Most advisors budget the salary and get surprised by everything around it. This is the whole number — pay, employer taxes, benefits, workers' comp, and our flat $200 program fee. Nothing held back for a quote.
State unemployment tax varies — 2.70% on the first $7,000.
Both are opt-in. A part-timer who waives coverage costs you materially less — worth knowing before you set the salary.
A strong estimate, not a quote. Tax rates and wage bases change, and some cities and counties add their own employer payroll taxes on top of state and federal. We deliberately estimate on the high side: we would rather issue you a credit than come back asking for more.
Flat. Not a percentage of payroll, not a markup on benefits, not a number that grows when you give someone a raise. Everything else in this calculator is the real cost of employing a person — you'd pay it with or without us.
Estimate only, no follow-up — there's a checkbox for that on submit.