Kevin Welch adds ‘heart’ to payroll services

FORT COLLINS — Barton Palmer likes that the payroll processing services he receives now from Journey Payroll & HR have the same small-company feel they did when he became a client in 2011.

A year earlier in 2010 when Kevin Welch, chief executive officer and shareholder, founded the company in Fort Collins, he started with Sue Shirley, and quickly hired one employee and now is hiring one to two a month to add to the staff of 30.This year, he reached 1,000 clients and hopes to hit 1,500 clients in the first quarter 2021.

“What Kevin has is a knack for a vision of, how do I keep a small boutique company feel but actually be able to serve thousands of clients?” said Palmer, owner and general manager of Lion Home Service in Fort Collins. “They can still make us feel like we’re one of their brand-new clients like it was yesterday. We’re not just a number.”

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Welch worked for other payroll companies before starting his own company — he was a business payroll consultant for Paychex in the Denver area for two years, a general sales manager for Fish Financial for another two years and a financial representative for Northwestern Mutual for four years. He earned a bachelor’s degree in financial management from the California State University Long Beach College of Business in 2005.

After a few years, Welch realized the 8-5 job wasn’t for him and, having an entrepreneurial spirit, “I always wanted to have something I could grow myself,” he said.

Welch started Journey Payroll & HR as TLC Employer Services in January 2010, the same year he married his wife, Christine — they now have two sons. In 2016, he changed the name to focus on the client’s journey and, last month, he moved the office from a 2,000-square-foot space to 7,000 square feet, both in Fort Collins.

Fort Collins is the company’s home base with five locally-owned franchises, including the one in Colorado, two in Arizona, one in Oregon and one in New York, plus locations opening in California, Florida and Texas.

“We look for only the top-notch sales professionals from the larger payroll companies, but they must also have the heart,” Welch said. “I have walked away from the top 2% sales performers who wanted to start a Journey location, though they didn’t have the right heart for long-term success. We are a family at Journey, and we will make sure everyone here fits our values.”

Journey Payroll & HR is a full-service payroll and tax management company that serves small to mid-sized businesses with up to 1,000 employees. The company offers a long list of services that includes payroll, time and attendance, benefit administration, employee engagement, paperless new hire onboarding and human resources.

As he offers these services, Welch is trying to fill a gap in the industry, what he calls the middle, he said.

“Large corporations are rushing out technology. In that process, they forget or they’re simply too large to have the personal service behind it,” Welch said. “On the other side of the situation, privately owned payroll and HR companies have the advantage of adding that personal service. I would say confidently nine out of 10 privately owned payroll companies will blow away the publicly traded payroll companies service. The difference here is many of these don’t have the technology to compete in some situations.”

Welch also sets out to humanize the company’s approach with customers as it utilizes technology partners, builds its own software and implements the latest and best technology and service. Its focus is on best service, best value and best technology, he said.

“To us, it’s more than service. It’s our heart; it’s our family; it’s taking an industry that is constantly growing and adapting in technology and adding a human touch to every aspect,” Welch said. “One of my cheesy lines is, ‘We start and end in everything we do with heart.’”

Welch humanizes payroll services in other ways, such as local ownership, one point of contact, and the ability to easily set up appointments with the owners. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Welch provided clients with HR Now’s unlimited and free HR support, short wait times (kept to 5- to 10-minute holds instead of two to three hours), additional video and consultant content, extra benefits for employees to help their local community, and give-buy programs for the local community.

“At the end of the day, we’re about heart and we’re about community,” Welch said. “This was not something we wished for clearly. This situation is horrible, and like other businesses, we are doing the best we can. And what we can do is start and end everything with our heart. The X’s and O’s need to make sense, but it is more than that if you’re growing the right type of business.”

Welch aims to make the workplace feel like family for him and the employees.

“I want every person on the team to know the difference between a good culture and the Journey family. … I never want anyone who is a part of our Journey family to think they go to work to clock in and clock out,” Welch said. “I only love doing what I do because of the people around me, so I will do everything I can to help push that happiness to everyone.”

Audra Sandage, vice president, financial controller and a shareholder, loves the “amazing work culture” Welch creates and the strong focus he puts on his team, she said.

“Kevin leads with his heart and surrounds himself and his team with people who do the same,” said Sandage, who lives in Tustin, California. “Kevin saw what was missing from other payroll companies, envisioned what it could be, then had the courage to risk it all and make it a reality. He is the driving force of this company. His focus, creativity and vision have taken us far. … He is not only a leader, but he creates leaders.”

Welch works side by side with his team members, leads by example and encourages and supports them, said Ashlee Faulkner, president, shareholder and a Fort Collins resident.

“Everyone leads with their heart, and we believe that not only does everyone internally feel it, but our clients feel it as well,” Faulkner said. “We are a family, and we believe that it’s important to put your heart into everything you do. That’s what makes us who we are. Culture and heart can be very different, but at the end of the day, without heart, you lose your culture.”