We’d be lying if we said 2021 wasn’t a difficult year. You had to navigate new legislation, figure out COVID tax credits, and manage a workforce with diverse needs and expectations. But, it was also a year of great innovations, creative teamwork, and strategic growth. At the end of the day, our hope is that you didn’t feel alone because you knew Nextep would be there with you every step of the way.
This year, we made updates to our technology and service model, all with the goal of making your life easier. You have a lot on your plate, and we sincerely want to take on some of that burden. So here’s to a hard, and successful, year and to moving forward together.
When it comes to our technology platform, 2021 was a year of innovation! You now have more functionality than ever in the Nextep mobile app. On top of the features you already know and love, you can now access workplace injury reporting right from the app! You and your people’s private info is also safer than ever with two-step verification.
You can rest easy knowing you’ll always have the best technology there is to offer when you partner with us. Simple sign-in is a quick and secure way for you to access all of your employment needs in one place with one password! We’re serious about your data security, like really serious. So much so, we maintain our SOC 1, Type 2 certification and have implemented two-step verification for our clients who are ready to opt-in.
You’ve probably heard us use the phrase “End-to-End HR” recently. End-to-end HR is how we talk about our commitment to elevating your employment experience from beginning to end, whether it be from hiring to retiring employees or from starting your small business to growing into a large company. No matter how your company grows, we’re there for you. In fact, we’ve built our entire service model around growing with you! Our HR experts and robust technology empower you with customizable support at every stage and size of business.
2021 radically changed the job market, and you’ve probably felt the impacts of a lower unemployment rate and shift in what candidates want. It’s been tough for many companies to recruit talent in this market, which is why we’re putting together a team of Nextep experts to help! Our team will be able to help your company find the gem candidates who will take your company to the next level. Keep an eye out for more updates on our client recruiting team in 2022!
You hire great people, and we want to help you retain them and elevate their employment experience! One way to enrich your people’s lives is to utilize our all-new performance management system! You can work with your employees to discover training needs, celebrate achievements, and conduct performance reviews, all from your Nextep account! And the HR fun doesn’t stop there: we also have an online training platform packed with courses to help your teams learn and grow!
When it comes to picking the best benefits partners for you, our team won’t settle for second best. We’re committed to providing best-in-class benefits to you and your people. We’re excited for our new partnership with Empower Retirement because they really are the best in the retirement business! Not only are they the largest 401k in the nation, but they also offer you and your people exceptional training and benefit education!
You work tirelessly to maintain a safe workplace for your people. Our risk team has always been there for you when accidents happen, but this year we made it easier than ever to get the help you need. Now you can report workplace injuries right from your Nextep account. Get in touch with our risk team anytime, anywhere, and on any device!
In 2021, we were ranked one of the best places to work in our industry by Great Places to Work. While we’re elated by the GPTW designation, we take even more pride in doing everything we can to help you elevate your business and become a great place to work, too! You have complete access to our experts who can help you build an inclusive workplace for your people through diversity, workplace policies, and recruiting practices. Paired with big-company benefits and robust technology, you have the support you need to elevate the employment experience for you and your people!
Your survey feedback helps us improve! We love hearing from our clients so much, we thought we’d highlight a couple of comments that made us feel extra special!
“Everyone I have worked with from Benefits to HR to Payroll has been exceptionally helpful, understanding, and willing to teach me along the way which I truly appreciate. I have to give a special shout-out to Bobbie, without her guidance I would not have been able to do my job these past 16 months. You have a great team of professionals!”
“Your HR support is excellent. Everyone at Nextep is very responsive! Also, we are able to provide great benefits to our staff because of your benefits team! Keep up the awesome work!”
Your feedback shows that you love the service you get with Nextep. We use a Net Promoter Score (NPS) to gauge client satisfaction and brand loyalty. You may be asking: what in the world is a Net Promoter Score? The NPS is an index measuring a customer’s likelihood to recommend a company’s products or services to others.
Through your invaluable feedback, we’re proud to boast an NPS of 80* — that’s double the industry average, according to ClearlyRated, and one of the highest among our competitors. We’re always listening, learning, and growing from what you have to say about our customer service. And we’re beyond grateful for the high praise you’ve given us!
*Average NPS score throughout 2021.
When you’re looking for support, you want to talk to a real person who is happy to help you and when you call Nextep, you’ll talk to a real person every time. And we’re doubling down on our commitment to providing you with the best customer service by growing our client success team!
Our dedicated service teams know your company and your people inside and out. Our clients are not just a number to us — they’re our number one priority. While each of our team members is unique, they all share a deep commitment to elevating your employment experience and enriching your people’s lives.
The Nextep Charitable Foundation empowers our employees to elevate the lives of people in need and enrich the communities in which they live. In partnership with the Pledge 1% movement, we donate money, free services, and volunteer hours to organizations serving in our community.
This year we had to get creative with our volunteer efforts. Our people stepped up in big ways, even when they couldn’t volunteer in person for most of the year. During our two Nextep Gives Back weeks, our teams served 374 hours at 42 different nonprofits!
This year, we made donations to several organizations, but we’re extra excited about our $30,000 donation to The Virtue Center, an organization committed to breaking the stigma of addiction and mental health crises, and our second $10,000 donation to Grand Gentlemen, a nonprofit committed to uplifting and inspiring young men of color to secure their future. At Nextep, we are passionate about mental health care and improved diversity and inclusion, so these two nonprofits are really close to the hearts of our people!
You can also rally your people around giving that aligns with your company’s values. Read our blog for some tips on how to budget for charitable giving.
To best serve our clients, we go above and beyond to serve our own people, because we know our people are at their best when we offer flexibility, stability, and fun! After a difficult year apart, we’ve learned even more about how important it is for our people to bond and have fun with each other, so we jump at every opportunity to bring our people together and spend time as one big team of Nexteppers. We love to host happy hours for our people, bring in food as often as possible, and start up our clubs again! Employees joined together to cook, run, play video games, garden, or talk photography — and it was really sweet to be back together again.
We’ve also learned just how important work flexibility is for our people. Our people have proved they’ll always excel, no matter the environment. Our new workflex policy gives our employees the freedom to utilize their robust technology and work between home and the office on the days that best fit their schedule.
It’s a common saying around here that when you take care of your people, they’ll take care of your clients — we’ve found that to be true time and time again.
We’re grateful you’re sharing the Nextep love with your friends and colleagues! Not only do we grow from your referrals, but you’re rewarded and the businesses you refer have the same payroll, HR, and benefits support you love.
If you know of any other businesses that could benefit from our services, be sure to submit a referral. Our referral program pays you $100 per full-time employee at the referred company, up to $10k, when your referral joins Nextep and runs their first payroll with us!
For more reasons than one, 2021 was a year unlike any other. The challenges our world faced this year, both new and old, provided opportunities for creativity, ingenuity, and an entrepreneurial spirit to shine. And we’re more committed than ever to moving forward together with you!
When you’re running a company, you worry about a lot of things, like winning new business, caring for your clients, or balancing budgets. And while I spend plenty of time on these things, I spend the most time thinking about our people and your people.
We’ve all faced incredibly difficult obstacles over the past year and a half from an ongoing pandemic: fear, isolation, anxiety, depression, anger, sickness, loss of loved ones, and sadly the list goes on. I’ve spent more time than I can account for thinking about the well-being of our people, but I can wholeheartedly tell you that I never worried for one second about our people’s ability to serve you, our clients. I’m in awe, day in and day out, by the dedication, integrity, and spirit of the people I get to work with every day. Seeing our people elevate the employment experience for you and your people is without a doubt the most rewarding part of my job.
You can rest assured we will continue delivering innovative technology, best-in-class customer service, and HR where you are, no matter what the next year brings. Each and every success we’ve celebrated this year has made me even more excited to jump into 2022 and move forward together.
Brian Fayak
Founder, President, and CEO
Nextep elevates the employment experience for businesses like yours by delivering cutting-edge technology, unbeatable expert support, and HR where you are. We’d love the opportunity to create a customized solution for you. Tell us a little bit about your organization, and we’ll be in touch!
