Honored Leader: John Heaton, President
Company Name: Pay Plus Benefits, Inc.
Location: Kennewick, Wash.
Nature of Business: Professional employement organization.
Founded: 1991
Revenue: $0-5 million
Growth Rate (2003): 27 percent
Number of Employees: 13
Average Tenure: 4.89 years
Pay Plus Benefits is a 13-year-old professional employer organization that provides human resources, payroll and benefit services to small businesses. John Heaton has encouraged his employees to think like owners through practicing open-book management – he regularly shares the company’s financials with his staff – and a unique compensation program called “Bottom Up Performance-Based Budgeting.” The company has a set profit target to be met each month and any amount above their goal is given back to employees in a “salary adjustment check.” Heaton’s open, inclusive approach has helped steer the organization through some difficult times as a number of costs associated with their business – benefits, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation – have skyrocketed in recent years. Despite this, Pay Plus Benefits saw their gross profits increase by 27 percent in 2003.