Spirit HR is a founder-led Oklahoma City PEO, formed in 2015, that earned ESAC accreditation in its first year of operation and sells a named service team instead of a call center, with workers' compensation depth suited to trades and manufacturing payrolls. The gap is CPEO: it is not on the IRS certified list, and the firm publishes very little about its size, state footprint or benefit carriers, so we ask for those in writing before comparing a quote against a national PEO.
We've placed clients with Spirit HR across multiple industries and headcounts. The assessment below reflects what actually happens in real engagements, not what the Spirit HR sales deck says happens, not what the affiliate review sites report based on commission spreads, and not what aggregated G2 stars suggest.
Spirit HR was founded in Oklahoma City in 2015; the legal entity is Spirit Human Resources, LLC, and the firm is privately held and founder-led. Its leadership carries HR outsourcing experience that traces to a predecessor Oklahoma PEO founded in 1992, so the company is young but the people running it are not new to the business.
The credential that does the most work here is ESAC. Spirit HR was accredited in December 2016, in its first year of operation, and has carried it since. ESAC is the industry's financial-assurance program: an accredited PEO is independently verified on financial condition and operating standards and backed by a surety bond. For a privately held firm that publishes little financial detail, third-party assurance of that kind is the thing we would otherwise have to diligence by hand.
Spirit HR is not on the IRS CPEO list. CPEO certification is what moves sole liability for federal employment taxes to the PEO and avoids a wage-base restart when a client transfers mid-year. Beyond the two credentials, the firm discloses little: staff count, worksite employee count and state footprint are not published, and its benefits menu is described by coverage type rather than by carrier or plan design.
Spirit HR quotes per client through a request-a-cost-analysis model and does not publish a rate. Its site segments clients at 10 to 50, 50 to 150 and 150 or more employees, which is a reasonable guide to where it expects to compete. Ask whether the quote is PEPM or a percentage of payroll and have it restated the other way if your payroll is seasonal.
For a trades or manufacturing employer the workers' compensation line will carry much of the comparison. Spirit HR offers full-scope workers compensation with safety analysis and certificate handling, which matters for contractors who need certificates issued promptly for job sites. Ask for class-by-class rates and the program structure in writing, and compare them to a national PEO's master policy and to a regional peer's.
On benefits, the firm publishes coverage types but no named carriers or plan designs, so the rate table at your census is something you request rather than look up. Contracts are annual in the normal course; confirm notice and exit terms in the client service agreement.
Earning ESAC accreditation in December 2016, within the firm's first year, and holding it since is a meaningful signal for a small private PEO. It means an independent party verifies financial condition and operating standards and a surety bond stands behind client obligations. For a firm this size it is the credential we would otherwise have to reconstruct from financial statements.
Spirit HR commits to named contacts as a stated model, and for a 10 to 150 person company that is the reason to pick a regional PEO over a national one. The owner knows who to call and that person knows the account.
Safety analysis and certificate handling are bundled into the workers' compensation offering, which suits trades, manufacturing, property management and franchise payrolls where certificates and loss control are part of daily operations rather than an annual renewal event.
Spirit Connect, the firm's proprietary portal, covers payroll, benefits enrollment and onboarding in one place. It will not match the depth of a national HCM stack, but for a small employer one login that does the three things that matter is often enough.
We frame these as considerations rather than negatives because most are real trade-offs rather than disqualifying flaws, but they are things we make sure clients understand before signing.
Without CPEO status there is no federal sole-liability shift for employment taxes, and a client that joins mid-year does not get the wage-base carryover a certified PEO provides, which is a real dollar cost on a mid-year switch. If your finance team requires certification, compare a CPEO such as Nextep.
Staff count, worksite employee count and the states served are not disclosed, and the benefits menu names coverage types rather than carriers or plan designs. None of that is disqualifying, but it means the diligence is on you: ask for the state footprint, the carrier lineup and the workers comp program structure in writing before you compare quotes.
Spirit Connect does what a small employer needs. An employer whose workforce expects a best-in-class self-service experience should see it in a demo first and weigh it against the service model.
When a client is evaluating Spirit HR, these are the three alternatives we most often put on the shortlist. The rationale below explains when each one beats Spirit HR and when it doesn't. For the full comparison on cost, benefits and service, read Spirit HR alternatives compared.
The other founder-led Oklahoma PEO, with a named service team and both CPEO certification and ESAC accreditation; the comparison to make if certification is the gap.
Read full review →A Texas mid-market CPEO with a personalized service model for Sun Belt employers of 10 to 250, for a company growing past Spirit HR's sweet spot.
Read full review →A family-owned Intermountain West PEO with local named service teams, for a Southwest employer whose footprint runs toward Arizona and Utah rather than Texas.
Read full review →A 15-minute call, then we shortlist the alternatives, gather quotes, and sit in the negotiation calls. Free to you, our fee is paid by the PEO you ultimately pick, at the same rate regardless of which one.
Spirit HR is ESAC accredited, since December 2016, but it is not on the IRS CPEO list. ESAC provides bonded financial assurance; CPEO certification, which it does not hold, would provide the federal tax-liability shift.
The firm segments clients at 10 to 50, 50 to 150 and 150 or more employees. The best fit is 10 to 150.
It is based in Oklahoma City and serves Oklahoma and the Southwest. Its state footprint is not published, so ask for it in writing if you have employees elsewhere.
No. It uses a request-a-cost-analysis model and quotes per client.
No IRS CPEO certification, and limited public disclosure of its size, state footprint and benefit carriers. The ESAC accreditation offsets part of that for financial assurance, but the footprint and carrier questions have to be asked directly.
Both are founder-led Oklahoma PEOs with named service teams. Nextep carries both CPEO certification and ESAC accreditation and positions for 10 to 200 employees; Spirit HR carries ESAC only and leads with workers' comp scope for trades payrolls. If certification matters, Nextep; if the workers' comp program is the deciding line, compare both quotes.
It is one of its stated strengths: full-scope workers compensation with safety analysis and certificate handling, suited to trades and other physical-work payrolls. Ask for the program structure and class rates in writing.
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