Stratus HR is a founder-owned Utah PEO, in the market since 1999, that pairs a dedicated HR consultant model with the ability to serve clients in all 50 states and a willingness to quote the blue-collar industries that startup-focused PEOs decline. The trade-off is credentials and scale: it holds neither IRS CPEO certification nor ESAC accreditation, and its master medical leverage is thinner than a national PEO's, so we push for a benefits side-by-side before recommending it to multi-state buyers.
We've placed clients with Stratus HR across multiple industries and headcounts. The assessment below reflects what actually happens in real engagements, not what the Stratus HR sales deck says happens, not what the affiliate review sites report based on commission spreads, and not what aggregated G2 stars suggest.
Stratus HR was founded in 1999 as Innovative Staffing, Inc. and rebranded to Stratus.hr in 2016; the legal entity is ISI HR, Inc., registered with the Utah Insurance Department as a PEO. It is privately held and founder-owned, with no private equity owner and no acquisition integration to ask about, which is increasingly unusual among regional PEOs of this age.
The company is based in Utah and is licensed to serve clients nationally, so an employer headquartered in the Mountain West with employees in other states can keep one PEO as it grows. Its service model is built around dedicated HR consultants backed by staff holding CPA, CPP, SPHR and SHRM certifications, rather than a pooled ticket queue. Stratus HR does not publish a staff count or a worksite employee count.
Stratus HR is on neither the IRS CPEO list nor the ESAC accredited directory. CPEO status moves sole liability for federal employment taxes to the PEO and lets the wage base carry over on a mid-year start; ESAC provides bonded third-party financial assurance. Peers of similar size carry one or both, and the absence of both is the consideration we raise with every CFO who asks.
Stratus HR quotes per client on a per-employee-per-month basis and does not publish a rate. The inputs are the usual ones: headcount, states, workers' compensation class codes and the benefits census. Because Stratus HR writes both blue- and white-collar payrolls, the workers' compensation line can be a larger share of the quote than at a tech-focused PEO, so ask for the class-by-class rates and the modifier rather than a bundled total.
The benefits line is where we press. A regional PEO without a large worksite employee base has less master medical buying power than a national PEO, and Stratus HR publishes no scale figure that would say otherwise. Ask for the plan-by-plan rate table at your census and compare it to a larger master plan before deciding; for a Utah-only employer the comparison sometimes favors the local PEO, and for a multi-state employer it often does not.
Contracts are annual in the normal course. Confirm notice and exit terms in the client service agreement, and ask what happens to benefits continuity if you leave mid-year.
Stratus HR has operated in the Utah market since 1999 and its consultants are backed by CPA, CPP, SPHR and SHRM-certified staff. For an employer whose compliance exposure is mostly in Utah and neighboring states, that bench answers questions with an opinion rather than a help article.
Each client works with a named HR consultant. For a company of 20 to 150 that has outgrown payroll-only service but cannot justify an HR department, a consultant who knows the account is the value a PEO is supposed to deliver, and Stratus HR's published retention rate suggests clients stay.
Construction, manufacturing, retail and healthcare payrolls are often turned away or priced out by tech-first PEOs. Stratus HR quotes mixed blue- and white-collar workforces as a matter of course, which makes it a practical option for a Mountain West employer with a shop floor and an office.
Serving clients in all 50 states means a Utah-headquartered employer that opens a Denver or Boise office does not have to change PEOs. That is a real advantage over regional peers whose footprint stops at the state line.
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 certification there is no federal sole-liability shift for employment taxes and no wage-base restart avoided on a mid-year transfer; without ESAC there is no bonded financial assurance behind client funds. Peers of similar size carry one or both. For an owner-led business this may be an acceptable trade for the service model, but it should be decided deliberately and backed by financial statements and references at your headcount.
Stratus HR publishes no worksite employee count, and a regional PEO's buying power on medical is usually below a national master plan's. Medical is the largest line on a PEO invoice, so a small disadvantage there can outweigh a lower administrative fee. Compare the plan-by-plan rates before you decide.
A company that wants a Rippling-style all-in-one platform, or that needs international hiring, is shopping in a different category. Stratus HR sells HR consulting delivered by people; judge it on that.
When a client is evaluating Stratus HR, these are the three alternatives we most often put on the shortlist. The rationale below explains when each one beats Stratus HR and when it doesn't. For the full comparison on cost, benefits and service, read Stratus HR alternatives compared.
The other independent Utah PEO, with local offices across the Intermountain West and a six-plan medical program; the same credential gap, so the comparison is on service footprint and benefits.
Read full review →The mid-market service model with both CPEO certification and ESAC accreditation and a larger worksite employee base, for an employer growing past 100 employees or spreading across states.
Read full review →A Rocky Mountain alternative that bundles accounting, recruiting and managed IT with co-employment, for an owner who wants more than HR from one vendor.
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.
No. Stratus HR, legal entity ISI HR, Inc., is not on the IRS CPEO list and is not ESAC accredited. It is registered as a PEO with the Utah Insurance Department.
Stratus HR positions for 5 to 500 or more employees, and the model fits best between 20 and 150: large enough to use a dedicated HR consultant, small enough not to have an HR department.
It is based in Utah and licensed to serve clients in all 50 states, so a Mountain West employer with employees elsewhere can stay on one PEO.
No. Pricing is per-employee-per-month, quoted per client.
The absence of both IRS CPEO certification and ESAC accreditation, which means no federal sole-liability tax shift and no bonded financial assurance. A second consideration is master medical leverage, which is thinner than a national PEO's.
Both offer a named HR consultant. G&A Partners carries CPEO certification and ESAC accreditation and a much larger worksite employee base, which usually means stronger medical pricing; Stratus HR is the local Utah option with deeper in-state employment-law practice and a willingness to quote blue-collar payrolls. Put both on one comparison.
Yes. Writing both blue-collar and white-collar industries is one of its stated strengths, which separates it from the startup-focused PEOs that decline those classes.
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