Daily Archives: November 25, 2018

Paychex Inc. (NASD: PAYX) agreed to acquire Oasis Outsourcing Acquisition Corp., one of the largest professional employer organizations in the US.

The total cash purchase price is $1.2 billion, subject to working capital and other adjustments.

Paychex and Oasis will continue to operate as separate entities pending completion of the transaction.

The deal follows Paychex’s acquisition last year of PEO HR Outsourcing Holdings Inc.

Rochester, NY-based Paychex will now count more than 1.4 million worksite employees through its HR outsourcing services.

Oasis is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Fla., and has approximately 1,100 employees. It counts more than 8,400 clients nationwide using its HR solutions, employee benefits, payroll administration, and risk management services.

“This acquisition will strengthen our PEO growth strategy, gain scale for new products with our insurance carrier partners, provide a new client base to offer Paychex retirement and time and attendance products, and augment our experienced management team,” Paychex President and CEO Martin Mucci said. “This is a great time for our two companies to come together.”

Oasis in July acquired Aureon HR, a Midwest-based PEO service provider and a subsidiary of Aureon, its sixth acquisition since Stone Point Capital acquired the PEO in 2014. Private equity firm Kelso & Co. purchased a “significant” interest in the company last year, but Stone Point Capital remained the majority owner of the company, with the remainder owned by Oasis management.

The Oasis acquisition is subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.

Sterling Talent Solutions, a background screening and HR solutions company, acquired National Crime Check, pre-employment background screening provider based in Adelaide, Australia.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

National Crime Check provides criminal background screening and identity verification services to healthcare, staffing, financial services; retail and other industry organizations. It was founded by Martin Lazarevic.

Sterling Talent Solutions counts 20 offices in nine countries. In January 2016, it merged with Seattle-based TalentWise, a cloud solution provider for the human capital management industry. In May 2016, it acquired RISQ Group, a background screening leader in the Asia Pacific region, and subsequently rebranded to Sterling Talent Solutions from SterlingBackcheck. In September 2016, it acquired Verified Person Inc., a pre-employment background screening firm based in Memphis, Tenn.

The Grubhub independent misclassification lawsuit, which has dominated gig economy headlines for the past year or so, has taken another interesting turn, writes Richard Meneghello of law firm Fisher Phillips LLP in a Mondaq blog post. An Uber driver from California filed an amicus brief (friend of the court) on Friday afternoon, offering his opinion about why the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals should conclude that the Grubhub driver at issue was incorrectly classified as an independent contractor.

A whistleblower suing Apple and global IT services and outsourcing provider Infosys added new evidence to support his legal claim that the two companies conspired to evade visa laws, The (San Jose, Calif.) Mercury News reported. The whistleblower is Carl Krawittt, a former contractor for Infosys and Apple. A federal judge last month ruled in Apple’s favor and dismissed the case, but left the door open for Krawittt to produce more information. “Infosys avoids paying the United States the substantially higher application fee for H-1B visas, and avoids paying Social Security, Medicare and other fees and taxes to the United States,” the amended complaint said. “Apple willingly participated in lnfosys’ scheme by contracting with Infosys for workers on B-1 visas instead of hiring United States citizens and/or green card holders as full-time employees at market rate compensation. Apple did so as a cost-savings measure.”

Private sector firms indicated greater caution in terms of staff hiring, with payroll numbers expanding at the weakest rate in almost one-and-a-half years, according to the IHS Markit Flash US Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index Output Index.

November’s data pointed to another robust increase in US private sector output, supported by resilient rates of expansion at both manufacturing and service sector companies. However, the latest survey also revealed a loss of momentum for new business growth, with order books improving at the slowest pace since December 2017.

“Solid flash PMI numbers for November add to evidence that the US is enjoying sustained robust economic growth in the fourth quarter,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.

The surveys are broadly consistent with the economy growing at an annualized rate of 2.5%, building further on the country’s best growth spell since 2014 seen in the second and third quarters, according to Williamson. But the November survey does raise some warning flags to suggest growth could slow in the coming months.

“In particular, growth of hiring has waned as companies grew somewhat less optimistic about the outlook,” Williamson said. “Goods exports also appear to be coming under increasing pressure, often linked to trade wars having dampened demand. However, it should also be remembered that some pullback in growth was to be expected after October’s numbers were boosted by a post-hurricane rebound, especially given the historically high levels of production, order books and employment.”

Boston is the best city to find a job both in the United States and internationally, according to research released by relocation services provider Movinga.

The data examined economic strength and standard of living, as well as opportunities for women, young people and expats, in 100 cities. Twenty American cities make the international ranking, due to a strong job market and a booming economy. And Germany had four cities in the top 10.

The 10 best cities to find a job internationally, and their score on a scale of zero to 10, are:

• Boston: 6.822
• Munich, Germany: 6.814
• Calgary, Canada: 6.787
• Hamburg, Germany: 6.768
• Stuttgart, Germany: 6.765
• London: 6.762
• Singapore: 6.741
• Oslo, Norway: 6.674
• Frankfurt, Germany: 6.634
• Edinburgh, UK: 6.580

High-ranking US cities include San Diego and New York at Nos. 12 and 13 respectively, followed by Seattle at 15 and San Francisco at 19.

Additional findings include:

• Singapore has the highest total economic strength score, in addition to the highest government effectiveness score.
• Dubai has the highest levels of employment and is revealed to be the best location for expats and young people due to their immigration intake and expat employment rate, as well as high youth employment and a growing number of new startups. However, gender may play a part in a jobseekers’ success, as Dubai offers the worst overall opportunities for women, with the worst gender wage gap, and the lowest women’s liberty and legislation score.
• Hong Kong has the highest GDP growth, but also the highest cost of living.
• Berlin has the highest levels of new business registrations.
• Boston has the highest standard of living score.
• Monterrey has the best cost of living.
• Boston has the highest disposable income levels.
• Dubai has the highest total immigration score, with the highest levels of immigration.
• Krakow and Warsaw have the highest rate of employment for expats, although it is worth noting that these cities have very low comparative immigration rates.
• Prague has the highest level of youth employment while London has the highest level of new startups.
• Norway offers the best opportunities for women; however, the gender wage gap is lowest in Slovenia.
• Women’s liberty and legalization is best in Belgium, while women’s opportunity for advancement is best in Finland.

“Now, the strong dollar and booming markets mean that for the US, employment opportunities are thriving,” said Finn Age Hänsel, managing director at Movinga. “However, when you consider too that residents of the United States must also pay hefty healthcare costs, jobseekers ought to consider the implications on their overall salary and quality of life before a stateside move.”