What Whirks does

Whirks is a privately held payroll, human capital management (HCM), and employee benefits services provider headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, founded in 2003. The company serves small and midsized businesses primarily in the Mid-South and Southeast United States, with vertical concentration in restaurants and bars, home health and assisted living, HOTWORX franchises, salons and spas, retail, professional services, and non-profits. Its customer base of named clients includes Community Bible Church, Community Baptist Church, Ardent Hospice, Grade Pediatrics, Gana Trucking, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Railgarten, and Eggs Up, reflecting a long-tail of small employers.

Whirks does not own its core technology. Its services are delivered through the isolved People Cloud platform, a cloud-based HCM system hosted on Microsoft Azure with SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II compliance, TLS-in-transit and AES-at-rest encryption, mandatory MFA, and disaster recovery. On top of this platform, Whirks layers a three-tier subscription package (CORE at $10.25 PEPM, PEOPLE at $15.25 PEPM, THE WHIRKS at $21.75 PEPM) and a wide catalog of à la carte add-ons including Time & Attendance, Attract & Hire ATS, Benefit Services brokerage, Learn & Grow training, Expense Management, ACA compliance, PTO management, retirement plan submission, and Pay-As-You-Go Workers' Comp. Implementation is one-time at 15% of annualized contract cost.

Whirks operates a sales-led, inside-sales go-to-market with discovery calls, "Let's Chat" CTAs, and a partner/referral program. Pricing is subscription-based and recurring under month-to-month agreements with 30-day cancellation notice. The company's positioning emphasizes white-glove boutique service with dedicated named client success specialists, in contrast to large national payroll vendors. The company is founder-led (Matthew Patrick, President & Founder) with Mike Shaeffer as COO, privately held with no disclosed external funding, and operates from a single Memphis headquarters (11-50 employees).

Name

Whirks

Legal name

Whirks

Website

https://whirks.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Whirks is a privately held payroll, HR, and employee benefits services provider based in Memphis, Tennessee, serving small and midsized businesses—particularly restaurants, home health agencies, franchises, and non-profits—via the isolved HCM platform under tiered subscription packages.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payroll and HR Services

NAICS

Payroll Services (541214)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Payroll, Time & Attendance (BPACAPAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Human Capital Management (HCM) & Payroll Platforms (HDAEAEAJ), Managed Payroll Services (Full-Service Payroll Outsourcing) (BPAAAHAA), Payroll Software & Payroll-as-a-Service (SaaS) (BPACAIAB)

Keywords

• Payroll processing services
• Human resources management
• Employee benefits administration
• Human capital management
• Time and attendance tracking

Headquarters

HQ city

Memphis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Core Payroll Services: Monthly recurring subscription fee based on per-employee-per-month (PEPM) pricing model. Core package includes payroll processing, tax filing, direct deposit, and employee self-service. Flat monthly rate for small employee counts transitioning to PEPM above threshold.
2. HR Services Add-Ons: Additional monthly fees for HR Essentials including living employee handbook, HR hotline, labor law posters, HR risk assessments, and Whirkshops. Billed as PEPM add-on or bundled in People package.
3. Benefits Administration: Per-insured-employee-per-month (PIPM) pricing for benefit services including group health insurance brokerage, dental, vision, life, disability, retirement plans, and ACA compliance support
4. Time & Attendance: $3.25 per employee per month for time tracking with multiple clock options including biometric, PIN, geofencing, and mobile
5. Year-End Administration: Annual fees for tax reconciliation and filing including W2s and 1095s. Base fee of $75 plus $7 per form issued.
6. One-Time Implementation: One-time setup fee of 15% of annualized contract cost, covering data migration, employee setup, system configuration, and training. Additional $1,500 for handbook creation in higher-tier packages.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Whirks delivers payroll processing, HR support, employee benefits administration, and workers' compensation services to small and mid-sized U.S. businesses. Services are packaged into three tiers (CORE, PEOPLE, THE WHIRKS) with PEPM subscription pricing, and are powered by the isolved People Cloud HCM platform. The offering also includes a la carte add-ons such as applicant tracking (Attract & Hire), time and attendance, ACA compliance, expense management, and an online learning platform (Learn & Grow).

Product overview

Whirks is a payroll, HR, and employee benefits administration company offering a tiered service package model. The core offerings include three packages: Core ($10.25 PEPM) for traditional payroll processing, People ($15.25 PEPM) adding HR essentials like employee handbooks and HR hotline, and The Whirks ($21.75 PEPM) bundling recruiting, onboarding, time tracking, and HR support. The platform is built on the isolved HCM technology and offers numerous add-on services including benefits administration, time and attendance tracking, applicant tracking (Attract & Hire), ACA compliance, PTO management, expense management, learning management (Learn & Grow), and retirement plan integration. All services integrate through isolved's People Cloud platform for unified payroll, HR, and benefits data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Conversion typically within 30 days, with some 16-location, 450-employee conversions completed in 20 days
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• isolvedcoreTechnology or IntegrationWhirks is an authorized isolved partner, using the isolved People Cloud platform as the core technology for their HCM services. isolved's platform is hosted on Microsoft Azure with SOC 1 & SOC 2 Type II compliance, multi-layered security, encryption (TLS in transit, AES at rest), mandatory MFA, and disaster recovery capabilities. All Whirks payroll, HR, and benefits services run through this integrated platform.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• OnPay: Payroll, HR, and benefits service specifically designed for small businesses with transparent PEPM pricing. Closely comparable to Whirks on customer segment, pricing philosophy, and product scope.
• Gusto: Cloud-native payroll, HR, and benefits platform purpose-built for U.S. small businesses. Directly comparable to Whirks on customer segment, product breadth, and PEPM pricing model.
• Paylocity: Cloud-based payroll and HCM platform targeting small-to-mid-sized businesses with a similar product suite (payroll, HR, benefits, time, talent). Direct competitor for clients in Whirks' size tier.
• Paycor: HCM platform serving small and mid-sized businesses with payroll, HR, benefits, and talent management. Competes with Whirks for the same mid-market buyer, particularly as Whirks pursues clients with 50+ employees.
• SurePayroll: Paychex-owned small business payroll service targeting very small employers with simple, online-first payroll. Comparable to Whirks' CORE tier positioning and SMB-first approach.
• Heartland (a Global Payments Company): Payroll, HR, and point-of-sale provider with a strong foothold in restaurants and small-format retail — the same verticals Whirks prioritizes. Direct competitor in Whirks' core target segments.

Emerging players

• isolved: The HCM platform vendor whose People Cloud Whirks resells. Comparable because isolved also sells directly and through competing resellers to the same SMB segments, making it both a critical supplier and a partial competitor.
• Rippling: Modern unified workforce management platform combining payroll, HR, IT, and benefits. Competes with Whirks for fast-growing SMBs that prefer modern software-led experiences over service-led relationships.

Broad incumbents

• Paychex: One of the largest U.S. payroll and HR service providers for SMBs, with a national footprint and broad industry coverage. Comparable to Whirks on core payroll/HR/benefits service delivery but operates at much larger scale and offers PEO options.
• ADP (Automatic Data Processing): Largest global payroll and HCM provider serving SMBs through RUN and Workforce Now. Comparable to Whirks across the full payroll/HR/benefits stack but with vastly deeper resources and a national sales motion.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCw3uUn_NFCDQXerEqfINpLw
• Facebookfacebook.com/whirks
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/whirks
• Instagraminstagram.com/whirks
• Xx.com/whirks

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Whirks