Item: Guideline
Rating: 10
Author: Ed Hart

Overall Satisfaction with Guideline

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize Guideline as our 401(k) provider. We added this benefit in 2019 and made the decision primarily because Guideline gave us an easy and efficient vehicle to offer the benefit due to online admin, not having to deal with a broker and integration with Gusto, our payroll system. As a small business, It has been a very efficient and easy tool for our team to enroll and manage their 401(k)s.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Integration with the payroll system.
Handles all of the regulatory requirements for 401(k) like top heavy testing.

Cons

For a small business with very minimal 401(k) needs, Guideline is sufficient for us. If you have a more sophisticated plan, you may run into some limitations.

Return on Investment

Expanding benefits to include 401(k) has been a helpful tool to compete in recruiting talent.
There's very little administrative burden on our accounting staff

Alternatives Considered

We didn't find any viable competitive option for Gusto that had the trifecta of low fees, Gusto integration and that handled all the plan management. There were plenty of other companies like Sharebuilder, Fidelity or Vanguard (to name a few) that do have low cost 401(k) options, but the integration and completely taking the administrative burden off of us clinched the deal.

Support Rating

The few questions that we've had have been answered quickly and helpfully. The implementation was a breeze and the onboarding contacts were really helpful. There was some stuff I had to learn about 401(k)s in making the decision to implement Guideline, but the Guideline team was helpful in pointing me in the right direction.

Key Insights

Do you think Guideline delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Guideline's feature set?

Yes

Did Guideline live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Guideline go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Guideline again?

Yes

Other Software Used

NetSuite, Trello, Box

Likelihood to Recommend

Guideline seems particularly suited to a small business with relatively simple plan requirements. Everything is online and easily accessible to our employees and the interface is more user-friendly than some of the larger 401(k) companies. If you're looking for a lot of plan complexity or bells and whistles, then Guideline might seem limited, but for a startup or small business with a technically savvy team using Gusto as the payroll system, Guideline is a no-brainer.

Comments

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Great 401(k) solution for startups and small businesses