Finance & HR

Get a fractional Gusto specialist working in your account

You already know Gusto can handle payroll, benefits, and onboarding. The problem is that someone has to actually run it, audit it, and keep it accurate every pay period. Trusty Oak places US-based fractional specialists inside your Gusto account to handle the recurring work, fix what's broken, and build the workflows you haven't had time to set up. This is not consulting or advice. It is hands-on execution inside your existing account.

What our team does with Gusto

Concrete work our fractional specialists take on inside your Gusto account. No vague promises.

Configure and Audit Your Gusto Company Setup

We review your company settings, pay schedules, signatory information, and tax filing elections to confirm everything is configured correctly before we touch anything else. If you inherited a Gusto account or migrated from another provider, this audit catches misclassified workers, missing direct deposit authorizations, and incorrect state tax registrations. You receive a written summary of what we found and what we corrected.

Run Payroll on Your Defined Schedule

We process payroll runs on your weekly, biweekly, or semi-monthly schedule, including reviewing hours imported from your time tracking tool, applying one-time bonuses or deductions, and confirming totals before submission. We flag discrepancies in contractor vs. employee pay, missed punches, or benefit deduction changes that need your approval before the run is finalized. Every payroll run is documented with a confirmation record shared to your preferred channel.

Build and Manage Employee Onboarding Flows

We configure Gusto's onboarding checklists, set up offer letter templates, and assign the correct benefit plans and pay rates to each new hire before their start date. This includes sending the onboarding invite, tracking document completion (I-9, W-4, direct deposit), and confirming the employee is fully activated in the system before their first payroll run. We coordinate with your hiring manager or HR lead to make sure nothing falls through between the offer letter and day one.

Administer Benefits Enrollment and Changes

We manage open enrollment setup inside Gusto, including configuring plan options, contribution amounts, and eligibility rules tied to your benefits broker's specifications. Qualifying life events, mid-year changes, and termination-related benefit cancellations are processed accurately and on time to avoid coverage gaps or incorrect deductions. We work directly with your broker or benefits portal when Gusto needs external confirmation to complete a change.

Manage Contractor Payments and 1099 Prep

We add contractors to Gusto, collect W-9 information, and process payments on your defined schedule using Gusto's contractor payment tools. At year end, we reconcile contractor payment totals against your records and confirm that Gusto's 1099-NEC filings are accurate and complete before the January deadline. If you have contractors paid outside Gusto, we flag those for review so you are not filing inconsistent 1099s across platforms.

Integrate Gusto With Your Time Tracking and Accounting Tools

We connect Gusto to tools like QuickBooks, Xero, or your accounting platform so that payroll journal entries post automatically after each run without manual re-entry. If you use a time tracking tool such as When I Work, Homebase, or TSheets, we configure the sync so approved hours flow directly into Gusto before each payroll cycle. We document the data mapping and test each integration before handing it off so your bookkeeper or accountant knows exactly what to expect.

How the Gusto handoff works

During onboarding, your dedicated Client Success Manager reviews your existing Gusto account alongside you, identifies gaps in your setup (missing tax registrations, misconfigured pay schedules, incomplete employee records), and builds a prioritized roadmap based on your most urgent needs. From there, your assigned specialist works directly inside your Gusto account on a defined scope, documenting every workflow they build or modify so you always know what was done and why. Nothing is submitted or changed without your approval on anything that affects a payroll run, a benefit election, or a tax filing. As your business changes, your specialist adjusts the workflows and flags anything in Gusto that requires a decision from you, rather than waiting for you to notice a problem.

Common Gusto workflows we build

A few of the most common workflows our team has deployed with Gusto.

New hire offer accepted → Gusto onboarding invite → Day-one ready confirmation

When your hiring manager marks an offer as accepted in your ATS or notifies us directly, we create the employee record in Gusto, assign the correct pay rate and department, send the onboarding invite, and track document completion through the Gusto checklist. You receive a confirmation that the employee is fully activated and included in the next payroll run before their start date.

Approved timesheets → Gusto payroll review → Submitted run with discrepancy report

We pull approved hours from your time tracking tool, cross-reference them against scheduled shifts and PTO balances in Gusto, and flag any anomalies (missing punches, overtime thresholds, unapproved absences) before running payroll. A summary is sent to you for final approval, and the run is submitted only after you confirm.

Employee termination → Benefits cancellation → Final paycheck processing → COBRA notice

When you notify us of a termination, we process the offboarding steps inside Gusto: setting the termination date, calculating the final paycheck including any accrued PTO payout required by your state, canceling benefit elections, and confirming that Gusto's COBRA notification is triggered within the required window. We document each step so you have a clear record if questions arise later.

Payroll run completed → QuickBooks journal entry → Bookkeeper review-ready

After each payroll run, we confirm that the Gusto-to-QuickBooks sync has posted the correct journal entry, including gross wages, employer taxes, and benefit deductions mapped to the right accounts. If the sync fails or posts to a miscategorized account, we catch it before your bookkeeper closes the month.

Open enrollment window opens → Plan options configured → Employee elections collected → Deductions updated

We coordinate with your benefits broker to configure the correct plan options and contribution splits inside Gusto before the enrollment window opens, then send enrollment reminders to employees who have not completed their elections. After the deadline, we confirm all elections are recorded and that payroll deductions reflect the new plan costs starting on the correct effective date.

What Gusto support costs

Drag the sliders to build a monthly plan that fits your workload.

Executive Assistants

~$35/hour

10 hours $350

Specialists

~$50/hour

20 hours $1,000

Fractional Executives

~$95/hour

0 hours $0

Your monthly budget

$1,350

Starting at $1,000/month. One-time $300 onboarding fee includes your Strategic Delegation Plan.

Book a Discovery Call

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to give Trusty Oak admin access to my Gusto account?

Yes, your specialist needs admin-level access to work inside your account, but Gusto's admin permissions allow you to add team members without transferring ownership. You remain the account owner and can remove access at any time. We recommend creating a named user login for your specialist rather than sharing credentials, which Gusto supports and which gives you a clear audit trail of who made what changes.

Is this a one-time setup or ongoing support?

Most clients use Gusto support on an ongoing basis because payroll runs every two weeks, onboarding happens whenever you hire, and benefits require attention throughout the year. Trusty Oak's monthly budget model (starting at $1,000 per month) is built for this kind of recurring work. If you only need a one-time setup or audit, we can scope that within your first month, but the majority of Gusto work is cyclical and benefits from a consistent specialist who knows your account.

What if I'm considering Rippling or Justworks instead of Gusto? Can you help me decide?

Our specialists work inside the tools clients have already chosen, so we are not the right resource for a platform selection decision. If you are actively evaluating whether Gusto is the right fit for your company size or benefits complexity, we would recommend speaking with a fractional HR executive who can assess your needs before you commit. That said, if you are already on Gusto and questioning whether to stay, your specialist can document what your current setup covers and where the gaps are, which gives you a clearer picture for that decision.

How does your team handle payroll errors or tax notices from the IRS or state agencies?

If a payroll error occurs on a run your specialist processed, we work to identify the root cause and correct it in the next run or through an off-cycle adjustment in Gusto. For tax notices, Gusto handles tax filings directly, but your specialist can review the notice, pull the relevant payroll records, and help you respond or escalate to Gusto's support team with the documentation they need. We do not provide tax advice, but we do the legwork of gathering the account data that your accountant or Gusto's tax team will need.

How many hours per month does Gusto support typically require?

For a company with 10 to 30 employees running biweekly payroll, most clients use between 4 and 8 hours per month for routine payroll processing, employee changes, and basic HR admin. Add onboarding, benefits administration, or integration maintenance and that number typically rises to 10 to 15 hours. Your Client Success Manager will estimate hours based on your headcount, pay schedule, and the scope of work during onboarding, and unused hours roll over each month so you are not losing budget if a lighter month comes up.

Ready to hand off your Gusto account?

Book a discovery call and we will audit your current Gusto setup, identify what needs attention first, and build a prioritized plan before your specialist starts any work. You will leave the call knowing exactly what will be done, who will do it, and what it will cost.