Payroll costs adding up fast
The starting point was simple: Courtney wanted to know if there was a more cost-effective payroll solution. Many Burn Boot Camp franchise partners default to ADP, which charges a fee every time payroll is processed. Rippling's model is different: a flat rate per employee, per month. For a team of 50—soon to be more across two locations—that difference adds up fast.
"I'm always looking for ways to increase our profit margins," Courtney said. "Payroll is one of the largest expenses. I was just doing my due diligence to see if there were better options out there."
An onboarding process that didn't scale
At Burn Boot Camp, every new hire kicks off a multi-step process: offer letters, confidentiality agreements, security handbooks, policy sign-offs, plus a separate submission to Burn Boot Camp headquarters with its own requirements. Certified personal trainers also have to come in for an in-person workout assessment, a formal interview, and CPR certification verification before they're cleared to work.
With her existing setup, all of that happened manually. Courtney would send each document, wait to get it back, track down anything missing, then upload copies to the right places across multiple systems.
With a new gym opening and a full team to hire from scratch, she was about to do all of it over again, one new hire at a time.
Compliance that ran on memory
Annual compliance training, like the sexual abuse prevention policy, was managed entirely by memory. Courtney would set a calendar reminder, send the policy, track down every response one by one, and then upload signed copies to each employee's file.
Background checks added another layer of friction. Results were only stored for 48 hours, which meant downloading every report immediately, then uploading it to another system before it disappeared.
